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UNIVERSITY    OF    ILLINOIS 
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VOLUME 


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HUNOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


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LIBRARY 

Of-  THE 

UNIVERSITY  oflUJNOIS 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY 


PORTRAIT  GALLERY 


EMINENT  AND  SELF-MADE  MEN. 


ILLINOIS   VOLUME. 


CHICAGO    AND    NEW    YORK: 

AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHICAL    PUBLISHING   COMPANY, 
H.  C.  COOPER,  JR.,  &  Co.,  PROPRIETORS. 

1883. 


...'• 


<r 

PREFACE. 


IN  1876,  the  American  Biographical  Publishing  Company  issued  the  first  volume  of  the 
United  States  Biographical  Dictionary  for  the  state  of  Illinois.  The  success  which  attended 
that  work,  and  the  universal  satisfaction  which  it  gave,  together  with  the  rapid  material  devel- 
opment of  our  state,  and  the  large  class  of  her  successful,  self-made  men,  who  had  grown  up, 
decided  the  publishers  in  undertaking  the  preparation  of  a  second  volume.  That  the  decision 
was  a  wise  one,  the  result  of  their  labors,  they  have  reason  to  believe,  has  abundantly  proved. 

While  engaged  in  the  preparation  and  publication  of  this  volume,  a  constant  and  strong 
incentive  has  been  the  belief  that  theirs  was  a  praiseworthy  work,  the  fruits  of  which  could 
not  but  supply  a  pressing  need  and  command  public  commendation.  Had  it  been  otherwise, 
and  had  the  only  motive  for  their  risk  of  capital  and  enormous  expenditure  of  time  and  labor 
been  the  hope  of  pecuniary  profit,  they  certainly  could  not  have  felt  themselves  justified  in  the 
undertaking. 

In  some  instances,  sketches  which  appeared  in  the  former  volume,  have  been  reproduced  in 
this,  with  certain  changes,  but  the  great  bulk  of  the  present  work  comprises  the  biographies  of 
men  who  have  attained  to  prominence  or  success,  that  have  not  heretofore  appeared  in  any  state 
work. 

Until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period,  recording  and  preserving  biographies  has  been 
confined  to  the  few,  the  great  or  noted,  while  the  history  of  that  vast  army  of  workers,  whose  life- 
struggles,  whose  defeats  and  whose  successes  have  contributed  so  largely  to  our  national  growth, 
and  become  so  intimately  identified  with  our  institutions,  has  been  passed  over  without  comment, 
unnoticed  and  unsung.  That  such  should  have  been  the  case  was  but  natural,  as  the  outgrowth 
of  that  spirit  of  hero-worship,  which  in  times  past  has  so  universally  prevailed  ;  that  spirit  which 
could  sacrifice  the  multitude  in  the  elevation  and  adoration  of  the  few.  But  ours  is  a  practical 
age,  an  age  in  which  every  man,  nerved  by  independence  and  inspired  by  freedom,  may  be  a  hero, 
and  as  a  natural  sequence,  we  find  on  every  hand  those,  who,  meeting  the  varied  phases  of  life, 
struggling  against  adversity,  or  rejoicing  in  the  calm  repose  of  prosperity,  have  developed  in 
themselves  independent,  sturdy  manhood  ;  and  to  preserve  a  record  of  their  lives,  both  that  they 
may  be  kept  in  remembrance,  and  that  others  may  be  profited  and  inspired  by  their  example,  is 
paying  them  only  a  just  and  merited  tribute. 

In  selecting  the  men  that  are  represented  in  this  work,  the  publishers  have  carefully  avoided 
confining  them  to  any  class,  and  endeavored  to  fairly  represent  the  various  professions  and  call- 


43284 


1  v  1'KEFA  ( 'A'. 

ings,  without  favoritism.  Their  aim  has  been  to  avoid  prolixity,  and  abridge  the  sketches  to  a 
plain  recital  of  the  leading  facts  and  characteristics  in  the  lives  of  those  whose  biographies  are 
recorded  ;  and  while  they  have  earnestly  sought  to  bestow  merited  compliments,  they  have  as 
scrupulously  endeavored  to  eliminate  all  fulsome  praise. 

The  facts  contained  in  the  various  sketches  have  been  obtained  by  personally  interviewing  the 
parties,  and  by  consulting,  records,  and  in  order  to  secure  correctness,  each  sketch  has  been  sub- 
mitted for  approval  before  publication.  The  portraits  are  fac  similes  of  approved  photographs  of 
the  subjects,  wrought  in  the  highest  style  of  the  engraver's  art.  Every  effort  has  been  made  by 
the  publishers  to  render  the  work  as  perfect  and  complete  as  possible,  and  while  they  would  not 
delude  themselves  with  the  thought  that  it  is  faultless,  they  yet  have  reason  to  hope  for  the  com- 
mendation of  their  patrons,  and  -feel  content  to  abide  by  the  impartial  judgment  of  a  reasonable 
and  generous  public. 


THE  UNITED  STATES 

BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY 


ILLINOIS   VOLUME. 


HON.   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

THE  ancestry  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  sixteenth  president  of  the  United  States,  is  traced 
back  to  Samuel  Lincoln,  a  native  of  Hingham,  Norfolk  county,  England,  he  coming  to  this 
country  in  1637,  and  settling  in  Hingham,  Massachusetts.  From  this  hardy  New  England  stock 
came  the  great  statesman  who  was  to  rule  more  than  thirty  millions  of  people,  and  finally  die  the 
death  of  a  martyr  in  the  cause  of  the  federal  union. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Nancy  (Hanks)  Lincoln,  and  was  born  in  Hardin 
county,  Kentucky,  February  12,  1809.  When  he  was  eight  years  of  age,  the  family  moved  to 
Spencer  county,  Indiana,  near  the  present  town  of  Gentryville,  and  where  the  mother  died  two 
years  afterward,  a  loss  to  our  subject  which  he  could  not  then  fully  realize.  He  was  soon  placed 
under  the  care  of  a  step-mother.  Before  he  had  entered  upon  his  teens  he  became  quite  helpful 
on  his  father's  farm,  and  with  alacrity  addressed  himself  to  any  task  assigned  him.  At  the  same 
time  he  began  to  exhibit  a  fondness  for  reading,  and  to  this  fact  he  owed  his  final  and  great 
exaltation  in  public  life.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  built  a  flat-boat,  and  made  his  first  trip  to  a 
down-river  market,  and  the  next  year  he  took  a  flat-boat  to  the  New  Orleans  market,  narrowly 
escaping  death  at  the  hand  of  men  "whom  his  proclamation  years  afterward  liberated  from 
slavery." 

In  March,  1830,  the  family  moved  to  Macon  county,  Illinois,  where  Abraham  earned  his  living 
for  a  short  time  by  splitting  rails  and  other  farm  labor.  There  his  father  died  in  January,  1831. 
In  1832  he  was  the  captain  of  a  company  in  the  Black  Hawk  war. 

Subsequently  he  was  a  merchant's  clerk,  a  merchant  and  postmaster  of  Salem,  a  village  now 
extinct,  two  miles  from  Petersburg!!,  Menard  county.  This  latter  village  he  replatted,  and  did 
other  surveying  in  that  vicinitv. 

While  at  Salem  he  served  two  or  three  terms  in  the  legislature,  which  met  at  Vandalia,  and  he 
walked  a  hundred  miles  to  attend  each  session.  The  man  who  kept  the  postoffice  for  Mr.  Lincoln 
while  the  latter  was  taking  his  first  lessons  in  the  school  .of  legislation  is  now  a  shoemaker  at 
Petersburg!!,  and  the  writer  of  this  sketch  had  an  interview  with  him  in  the  spring  of  1883.  This 
humble  cordwainer,  with  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  also  boarded  at  one  time,  bears  unqualified  testimony 
to  the  honesty,  frankness  and  whole-souled  cordiality  of  "Old  Abe,"  although  he  did  not  expect, 
forty-five  years  ago,  to  ever  see  him  reach  the  White  House. 

In  the  legislature  Mr.  Lincoln  met  Mr.  Douglas,  the  one  a  whig,  the  other  a  democrat,  and 
they  eventually  became  rivals  for  the  United  States  senate  and  chief  magistracy  of  the  nation. 

During  these  years  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  more  or  less  attention  to  the  study  of  law,  and  in  April, 
1837,  moved  to  Springfield,  and  began  practice  with  Hon.  John  T.  Stewart.  His  career  as  a  law- 
yer the  world  knows  by  heart.  In  1838  he  was  again  sent  to  the  legislature,  and  took  a  very 
prominent  part  in  the  debates.  He  was  returned  to  the  same  body  in  1840. 


2  UNITED    STATES    HIOGKA  I'HICA  I.    DICTIONARY. 

In  1842  he'married  Mary  Todd,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  she  dying  in  1882.  His  son  Robert 
is  now  secretary  of  war. 

In  1846  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  to  congress,  and  served  one  term.  In  1848  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  national  whig  convention  which  nominated  General  Taylor  for  president,  and  four  years 
later  was  on  the  Scott  electoral  ticket.  In  the  great  struggle  with  the  slave  power,  commencing 
in  1854  and  ending  in  the  introduction  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  in  the  Union  as  free  states,  Lin- 
coln began  to  loom  up  as  a  powerful  controversialist  and  a  champion  of  freedom. 

Under  his  leadership  the  republican  party  in  Illinois  was  organized  in  May,  1856,  and  he  was 
a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  which  met  that  year  and  nominated  Fremont  and  Dayton. 
In  1858  he  competed  with  Mr.  Douglas  for  a  seat  in  the  United  States  senate,  and  lost  his  election 
through  an  unfair  apportionment  of  the  legislative  districts.  The  debates  at  that  time  between 
the  two  great  party  leaders  in  Illinois  drew  Mr.  Lincoln  out  in  his  full  strength,  showing  him  to 
be  a  very  close,  candid  and  powerful  logician,  and  led  to  his  nomination  for  the  presidency  in 
1860.  The  full  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  been  written  by  different  persons,  and  is  familiar  to  Amer- 
ican readers;  hence  it  is  needless  to  go  into  a  detailed  account  of  his  election,  its  results  in  the 
slave  states,  the  civil  war,  his  proclamation  of  emancipation,  January  i,  1863,  and  his  reelection, 
in  1864,  and  his  assassination  on  the  night  of  April  14,  1865,  by  John  Wilkes  Booth.  No  event  in 
the  history  of  the  nation  ever  so  thoroughly  thrilled  with  sorrow  the  heart  of  the  nation.  Lee  had 
just  surrendered,  jubilant  shouts  were  reverberating  through  the  land,  and  all  lovers  of  the  Union 
were  rejoicing  in  its  salvation,  when  the  news  came  that  Lincoln  had  perished  at  the  hand  of  an 
assassin,  and  at  the  same  time  an  attempt  had  been  made  on  the  life  of  Mr.  Seward,  the  secretary 
of  state.  Rejoicing  was  turned  into  lamentation,  for  the  second  savior  of  his  country  had  died  in 
her  cause.  Vengeance  soon  had  its  dues  in  the  death  of  the  assassin  and  his  associates.  April  19, 
1865,  funeral  services  were  held  in  Washington,  and  April  21  the  funeral  train  started  for  Spring- 
field, the  honored  remains  lying  in  state  at  nearly  every  city  of  the  route.  May  3,  the  remains 
were  interred  in  Oak  Ridge  cemetery,  two  miles  from  the  city,  and  a  grand  monument  rises  over 
his  tomb,  a  tribute  of  the  affection  of  the  American  people. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  conscientious,  high-minded,  far-seeing  statesman;  a  philanthropist  in  the 
broadest  sense  of  the  term,  and  an  administrator  of  justice,  of  marvelous  sagacity  and  heaven- 
born  wisdom. 

W.  IRVING  CULVER. 

CHICAGO. 

WASHINGTON  IRVING  CULVER,  of  the  firm  of  McCagg  and  Culver,  is  a  New  Hamp- 
shire man,  who  was  born  at  New  Market,  Rockingham  county,  July  19,  1844.  His  father 
is  Adna  Bryant  Culver,  a  retired  railroad  contractor  and  superintendent,  now  residing  in  Boston. 
His  mother  was  Hannah  H.  Sanborn,  a  member  of  an  old  New  Hampshire  family,  for  which  the 
town  of  Sanbornton  was  named  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  paternal  grandfather  of 
our  subject,  John  Culver,  was  a  farmer  in  northern  Vermont. 

In  1852  Adna  B.  Culver  removed  to  the  West  with  his  family.  After  completing  his  literary 
education,  at  the  Tippecanoe  Battle  Ground  Academy,  near  Lafayette,  Indiana,  Irving  taught 
school  one  winter,  being  then  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  also  worked  for  a  brief  time  at  rail- 
roading, and  was  subsequently  in  the  general  ticket  office  at  New  Albany,  Indiana. 

In  January,  1862,  he  commenced  reading  law  in  the  office  of  Scammon,  McCagg  and  Fuller, 
of  Chicago;  was  admitted  to  practice  in  September,  1866,  and  has  always  remained  with  Mr. 
McCagg,  into  whose  partnership  he  was  taken  in  1870.  Their  practice  is  exclusively  civil.  Mr. 
Culver  is  extremely  careful  in  the  examination  of  his  cases,  and  is  noted  for  the  perspicuity  and 
decision,  and  at  the  same  time  gentleness,  with  which  he  presses  them.  Unwearied  and  pains- 
taking in  his  researches,  he  is  always  prepared  to  meet  his  adversary,  and  to  anticipate  the  argu- 
ments which  that  adversary  will  present.  The  perfect  sincerity  and  modesty  of  Mr.  Culver 
command  the  respect  of  the  court,  so  that,  in  presenting  his  case,  he  has  the  closest  attention. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  3 

Mr.  Culver  has  been  for  several  years  treasurer  of  the  Illinois  Charitable  Eye  and  Ear  Infirm- 
ary, and  librarian  of  the  Chicago  Law  Institute,  and  was  at  one  time  vice-president,  and  is  now 
attorney  and  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Northwestern  Masonic  Aid  Association.  He  is  past  master 
of  Landmark  Lodge,  No.  422,  of  that  order,  a  Knight  Templar,  and  a  member  of  Fairview  Chap- 
ter, No.  161,  and  of  Apollo  Commandery,  No.  i. 

In  political  sentiment  Mr.  Culver  is  a  republican,  but  his  love  for  his  professional  work  pre- 
vents his  taking  any  active  part  in  political  affairs.  His  leisure  time  is  given  almost  entirely  to 
reading,  and  to  literary  as  well  as  legal  study,  he  having  always  had  a  great  love  for  books.  In 
addition  to  the  excellent  law  library  of  the  firm,  amounting  to  about  4,000  volumes,  Mr.  Culver 
has  a  well  selected  library  of  miscellaneous  books,  to  which  he  is  adding  from  year  to  year.  He 
has  written  and  lectured  some,  particularly  on  masonic  matters,  and  among  his  lectures  on  that 
subject,  delivered  before  Landmark  Lodge,  and  published  in  the  "  Voice  of  Masonry,"  was  one 
that  was  republished  in  the  ''Masonic  Magazine,"  London,  England. 

With  his  natural  fondness  for  study,  his  untiring  industry,  and  his  careful  and  methodical 
division  of  labor,  Mr.  Culver  cannot  fail  of  success  either  in  his  profession  or  literary  pursuits. 
He  was  married,  February  24,  1869,  to  Miss  Sarah  T.  Barnes,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Barnes,  who 
in  his  lifetime  was  a  prosperous  farmer  at  Battle  Ground,  Indiana. 


EDWARD  G.  ASAY. 

CHICAGO. 
S  a  criminal   lawyer  of  eminence,  perhaps  no  man  for  the  last  twenty  years  has  enjoyed  a 


higher  reputation  than  Edward  G.  Asay,  while  he  is  remarkably  efficient  in  all  branches  of 
civil  practice,  into  which  he  has  drifted  quite  extensively.  He  is  a  man  of  great  energy  of  char- 
acter, which  is  manifested  in  all  his  acts.  He  is  logical,  lucid  and  luminous,  quick  to  catch  a 
point,  and  fertile  in  resources,  and  is  seldom  surprised  by  any  emergency,  however  sudden  or 
unexpected.  He  is  a  polished  gentleman,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  a  city  noted 
for  having  produced  many  erudite  scholars  and  professional  gentlemen,  whose  ease  and  graceful 
deportment  have  adorned  the  legal  profession  in  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union.  He  was  born 
September  17,  1825,  and  is  the  son  of  John  Asay,  a  merchant  of  that  city,  where  he  still  resides,  at 
an  advanced  age,  having  long  since  retired  from  active  business.  He  was'educated  in  the  private 
schools  of  Jacob  Harpel  and  Rev.  William  B.  Mann.  His  health  was  delicate  in  those  days,  but 
it  has  been  recuperated,  and  he  has  since  become  strong  and  vigorous.  In  those  schools  he  laid 
a  solid  foundation  of  knowledge,  which  after  acquirements  have  developed  into  a  cultivated  and 
brilliant  scholarship.  He  prepared  for  the  ministry  under  Doctors  Cooper  and  Kennedy,  both 
Methodist  ministers  of  culture  and  celebrity,  and  then  entered  into  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  preaching  at  Tamaqua  and  Tremont,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Dover,  Delaware,  and 
Easton,  Maryland. 

In  the  year  1849  he  married  Emma  C.  Oliver,  daughter  of  James  C.  Oliver,  of  Pottsville 
Pennsylvania,  who  is  still  living,  and  actively  engaged  in  many  works  of  public  character.  After 
traveling  south,  and  sojourning  a  short  time  in  Tallahassee,  Florida,  he  returned  north  in  1853 
and  resigned  the  ministry,  retaining  the  entire  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  colaborers  in  the 
church,  who  recognized  fully,  but  with  regret,  the  reasons  rendering  imperatively  necessary  the 
pursuance  of  his  course,  and  he  retained  his  parchments  up  to  the  year  1858,  when,  at  his  own 
request,  they  were  canceled. 

In  1853  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and  also  devoted  a  portion  of  his  time  to  mercan- 
tile affairs  in  New  York  city,  contributing  meanwhile  to  many  of  the  leading  periodicals,  and 
making  many  friends  among  the  resident  litterateurs.  Early  in  1856  he  passed  his  examination, 
the  examiners  being  J.  T.  Brady,  Richard  Burteed,  and  Mr.  Whiting  and  Mr.  Gerard,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  Removing  to  Chicago,  in  March  of  that  year,  he  immediately  commenced 
the  practice  of  the  law. 


j.  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

During  his  first  fifteen  years  of  practice  at  Chicago,  he  defended  over  one  hundred  capital 
cases  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  not  one  of  his  clients  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of 
the  law.  He  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  every  department  of  the  law,  and  his  reputation  for 
fairness  and  candor  renders  him  potent  before  a  jury.  He  is  well  known  as  a  bibliophile  in 
Europe  and  America,  and  his  library  is  a  rare  collection  of  literature,  especially  rich  in  poetry,  it 
being  the  collection  of  a  lifetime,  having  been  preserved  from  the  conflagration  of  1871  by  the 
kindness  of  his  friend,  the  eminent  bibliophilist,  Joseph  Sabin,  of  New  York,  who  kept  his  books 
at  his  own  house  during  the  absence  of  Mr.  Asay  and  his  wife  in  Europe,  which  lasted  about 
eighteen  months,  when  he  returned  with  his  family,  in  the  fall  of  1872,  to  Chicago,  where  he  has 
been  engaged  in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession  ever  since,  except  a  tour  of  Russia  and 
Spain,  made  by  himself  and  wife  in  1882,  covering  about  one  year.  Mr.  Asay  has  rare  social 
qualities,  and  converses  clearly  and  eloquently  on  all  topics,  and  happily  illustrates  his  ideas  with 
epigrammatic  utterances  from  noted  authors.  He  is  an  excellent  judge  of  human  nature. 

Personally,  he  is  prepossessing,  being  a  little  above  the  medium  height,  with  a  massive,  well 
developed  form.  He  has  a  fine  intellectual  development  of  brain;  his  eyes  are  kindly  blue,  his 
lips  full,  and  his  countenance  extremely  benevolent  and  genial. 


HON.   STEPHEN   A.    DOUGLAS. 

CHICAGO. 

OTEPHEN  ARNOLD  DOUGLAS,  statesman,  and  for  many  years  a  favorite  lawyer  and  jurist 
vj  of  Illinois,  was  born  in  Brandon,  Vermont,  April  23,  1813.  His  father  was  a  physician,  of 
Puritan  lineage,  and  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  early  in  his  profession,  leaving  his  widow  and 
son  with  very  little  means  for  their  support.  The  latter  had  poor  opportunities  for  mental  disci- 
pline in  his  early  youth,  devoting  most  of  his  time  to  learning  the  cabinet  maker's  trade.  The 
widow  married  again,  and  in  1831  he  accompanied  her  and  his  stepfather  to  Canandaigua,  New 
York,  where  he  attended  an  academy  until  1833,  in  which  year  he  came  into  this  state,  and  taught 
a  school  at  Winchester,  near  the  seat  of  justice  of-  Scott  county.  E.  G.  Miner,  now  a  banker  at 
Winchester,  and  whom  we  recently  met  at  his  home,  aided  Mr.  Douglas,  in  getting  up  his  sub- 
scription school,  and  they  slept  together  during  the  winter,  Mr.  Douglas  devoting  his  evenings  to 
the  study  of  law. 

In  1834  he  went  to  Jacksonville,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  the  next  year  was  elected 
attorney  general  of  the  state,  being  only  twenty-two  years  of  age.  That  office  he  soon  resigned, 
to  accept  a  seat  in  the  legislature.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term  in  that  body,  he  continued  to 
practice  law  in  Jacksonville  until  1837,  when  President  Van  Buren  appointed  him  register  of  the 
land  office  at  Springfield,  which  now  became  his  home.  In  1839  he  resigned;  the  next  year,  was 
made  secretary  of  state;  in  1841  was  elected  by  the  legislature  to  the  bench,  and  two  years  after- 
ward resigned,  to  take  his  seat  in  the  national  house  of  representatives,  to  which  his  democratic 
constituents  had  elected  him.  He  served  in  that  body  in  the  twenty-eighth  and  twenty-ninth 
congresses,  and  in  1847  he  was  chosen  to  the  United  States  senate,  where  he  was  kept  until  his 
death.  With  his  career  in  the  upper  house  at  Washington  the  general  reader  must  be  familiar,  he 
being  for  some  years  the  northern  leader  of  the  democratic  party.  He  was  for  a  long  time  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  territories;  was  an  earnest  and  eloquent  advocate  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  doctrine  of  squatter  sovereignty. 
In  1860  the  Douglas  wing  of  the  democracy  nominated  him  for  the  presidency,  he  having  been  a 
candidate  for  nomination,  also,  in  1852  and  1856.  In  that  memorable  campaign  (1860)  there  were 
four  candidates  for  the  presidency,  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  republican  nominee,  was  the  suc- 
cessful one.  Although  Mr.  Douglas  received  only  twelve  electoral  votes,  he  stood  next  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  the  popular  vote,  and  had  nearly  as  many  votes  as  Breckenridge  and  Bell  combined. 
When  it  was  known  that  the  republican  party  had  triumphed,  and  the  southern  states  began  to 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  7 

talk  of  seceding.  Mr.  Douglas  declared  his  intention  to  stand  by  the  government  at  every  cost. 
Soon  after  the  close  of  the  extra  session  of  the  senate,  held  in  April,  1861,  Mr.  Douglas  started 
for  his  home  at  Chicago.  On  the  way  he  was  delayed  by  missing  the  connection,  and  was  called 
upon  to  give  his  views  of  the  situation,  and  never  failed  to  declare  his  intention  to  stand  by 
President  Lincoln  in  his  efforts  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  government.  April  25,  he  addressed 
the  Illinois  legislature,  then  in  session,  and  convinced  his  hearers  that  he  was  a  true  patriot,  ready 
to  sink  party  to  save  his  country.  He  returned  to  Chicago,  May  i,  and  until  near  his  death, 
which  occurred  June  3,  he  continued  to  speak  or  write  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  the  Union,  urging 
his  democratic  friends  to  stand  by  the  old  flag,  and  his  sons  to  be  true  to  their  country. 

Several  years  before  his  demise,  Mr.  Douglas  gave  ten  acres  of  land  to  the  Baptist  denomina- 
tion, on  Cottage  Grove  avenue,  between  Thirty-third  and  Thirty-fifth  streets,  for  a  college,  and 
the  University  of  Chicago  stands  as  a  monument  of  his  generosity,  and  his  regard  for  the  cause 
of  education. 

Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Douglas,  a  monument  has  been  erected  to  his  memory  on  the  lake 
shore,  directly  north  of  Thirty-fifth  street,  or  Douglas  Place,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  people 
visit  that  spot  every  year  to  do  reverence  to  the  memory  of  the  great  jurist,  statesman  and  patriot. 


GENERAL  JOHN   M.   PALMER. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN  McAULEY  PALMER,  a  major-general  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  ex-governor  of 
J  Illinois,  was  born  in  Scott  county,  Kentucky,  September  13,  1817,  his  parents  being  Lewis  and 
Ann  (Tutt)  Palmer,  both  natives  of  Virginia.  When  quite  young,  John  moved  with  the  family  to 
Christian  county,  in  the  same  state,  there  remaining  until  1831,  when  the  family  came  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Madison  county.  Two  years  later,  the  mother  died,  and  the  family  became  scat- 
tered. Up  to  that  time,  our  subject  had  had  but  scanty  school  privileges;  and  the  Upper  Alton 
College,  then  in  its  infancy,  being  started  on  the  manual  labor  plan,  he  spent  one  year  in  that 
school,  paying  his  way  by  building  fires,  sweeping  the  floors,  and  doing  other  chores. 

Mr.  Palmer  commenced  the  study  of  law  at  Carlinville,  in  1839,  with  John  S.  Greathouse;  went 
to  Springfield  the  next  December  for  his  license  to  practice,  and  by  appointment  of  the  court,  was 
examined  by  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  J.  Y.  Scammon;  received  his  certificate  on  their  recom- 
mendation; heard  a  man  whom  the  crowd  called  Abe  Lincoln  speak  that  evening^and  returned  to 
Carlinville,  where  he  soon  built  up  a  good  practice.  While  a  resident  of  Carlinville,  he  held  the 
office  of  probate  judge  for  the  term  of  four  years. 

Mr.  Palmer  early  allied  himself  with  the  democracy;  cast  his  first  vote  for  president  in  1840, 
for  Martin  Van  Buren;  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1854;  became  an  anti-Nebraska  demo- 
crat in  1854;  broke  with  his  old  friend,  Stephen  A.  Douglas;  nominated  and  aided  in  electing 
Lyman  Trumbull  to  the  United  States  senate;  supported  Fremont  and  Dayton  in  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1856,  and  four  years  later  did  good  service  in  putting  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Lincoln,  in 
the  presidential  chair. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  Mr.  Palmer  raised  the  I4th  Illinois  infantry,  and  for  his  gallant  and 
heroic  deeds  was  promoted  eventually  to  major-general,  and  given  command  of  an  army  corps. 
Subsequently,  he  had  command  of  a  department.  He  made  a  noble  military  record.  The  civil 
war  being  closed,  General  Palmer  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  settling  in  Springfield 
in  1867.  The  next  year  he  was  elected  governor  on  the  republican  ticket,  and  served  four  years, 
making  an  able  and  efficient  executive  of  this  great  commonwealth. 

Governor  Palmer  was  dissatisfied  with  the  administration  of  President  Grant;  became  a  liberal 

republican  in  1872,  and  latterly  has  affiliated  with  his  first  love,  the  .democratic  party.     He  has 

frequently  been  spoken  of  as  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  presidency;  but  he  is  living  a  quiet, 

unobtrusive  life,  practicing  his  profession,  being  of  the  firm  of  Palmers,  Robinson  and  Shutt.     His 

2 


8  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

elder  son,  John  Mayo  Palmer,  mentioned  below,  is  a  member  of  the  firm.  The  governor's  family 
consists  of  his  wife,  two  sons,  and  four  daughters,  the  latter  being  all  married.  His  wife  was 
Melinda  Ann  Neely,  to  whom  he  was  joined  in  wedlock  December  20,  1842.  Tradition  has  it 
that  they  commenced  housekeeping  with  a  very  moderate  outlay,  the  sum  of  $50  covering  the 
whole  expense,  furniture,  bedding,  etc.  [See  "  History  of  Sangamon  County,"  1881,  p.  132.]  Mrs. 
Palmer  is  a  benevolent  woman,  and  a  very  active  member  of  the  Central  Baptist  Church,  Spring- 
field. Mr.  Palmer,  we  believe,  has  never  taken  his  letter  from  the  Carlinville  Church. 


JOHN  MAYO  PALMER. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN  MAYO  PALMER,  son  of  General  Palmer,  whose  Sketch  precedes  this,  was  born  at  Car- 
linville, Macoupin  county,  March  10,  1848.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 'his 
native  city,  Blackburn  University,  Carlinville,  and  Shurtleff  College,  Upper  Alton,  leaving  the 
latter  institution  just  before  completing  his  college  course,  in  order  to  be  with  his  father,  then  at 
the  head  of  an  army  corps.  He  never  returned  to  Shurtleff,  but  read  law  with  his  father  when 
the  war  was  over,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  summer  of  1867.  Instead  of  opening  an 
office  then,  he  went  to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts;  entered  the  law  department  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, and  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws,  in  June,  1868.  Thus  thoroughly 
equipped  for  law  practice,  Mr.  Palmer  returned  to  Carlinville,  opened  an  office,  had  a  fair  amount 
of  business,  and  while  there,  held  the  office  of  city  attorney  for  one  term. 

In  September,  1872,  he  removed  to  Springfield,  where  his  father  had  resided  since  1867,  and 
who  was  on  his  last  year  in  the  executive  chair  of  the  state.  He  formed  a  partnership  with  his 
father,  and  is  now  practicing  in  the  firm  of  Palmers,  Robinson  and  Shutt,  one  of  the  leading  law 
firms  in  Sangamon  county,  and  is  a  rising  young  man.  Mr.  Palmer  was  a  member  of  the  city 
council  from  1874  to  1877,  and  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  for  one  term,  being  elected  on 
the  democratic  ticket  in  1876. 

•  Mr.  Palmer  married,  July  7,  1869,  Ellen,  daughter  of  Doctor  W.  A.  and  Nannette  (Holliday) 
Robertson,  and  a  graduate  of  Monticello  Seminary,  Godfrey,  Illinois,  and  they  have  three  chil- 
dren, all  sons:  John  McAuley,  Robertson,  and  George  Thomas. 


HENRY  S.  MONROE. 

,  CHICAGO. 

HENRY  STANTON  MONROE,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Chicago  bar,  was  born  in  Bal- 
timore, Maryland,  February  9,  1829.  His  father,  Dr.  Henry  Monroe,  a  native  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  was,  from  about  one  year  preceding  our  subject's  birth,  an  invalid,  and  was  at  that 
time  in  Baltimore,  hoping  to  improve  his  health.  He  had  acquired  an  honorable  standing  in  the 
medical  profession  in  Broome  county,  New  York,  when  he  had  reached  his  twenty-sixth  year,  at 
which  date  he  was  obliged  to  seek  a  respite  from  his  labors.  The  Monroe  family  were  early  set- 
tlers in  this  country.  There  were  thirteen  in  all,  near  relatives,  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
Large  numbers  now  reside  in  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  New  York. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Sylvia  Thomas,  a  relative  of  the  Stantons  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
of  the  late  Hon.  Caleb  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  and  her  biographer  states  that  she  was  "a  lady 
of  cultivated  tastes,  and  many  accomplishments."  Her  husband,  in  his  later  years,  gave  his 
attention  to  the  opening  of  a  farm  which  he  purchased  as  wild  land,  in  Broome  county,  and  which 
he  made  one  of  the  best  farms  in  that  county.  On  that  farm  Henry  spent  his  early  years,  with 
an  intelligent  mother  for  his  teacher,  as  well  as  guide,  the  first  decade  of  his  life.  For  a  few- 
years  thereafter  he  assisted  his  father  on  the  farm  during  seedtime,  haying  and  harvest,  and 


UNITf'.O    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  g 

attended  a  district  school  in  the  winter  term.  At  the  same  time  he  gave  such  spare  hours  as  he 
could  command  to  reading,  for  which  he  early  cultivated  a  taste,  history  being  a  favorite  study 
at  that  period.  Mr.  Monroe  prepared  for  college  at  Oxford,  Chenango  county,  New  York,  making 
rapid  strides  in  his  studies,  for  which  he  had  a  keen  relish,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years  entered 
the  junior  class  of  Geneva  College,  New  York,  leaping  half  way  through  at  the  first  bound.  In 
compliance  with  the  request  of  the  college  society  to  which  he  belonged,  he  became  a  competitor 
for  the  highest  prizes,  and  won  them.  He  was  graduated  in  1850,  standing  at  the  head  of  his 
class  and  taking  the  valedictory. 

Mr.  Monroe  studied  law  at  Oxford  with  Henry  R.  Mygatt,  and  taught  school  a  few  terms 
while  pursuing  his  legal  studies.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1853,  and  purchasing  a  few  law 
books  with  borrowed  money,  came  directly  to  Chicago,  where  he  had  one  acquaintance  only,  Hon. 
Stephen  A.  Dougias.  Mr.  Monroe  has  the  capacity,  however,  as  well  as  the  disposition,  to  make 
acquaintances,  and  also  fast  and  abiding  friends;  and  opening  an  office  early  in  the  year  1854,  he 
soon  built  up  a  good  business,  and  canceled  his  debt  for  books.  His  first  case  of  much  note  was 
that  of  Martin  O.  Walker  vs.  John  Frink,  two  well  known  stage-coach  proprietors,  twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago.  A  brief  account  of  this  trial  may  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Monroe,  published 
in  "The  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois,"  1875.  In  that  case  our  subject  appeared  alone 
for  the  defense,  having  a  great  array  of  talent  against  him,  and  won  a  signal  triumph,  at  the  same 
time  establishing  his  reputation  as  a  first-class  advocate.  The  trial  lasted  a  long  time,  and  Mr. 
Monroe,  who  is  somewhat  of  an  athlete,  physically  we  mean  (and  we  might  also  add  mentally), 
endured  the  great  strain  admirably,  and  came  out  ready  for  another  tilt  at  the  earliest  notice. 

Another  important  case  in  which  Mr.  Monroe  was  engaged,  and  in  which  he  greatly  distin- 
guished himself,  was  that  of  Fisher  vs.  Stone,  a  case  of  malpractice,  noticed  in  the  work  to  which 
we  have  just  referred,  and  which  the  reader  may  be  glad  to  consult.  It  was  a  cause  involving 
scientific  problems,  then  unsolved,  in  which  medical  men  were  profoundly  interested,  and  in  which 
several  of  the  leading  men  in  that  profession  were  summoned  to  testify.  Mr.  Monroe  completely 
mastered  the  details  of  the  matter,  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  subject,  and  astonished  everybody, 
and  particularly  the  medical  experts,  with  the  breadth  of  his  knowledge,  and  his  masterly  presen- 
tation and  handling  of  the  cause. 

The  trial  lasted  a  full  month,  and  our  subject  came  out  of  it  with  an  elastic  bound,  and  with 
the  triumphant  cheers  of  his  friends,  he  winning  for  the  defendant.  It  is  stated  on  good  author- 
ity that  the  result  of  this  trial  was  to  materially  change  the  opinion  of  medical  experts  upon  sci- 
entific questions,  which  had  been  debated  and  unsettled,  such  experts  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  this 
country,  with  very  few  exceptions,  siding  with  Mr.  Monroe  in  the  correctness  of  the  theories  and 
principles  which  he  laid  down.  His  success  in  a  few  such  trials  as  these  here  mentioned,  taking 
place  during  the  early  period  of  his  practice  in  Chicago,  gave  him  a  wide  and  high  reputation  as 
a  lawyer,  and  his  business  soon  extended  over  a  broad  area.  It  is  now  spread  over  almost  the 
whole  country.  He  was  not  long  ago  engaged  on  the  celebrated  Reese  will  case  in  California, 
and  in  an  important  land  case  in  New  Hampshire,  and  has  tried  important  cases  in  all  the  north- 
western states,  as  well  as  in  New  York. 

Mr.  Monroe  encourages  no  one  to  go  to  law  unless  he  has  a  clear  case,  and,  once  enlisted 
labors  with  indefatigable  zeal  for  the  interests  of  his  client.  As  leading  counsel  in  many  impor- 
tant corporation,  commercial  and  insurance  cases,  and  in  defending  prosecutions  under  the  rev- 
enue laws,  his  great  success  has  been  specially  conspicuous.  As  cross-examining  counsel,  and  as 
an  advocate  before  a  jury,  he  has  few  peers  at  the  Chicago  bar.  Lately  Mr.  Monroe  has  been 
largely  engaged  in  real-estate  litigation,  being  a  leader  in  this  line  of  the  profession.  As  inti- 
mated in  the  early  part  of  this  sketch,  Mr.  Monroe  has  a  fondness  for  literature  as  well  as  the  law, 
and  has  never  ceased  to  develop  and  improve  his  taste  in  that  direction.  In  the  great  fire  of  1871 
he  lost  one  of  the  largest  and  most  perfect  law  libraries  in  the  Northwest,  which  has  only  in  a 
measure  been  replaced,  and  he  is  constantly  adding  to  his  private  library,  which  was  noted  years 
ago  for  its  large  size  and  the  great  value  of  the  collection.  It  contains  between  five  thousand  and 


IO  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAKY. 

six  thousand  volumes,  nearly  all  in  the  richest  binding,  and  embracing  the  French  and  German, 
as  well  as  English  and  American  classics. 

Mr.  Monroe  married,  in  1856,  Miss  Mattie  Mitchell,  daughter  of  William  B.  Mitchell,  of  Akron, 
Ohio,  and  they  have  an  interesting  family  of  children,  who  are  receiving  an  excellent  education, 
and  are  the  pride  of  their  parents.  In  social  as  well  as  professional  standing,  Mr.  Monroe  holds 
a  front  rank,  the  purity  of  his  life,  as  well  as  his  integrity,  being  unquestioned.  With  mental  he 
intermingles  physical  recreation;  at  one  time  with  his  spirited  horse  on  our  boulevards,  at  an- 
other with  dog  and  gun;  and  thus  he  keeps  up  the  elasticity  of  his  body  as  well  as  mind,  and  bids 
fair  to  see  an  old  age  of  life's  "linked  sweetness  long  drawn  out." 


GENERAL   ULYSSES  S.  GRANT. 

GALENA. 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT  was  born  at  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  April  27,  1822, 
the  son  of  a  Scotch  leather  dealer.  He  entered  the  West  Point  Military  Academy  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  and  four  years  later  graduated,  with  the  commission  of  brevet  second  lieutenant. 
During  the  Mexican  war  he  was  twice  brevetted  for  gallantry,  He  resigned  his  commission,  hav- 
ing reached  the  rank  of  captain,  in  1854.  He  was  engaged  in  farming,  with  moderate  success,  for 
several  years  near  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  and  in  1860  went  into  the  leather  trade  at  Galena,  Illi- 
nois, with  his  father.  April  15,  i£6i,  President  Lincoln  made  his  first  call  for  troops  to  put  down 
the  rebellion.  Four  days  later  Grant  was  drilling  a  company  of  volunteers  at  Galena,  and  soon 
afterward  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  2ist  regiment,  Illinois  infantry,  and  was  assigned  to  duty 
under  General  Pope,  in  Missouri.  Two  months  later  he  was  commissioned  brigadier-general  of 
volunteers.  September  i,  1861,  he  took  command  of  southeastern  Missouri,  with  headquarters 
at  Cairo,  and  on  the  sixth,  captured  Paducah. 

November  5,  he  was  directed  to  proceed  against  Belmont,  eighteen  miles  below  Cairo,  on  the 
Mississippi,  where  he  landed  on  the  seventh  with  3,000  troops,  destroyed  the  confederate  camp, 
and  returned  to  Cairo,  contending  with  and  cutting  his  way  through  7,000  confederate  troops. 
His  loss  was  less  than  500  men  ;  the  enemy's  about  650.  The  government's  first  important  suc- 
cess was  the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson,  a  strong  garrison  numbering  over  20,000  men.  The 
assault  was  made  by  General  Grant,  February  12,  1862,  with  a  force  of  15,000  men,  and  on  the 
sixteenth,  after  a  most  desperate  resistance,  the  enemy  surrendered,  unconditionally.  Sixty-five 
pieces  of  artillery,  17,600  stand  of  small  arms  and  14,600  prisoners  were  taken,  while  the  confed- 
erate loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  2,500.  The  entire  loss  of  Union  troops  was  less  than  2,000. 
The  result  of  this  battle  was  to  open  up  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Tennessee  and  the 
Cumberland  Rivers  for  hundreds  of  miles,  and  give  the  government  control  of  the  entire  states 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

In  March,  having  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  and  placed  in  command  of 
west  Tennessee,  he  moved  toward  Corinth  with  38,000  troops,  and,  encamping  at  Shiloh,  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Tennessee,  awaited  the  arrival  of  General  Buell  with  40,000  men.  April  6,  the 
confederates,  50,000  strong,  under  General  Beauregard,  moved  against  him  from  Corinth,  hoping 
to  defeat  him  before  the  arrival  of  Buell.  Although  the  Union  forces  were  driven  back  to  the 
river,  Grant  held  out  till  the  arrival  of  Buell,  and,  renewing  the  contest  on  the  seventh,  the  con- 
federates were  driven  back  to  Corinth.  On  the  ninth  General  Halleck  arrived  and  assumed  com- 
mand. In  July  Halleck  was  made  general-in-chief,  and  Grant  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
department  of  the  Tennessee.  In  September  he  fought  the  battle  of  luka,  and  subsequently 
directed  the  movements  which  resulted  in  driving  the  enemy  from  Corinth.  His  next  important 
movement  was  against  Vicksburg.  The  plan  was  for  General  Sherman  to  go  down  the  Missis- 
sippi, with  a  force  of  40,000  troops,  while  Grant  was  to  come  up  in  the  rear  with  a  force  of  30,000. 
Owing  to  the  surrender  of  Holly  Springs,  his  chief  base  of  supplies,  by  Colonel  Murphy,  the 
campaign  was  abandoned. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAK\f.  13 

In  the  following  January,  Grant  assumed  personal  command  of  all  the  troops  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  and  moving  to  a  point  opposite  Vicksburg,  spent  several  months  in  fruitless  attempts 
to  get  his  forces  below  that  place,  and,  finally,  marched  his  army  through  the  swamps  on  the 
western  banks,  while  his  gun-boats  and  transport  fleet  ran  the  batteries.  He  now  had  43,000 
men,  and  had  opposed  to  him  two  armies  ;  one  under  Pemberton,  of  50,000,  at  Vicksburg,  and 
another  under  Johnston,  at  Jackson,  fifty  miles  to  the  east.  May  i,  he  defeated  a  portion  of  Pem- 
berton's  command  at  Port  Gibson,  and  on  the  fourteenth  captured  Jackson,  and  routed  John- 
ston's army.  Turning  westward,  he  scattered  Pemberton's  army  at  Champion's  Hill,  May  16,  and 
the  next  day  again  beat  him  at  Black  River  Bridge,  and  on  the  eighteenth  drove  him  into  Vicks- 
burg. Then  began  the  regular  siege,  which  lasted  till  July  4,  when  Pemberton  surrendered,  with 
31,600  men,  and  170  cannon.  The  confederate  loss  during  this  campaign  was  some  60,000  men. 
Grant's  loss  was  less  than  9,000. 

This  was  the  last  important  fighting  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Grant  was  now  made  major- 
general  in  the  regular  army,  and,  October  16,  was  put  in  command  of  the  armies  of  the  Ohio,  the 
Cumberland  and  Tennessee.  October  27,  he  fought  the  battle  of  Lookout  Valley,  and  rescued 
from  imminent  danger  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  which  was  defending  Chattanooga.  Octo- 
ber 24  and  25,  he  fought  the  battle  of  Chattanooga,  defeating  General  Bragg,  and  thus  opened 
the  way  for  the  Union  forces  into  Georgia.  In  February,  1864,  congress  created  for  him  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-general,  and  March  17,  he  took  command  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States.  His 
next  move  was  to  disorganize  and  scatter  the  confederate  forces,  sending  Sherman  into  Georgia, 
and  Butler,  with  30,000  men,  against  Richmond,  and  Sigel,  with  7,000  troops,  into  Virginia,  to 
fight  Breckenridge.  He  himself,  with  110,000  men,  moved  against  Lee,  whose  army  numbered 
75,000.  In  fighting  his  way  from  the  Rapidan  to  the  James  River,  6,000  of  his  men  were  killed, 
26,000  wounded,  while  the  missing  numbered  about  7,000.  The  confederate  loss,  supposed  to 
have  been  equally  large,  was  never  known,  as  they  destroyed  their  records.  During  this  cam- 
paign were  fought  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania  and  Cold  Harbor,  each  of  which 
cost  the  Union  forces  dearly,  but  inflicted  on  Lee  losses  from  which  he  never  recovered.  Butler 
having  failed  to  capture  Richmond,  he  was  joined  by  Grant's  army,  and  in  June  the  siege  of  the 
city  began.  Sigel,  being  unsuccessful  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  was  succeeded  by  Hunter,  and 
Sherman,  meanwhile,  was  fighting  his  way  toward  Atlanta,  whence  he  afterward  made  his  famous 
march  to  the  sea.  Hunter  being  repulsed,  Sheridan  was  placed  in  command  of  a  force,  which 
drove  the  confederates  out  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  and  defeated  them  wherever  he  met  them. 
Thomas  routed  the  enemy  at  Nashville,  Schofield  at  Franklin,  and  Sherman,  having  reached 
Savannah,  was  ordered  into  the  interior  and  northward.  Thus  disposing  his  armies,  and  striking 
the  enemy  at  the  most  vital  points,  Grant  was  prepared  for  the  final  stroke.  Lee  now  had  about 
75,000  men  at  Richmond,  and  Grant,  in  conjunction  with  Sheridan,  commanded  110,000  before 
that  city  and  Petersburgh.  The  enemy  fought  bravely  and  resisted  stubbornly,  but,  April  2, 
Petersburgh  was  captured,  and  on  the  following  day.  Lee,  closely  pursued  by  Grant,  fled  toward 
Lynchburgh,  and  April  9,  finding  that  resistance  was  longer  useless,  surrendered  what  remained 
of  his  army,  27,000  men,  at  Appomattox  court  house.  His  surrender  was  immediately  followed 
by  the  surrender  of  all  the  confederate  forces,  and  the  great  civil  war  was  ended. 

Grant  now  became  the  object  of  universal  admiration,  and  a  popularity  such  as  no  American 
had  ever  won.  His  name  was  spoken  with  praise  everywhere  ;  honors  were  heaped  upon  him, 
and  congress  created  for  him  the  grade  of  general.  He  was  the  most  conspicuous  figure  in  pub- 
lic life,  after  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  and  when  Andrew  Johnson,  who  succeeded 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  president,  was  thought  by  many  to  be  plotting  the  return  of  the  confederates  to 
power,  the  people  turned  anxiously  to  Grant.  Congress  conferred  upon  him  unusual  powers, 
and  Johnson,  with  a  view  to  strengthening  and  popularizing  his  policy,  suspended  the  secretary 
of  war  and  placed  Grant  in  the  cabinet.  The  relation  was  not  a  happy  one,  and  the  soldier,  in 
obedience  to  his  sense  of  duty  and  obligations  to  the  laws,  found  that  he  must  break  with  the 
president,  from  which  time  Johnson  became  his  political  and  personal  enemy.  His  popularity 


14  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

with  the  people,  however,  remained  unshaken,  and  in  1868,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  United 
States  by  a  large  majority. 

His  administration  was  distinguished  by  a  cessation  of  sectional  strifes,  resulting  from  the 
war,  and  a  settlement  by  the  Geneva  arbitration,  of  the  difficulties  between  the  United  States  and 
England,  on  account  of  injuries  which  that  country  had  occasioned.  During  the  latter  part  of 
this  administration,  a  great  disaffection  occurred  in  his  own  party,  in  spite  of  which,  however,  he 
was  renominated  in  1872,  and  elected  by  the  largest  vote  that  any  president  had  ever  received 
After  the  close  of  his  second  term,  President  Grant  retired  to  private  life,  and  in  1879  made  an 
extended  trip  around  the  world,  during  which  he  was  made  the  recipient  of  every  honor  that  it 
was  in  the  power  of  royalty  to  bestow.  His  course  through  England,  Europe  and  the  Orient  was 
a  continuation  of  fetes,  banquets  and  ovations,  and  upon  his  return  in  1880,  his  own  people 
received  him  with  popular  demonstrations  and  welcomes,  surpassing  in  splendor  and  enthusiasm, 
anything  ever  before  witnessed  in  America.  Many  of  his  admirers,  who  desired  his  return  to  the 
presidential  chair,  urged  his  claims  with  such  ardor  that  he  became  one  of  the  most  prominent 
candidates  in  the  republican  convention  at  Chicago,  in  1880,  but  after  a  long  and  tedious  struggle, 
during  which  his  friends  never  faltered,  the  honor  was  conferred  upon  James  A.  Garfield,  of 
Ohio. 

General  Grant,  during  recent  years,  has  been  connected  with  various  corporations  and  rail- 
road enterprises,  having  his  home  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where,  as  throughout  the  nation,  he  is 
respected,  esteemed  and  honored  as  a  military  hero,  ^and  a  great  man. 


JAMES  MCCARTNEY. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THE  attorney  general  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this 
sketch,  is  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction,  both  parents,  Irvine  and  Margaret  (Fyffe)  McCartney, 
being  born  near  Enniskellen,  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  To  that  country  members  of  the  family  on 
both  sides  moved  from  Scotland  about  the  time  of  Cromwell,  but  of  their  record,  farther  than 
that,  we  have  no  reliable  data. 

James  McCartney  was  born  in  Perry  county,  Pennsylvania,  February  14,  1835,  and  when  he 
was  a  child  the  family  pushed  westward  as  far  as  Greene  township,  Trumbull  county,  Ohio.  He 
was  raised  on  a  farm,  finishing  his  literary  studies  at  the  Western  Reserve  Seminary  at  Farming- 
ton,  in  that  county.  He  commenced  reading  law  with  Judge  Matthew  Burchard,  of  Warren,  Ohio, 
finished  with  Harding  and  Reed,  of  Monmouth,  Illinois,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1858. 
After  practicing  for  one  short  year  in  company  with  his  preceptors,  in  the  autumn  of  1859  Mr. 
McCartney  removed  to  Galva,  where  he  was  in  practice  when  the  civil  war  burst  upon  the  country. 
April  19,  1 86 1,  the  day  that  the  first  blood  for  the  Union  was  shed  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  and  just  ninety-six  years  after  the  first  martyrs  fell  in  the  cause  of  freedom  at  Lexing- 
ton, Massachusetts,  our  subject  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  I7th  Illinois  infantry.  He  was 
immediately  made  first  lieutenant,  company  D,  and  served  in  that  position  till  April,  1862,  when 
his  health  broke  down  and  he  resigned.  His  regiment  was  in  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 

Lieutenant  McCartney  spent  the  summer  of  1862  at  Lake  Superior,  and  recovering  his  health; 
he  returned  to  Galva,  and  in  September  enlisted  in  the  ii2th  Illinois  infantry,  which  was  in  the 
23d  corps,  the  Army  of  the  Ohio,  and  served  until  after  the  rebels  had  laid  down  their  arms,  being 
.mustered  out  in  July,  1865.  He  went  in  as  first  lieutenant,  company  G,  was  promoted  to  captain 
in  February,  1863,  and  came  out  holding  that  rank.  He  was  in  twenty-seven  general  engage- 
ments, and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  skirmishes,  being  under  fire  in  all  of  them,  yet,  strange  to 
say,  although  hit  a  few  times,  he  never  received  a  serious  wound. 

On  sheathing  his  sword,  Captain  McCartney  settled  at  Fairfield,  Wayne  county,  where  he  con- 
tinued the  practice  of  his  profession  until  elected,  by  the  republican  party,  to  his  present  state 
office  in  November,  1880. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  15 

We  have  the  very  best  authority  for  stating  that  Attorney  General  McCartney's  standing  as  a 
lawyer  in  his  part  of  the  state  is  second  to  none.  "  He  is  a  diligent  student,  prudent  counselor, 
and  energetic  advocate.  He  is  remarkable  for  the  courage,  force  and  indomitable  will  with  which 
he  carries  on  his  legal  combats,  and  clings  to  the  cause  of  his  client.  No  obstacle  turns  him 
aside,  but  he  presses  on  toward  victory,  if  it  can  be  won  by  honorable  means  and  earnest  labor, 
and  never  accepts  defeat  until  it  is  unavoidable." 

Our  subject  was  joined  in  marriage,  in  1859,  with  Miss  Eunice  A.  Lindsley,  of  Trumbull  county, 
Ohio,  and  they  have  one  daughter  and  two  sons. 


HON.  JOHN  M.   HAMILTON. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

JOHN  MARSHALL  HAMILTON,  governor  of  Illinois,  dates  his  birth  at  Richwood,  Union 
j  county,  Ohio,  May  28,  1847,  being  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Nancy  (McMorris)  Hamilton.  His 
grandfather,  Rev.  William  Hamilton,  and  a  brother  of  that  grandsire,  Rev.  Samuel  Hamilton, 
were  among  the  pioneer  Methodist  preachers  in  what  is  now  the  great  state  of  Ohio,  going  there 
when  it  was  little  more  than  an  unbroken  wilderness,  and  beginning  their  preaching  in  log  houses. 

The  grandmother  of  our  subject  was  a  Ewing,  and  related  to  General  Thomas  Ewing,  once  a 
conspicuous  figure  among 'the  magnates  of  the  Buckeye  State.  The  McMorrises  were  Scotch-Irish, 
from  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  early  settlers  in  Virginia,  being  related  by  marriage  to  General 
Turner  Ashby,  the  noted  rebel,  the  Youngs  and  other  prominent  Virginians,  and  to  Humphrey 
Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  the  middle  name  of  our  subject  coming  from  the  last  named  family. 

In  1854  Samuel  Hamilton  moved  with  his  family  to  this  state,  settling  on  a  farm,  in  Marshall 
county,  where  he  still  lives,  his  wife  being  dead.  John  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  and 
attended  a  country  school  during  the  winter  terms  until  sixteen  years  old;  in  1864  he  enlisted  as 
a  private  in  company  I,  1415!  Illinois  infantry,  and  served  about  seven  months. 

Leaving  the  army  and  returning  to  Illinois  he  attended  an  academy  at  Henry,  Marshall  county, 
one  year,  and .  then  entered  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  at  Delaware,  and  was  graduated  in 
1868,  standing  third  in  his  class.  He  taught  during  the  next  year  in  the  academy  at  Henry;  was 
then  appointed  to  the  Latin  chair  in  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  Bloomington,  and  while 
thus  engaged  in  teaching,  took  up  the  study  of  law  with  Weldon,  Tipton  and  Benjamin. 

Mr.  Hamilton  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  May,  1870,  and  after  being  in  the  office  of  his  precep- 
tors a  few  months,  formed  a  partnership  with  Jonathan  H.  Rowell,  and  the  firm  of  Rowell  and 
Hamilton  still  continues,  being  one  of  the  leading  law  firms  of  McLean  county.  Their  business 
extends  into  all  the  courts  of  the  state  and  of  the  United  States.  A  Will  county  paper  thus 
speaks  of  Mr.  Hamilton  as  a  lawyer  and  public  speaker: 

"  Mr.  Hamilton  stands  in  the  highest  rank  in  the  legal  profession  of  this  state,  having  enjoyed 
for  a  number  of  years  a  good  practice  in  both  civil  and  criminal  cases  in  McLean  and  adjoining 
counties.  Although  still  a  young  man,  his  dignified  bearing  and  manly  presence,  united  with 
broad  and  comprehensive  qualities  of  mind  and  sound  judgment,  have  gained  for  him  an  enviable 
reputation  among  the  leading  men  of  the  state.  Senator  Hamilton  is  a  natural  born  orator,  and 
his  speeches  are  characterized  by  a  depth  of  learning,  breadth  of  research,  and  comprehensive 
understanding  of  the  subject  matter,  which  shows  strength  of  mind  and  earnest  cultivation,  while 
his  command  of  language,  and  ready  simile  and  metaphor,  and  graceful  gestures,  make  it  a  pleas- 
ure to  listen  to  him.  Mentally,  morally,  socially,  financially  and  physically,  Mr.  Hamilton  is 
sound." 

Governor  Hamilton  was  vice-president  of  the  -State  Bar  Association  for  two  terms,  and  was 
elected  to  the  state  senate  for  the  28th  senatorial  district  in  1876,  and  served  the  full  term  of  four 
years,  being  president  pro  tern,  during  the  last  two.  He  was  also  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
miscellaneous  business  and  geology  and  science;  was  aecond  on  the  judiciary  committee,  and 


1 6  UNI'l'ED    STATl-'.S   lUOGKAl'IUCAL    DIC'l'IONARY. 

likewise  was  on  the  committees  on  education,  appropriations,  state  charitable  institutions,  etc. 
A  local  journal  thus  spoke  of  his  work  in  the  senate: 

"Mr.  Hamilton's  public  career  began  in  1876,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  senate  by  a  majority 
of  1,640  over  the  combined  democratic  and  greenback  vote.  From  the  time  he  took  his  seat  in 
the  senate,  Mr.  Hamilton  addressed  himself  to  his  duties  with  an  earnestness  and  industry  that 
soon  won  for  him  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  constituents,  and  made  him  an  influential  and 
prominent  member  of  the  senate.  He  introduced  and  procured  the  passage  of  the  bill  establish- 
ing the  appellate  courts,  and  was  the  author  of  the  bill  establishing  the  state  board  of  health,  both 
of  which  institutions  have  proven  to  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  state.  The  bill  providing  for  the 
organization  of  the  state  militia  owes  much  to  his  skill  and  ability  as  a  parliamentarian  during  the 
terrible  struggle  in  the  senate  over  its  passage  in  the  winter  of  1877.  Upon  the  assembling  of  the 
3ist  general  assembly,  Mr.  Hamilton  was  the  recipient  of  an  honor  that  seldom  falls  upon  any 
man,  in  being  unanimously  chosen  by  the  republican  caucus  as  candidate  for  president, /ra  /<•/;/., 
of  the  senate,  to  which  position  he  was  elected,  receiving  the  entire  party  strength.  In  this  posi- 
tion Mr.  Hamilton  displayed  rare  qualifications  as  a  presiding  officer,  and  by  his  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  parliamentary  law,  his  strict  impartiality  and  uniform  courtesy,  he  won  the  highest 
commendations  from  his  fellow  senators,  without  regard  to  political  differences." 

Mr.  Hamilton  made  such  a  good  record  in  the  state  senate,  and  so  distinguished  himself,  that 
in  1880  he  was  put  upon  the  republican  state  ticket  for  lieutenant-governor,  and  made  a  gallant 
fight  and  successful  canvass.  As  president  of  the  senate  he  is  prompt',  impartial,  and  alert;  just 
the  man  for  the  place.  In  January,  1883,  upon  the  election  of  Governor  Cullom  to  the  United 
States  senate,  Mr.  Hamilton  succeeded  him  to  the  governorship  of  the  state.  For  the  duties  of 
this  honorable  position  he  was  amply  fitted,  bringing  to  it  a  rich  and  varied  experience,  and  his 
official  acts  have  uniformly  been  characterized  by  wisdom,  prudence  and  foresight. 

Mr.  Hamilton  has  taken  the  scarlet  degree  in  Odd-Fellowship,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  a  trustee  of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Bloomington. 

He  married  in  July,  1871,  Miss  Helen  M.  Williams,  daughter  of  Professor  W.  G.  Williams,  of 
the  Ohio  Wesleyah  University,  and  they  have  three  children. 


D 


HON.   DAVID    DAVIS. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

AVID  DAVIS,  Bloomington,  Illinois,  is  descended  from  Welsh  ancestors,  who  had  resided 
in  this  country  more  than  a  century  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  March  19,  1815.  The  home  of 
his  childhood  was  in  Cecil  county,  Maryland,  where  he  pursued  his  early  education  until  he  went 
to  an  academy  in  Delaware  to  prepare  for  a  regular  classical  course. 

Mr.  Davis  went  from  the  academic  school  in  Delaware  to  Kenyon  College,  Ohio,  entering  that 
institution  in  the  autumn  of  1828.  Ohio  was  then  a  comparative  wilderness,  and  for  a  boy  student 
only  thirteen  years  of  age,  without  a  relative  to  welcome  him;  the  prospect  was  lonely  and  unin- 
viting. But  there  was  something  of  the  heroic  in  the  native  energy  of  character  and  firmness  of 
purpose  which  revealed  the  man  of  after  life.  In  1832,  when  seventeen,  he  graduated,  and  soon 
afterward  chose  the  law  for  his  profession.  The  advantages  for  his  study  were  few  in  the  West 
at  that  time,  and  he  started  on  a  long  and  difficult  journey  east,  reaching  at  length  the  old  town 
of  Lenox,  Massachusetts,  to  prosecute  his  studies  in  the  office  of  the  distinguished  lawyer,  Judge 
H.  W.  Bishop.  After  two  years  spent  in  that  office  he  went  to  the  law  school  at  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  then  under  the  direction  of  Judges  Daggett  and  Hitchcock,  both  of  whom  were 
known  as  eminent  jurists.  Here  Mr.  Davis  enjoyed  the  excellent  legal  discipline  which  had  the 
effect  to  mold  his  character  into  that  of  a  lawyer  of  clear  and  accurate  knowledge  of  legal  prin- 
ciples and  precedents  which  has  since  given  him  his  merited  prominence.  Upon  his  admission  to 
practice  he  turned  his  face  again  toward  the  Great  West,  settling  in  Pekin,  Illinois.  This  was  in 


H.C.Cnnpur    Jr.  I   Co. 


Sltq  bn   ECWilliaru   *  Rrn    NY 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  ig 

the  fall  of  1835.  The  prevalence  of  fever  and  ague  there  compelled  him  to  leave  the  place  at  the 
end  of  a  year,  and  he  removed  to  the  town  which  is  now  the  pleasant  city  of  Bloomington,  his 
present  residence.  Here  he  began  in  earnest  to  lay  the  foundation  of  his  future  success  by  hard 
work,  which  he  ever  regarded  as  a  better  dependence  than  genius.  Shortly  after  his  settlement 
in  Bloomington  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Walker,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  who  died  in  Novem- 
ber, 1879.  Mrs.  Davis  was  a  fit  companion  for  him,  and  left  many  pleasant  memories  of  charity 
and  kindness. 

The  proceeds  of  a  considerable  fortune  were  devoted  by  her  to  the  alleviation  of  human  suffer- 
ing, and  she  contributed  very  much  to  the  success  of  her  husband's  life.  Mr.  Davis  was  an  ardent 
whig  of  the  Henry  Clay  school,  but  had  no  taste  for  political  life.  Without  solicitation  he  was 
nominated  for  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  and  elected,  in  1844,  and  to  the  constitutional  convention 
in  1847.  In  both  positions,  especially  the  latter,  he  took  a  leading  part.  Upon  the  adoption  of 
the  new  constitution,  in  1848,3  new  judiciary  had  to  be  elected  in  the  entire  state.  The  circuit  in 
which  he  lived  was  largely  democratic,  but  Mr.  Davis  was  not  a  bitter  partisan,  and  by  the  com- 
mon consent  of  the  bar  and  people  of  his  circuit  he  was  chosen  judge.  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
then  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  practice,  and  visited  Judge  Davis'  circuit,  forming  with  him  a 
life-long  friendship.  The  judge  saw  from  the  beginning  evidence  of  inborn  greatness  in  his 
afterward  famous  friend.  Judge  Davis' circuit  embraced  fourteen  of  the  largest  and  most  wealthy 
counties  of  the  state.  It  was  before  the  day  of  railroads,  yet  neither  rough  traveling  nor  bad 
weather  prevented  him  from  always  being  in  his  place  ready  to  proceed  with  the  public  business. 
Soon  after  his  settlement  in  Illinois  he  began  investing  in  prairie  lands,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  fortune  which  he  now  dispenses  in  acts  ol  unostentatious  charity.  In  1858,  when  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  a  candidate  against  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  United  States  senate,  Judge  Davis 
supported  Mr.  Lincoln  with  great  earnestness.  Recognized  as  Lincol-n's  confidential  friend,  he 
was  selected  delegate  at  large  to  the  republican  national  convention  at  Chicago,  in  1860,  where 
his  management  as  a  leader  was  very  successful.  In  1860  and  1861  he  counseled  a  moderate  and 
conservative  course,  in  the  hope  that  war  might  be  averted.  He  formed  one  of  the  presidential 
party  to  Washington,  but  after  the  inauguration  resumed  his  duties  on  the  bench  which  he  per- 
formed until  selected  with  General  Holt  and  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Saint  Louis,  to  investigate  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  department  of  Saint  Louis,  then-  under  the  command  of  General  Fremont 
and  Major  McKinstry,  during  a  period  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  In  the  summer  of  1862  a 
vacancy  occurred  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and  Judge  Davis  was 
selected  in  the  fall  of  1862  associate  justice.  At  that  time  Judge  Taney  was  chief  justice,  and 
between  the  two  there  commenced  a  friendship  which  continued  until  the  latter's  death.  Judge 
Davis  served  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  until  February,  1877,  when  he  resigned  to  accept 
the  office  of  United  States  senator  from  the  State  of  Illinois. 

He  met  with  no  opposition  to  his  reelection  as  judge  of  the  state  court,  the  bar  and  people 
both  being  satisfied  with  the  prompt,  impartial  and  honest  discharge  of  his  duty.  His  labors  in 
the  federal  and  state  courts  extended  through  a  period  of  twenty-nine  years,  during  which  time 
he  adjudicated  questions  of  the  highest  importance  affecting  life,  liberty  and  property.  His 
opinion  in  the  celebrated  Milligan  case  is  regarded  by  the  profession  as  one  of  the  ablest  exposi- 
tions of  the  rights  of  civil  liberty  ever  announced  by  a  court.  It  was  criticised  unfavorably  by 
some,  but  bv  the  lawyer  and  the  jurist  it  will  ever  be  regarded  as  a  sound  constitutional  recogni- 
tion of  the  personal  and  individual  rights  of  the  citizen.  During  the  first  four  years  of  President 
Grant's  administration  much  dissatisfaction  arose  in  the  republican  party,  and,  as  an  outgrowth, 
the 'liberal  movement  was  organized  which  assumed  form  in  the  Cincinnati  convention.  A  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  democratic  party  and  a  large  number  in  the  liberal  cause  regarded  Judge 
Davis  as  a  proper  candidate  for  the  presidency,  he  having  been  nominated  by  the  labor  reform 
party  in  January,  1872.  His  friends  presented  his  name  at  Cincinnati,  but,  owing  to  certain 
combinations,  he  was  defeated,  and  Mr.  Greeley  became  the  nominee  in  the  remarkable  campaign 
of  1872.  In  the  Illinois  senatorial  campaign  of  1876  the  balance  of  power  was  with  the  indepen- 
3 


2O  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

dent  party,  friendly  to  Judge  Davis;  and,  after  a  protracted  contest,  by  a  combination  of  the 
democratic  party  with  the  independents  he  received  a  majority  and  was  elected.  His  term  as 
senator  commenced  March  4,  1877,  with  President  Hayes"  administration. 

Elected  by  a  combination  of  parties,  he  has  identified  himself  with  none,  but  has  maintained 
independence,  voting  for  or  against  measures  without  reference  to  party  lines.  On  account  of 
his  ability  as  judge  he  was  selected  member  of  the  judiciary  committee,  in  which  for  more  than 
four  years  he  has  been  a  great  worker  in  the  advancement  of  the  public  interests.  His  speech  on 
the  Geneva  Award  bill  reported  by  the  committee  was  regarded  as  a  very  able  exposition  of  the 
law  in  favor  of  the  underwriters.  Judge  Davis  is  not  a  speech  maker,  but  does  a  great  deal  of 
work  in  the  committee  room  and  in  the  business  detail  of  the  senate.  His  disposition  is  to  deal 
with  practical  questions  of  legislation,  leaving  the  discussion  of  mere  party  politics  to  others.  Upon 
the  reconstruction  of  the  senate  at  the  inauguration  of  President  Garfield's  administration,  he  was 
tendered  the  chairmanship  of  the  judiciary  committee,  which  he  declined,  giving  his  reasons  in  a 
speech  worthy  the  better  days  of  the  republic.  After  the  death  of  President  Garfield,  Judge  Davis 
was  elected  president  of  the  senate,  without  having  in  any  way  sought  that  high  honor.  In  ac- 
cepting it  he  informed  the  senate  that  if  the  least  party  obligation  had  been  made  a  condition, 
directly  or  indirectly,  he  would  have  declined  the  compliment. 

Independent  in  thought  and  in  action,  Judge  Davis  has  never  favored  the  arts  of  the  politician, 
nor  sought  to  gain  any  object  by  devious  courses.  Upright  and  straightforward,  he  has  always 
moved  openly  on  a  given  line  of  conduct,  and  boldly  proclaimed  his  convictions  on  public  ques- 
tions ;  hence  the  universal  confidence  in  his  integrity  of  character.  Although  now  over  sixty 
years  of  age,  his  mind  and  body  are  unimpaired  in  vigor  and  health.  He  resides  on  one  of  the 
most  highly  cultivated  farms  of  the  state,  adjoining  the  city  of  Bloomington,  in  a  mansion  of 
great  elegance  and  taste.  •  His  life  has  been  a  great  success,  financially  and  officially. 

"  How  blest  is  he  who  crowns  in  shades  like  these, 
A  youth  of  labor  with  an  age  of  ease." 


HON.  WILLIAM   K.  McALLISTER. 

WA  UKEGAN. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  profound  lawyer  and  able  jurist,  a  native  of  Salem,  Washing- 
ton county,  New  York.  He  was  born  in  1818.  He  labored  on  his  father's  farm  until  eigh- 
teen years  of  age,  and  then  entered  college.  He  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  with  a  Mr.  Henry,  in  Wayne  county,  and  afterward  completed  his  legal  course 
in  Yates  county;  thence  he  removed  to  Albion,  where  he  remained  in  the  successful  practice  of 
the  law  ten  years,  and  gained  a  high  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and  was  acknowledged  the  peer  of 
some  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  state  of  New  York.  In  1854  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
has  since  resided,  practicing  law,  until  his  elevation  to  the  bench.  He  was  a  candidate  for  judge 
of  the  superior  court  against  Judge  Jameson  in  1866,  and  was  defeated.  In  1868  he  was  elected 
judge  of  the  recorder's  court  by  a  large  vote.  In  1870  he  was  elected  to  the  supreme  court; 
resigned  in  1873.  Later  he  was  elected  to  the  circuit  bench  of  Cook  county,  and  still  later,  one 
of  the  judges  of  the  appellate  court  for  the  northern  district,  a  position  which  he  still  holds  to  the 
utmost  satisfaction  of  all.  His  examination  of  a  subject  is  very  exhaustive  and  thorough,  the 
authorities  are  weighed  and  compared,  and  principles  are  traced  to  their  source.  His  power  of 
analysis  is  very  great,  being  one  of  the  few  men  who  are  able  to  select  leading  cases  almost  intui- 
tively. Although  he  gives  due  credit  to  adjudicated  cases,  he  has  a  broad  philosophy  and  power 
of  comprehension,  and  a  refinement  in  his  perceptions  that  enables  him  to  go  deeper  than  any 
other  has  ventured  into  the  mysteries  of  legal  science,  and  bring  to  light  new  truths  and  establish 
principles  not  before  illuminated,  having  the  faculty  of  exploring  new  ground  in  the  field  of  juris- 
prudence, without  departing  from  well  authenticated  rules  and  maxims. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  21 

His  motives  are  never  questioned,  and  all  confide  in  his  judgment.  Chief-justice  John  Mar- 
shall in  his  best  days  was  never  more  revered  and  admired  by  all  who  knew  him  than  Judge  Mc- 
Allister is  to-day  by  his  associates  on  the  bench,  the  members  of  the  bar  who  appear  before  him, 
and  the  public  whose  servant  he  is,  and  whose  interest  he  never  forgets.  He  modestly  wears  the 
laurels  he  has  won,  is  never  austere  or  unapproachable;  while  he  observes  and  maintains  proper 
dignity,  he  at  once  puts  at  ease  the  humblest  individual  who  comes  before  him. 

In  general  appearance  Judge  McAllister  is  very  prepossessing.  He  is  of  medium  height,  and 
well  proportioned,  has  a  high,  broad  forehead,  large  blue  eyes,  a  small  and  sensitive  mouth 
lighted  by  an  expression  of  kindness  and  benevolence.  As  a  lawyer  he  was  noted  for  his  industry, 
great  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  accuracy,  a  logican  of  the  highest  order,  extremely  conscientious, 
with  the  utmost  candor,  his  power  before  a  court  or  jury,  was  almost  unlimited,  always  conform- 
ing to  a  high  standard  of  professional  ethics.  His  sincerity,  kindness  and  honesty  have  become 
proverbial,  and  so  high  is  his  moral  character  that  no  man  dare  attack  it.  He  unbends  himself 
from  official  strain,  with  great  facility  and  elasticity.  He  is  a  lover  of  music,  poetry  and  fine  arts, 
and  is  well  versed  in  general  literature.  Aside  from  his  seen  qualifications  professionally,  he  is  a 
profound  scholar.  No  man  is  more  loved,  or  more  highly  respected  than  Judge  McAllister  in 
the  community  where  he  moves. 


H 


HON.   HENRY  D.   DEMENT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ENRY  DODGE  DEMENT,  secretary  of  state,  was  born  at  Galena,  Illinois,  October  10, 
1840.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Dement,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  Mary  L.  Dement,  a  native 
of  Missouri,  and  grandson  of  Hon.  Henry  Dodge,  one  of  the  early  territorial  governors  of  Wis- 
consin. The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  Rock  River  Seminary,  Mount  Morris,  this 
state,  at  a  Catholic  college  at  Sinsinawa  Mound,  Grant  county,  Wisconsin,  and  at  a  Presbyterian 
college  at  Dixon.  Civil  war  breaking  out  in  1861,  he  did  not  quite  finish  his  college  course,  but 
volunteered  his  services  to  save  the  Union.  In  April,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  company  A  of  the  I3th 
Illinois  infantry;  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant  on  the  2oth  of  that  month,  and  two  or 
three  months  later  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant.  We  learn  from  the  History  of  Sangamon 
County,  1881,  that  he  was  with  Generals  Fremont  and  Curtiss  in  their  campaigns  west  of  the 
Mississippi  ;  with  General  Sherman  in  his  defeat  at  Chickasaw  Bayou  ;  with  General  Grant 
in  his  march  to  and  assaults  upon  the  strongholds  of  Vicksburg,  and  with  General  Sher- 
man's corps  in  the  engagements  which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Jackson,  Mississippi.  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1863,  for  his  gallantry  at  Arkansas  Post  and  Vicksburg,  Lieutenant  Dement  received 
a  complimentary  commission  as  captain,  which  he  held  at  the  time  he  left  the  service  in  August, 
1863. 

In  the  autumn  of  1872,  Mr.  Dement  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  general  assembly 
for  the  twelfth  district,  and  after  serving  two  terms  in  that  body  was  transferred  to  the  upper 
house,  in  which  he  represented  Lee  and  Ogle  counties,  constituting  the  twelfth  senatorial  district, 
for  two  terms.  During  the  first  session  in  which  he  was  in  the  lower  house,  Mr.  Dement  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  labor  and  manufactures.  In  the  next  session  the  democrats  and 
grangers  were  in  power,  and  he  held  subordinate  positions.  During  all  the  time  that  he  was  a 
member  of  the  general  assembly,  whenever  the  republicans  had  control,  his  abilities  were  hand- 
somely recognixed.  He  was,  during  one  or  two  sessions,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  penal  and 
reformatory  institutions;  also  on  the  committee  on  appropriations  and  military  affairs.  He 
served  on  the  revenue  committee  nearly  all  the  time  he  was  in  the  legislature.  In  1880,  the 
republican  party  nominated  Mr.  Dement  for  his  present  state  office,  and  he  was  elected  by  the 
usual  majority.  That  post  he  is  filling  with  eminent  satisfaction. 

The  year  after  leaving  the  army,  Secretary  Dement  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  plows  at 


22  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Dixon,  and  continued  that  business,  in  company  with  William  Todd,  until  1870,  when  he  began 
the  manufacture  of  flax  bagging  for  covering  cotton  bales.  In  that  branch  of  business  he  is  still 
largely  engaged. 

He  married,  at  Dixon,  October  20,  1864,  Mary  F.,  daughter  of  Hon.  Hezekiah  and  Eliza  (Pat- 
terson) Williams,  the  former  a  native  of  Vermont,  the  latter  of  Maine;  and  they  have  had  five 
children,  only  three  of  them,  all  daughters,  now  living,  their  names  being  Gertrude  May,  Lucia 
W.  and  Nonie  E.  The  family  reside  at  Dixon,  where  the  children  are  being  educated.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Dement  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 


HON.    THOMAS   DRUMMOND. 

CHICAGO. 

'~~pvHOMAS  DRUMMOND  was  born  at  Bristol  Mills,  Lincoln  county,  Maine,  October  16,  1809. 
_L  His  paternal  grandfather  emigrated  from  Scotland  about  the  year  1760,  and  settled  in 
Bristol  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolutionary  war.  The  mother  of  Thomas  Drummond 
was  a  daughter  of  Henry  Little,  of  New  Castle,  Maine,  who  descended  from  the  early  settlers  of 
New  England.  His  father  was  James  Drummond,  who  was  a  farmer,  but  followed  the  sea  for  a 
considerable  period  of  his  life,  and  for  some  years  represented  his  native  town  and  county  in  the 
legislature  of  Maine. 

Living  on  the  sea  coast,  the  son  of  a  seaman,  surrounded  by  maritime  associations,  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  early  wished  to  become  a  sailor.  His  father  was  per- 
emptory in  his  refusal  to  gratify  the  boyish  longing,  and  the  son  was  several  times  sorely  tempted 
to  run  away  as  so  many  lads  had  done  before  him.  His  sense  of  filial  duty,  however,  was 
stronger  than  his  love  of  adventure;  but  those  mental  experiences  left  their  furrows  in  his  heart, 
implanting  a  never-failing  attachment  to  the  profession,  which  has  since  shown  itself  in  his  com- 
plete mastery  of  all  the  leading  points  involved  in  maritime  law,  and  caused  his  decisions  in 
admiralty  to  be  regarded  as  indisputable,  and  seldom  appealed  from  or  reversed. 

He  received  his  first  instruction  in  the  little  school  house  of  his  native  village,  and  the  structure 
is  still  standing  on  the  same  spot  as  that  on  which  he  learned  his  alphabet,  more  than  sixty  years 
since.  During  his  boyhood,  he  attended  academies  in  Maine,  at  New  Castle,  Monmouth,  Farm- 
ington,  and  Gorham.  He  entered  Bowdoin  College,  at  Brunswick,  Maine,  in  1826,  and  graduated 
in  regular  course  at  the  institution  in  1830.  His  business  training  commenced  immediately 
thereafter.  Leaving  Maine  in  September,  1830,  for  Philadelphia,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law 
in  that  city  in  the  office  of  W.  T.  Dwight,  who  was  a  son  of  President  Dwight,  of  Yale  College, 
and  subsequently  he  was  in  the  office  of  T.  Bradford,  in  the  same  city,  where  he  remained 
until  March,  1833. 

In  May,  1835,  Mr.  Drummond  left  Philadelphia  to  come  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Galena, 
where  he  was  soon  recognized  as  a  lawyer  of  unusual  and  solid  attainments,  great  perseverance, 
and  untiring  industry.  For  fifteen  years  he  practiced  his  profession  at  Galena  with  success,  and 
was  engaged  in  many  important  causes. 

On  the  death  of  Judge  Pope,  he  was  appointed,  in  February,  1850,  by  President  Taylor,  to 
succeed  him  in  the  office  of  judge  of  the  United  States  district  court  for  the  district  of  Illinois, 
In  1854,  Judge  Drummond  removed  to  Chicago,  and  held  the  office  of  district  judge  of  the  United 
States  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois  until  December  22,  1869,  when  he  was  appointed  judge 
of  the  seventh  circuit  of  the  United  States,  which  comprises  the  states  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  and 
Wisconsin. 

Judge  Drummond  has  not  mingled  to  any  great  extent  in  party  politics,  and  has  held  political 
office  but  once.  Formerly  a  whig,  he  subsequently  became  a  republican,  to  which  party  affilia- 
tion he  still  adheres.  The  office  above  alluded  to  was  that  of  member  of  the  United  States  house 
of  representatives  for  1840  and  1841,  representing  the  counties  of  northern  Illinois,  comprising 
what  has  been  known  as  the  Galena  district. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  25 

He  was  married  at  Willow  Springs,  La  Fayette  county,  Wisconsin,  to  Delia  A.,  second  daugh- 
ter of  J.  P.  Sheldon,  of  that  place,  and  has  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  Judge  Drummond, 
together  with  his  family,  belongs  to  the  congregation  of  Saint  James'  Episcopal  Church,  Chicago. 

By  a  long  and  laborious  career  on  the  federal  bench,  Judge  Drummond's  fame  as  a  jurist  is 
completely  established.  None  know  him  but  to  respect  him  for  his  learning,  and  to  love  him  for 
his  noble  qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  For  over  thirty  years  he  has  held  a  place  on  the  bench. 
Throughout  that  long  period,  his  career  has  been  signalized  by  unremitting  and  arduous  labor. 
His  ambition  and  aim  have  been  to  conscientiously  and  justly  perform  the  duties  of  his  high 
position;  and  that  he  has  attained  the  rank  of  a  great  and  good  judge  is  the  tribute  universally 
paid  to  him  by  the  bar.  His  judicial  opinions  have  always  been  distinguished  for  their  strength 
of  expression,  and  vigor  of  reasoning,  and  are  part  of  the  jurisprudence  of  the  country.  Endowed 
with  a  vigorous  and  rugged  intellect,  prompted  always  in  his  judicial  and  personal  action  by  the 
strongest  convictions  of  duty,  Judge  Drummond  has  never  failed  to  put  the  stamp  of  his  individ- 
uality upon  whatever  work  he  has  had  to  do.  His  expositions  of  the  law  in  all  its  branches  are 
universally  accepted  as  learned,  able  and  authoritative,  and  by  the  bench  and  bar  of  the  country 
he  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  veterans  in  the  federal  judiciary.  His  inherent  sense  of  justice  is 
one  of  his  strongest  characteristics.  When  dealing  with  legal  questions,  in  words  that  are  always 
significant  and  weighty,  he  summarily  brushes  away  the  chaff  that  may  have  accumulated  in  dis- 
cussion, and  grasps  the  great  or  essential  point  upon  which  a  decision  of  the  question  or  case 
must  turn.  Every  litigant  is  assured  of  impartial  and  patient  consideration  of  his  case  when  he 
enters  Judge  Drummond's  court.  Patience  and  kindness  and  courtesy  characterize  his  demeanor 
on  the  bench,  and  the  most  painstaking  care  and  deliberation  characterize  his  investigation  of 
every  cause  brought  before  him  for  judgment.  Fearless  in  the  discharge  of  every  duty,  upright 
in  every  act  and  purpose,  he  has  maintained  inflexibly  the  judicial  character  in  its  highest  dignity 
and  purest  quality.  Venerated  by  the  bar,  and  beloved  by  his  brethren  of  the  bench,  it  is  their 
hope  and  wish  that  many  years  of  health  and  happiness  may  yet  be  added  to  his  long  and  honor- 
able life. 


T 


HON.  SHELBY  M.  CULLOM. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

HE  late  governor  of  .the  state,  and  now  United  States  senator,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  born 
November  22,  1829,  and  is  the  son  of  Richard  Northcraft  Cullom,  and  Elizabeth  (Coffey) 
Cullom.  His  father's  life  was  spent  in  public  service.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  legisla- 
ture for  a  number  of  terms,  twice  before  the  state  capitol  was  removed  to  Springfield;  and  was  a 
member  of  the  senate  during  the  first  session  after  the  removal.  He  was  a  prominent  whig,  and 
an  intimate  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  John  T.  Stuart.  Shelby  M.  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools,  studying  during  the  winter  months,  and  passing  the  summers  in 
farm  work.  Later  he  spent  two  years  at  school  in  the  Rock  River  Seminary,  at  Mount  Morris, 
Illinois,  and  thus  gained,  in  addition  to  his  knowledge  of  the  common  branches,  a  fair  knowledge 
of  Greek,  Latin,  higher  mathematics,  natural  philosophy,  and  political  economy.  But  not  being 
of  a  sufficiently  robust  constitution  to  endure  the  toils  of  farm  life,  he  early  decided  to  enter  the 
legal  profession,  and  being  compelled  to  close  his  studies  in  school,  on  account  of  severe  illness 
and  want  of.  means,  as  soon  as  he  recovered  sufficiently  he  went  to  Springfield,  intending  to  study 
law  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  that  gentleman  was  seldom  at  home  he  advised  Mr.  Cullom  to  enter 
the  office  of  Stuart  and  Edwards,  which  he  did  in  the  fall  of  1853.  In  July,  1854,  he  was  obliged 
to  discontinue  his  studies  by  reason  of  protracted  illness,  and  was  advised  to  give  up  the  law. 
He  had  determined,  however,  that  he  would  succeed,  and,  remaining  on  the  farm  until  he  had 
recovered  his  health  and  accumulated  a  little  money,  he  returned  to^pringfield,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1855  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  elected  city  attorney.  In  1856  he  was  one  of  the  presiden- 
tial electors  on  the  Fillrnore  or  whig  ticket,  and  wa.s  also  elected  to  the  legislature,  receiving  both 


26  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

the  whig  and  free-soil  votes  of  his  county.  In  1860  he  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature,  on  the 
republican  ticket,  and  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house.  In  1862  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  state 
senate,  but  was  defeated.  In  1864  he  was  elected  to  congress,  over  his  old  preceptor,  Hon.  John 
T.  Stuart,  the  vote  of  the  district  changing  from  a  majority  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  dem- 
ocratic to  about  that  number  of  republican.  He  was  again  elected  in  1866  by  an  increased  major- 
ity over  Doctor  E.  S.  Fowler,  and  in  1868  defeated  Hon.  B.  S.  Edwards,  of  the  firm  with  which  he 
had  previously  studied.  At  the  organization  of  this  congress  he  was  chosen  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  territories,  in  the  house,  and  at  once  prepared  a  bill  known  as  the  Cullom  bill,  pro- 
viding for  the  uprooting  of  Mormonism.  This  bill  brought  upon  him  the  severe  calumny  of  the 
Mormon  leaders,  and  caused  him  to  be  burnt  in  effigy  at  Beaver  City,  where  Lee  has  recently  been 
tried  for  participation  in  the  Mountain  Meadow  Massacre.  During  his  service  in  congress  he  was 
prominently  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  speakership,  and  would  undoubtedly  have  gained 
the  position  had  he  remained  in  congress  a  little  longer.  In  1872  he  was  again  elected  to  the 
state  legislature,  and  chosen  speaker.  He  was  returned  in  1874,  and,  though  unanimously  nom- 
inated by  the  republicans  for  speaker,  he  was  defeated  by  a  combination  between  the  democrats 
and  independents,  but  was  the  recognized  leader  of  the  republican  side  of  the  house  during  the 
session. 

He  made  one  of  the  most  popular  speakers  that  Illinois  has  ever  had,  and  in  that  class  of  men 
is  included  several  veiy  brilliant  political  lights.  His  splendid  record  in  the  house  prepared  the 
way  for  his  nomination  for  the  office  of  governor,  and-liis  election  in  1876.  He  was  reelected,  in 
1880,  by  a  greatly  increased  majority. 

A  copy  of  his  first  inaugural  message,  delivered  January  8,  1879,  is  before  the  writer,  and  is  a 
plain  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  affairs  of  the  state,  with  such  recommendations  as  he 
thought  advisable.  The  only  episode  from  this  line  of  thought,  is  his  reference  to  the  centennial 
year  of  the  nation,  and  the.  efforts  of  the  slave  power  to  destroy  the  Union.  This  part  of  the  mes- 
sage we  reproduce: 

We  are  standing,  to-day,  on  the  threshold  of  the  second  century  of  our  national  existence.  As  a  nation,  we  are 
enjoying  a  larger  degree  of  liberty,  prosperity  and  happiness  than  any  other  country.  One  hundred  years  ago  those 
who  had  gathered  on  the  shores  of  America,  numbered  less  than  three  million  souls.  They  were  scattered  along  the 
Atlantic  coast,  and  composed  thirteen  feeble  colonies,  involved,  in  a  death  struggle  for  freedom,  with  the  most  power- 
ful nation  in  the  world.  Soon  after  the  war  ended  in  the  triumph  of  American  arms  and  American  liberty,  the  National 
Constitution  was  adopted,  the  confederation  of  states  having  failed  to  furnish  the  full  measure  of  power  essential  to 
the  efficiency  of  a  national  government. 

For  centuries  human  slavery,  with  all  its  horrors,  Tiad  existed  in  almost  every  portion  of  the  earth.  The  fathers 
who  framed  our  government,  either  failed  to  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  danger  to  republican  institutions,  involved 
in  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  country,  or  were  powerless  to  correct  the  evil.  Wicked  and  inhuman  as  was  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery,  it  at  length  was  seized  upon  and  used  as  a  political  power,  which  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less 
than  the  control  of  the  government.  It  imperiled  the  very  existence  of  the  nation. 

In  the  seventy  years  between  1789  and  1860,  the  country  h.ad  grown  in  population  from  three  millions  to  forty  mil- 
lions, and  from  thirteen  to  thirty-four  states.  The  power  of  the  government  had  forsaken  the  sea  coast,  and  was  seated 
in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  America  had  become  one  of  the  most  powerful  nations  in  the  world.  At  this  period 
of  our  history,  the  country  was  brought  to  the  very  brink  of  ruin  by  a  terrible  civil  war.  We  look  back  upon  those 
years  of  war  and  devastation  with  horror.  The  nation  passed  through  the  struggle  and  maintained  its  integrity,  though 
at  great  cost  of  treasure  and  blood  —  treasure  and  blood,  which  represented  the  price  paid  by  the  nation  to  release  from 
bondage  four  millions  of  human  souls,  and  to  confer  upon  them  the  rights  and  privileges  of  freemen. 

Eleven  years  have  passed  since  that  struggle  ended.  Just  at  the  time  when  all  hoped  and  believed  that  the  era  of 
good  will  and  prosperity  had  come  with  the  beginning  of  our  new  national  century,  a  presidential  election  occurred 
which  has  left  the  country  in  an  excited  condition,  owing  to  the  unprecedented  closeness  of  the  electoral  vote,  and  the 
discussion  of  questions  arising  from  the  unfortunate  omission  of  the  national  constitution  and  the  laws  to  provide  with 
particularity  the  manner  of  counting  the  returns  contained  in  the  certificates  of  the  electoral  colleges.  The  contest 
must  now  be  settled  by  the  light  of  the  constitution.  It  must  be  settled  according  to  the  constitution.  It  must  be  set- 
tled by  reason  and  not  by  violence.  The  people  of  the  nation  must  listen  to  the  voice  of  history,  so  fresh  in  all  our 
memories,  and  stamp  with  prompt  and  positive  condemnation  any  movement,  if  any  shall  be  made,  looking  to  an 
appeal  from  a  constitutional  decision  of  the  contest  by  those  in  whose  hands  it  is  placed,  to  force,  involving  the  Ameri- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  27 

can  people  in  another  war.  One  attempt  has  been  made  to  destroy  this  country  and  dissolve  the  Union,  by  a  portion 
of  the  people  when  they  were  dissatisfied  with  the  result  as  declared  at  the  polls.  That  struggle  cost  the  country  ten 
thousand  millions  of  dollars  in  property  and  labor,  and  a  million  men  in  battle,  a  fearful  price  for  refusal  to  abide  the 
decision  of  the  ballot. 

As  citizens  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  we  claim  the  right  to  hold  our  elections  in  our  own  way;  giving  all  our  people  a 
fair  and  equal  chance  to  cast  their  votes.  We  claim  the  right  to  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  our  polls  shall  be 
purged  of  fraudulent  votes,  and  how  and  by  whom  the  result  of  our  elections  shall  be  ascertained  and  announced.  All 
these  things  we  regulate  by  the  laws  made  by  our  state  legislature,  and  when  the  result  is  so  ascertained  and  announced 
we  expect  it  to  be  respected,  as  well  by  our  own  citizens  as  by  others.  While  we  claim  these  rights  for  our  own  state, 
we  concede  the  same  to  every  other  state  in  the  Union;  and  insist  that  when  the  people  of  any  state  have  held  an  elec- 
tion, and  the  result  has  been  ascertained  and  announced  by  the  persons  and  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  laws  of  such 
state,  that  result  shall  be  respected  everywhere  as  the  will  of  the  people  of  that  state.  The  people,  without  regard  to 
party,  owe  it  to  themselves  and  the  country  to  purify  the  ballot  box,  and  protect  it  from  fraud;  the  people  owe  it  to 
themselves,  in  the  interest  of  good  government,  to  favor  all  lawful  means,  the  object  of  which  is  to  secure  a  free  and 
honest  ballot  and  the  protection  of  the  citizen  in  his  right  to  cast  it.  Fraudulent  voting  is  worse  than  no  voting,  and 
unless  a  man  is  allowed  to  vote  his  sentiments  his  vote  is  a  falsehood  and  a  fraud. 

All  the  messages  of  the  Governor  show  that  he  has  a  vigilant  eye  to  the  wants  and  welfare  of 
the  great  state,  at  the  head  of  which  he  stands,  and  that  he  possesses  in  a  large  measure,  the  pro- 
gressive spirit  of  the  age.  He  seems  to  fully  understand  that  the  stability  of  our  free  institutions 
rests  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  people;  hence,  in  public  addresses  made  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion, he  has  strongly  advocated  the  system  of  compulsory  education.  These  views  he  is  fearless 
in  expressing,  and  in  them  no  doubt  has  the  sympathy  of  the  larger  class  of  right-minded,  reflect- 
ing citizens  of  the  state. 

What  is  now  being  done  for  the  cause  of  education,  may  be  inferred  from  a  fact  stated  by  the 
governor,  in  an  address  made  at  the  State  Dairy  Association,  in  December,  1881.  The  last  legis- 
lature, he  said,  appropriated  $6,140,272  for  the  fiscal  years  1881  and  1882.  "At  the  very  outset," 
added  the  governor,  "$2,175,000  of  the  6,000,000,  go  to  the  support  of  the  common  and  normal 
schools  of  the  state."  Happy  is  the  commonwealth  that  can  expend  that  sum  in  free  schools 
without  feeling  it.  Illinois  can  do  it,  and  add  another  hundred  thousand  if  necessary,  to  estab- 
lish and  enforce  the  system  of  compulsory  education. 

I  noticed,  a  few  days  ago,  that  our  worthy  commissioners  of  internal  revenue  report  that  Illinois  pays  an  internal 
revenue  tax  of  nearly  twenty-six  millions  of  dollars  for  1881,  which  is  six  and  a  half  millions  more  than  is  paid  by  any 
other  state,  and  which  is  one-fifth  of  the  whole  amount  collected  in  the  United  States,  while  our  population  is  only 
about  one-sixteenth.  The  industries  of  any  country,  in  order  to  be  profitable,  must  be  diversified,  and  in  our  state  they 
are  becoming  more  and  more  so.  The  time  is  coming  soon  when  our  state  will  not  be  so  distinctively  an  agricultural 
state  in  contrast  with  other  interests.  It  will  not  be  long  before  it  will  be  a  great  manufacturing  state.  Our  soil  is 
rich  almost  beyond  comparison,  and  because  we  have  the  soil  and  can  produce  the  food  in  abundance,  your  towns  will 
become  manufacturing  towns,  and  your  beautiful  streams  in  this  portion  of  the  state  will  be  utilized,  and  great  mechani- 
cal industries  will  spring  up  all  over  this  country,  and  you  will  have  a  market  at  your  doors  fcr  your  products,  and  your 
lands  will,  in  a  short  time,  be  doubled  in  value. 

The  farmers'  interests  are  closely  identified  with  all  the  great  business  interests  of  the  country.  The  people  of  this 
great  country  cannot  all  engage  in  the  same  business  and  expect  to  prosper.  They  cannot  all  raise  corn  or  make  butter 
and  find  a  market  for  either.  The  world  is  made  up  of  all  sorts  of  people,  and  they  must  carry  forward  all  sorts  of 
honest  business  if  they  would  prosper  and  be  happy,  and  the  man  engaged  in  any  one  kind  of  business  is,  in  some 
degree,  interested  in  every  other.  We  have  in  this  country  the  cotton,  the  wool,  the  iron,  the  copper  and  lead,  and, 
in  fact,  all  the  raw  material  in  the  greatest  abundance,  out  of  which  to  manufacture  every  article  of  use  known  to 
human  life,  and  it  is  the  policy  of  this  country  to  encourage  our  own  home  industries.  By  so  doing  we  develop  our 
own  resources,  and  create  a  home  market  for  our  surplus  products.  Protection  to  American  industry  does  not  mean 
protection  to  the  mechanic  and  artisan  alone,  or  to  the  capitalist  engaged  in  manufacturing,  but  it  means  protection  to 
the  common  laborer,  in  fair  wages,  and  to  the  agriculturist  by  giving  him  a  home  demand  for  his  products.  But  diver- 
sified labor  and  pursuits  will  not  enable  us  to  reach  our  highest  possible  plane  of  prosperity  unless  our  facilities  for 
transportation  and  the  extension  of  our  commercial  relations  are  also  perfected.  It  is  now  a  conceded  fact,  in  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  transportation  question,  that  water  navigation,  in  a  measure,  regulates  and  controls  the  rates  for  carry- 
ing freights,  and  therefore,  it  is  our  duty  to  protect  and  improve  our  rivers,  lakes  and  canals.  They  are  of  late  claiming 
the  attention  of  our  best  business  men  and  ablest  statesmen. 


28  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Governor  Cullom  is  an  impassioned  speaker,  and  when  the  occasion  and  the  cause  demand  it, 
can  be  decidedly  eloquent.  We  have  before  us  a  speech  of  his  made  at  Mount  Vernon,  Illinois, 
in  1868,  at  a  reunion  of  soldiers  of  Illinois,  who  had  participated  in  any  of  the  struggles  in 
which  the  state  or  the  nation  had  been  engaged.  After  referring  to  the  soldiers  of  the  revolution 
whose  honored  forms  are  seen  no  more,  he  thus  alluded  to  the  soldiers  of  1812,  and  the  later 
Indian  campaigns: 

Of  another  class,  a  few  scattered  and  honored  remnants  still  remain  among  us,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  a  few  repre- 
sentatives here  to-day.  I  mean  the  soldiers  of  the  war  of  1812.  They,  too,  are  passing  away;  but  the  memory  of  the 
deeds  which  they  performed  in  resisting  the  encroachments  of  an  arrogant  foreign  power,  will  never  pass  away.  They 
are  a  part  of  history,  and  have  left  their  stamp  indelibly  impressed  upon  the  memory  and  in  the  gratitude  of  the  nation. 
As  they  go  down  the  declivity  of  life,  their  evening  sun  shines  upon  them  with  renewed  splendor,  while  the  bow  of 
promise,  reflected  from  the  dark  clouds  of  civil  war  that  so  recently  spanned  all  our  heavens,  overarches  their  honored 
heads. 

In  larger  numbers  and  in  more  vigorous  presence  we  meet,  face  to  face,  with  those  who  participated  in  the  Winne. 
bago  campaign  of  1827,  and  in  the  three  Black  Hawk  campaigns  of  1831-2.  But  death  has  thinned  your  ranks  during 
these  latter  years.  Whereare  Duncan  and  Whitesides,  Reynolds,  Mills,  DeVVitt,  Fry,  Thomas,  Casey,  Anderson,  Breese, 
Ford  and  others?  All  gone  to  that  "  undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourne  no  traveler  returns."  There,  too,  was  that 
grand  figure,  now  grown  to  be  the  grandest  in  modern  history,  who  with  ever  youthful  spirit,  shared  to  the  utmost  the 
dangers,  excitements  and  amusements  of  the  frontier  camp,  the  genial  friend,  the  popular  and  high-minded  citizen,  the 
persuasive  and  convincing  orator,  the  earnest  and  incorruptible  statesman,  the  man  who  took  upon  his  shoulders  the 
burdens  of  a  nation  in  the  most  perilous  period  of  its  history,  the  martyred  president,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

In  January,  1883,  Governor  Cullom  was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate,  and  is  about  to 
enter  upon  a  new  field  of  intellectual  labor,  where  his  statesmanship  will  have  a  fine  opportunity 
to  test  its  powers. 

The  parents  of  Senator  Cullom  were  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  to  which  he 
is  strongly  attached,  but  with  his  family  he  attends  the  Presbyterian  church,  of  which  his  wife  is  a 
member.  He  has  been  twice  married:  first,  December  12,  1855,  to  Miss  Hannah  Fisher,  by  whom 
he  has  two  daughters;  and  the  second  time,  May  5,  1863,  to  Julia  Fisher;  they  have  had  two  chil- 
dren, neither  of  whom  is  now  living. 

JAMES    B.   WALLER. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  Waller  family  of  Virginia  were  descended  from  the  English  family  of  that  name,  of 
which  Sir  William  Waller,  the  distinguished  parliamentary  general  in  the  time  of  Crom- 
well, and  the  poet,  Edmund  Waller,  were  members. 

A  member  of  the  English  family  immigrated  to  America  about  the  time  of  the  restoration,  and 
settled  in  Spottsylvania  county,  Virginia.  Two  of  his  descendants,  John  and  William  Edmund 
Waller,  became  eminent  in  that  county  as  Baptist  preachers.  John  was  a  man  of  great  eloquence, 
and  during  the  persecution  of  Dissenters  by  the  Church  of  England  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last 
century,  he  was  imprisoned  by  reason  of  the  excitement  produced  by  his  efforts.  This  did  not 
silence  him,  however.  He  persisted  in  his  holy  work,  and  preached  through  prison  bar's  to  large 
and  enthusiastic  crowds,  so  that  his  persecutors  found  it  best  to  release  him. 

His  younger  brother,  William  Edmund,  remained  in  the  ministry  over  fifty  years,  and  was 
very  highly  esteemed.  He  was  the  father  of  five  sons,  two  of  whom  were  also  Baptist  ministers, 
.and  all  of  whom  resided  in  Kentucky.  One  of  them,  named  Richard,  was  the  father  of  C.  S. 
Waller,  who  was  assistant  auditor  of  Kentucky  for  a  number  of  years,  and  recently  a  commis- 
sioner of  public  works  for  Chicago,  an  office  he  is  well  known  to  have  filled  with  distinguished 
ability  and  success. 

The  youngest  son,  William  S.  Waller,  was  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  at  Frankfort,  and 
at  Lexington,  for  upwards  of  forty  years,  and  died  in  1855.  His  four  sons  removed  many  years 
ago  to  Chicago.  One  of  them,  William,  died  in  1880,  and  the  others,  Henry,  James  B.  and 


LIDSARY 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  31 

Edward  Waller,  are  still  residents  of  this  city.  The  latter,  the  youngest,  was  from  1853  to  1866 
an  active  member  of  the  late  firm  of  Lees  and  Waller,  of  New  York,  who  ranked  high  among  the 
first  merchants  of  that  city,  and  who  acted  there  as  agents  of  the  Bank  of  California,  when  it 
was  most  successful  and  prosperous. 

The  second  son  of  William  S.  Waller  was  born  in  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  January  20,  1817. 
His  boyhood  was  spent  in  that  city,  and  on  his  father's  farm  in  the  suburbs.  His  early  edu- 
cation was  under  the  personal  supervision  of  his  mother,  by  whom  he  was  taught  the  English 
branches.  At  the  age  of  eleven  he  entered  the  classical  school  at  Frankfort  of  Keen  O'Harra,  a 
teacher  of  large  reputation  in  Kentucky  and  adjoining  states,  and  afterward,  in  1830,  entered  the 
preparatory  department  of  Center  College,  at  Danville,  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  until  1834. 
In  1835  he  entered  the  junior  class  of  Miami  University,  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  where  he  graduated  in 
the  fall  of  1836,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  His  parents  having  designed  him  for  the  law,  upon  his 
return  from  Oxford  he  entered  at  once  upon  its  study  in  the  law  department  of  Transylvania 
University,  in  Lexington,  and  received  his  diploma  from  that  institution  in  1838.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  the  same  year,  and  began  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  where 
he  remained  for  several  years,  in  partnership  with  Warner  L.  Underwood,  who  became  a  member 
of  congress  from  that  district,  and  whose  brother,  Judge  Underwood,  was  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  United  States  senate  from  Kentucky.  In  1842,  while  in  successful  practice  at  Bowling 
Green,  he  received  a  proposal  from  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  then  in  congress  as  a  representa- 
tive from  the  Ashland  District,  of  a  law  partnership  at  Lexington.  He  accepted  the  offer,  and 
for  about  two  years  they  practiced  together  at  the  same  bar  with  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  Chief-Justice 
Robertson,  and  other  distinguished  lawyers.  Thomas  F.  Marshall  was  at  that  time  the  most 
brilliant  member  of  the  Kentucky  bar,  and  one  of  the  most  celebrated  orators  of  America,  and 
the  influence  of  his  brilliant  genius  over  his  young  law  partner  was  marked,  and  did  much  to 
fashion  and  develop  his  natural  gifts  as  a  public  speaker.  A  personal  acquaintance  also  with 
Henry  Clay,  and  an  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  genius  of  that  great  man,  was  not  without  its 
formative  influence  upon  him.  With  the  natural  gifts  with  which  nature  had  endowed  him, 
heightened  by  the  favorable  associations  of  his  early  life,  and  developed  by  a  thorough  education, 
Mr.  Waller  was  prepared  for  a  brilliant  career  in  his  chosen  profession.  He  was,  however,  of  a 
retiring  disposition,  domestic  in  his  tastes,  and  studious  in  his  habits,  added  to  which  he  lacked 
the  inspiration  which'is  born  of  poverty  and  necessity.  Hence  he  became  eminent  as  a  counsel- 
or rather  than  brilliant  as  an  advocate,  and  for  twenty  years  he  stood  high  in  his  native  state  as 
an  attorney  and  counselor  at  law.  But  at  length  an  event  took  place  which,  by  adding  largely 
to  his  fortune,  and  also  demanding  the  larger  portion  of  his  time,  curbed  his  ambition  for  forensic 
or  political  honors,  and  finally  caused  his  entire  withdrawal  from  the  bar.  This  was  the  sudden 
death  of  his  brother-in-law,  R.  S.  C.  A.  Alexander,  a  gentleman  of  great  wealth,  owner  of  the 
celebrated  farm  of  Woodburn,  Kentucky,  and  the  fine  old  estate  of  Airdrie,  Scotland. 

Mr.  Waller  became  united  in  marriage  in  February,  1847,  to  Miss  Lucy  Alexander,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Robert  Alexander,  formerly  in  the  private  office  of  Benjamin  Franklin  at  the  court  of 
France,  and  for  many  years  subsequently  president  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky  at  Frankfort,  Ken- 
tucky, of  which  Mr.  Waller's  father  was  for  over  forty  years  cashier.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  lite- 
rary attainments,  and  very  elevated  character,  and  the  union  of  the  two  families  by  this  marriage 
was  looked  upon  as  a  very  fortunate  and  happy  event.  Upon  the  death  of  his  brother-in-law, 
which  occurred  in  December,  1867,  Mr.  Waller  and  a  brother  of  his  wife,  A.  J.  Alexander, 
entered  as  executors  upon  the  administration  of  his  immense  estate  in  trust  for  the  heirs.  Mr. 
Alexander  died  a  bachelor,  and  his  property  was  left  by  will  to  his  brother  John  and  his  two  sis- 
ters and  their  children.  To  the  management  of  this  estate  the  later  years  of  Mr.  Waller's  life 
have  been  mainly  devoted.  Withdrawing  entirely  from  the  practice  of  his  profession,  he  spent 
the  time  unused  in  the  care  of  his  estate,  in  the  rearing  and  education  of  his  large  family  of  chil- 
dren, in  the  congenial  pursuit  of  learning,  and  the  pleasing  pastime  of  literary  effort. 

In  1849  Mr.  Waller  visited  Chicago  for  the  first  time,  bringing  with  him  a  considerable  sum  of 
4 


^2  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

money  for  investment  in  real  estate.  This  he  did  so  satisfactorily  that  his  own  fortune  is  quite 
competent  for  any  probable  strain  upon  it.  He  brought  with  him  letters  of  introduction  from 
Henry  Clay  and  other  prominent  Kentuckians,  which  insured  him  a  most  flattering  reception 
among  the  foremost  men  of  the  city,  and  gave  him  the  "  inside  track  "  in  his  intended  invest- 
ments. He  did  not,  however,  settle  here  at  that  time,  but  returned  again  to  Kentucky  and  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession. 

In  1851  and  1852,  with  his  family,  he  visited  Airdrie,  Scotland,  making  the  tour  of  England, 
also,  and  spending  some  time  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Waller's  uncle,  in  London,  Thomson  Han- 
key,  the  then  governor  of  the  Bank  of  England.  On  his  return  he  again  resumed  his  practice, 
and  it  was  not  till  six  years  later,  in  1858,  that  he  removed  to  Chicago  with  his  family.  After 
becoming  finally  settled  here,  he  entered  into-  a  copartnership  with  his  brother  Edward,  and 
brother-in-law,  James  Lees,  who  were  commission  merchants  in  New  York  city,  to  open  a 
general  commission  business,  under  the  firm  name  in  Chicago  of  Waller  and  Company,  and  of 
Lees  and  Waller  in  New  York.  This  firm  continued  in  business  for  several  years,  during  which 
the  partners  had  made  money,  and  Mr.  Waller's  fortune  was  considerably  increased.  But  it  was 
thought  prudent  during  the  dark  days  of  the  war  in  1863  to  dissolve,  and  avoid  the  immense  risk 
of  the  future.  Mr.  Waller  accordingly  withdrew  from  the  firm. 

Mr.  Waller  was  reared  in  the  Presbyterian  faith,  and  has  always  been  prominent  in  its  coun- 
cils and  a  foremost  man  in  Bible  and  Sunday-school  work.  His  present  church  connection  is 
with  the  Fullerton  Avenue  Church,  Rev.  H.  N.  Collison,  pastor.  It  is  not,  however,  as  a  Presby- 
terian that  Mr.  Waller  ranks  high.  He  is  a  man  of  much  reading,  deep  thought,  and  independent 
in  his  opinions.  He  is  very  familiar  with  his  Bible,  and  will  not  receive  any  doctrine  he  does  not 
believe  to  be  plainly  taught  in  it. 

In  politics  Mr.  Waller  was  in  early  life  a  staunch  whig,  as  his  friendship  for  Henry  Clay  would 
indicate;  but  about  1858  he  became  a  supporter  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  still  remains  a  con- 
servative democrat,  or,  as  he  is  wont  to  term  it,  a  democrat  of  the  Jeffersonian  school.  A  tariff 
for  revenue  only,  and  the  reserved  rights  of  the  states  as  opposed  to  the  centralizing  tendency  of 
the  times,  are  two  of  the  most  important  planks  in  his  platform.  Although  often  solicited  to  take 
active  part  in  politics,  and  the  nomination  tendered  him  of  some  of  the  most  important  offices  in 
the  gift  of  the  people  of  the  state,  he  invariably  declines,  and  prefers  the  substantial  joys  of  pri- 
vate life  to  the  doubtful  and  short  lived  honors  of  a  public  career.  A  number  of  his  large  family 
of  two  sons  and  seven  daughters  are  now  married  and  well  settled  in  life,  and  there  remains  for 
the  parents  only  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  a  well  earned  competence  and  its  generous  distribution 
to  the  needy  and  suffering,  who  have  learned  to  expect  it  at  their  hands. 

Nothing  serves  so  clearly  to  show  the  true  character  of  a  man  as  the  treatment  of  his  depend- 
ents and  inferiors;  and  it  is  important  in  this  direction  to  note  Mr.  Waller's  conduct  toward  the 
slaves  that  came  to  him  by  inheritance.  His  conduct  was  so  fatherly  and  truly  Christian  that, 
although  he  gave  them  full  liberty  at  any  time  to  leave  him  and  secure  their  freedom  by  emigrat- 
ing to  the  states  of  Ohio  or  Indiana,  which  lay  just  across  the  river,  and  taking  wife  and  children 
along,  yet  he  never  could  persuade  them  to  do  so,  but  they  remained  with  him,  contented  and 
happy,  as  long  as  he  resided  in  Kentucky.  And  to  this  day  his  former  slaves  look  to  him  for 
counsel  and  assistance  in  all  their  troubles.  He  frequently  receives  letters  couched  in  the  old 
language  of  the  slave,  saying,  "  Massa,  please  send  me  forty  dollars;  my  craps  turned  out  bad  dis 
yeah,"  or  something  similar.  And  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  sweetest  pleasures  of  his 
later  years  come  of  his  ability  to  minister  to  their  needs,  who  were  his  playmates  in  childhood 
and  his  willing  servants  in  early  manhood. 

In  any  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Waller  there  are  three  productions  of  his  pen  which  neces- 
sarily claim  our  notice,  and  by  which  his  ability  must  be  judged  as  a  writer.  These  productions 
are  entitled,  "The  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights,  with  an  Examination  of  the  Records  of  the 
Democratic  and  Republican  Parties  in  Connection  with  Slavery,"  published  in  1880;  "Reminis- 
cences of  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Diplomatist,"  published  in  1879;  "The  Right  of  Eminent 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  33 

Domain  and  the  Police  Power  of  the  State,"  published  in  1871.  It  is  not  intended,  indeed  it  is 
impossible,  in  a  sketch  so  brief  as  this,  to  review  by  a  critical  examination  any  one  of  these  pro- 
ductions. In  it,  however,  it  is  but  just  to  the  author  of  such  of  a  work  as  "The  True  Doctrine  of 
State  Rights,"  that  some  at  least  of  the  testimonials  he  has  received  in  its  favor  from  every  part 
of  the  country  should  be  given  to  the  public.  At  the  earnest  request,  therefore,  of  the  writer  he 
is  permitted  to  insert  in  this  sketch  the  following  extracts  from  a  correspondence  extending 
through  all  the  states: 

Hon.  E.  J.  Phelps,  of  Burlington,  Vermont:  "I  have  read  with  much  interest  and  satisfaction 
'The  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights.'  You  have  treated  the  subject,  as  appears  to  me,  with  great 
fullness,  clearness  and  ability.  If  you  can  oblige  me  with  two  more  copies  each  of  'The  State 
Rights'  and  'The  Reminiscences  of  Benjamin  Franklin,'  I  shall  be  glad  to  place  them  in  the  Ver- 
mont State  Library  and  in  the  Free  Library  of  Burlington,  of  both  of  which  I  am  a  trustee." 

Hon.  George  B.  Loring,  of  Salem,  Massachusetts:  "'The  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights'  is  a 
valuable  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  matters  of  which  it  treats." 

Professor  Francis  Wharton,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts:  "I  think  you  have  thrown  much 
light  on  Doctor  Franklin's  history,  and  your  views  on  state  rights,  although  a  little  ahead  of  mine, 
are  still  entitled  to  grave  weight.  I  only  wonder  that  in  agricultural  communities,  such  as  Illi- 
nois, the  tariff  and  centralization  school  should  have  such  sway." 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  of  Boston:  "I  can  thank  you,  and  I  do  thank  you,  for  your  work  on 
state  rights,  though,  when  I  find  time  to  read  it  more  thoroughly,  I  may  find  things  I  disagree 
with.  I  am  very  sorry  that  poor  old  Edom  London  had  such  hard  treatment  in  Massachu- 
setts, etc." 

A.  M.  Robinson,  of  the  bar  of  Dover,  Maine:    "'The  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights' impresses 
me  as  being  elaborate  in  research,  concise  in  statement,  and  logical  in  conclusion.     It  should 
have  a  wide  circulation.     The  current  of  political  power  seems  to  be  setting  with  irresistible  force 
to  centralization." 

William  Parsons,  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  (editor  of  the  "Register"):  "I  have  read  your 
book  with  great  pleasure  as  well  as  edification,  and  take  this  occasion  to  thank  you  for  your  mas- 
terly handling  of  a  badly  misunderstood  issue.  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  in  the  true 
doctrine  of  state  rights  lies  the  permanence  of  our  political  institutions."" 

B.  M.  Hughes,  of  the  Denver  bar,  Colorado:    "I  have  at  last  completed  your  work  on  state 
rights,  and  I  can  say  that  it  is  valuable  for  its  historical  facts,  and  its  incontrovertible  truth.     It 
is  a  compilation  of  great  merit,  and  I  wonder  that  the  task  has  not  been  undertaken  many  years 
ago.    However,  it  could  never  have  fallen  into  better  or  abler  hands,  and  I  shall  not  fail  to  indorse 
it  as  authority  and  quote  it  as  the  best  history  of  the  great  state  rights  warfare.     I  regret  that  it 
is  not  to  be  published  in  quantities  enough  to  scatter  its  tenets  all  over  this  country,  so  befogged 
as  to  state  rights.     I  feel  that  the  people  sustain  a  great  loss,  unless  this  can  be  done." 

C.  J.  Walker,  of  the  bar  of  Detroit,  Michigan:    "  I  can  give  you  my  cordial  thanks  for  '  The 
True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights,'  which  I  have  looked  over,  but  which  I  have  not  yet  carefully 
examined.     I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that  the  greatest  danger  that  threatens  the  future  of  our 
republic  arises  from  the  increased  concentration  of  power  in  the  general  government,  and  the  con- 
stant invasion  upon  the  rights  of  the  states,  which  will  necessarily  follow;  and  I  think  that  any  one 
who  intelligently  discusses  the  question  is  a  public  benefactor.     The  question  which  you  have 
discussed  w.ith  much  ability,  is  one  of  the  most  important  ones  before  the  American  people." 

Professors  Woolsey  of  Yale,  and  Cooley  of  Ann  Arbor  wrote  to  the  author  that  they  had  taken 
the  liberty  of  presenting  his  work  on  state  rights  to  their  respective  universities. 

H.  F.  Austin,  of  Michigan,  in  a  letter  applying  for  a  copy,  said:  "Wishing  to  get  a  work  on 
state  rights,  I  am  referred  by  Judge  Cooley  to  your  '  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights.'  "  On  receiving 
which  he  replied:  "  To  say  that  I  am  greatly  pleased  with  it  is  but  faintly  to  express  my  feelings." 

Senator  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  referring  to  the  same  work,  says:  "  The  accuracy  of  your  research, 
the  judicial  temper  of  your  observation,  and  the  purity  of  your  style,  will  necessarily  commend  it 


34  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

to  all  thoughtful  students  of  our  political  history.  I  wish  I  could  hope  it  would  exert  an  influence 
equal  to  its  merits.  But  thinkers  and  students  like  yourself  must  be  content  to  do  their  utmost 
and  hope  the  leaven  may  leaven  the  whole  mass." 

Hon.  Charles  Anderson,  formerly  and  during  the  war  the  republican  governor  of  Ohio,  in  his 
comments  on  the  work  says:  "It  is  one  of  the  ablest,  most  learned,  most  searching  and  profound 
arguments  I  have  ever  read  on  the  subject.  This  is  not  flattery.  I  mean  what  I  say." 

Hon.  C.  M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  speaking  of  "  The  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights  "  as  an  argu- 
ment on  that  subject,  writes:  "  It  is  the  most  exhaustive  and  the  ablest  I  have  ever  seen  from  any 
source." 

Ex-Governor  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky:  "  I  regard  '  The  True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights,'  after  a 
careful  perusal,  as  the  most  correct,  exhaustive  and  unanswerable  production  upon  this  most  dif- 
ficult question,  I  have  ever  read.  It  places  the  democratic  party  upon  an  imperishable  basis, 
according  to  the  interpretation  of  the  constitution  by  Jefferson  and  Madison,  and  the  men  who 
made  it,  and  sets  at  rest  the  doctrine  of  secession  and  nullification." 

James  O.  Harrison,  of  the  bar  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  the  executor  of  Henry  Clay:  "  It  gives 
me  great  pleasure  to  say,  not  only  that  your  exposition  of  the  true  doctrine  of  state  rights  is 
admirable,  but  that  in  my  opinion  no  attempt  in  modern  times  approaches  it,  sed  longo  intervallo, 
in  completeness  and  in  power.  You  have  shown  with  great  clearness,  not  only  the  true  doctrine 
in  its  origin,  but  have  drawn  the  line  with  such  distinctness  between  the  federal  powers  on  the 
one  side,  and  state  rights  on  the  other,  that  all  thoughtful  and  patriotic  men  are  sure  to  see  and 
follow  it." 

T.  W.  Wilkinson,  of  Louisiana:  "  To  my  mind  it  is  decidedly  the  most  conclusive,  exhaustive 
and  masterly  exposition  ever  published  on  the  subject,  and  will  be  an  addition  of  great  value  to 
the  library  of  every  one  fortunate  enough  to  possess  it,  who  takes  a  proper  interest  in  the  true 
principles  of  our  government.  It  will,  besides,  help  to  correct  the  too  common  error  that  is  so 
often  heard,  that  the  doctrine  of  state  rights  has  been  overthrown  by  the  war." 

Senator  Morgan,  of  Alabama:  "It  is  a  most  admirable  presentation  of  the  very  important  sub- 
ject you  have  taken  up.  Please  send  133  copies  by  express  at  my  expense,  to  me,  at  this  place 
(Washington  city).  I  will  find  great  pleasure  in  laying  before  the  members  of  the  Alabama  legis- 
lature so  instructive  a  paper." 

Similar  comments  to  the  above  are  scattered  throughout  the  extensive  correspondence  the 
author  awakened  by  his  book,  which  if  published  would  fill  several  volumes.  But  the  specimens 
given  by  the  above  extracts  form  most  appropriately  a  part  of  this  sketch;  not  only  to  show  the 
opinion  entertained  by  some  of  the  most  enlightened  statesmen  and  jurists  of  the  merits  of  "  The 
True  Doctrine  of  State  Rights,"  but,  what  is  of  far  more  interest  to  the  public,  to  show  how 
important  in  their  estimation  is  the  revival  and  perpetuation  of  those  rights  to  the  very  existence 
of  our  government  and  J:he  welfare  of  the  nation. 

The  "  Reminiscences  of  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Diplomatist,"  has  met  with  a  most  flattering 
reception.  Among  the  first  evidences  of  this  only  a  few  specimens  will  be  here  mentioned. 

On  its  receipt  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  its  president,  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  wrote  to 
its  author  as  follows:  "I  received  to-day,  for  the  Historical  Society,  your  very  interesting  little 
book,  '  Reminiscences  of  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Diplomatist,'  and  shall  place  it  among  our  col- 
lection. It  is  quite  new  to  me  and  of  great  historic  value,  and  I  want  to  thank  you,  not  only  for 
the  donation,  but  for  writing  the  book." 

From  the  Library  Company,  of  Philadelphia,  the  author  received  the  following  acknowl- 
edgment: "Please  accept  the  thanks  of  the  trustees  of  the  Ridgway  branch  of  the  Philadelphia 
Library  for  a  copy  of  your  valuable  '  Reminiscences  of  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Diplomatist."  It 
is  highly  appropriate  as  a  part  of  the  library  now  safely  housed  in  the  magnificent  building 
erected  by  Henry  J.  Williams,  executor  of  Doctor  Benjamin  Rush,  and  presented  to  the  city  of 
Philadelphia. 

Judge  C.  B.  Lawrence,  of  Chicago,  wrote:    "  I  have  read  your  '  Reminiscences  of  Franklin  as  a 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  35 

Diplomatist,'  with  great  pleasure  and  interest,  and  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  courtesy  in 
sending  it.  It  is  those  undercurrents  of  history  that  occasionally  come  to  the  surface  through 
the  medium  of  family  papers  and  correspondence  that  are  most  interesting.  All  lovers  of  history 
must  be  obliged  to  you  for  this  publication." 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  autograph  letter  from  the  distinguished  poet,  Longfellow: 

"CAMBRIDGE,  March  23,  1880. 

"  Dear  Sir: — Please  accept  my  sincere  thanks  for  your  kindness  in  sending  me  a  copy  of  your 
'  Reminiscences  of  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Diplomatist.'  It  is  an  interesting  and  valuable  sketch 
of  the  great  American  philosopher  in  his  life  abroad,  and  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  it. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  yours  very  truly,    .  HENRY  W.  LONGFELLOW." 

The  treatise  entitled,  "The  Right  of  Eminent  Domain  and  the  Police  Power  of  the  State,"  is 
said  not  to  be  surpassed  by  anything  the  author  has  ever  given  to  the  public.  It  was  written  in 
the  interest  of  the  people  living  in  the  immediate  suburbs  of  Chicago,  and  especially  those  of 
Lake  View,  against  the  establishment  or  extension  of  cemeteries  in  their  midst.  One,  with  its 
walls  and  monuments,  was  just  then  being  removed  to  make  way  for  Lincoln  Park,  The  town  of 
Lake  View,  lying  immediately  north  of  the  park  and  of  the  city,  with  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan 
for  its  eastern  boundary,  with  its  undulating  grounds,  its  garden  lands,  its  salubrious  atmosphere, 
and  its  streets  and  avenues  intersecting  its  surface  in  ever  varying  vistas  and  views  of  the  lake, 
forms  the  most  attractive  and  beautiful  suburb  around  Chicago.  Just  here,  with  Graceland  cem- 
etery the  issue  was  made  by  an  ordinance  of  the  town,  forbidding  the  extension  of  its  burial 
grounds,  although  allowed  by  its  charter. 

The  town  of  Lake  View  unanimously  adopted  a  resolution  of  thanks  to  the  author,  and  ordered 
1000  copies  of  it  to  be  published  for  circulation.  Afterward  the  company  abandoned  the  idea  of 
extending  its  burial  limits,  and  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  town  to  that  effect.  We  shall 
conclude  the  present  sketch  by  giving  a  brief  extract  from  the  beginning  of  this  argument,  and  one 
from  its  close.  No  just  idea,  however,  can  thus  be  formed  of  the  combined  effect  of  the  whole 
production. 

"  In  the  heaving  and  swelling  tide  of  population  now  rapidly  advancing  upon  us  from  that 
wonderful  city  by  our  side,  and  of  which  we  are  already  almost  a  part,  is  clearly  to  be  seen  the 
necessity  for  the  exercise,  at  no  distant  day,  against  the  Graceland  cemetery,  of  the  right  of  emi- 
nent domain  which  we  have  expounded,  and  which  unquestionably  exists.  But  it  is  the  rightful 
exercise  of  that  other  great  attribute  of  sovereignty  on  which  the  validity  of  our  ordinance 
depends,  and  that  is  the  right  to  regulate  the  use  of  property  in  executing  the  police  power  of  the 
state.  The  term  public  police  is  applied  by  Blackstone  to  signify  the  due  regulation  and  domestic 
order  of  the  kingdom.  Fully  to  comprehend  the  true  nature  and  importance  of  this  power  in  the 
government,  and  the  necessities  for  its  exercise,  we  must  look  to  its  development  in  the  densely 
crowded  cities  and  their  suburbs  of  the  old  world.  Colquhoun,  in  his  able  treatise  on  the  police  of 
London,  says  that  '  the  metropolis,  having  by  degrees  been  extended  so  far  beyond  its  ancient 
limits,  every  parish,  hamlet,  liberty  or  precinct,  now  contiguous  to  the  cities  of  London  and  West- 
minster may  be  considered  as  a  separate  municipality  where  the  inhabitants  regulate  the  police  of 
their  respective  districts,  the  principles  of  whose  police  organizations  relate  to  watching,  cleansing 
and  removing  nuisances  and  annoyances,  the  mode  of  building  houses,  the  system  established 
for  extinguishing  fires,  etc.,  with  a  variety  of  other  useful  improvements  tending  to  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  the  inhabitants.'  The  enumeration  of  all  the  different  subjects  which  come 
under  the  operation  of  the  police  power  by  Colquhoun,  and  other  writers  on  the  subject,  would 
fill  a  volume.  Its  care  and  protection  extend  to  almost  every  public  interest,  and  reach  through 
all  the  ramifications  of  society.  Indeed,  neither  government  nor  society  could  exist  without  it.  It 
is  the  conservator  of  all  peace,  the  custodian  of  the  public  health,  and  of  the  public  morals.  While 
these  are  some  of  its  regulations,  as  the  author  just  referred  to  says,  which  relate  only  to  the 
comfort  and  convenience  of  the  public,  there  are  others  of  more  vital  importance,  which  are  neces- 


36  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

sary  to  protect  the  public  welfare.  Among  the  latter  are  those  which  are  intended  to  guard  the 
health  and  life  of  the  citizen,  and  to  preserve  his  property  from  injury  and  loss.  Under  the  head 
of  this  latter  class  is  the  right  of  the  government  to  regulate  the  interment  of  the  dead,  the  right 
to  destroy  property  by  pulling  down  or  blowing  up  private  buildings  to  prevent  trie  spread  of  fire 
in  time  of  conflagration,  and  the  right  to  prevent  and  remove  nuisances.  The  power  to  exercise 
these  rights  is  inherent  in  every  sovereign  state,  and  belongs  to  every  municipal  organization 
under  its  jurisdiction,  by  virtue  of  the  general  statute  creating  it,  unless  by  some  extraordinary 
provision  it  is  excluded;  because  it  is  the  right  to  accomplish  that  which  is  implied  in  the  very 
existence  of  such  an  organization.  It  is  not  a  power  of  aggression,  but  of  self-defense,  not  of 
appropriating  or  destroying  private  property  or  a  vested  right,  to  be  used  by  the  public  for  its  own 
profit  or  gain,  where  a  compensation  is  made,  for  that  would  be  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  emi- 
nent domain.  *  *  *  But  on  the  contrary,  this  is  a  power  to  protect  the  public  against  injury 
or  loss,  to  shield  it  from  threatened  danger.  As  we  have  argued,  in  accordance  with  the  ruling 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  all  contracts  must  be  construed  to  be  made  under  the 
implied  and  reserved  power  of  the  government  to  exercise  over  them  the  right  of  eminent  domain; 
and  therefore,  however  they  may  be  affected  by  it,  their  obligation  cannot  be  considered  as 
impaired  in  the  sense  of  the  constitution,  so  all  property  and  franchises,  either  of  individuals  or 
corporations,  are  held  also  under  the  reserved  right  of  the  state,  either  directly  or  through  its 
municipal  organization,  to  exercise  this  police  power  of  protecting  the  public  from  injury,  and 
therefore,  when  exerted  for  that  end,  in  regulating  the  use  of  property  or  vested  rights,  even  to 
their  destruction,  it  does  not,  in  any  sense,  either  of  the  state  or  federal  constitution,  impair  the 
obligation  of  contracts.  *  *  *  The  offal  of  a  city  has  always  been  the  subject  of  its  police 
regulations,  not  only  in  ordering  its  removal,  but  in  regulating  the  place  of  its  deposit.  By  virtue 
of  this  police  power  the  interment  of  such  offal  has  been  forbidden  in  Lake  View.  The  owner  of 
land  in  this  township  has  no  longer,  as  formerly,  the  right,  under  his  title  from  the  government, 
to  enrich  his  soil  by  interring  beneath  its  surface  such  manure,  because  the  state,  under  its 
reserved  right,  has,  through  its  municipal  government  of  the  township,  forbidden  its  use  to  pre- 
vent injury  to  the  public.  The  interment  of  the  dead,  for  like  reasons,  has,  under  all  governments, 
and  in  every  community,  been  considered  as  a  proper  subject  for  police  regulation,  not  only  because 
their  continued  presence  mars  the  enjoyments  of  the  living,  but  because  it  is  pernicious  to  health 
and  life  itself.  Suppose,  from  any  cause,  the  removal  and  burial  of  the  dead  should  be  neglected 
beyond  a  reasonable  and  proper  time;  would  not  the  police  power  be  certainly  called  in  requisi- 
tion to  prevent  a  far  greater  injury  to  the  public  than  would  result  from  the  neglect  to  remove  a 
like  quantity  of  the  ordinary  offal  of  a  city?  Both  the  one  and  the  other  being  interred  with  the 
same  care  and  precaution,  there  can  be  no  question  but  the  enlightened  opinion  of  the  medical 
profession  would  be  that  the  proximity  of  the  buried  dead  would  be  far  more  hurtful  to  the  living 
than  of  the  buried  offal.  The  conclusion  necessarily  follows  that  if  the  removal  and  disposition  of 
the  latter  is  properly  under  the  police  power,  that  of  the  former  is  also,  from  a  necessity  equally 
inexorable." 

As  in  the  pages  preceding  this  extract  principles  are  discussed  and  authorities  cited,  so  in 
those  which  follow  the  discussions  and  citations  are  continued  at  length,  at  the  close  of  which 
the  author  indulges  in  these  reflections: 

"In  thus  endeavoring  to  settle  the  question  under  discussion,  we  have  appealed  to  the  laws  of 
the  country  and  the  decisions  of  courts.  But  there  is  a  power  beyond  them  all,  which  must  ulti- 
mately decide  it,  and  which  no  resistance  of  the  company  can  defeat.  Providence,  who  rules  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  the  destinies  of  its  mighty  cities,  indicates  the  development  and  growth 
of  Chicago  to  an  extent  in  the  future  which  will  demand  as  a  necessity  the  ultimate  removal  of 
Graceland  Cemetery.  In  1840  the  population  of  this  city  was  about  5,000;  in  1850,  30,000;  in 
1860,  109,000,  and  in  1870  300,000.  Commencing  this  wonderful  growth  in  the  first  decade  of 
•  these  thirty  years  by  the  force  merely  of  her  geographical  position,  without  a  single  railroad  or 
canal,  and  even  at  the  commencement  of  the  second  decade,  in  1850,  having  but  one  railroad, 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  37 

fifty  miles  in  length,  what  now  (1871),  are  we  to  expect  of  the  future  growth  of  Chicago,  with  her 
railroads  branching  in  every  direction,  and  extending  to  the  shores  of  both  oceans  ?  Look  at  the 
end  of  the  next  thirty  years,  at  what  will  be  the  dimensions  of  this  wonderful  city,  and  see  this 
township  of  Lake  View  as  it  will  then  be, —  a  densely  populated  part  of  the  city,  with  avenues 
running  parallel  with  the  lake  from  its  southern  to  its  northern  limits,  traversed  by  cross  streets 
innumerable  from  the  lake  to  the  river,  all  paved  and  built  up  by  a  crowded  population.  Where 
then  will  be  Graceland  Cemetery?  If  you  wish  to  see  its  inevitable  fate  written  in  the  history  of 
Chicago,  read  it  now  as  you  look  at  the  crumbling  walls  of  yonder  cemetery,  on  this  same  lake 
shore,  giving  way  before  that  irresistible  providence  which  demands  its  sacrifice  in  the  growth  of 
our  great  city.  So  must  it  be  with  Graceland.  Let  not  the  company,  therefore,  seek  to  include 
in  their  burial  grounds  another  acre,  where  the  sacred  remains  of  the  dead  are  to  rest  in  their 
graves  but  for  a  season.  Next  to  the  death  of  the  living,  no  sight  is  so  sad  as  to  see  the  dead 
disturbed  ;  no  greater  obligation  we  owe  them  than  to  see  them  borne  to  some  sequestered  spot, 
far  from  the  busy  scenes  of  life,  where  the  hand  of  affection  may  adorn  their  graves,  and  where 
they  may  sleep  in  peace  the  long  sleep  of  death,  with  naught  to  disturb  their  dust  till  their  Maker 
bids  them  rise." 

ISAAC  'L.   ELLWOOD. 

DE   KALB. 

BARB  fencing  is  an  invention  of  very  recent  origin.  The  first  patents  for  it  were  taken  out 
by  William  D.  Hunt,  of  New  York,  and  L.  B.  Smith,  of  Ohio,  no  longer  ago  than  1867. 
Shortly  afterward  a  patent  was  issued  to  Michael  Kelley,  of  New  York.  The  barb  wire  manu- 
factured under  these  several  patents  met  with  some  degree  of  success  in  certain  localities,  but 
was  very  much  restricted,  because  there  were  serious  objections  to  all  the  styles  of  fencing  made 
under  these  patents.  At  length  Joseph  F.  Glidden,  a  practical  farmer,  living  in  a  prairie 
country,  where  timber  is  scarce,  after  studying  carefully  the  subject  of  barb  fencing,  invented  a 
style  which  was  a  great  improvement  on  anything  of  the  kind 'in  the  market.  The  western  farm- 
ers saw  at  once  its  great  merits,  and  it  soon  became  very  popular.  Among  the  parties  who 
were  prompt  to  discover  the  superior  worth  of  the  Glidden  style  is  the  gentleman  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch. 

Isaac  Leonard  Ellwood  is  a  son  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  (Belong)  Ellwood,  and  was  born  in 
Cherry  Valley,  New  York,  August  23,  1833.  Isaac's  mental  drill  in  youth  was  limited  to  a  dis- 
trict school,  and  mainly  to  the  rudimentary  branches.  He  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  until  eighteen 
years  of  age,  when  he  went  to  California,  where  he  remained  between  three  and  four  years,  min- 
ing the  first  year,  and  filling  a  clerkship  at  Sacramento  the  rest  of  the  time.  His  trip  to  the 
Pacific  slope  was  not  fruitless,  and  on  his  return  in  1855  he  opened  a  store  in  De  Kalb,  and  was 
engaged  in  selling  hardware,  stoves,  etc.,  for  about  twenty  years,  being  a  successful  merchant. 
In  1874  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Glidden,  and  the  firm  of  Glidden  and  Ellwood  com- 
menced the  manufacture  of  steel  barb  fencing,  beginning  on  a  very  moderate  scale.  Their  style 
of  fencing  met  with  great  public  favor,  and  their  business  increased  rapidly. 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  a  demand  for  a  size  of  wire  not  previously  in  much  demand,  and 
this  led  thf  Washburn  and  Moen  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  to 
inquire  into  the  cause,  and  catching  a  glimpse  of  the  future,  they  purchased,  in  1876,  Mr.  Glid- 
den's  interests  in  his  business  and  patents,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  who  had  already  a  half  interest  in  the  patents  as  well  as  the  business,  the  new  firm  taking 
the  name  of  I.  L.  Ellwood  and  Company.  In  1880  this  company  put  up  its  brick  factory,  sixty 
by  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  and  two  stories  high,  being  now  filled  with  workman,  who  are 
turning  out  an  article  which  meets  with  the  promptest  sales  all  over  prairie  land,  and  which  is 
uneclipsed  for  excellence  on  this  continent.  The  warehouse  is  ninety  by  one  hundred  and  sixty 
feet,  office  forty  by  fifty,  and  every  building,  including  engine  and  boiler  house,  is  built  of  brick. 


38  I'NITKD    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

It  is  the  largest  barb-wire  factory  in  the  world.  And  this  immense  enterprise  has  been  built  up 
solely  on  the  merits  of  its  brand  of  barb  wire.  The  article  made  is  just  what  the  manufacturers 
promise  to  make.  Nothing  but  new  ingot  steel  wire  is  used,  and  every  yard  of  the  wire  put  in 
the  market  is  an  advertisement  of  the  merits  of  the  work. 

The  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  I.  L  Ellwood  and  Company  is  a  man  of  great  business  tact 
and  energy,  yet  quite  modest  and  unpretentious,  never  pushing  himself  forward.  We  believe  he 
has  held  no  civil  office,  and  although  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  he  accepts  no  post  in  the  order.  He 
votes  the  republican  ticket,  and  leaves  the  honors  of  political  preferment  to  parties  whose  ambi- 
tion lies  in  that  direction.  He  is  one  of  the  best  business  men  in  De  Kalb  county,  being  self- 
educated,  always  self-reliant,  and  has  paddled  his  own  canoe  until  he  has  made  a  landing  on  the 
shore  of  the  Fortunate  Isles.  He  married  a  daughter  of  William  A.  Miller,  of  De  Kalb,  in  1859, 
and  has  five  children  living,  and  lost  one  son  in  early  youth. 


HON.  JOHN  M.  SCOTT. 

BLOOMING  TON. 

TOHN  MILTON  SCOTT,  one  of  the  judges  of  the*  supreme  court,  and  now  chief -justice  of  the 
J  same,  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Nancy  (Briggs)  Scott,  and  was  born  near  Belleville,  Saint  Clair 
county,  Illinois,  August  21,  1823.  His  parents,  who  were  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction,  immigrated 
from  Virginia  to  Illinois,  while  this  state  was  a  part  of  the  northwestern  territory,  and  settled  in 
Saint  Clair  county.  He  finished  his  education  under  a  private  tutor,  acquiring  a  fair  knowledge 
of  the  Latin  language,  and  becoming  quite  proficient  in  the  higher  mathematics,  toward  which  his 
taste  seemed  to  incline.  With  the  profession  of  law  early  in  view  he  commenced  teaching  a 
school  in  order  to  supply  himself  with  funds.  At  length  he  entered  the  office  of  Kinney  and  Bis- 
sell,  Belleville,  then  among  the  leading  lawyers  in  southern  Illinois,  paying  at  first  particula'r 
attention  to  the  elementary  books  of  the  science,  and  learning  from  them  that  system  of  sound 
legal  philosophy  which  later  characterized  his  practice  and  teachings.  Being  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1848,  he  settled  in  McLean  county,  at  the  bar  of  which  were  then  practicing  such  distin- 
guished legal  lights  as  Judge  David  Davis,  Abraham  Lincoln,  John  T.  Stuart  and  General  Gridley; 
and  in  a  very  short  time,  as  is  often  the  case  with  active  and  brilliant  young  lawyers  in  growing 
western  towns,  he  had  a  highly  remunerative  practice. 

In  1849  he  was  elected  school  commissioner  of  the  county,  serving  in  that  position  with  energy 
and  great  efficiency  until  1852,  at  which  date  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  county  court,  having 
meantime  been  elected  also  city  attorney  for  the  city  of  Bloomington. 

We  learn  from  the  "  Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois  "  (Philadelphia,  1875),  that  from 
his  early  youth  Mr.  Scott  had  been  an  ardent  politician,  he  being  at  that  time  of  the  whig  school; 
that  on  the  demise  of  that  party  he  joined  the  republican,  and  from  natural  impulse  was  an  active 
worker  in  its  interests,  when  it  had  neither  favor  to  expect  nor  patronage  to  bestow.  In  the 
exciting  canvass  of  1856,  when  the  young  republican  party  put  its  first  presidential  candidate  in 
the  field,  the  gallant  Colonel  John  C.  Fremont,  Mr.  Scott  was  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  state 
senator,  and  although  in  a  then  strongly  democratic  district,  he  made  a  brave  fight,  fearlessly 
avowing  his  anti-slavery  sentiments,  and  greatly  reducing  the  usual  democratic  majority. 

When,  in  1862,  Judge  Davis  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  to  the  supreme  bench  of  the 
United  States,  our  subject,  with  unexpected  unanimity  on  the  part  of  the  bar  of  the  circuit,  was 
invited  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  seat  thus  made  vacant.  The  sentiment  of  the  bar  proved  to 
be  but  a  reflex  of  the  will  of  the  people,  and  he  was  elected  without  opposition.  After  serving  out 
the  unexpired  term  of  the  eminent  jurist,  now  acting  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  Mr. 
Scott  was  reflected  without  opposition,  and  he  discharged  the  duties  of  circuit  judge  until  August 
1870.  According  to  the  new  constitution  adopted  the  month  before  (July  2),  the  state  was  now 
divided  into  seven  judicial  districts;  the  supreme  court  was  increased  from  three  to  seven  judges; 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  41 

and  this  change  made  it  necessary  to  elect  four  persons,  living  in  the  districts  not  having  a  repre- 
sentation in  the  supreme  court,  as  organized  under  the  old  constitution.  The  district  in  which 
Judge  Scott  resided  was  very  large,  extending  from  the  Illinois  River  on  the  west,  to  the  Wabash 
on  the  east,  and  as  far  north  as  Livingston,  and  as  far  south  as  Coles  county,  having  in  it  many- 
lawyers  distinguished  for  their  great  legal  attainments  and  integrity  of  character  ;  but  our  sub- 
ject was  one  of  the  earliest  mentioned  for  the  office  of  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  and  being 
warmly  seconded  by  the  bar,  when  the  election  came  off  in  August,  1870,  he  was  chosen  for  the 
third  district,  for  the  term  of  nine  years.  So  creditably  has  he  filled  that  high  office  that  at  the 
end  of  his  first  term  he  was  reflected  with  great  unanimity.  Both  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist  he  has 
distinguished  himself,  and  was  the  first  native  of  Illinois  who  was  honored  with  a  seat  on  the 
supreme  bench  of  the  state.  His  name,  according  to  the  "Encyclopedia,"  first  appears  in  the  "3d 
Gilman,"  and  his  published  opinions  commencing  with  the  "54th  Illinois,'1  continue  down  to  the 
present  time.  By  allotment  made  by  the  judges,  his  term  as  chief-justice  commenced  at  the  June 
term,  1875,  and  his  first  term  ended  with  the  June  term,  1876,  and  he  is  now  chief-justice. 

His  administration  has  been  uniformly  marked  by  commendable  dignity,  and  the  most  scru- 
pulous regard-  to  justice.  "He  looks  upon  the  law  as  a  system  of  social  and  political  philosophy, 
and  not  as  a  collection  of  arbitrary  rules  founded  on  technical  distinction.  His  style  as  a  judge 
is  clear,  accurate  and  concise,  and  in  reading  his  opinions  no  doubt  is  left  on  the  mind  as  to  the 
point  decided.  His  language  is  chaste  and  forcible,  while  his  composition  is  a  model  of  judicial 
statement." 

REV.   NATHAN    A.   REED,  D.D. 

SAND  WICH. 

NATHAN  ADAMS  REED,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Sandwich,  De  Kalb  county,  is  a 
son  of  Nathan  and  Nancy  (Humphries)  Reed,  dating  his  birth  at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  Jan- 
uary 20,  1815.  He  is  of  English  descent  on  his  father's  side,  and  Scotch  on  his  mother's.  Although 
a  messenger  of  peace,  he  belongs  to  a  fighting  family.  Something  like  a  dozen  of  his  branch  of 
the  Reeds  in  the  old  country,  were  in  Cromwell's  army  ;  in  this  country  a  few  of  them  went  in  the 
French  and  Indian  war ;  his  grandfather,  Samuel  Reed,  was  in  the  revolutionary  army  ;  all  the 
sons  of  Samuel  Reed  were  in  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country,  and  our  subject  had  four 
sons  in  the  civil  war. 

Mr.  Reed  prepared  for  college  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Brown  Uni- 
versity, Providence,  Rhode  Island,  in  1838.  Among  his  classmates  were  Rev.  E.  G.  Robinson, 
D.D.,  now  president  of  Brown  University,  Alexander  Burgess,  now  bishop  of  Quincy,  and  sev- 
eral persons  who  have  since  occupied  seats  on  the  bench,  and  others  who  have  been  in  congress. 
Mr.  Reed  was  ordained  at  Wakefield,  Rhode  Island,  September,  1838  ;  married  Sarah  B.,  daughter 
of  Rev.  B.  C.  Grafton,  of  Wickford,  Rhode  Island,  the  same  month,  and  was  settled  at  Wakefield 
the  next  week,  remaining  there  as  pastor  of  the  First  South  Kingston  Baptist  Church  one  year. 
His  pastorates  since  that  time  have  been  in  succession,  at  Suffield,  Connecticut ;  Bedford  and 
VVappinger's  Falls,  New  York  ;  Winchester,  near  Boston,  Massachusetts  ;  Wakefield  (again) ;  Bris- 
tol, Rhode  Island  ;  Middletown,  Orange  county,  New  York  ;  Zanesville,  Ohio  (eight  years);  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan  ;  Hamilton,  Ohio  ;  Muscatine,  Iowa,  and  Centralia,  Amboy  and  Sandwich,  Illi- 
nois. While  pastor  at  Muscatine,  to  his  great  surprise,  he  had  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  doctor  of  divinity,  by  the  state  university  of  Iowa,  an  institution  decidedly  chary  in  its 
distribution  of  such  titles.  In  this  case  there  was  no  harm  done,  as  Doctor  Reed  never  had  any 
airs  to  put  on,  and  is  equally  cordial  with  the  high  and  low,  if  there  is  any  such  distinction  among 
Christian  people.  He  has  a  fine  flow  of  animal  spirits,  a  whole-souled  sociality  which  includes 
everybody,  and  he  is  well  calculated  to  make  friends,  and  then  lead  them  to  Christ.  Revivals 
have  attended  his  preaching  in  many  places  where  he  has  been  pastor,  and  he  has  led  hundreds 
of  rejoicing  young  converts  down  into  the  baptismal  waters, 
5 


42  UNITED    STATES  R  IOC,  It.  //'///<  W /.    DICTIONARY. 

The  doctor  has  a  good  knowledge  of  the  languages  in  which  the  Bible  was  written,  and  while 
scholarly,  he  is  also  a  plain,  practical  and  instructive  preacher.  His  expository  sermons  are  very 
instructive;  and  his  pulpit  efforts  generally  are  calculated  to  awaken  the  conscience,  as  well  as 
enlighten  the  understanding.  By  his  marriage,  already  mentioned,  Doctor  Reed  has  had  eight 
children,  only  four  of  whom  are  now  living.  Among  the  deceased  are  two  sons  who  were  in  the 
civil  war.  Major  Benjamin  C.  G.  Reed  was  killed  while  gallantly  leading  his  regiment  in  a  charge 
at  Murfreesborough,  Tennessee.  Lieutenant  Edward  O.  G.  Reed  was  wounded,  but  recovered,  and 
was  government  store  keeper  in  Cincinnati  for  fifteen  years,  holding  that  post  at  the  time  of  his 
death  in  June  1881.  The  eldest  son  of  all,  Colonel  N.  A.  Reed,  Jr.,  is  managing  editor  of  the  Chi- 
cago "  Morning  News  ;"  Samuel  O.  K.  is  at  Fort  Collins,  Colorado,  improving  his  soldier's  claim  ; 
Joseph  F.  O.  is  a  commercial  traveler,  with  headquarters  at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  and  Mary 
L.,  the  only  daughter  living,  is  the  wife  of  Rev.  James  B.  Murch,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at 
Minonk,  Illinois. 

Doctor  Reed  was  for  ten  years  a  trustee  of  the  Dennison  University,  Granville,  Ohio,  and  held 
the  same  relation  for  a  few  years  to  the  Central  University  of  Iowa,  located  at  Pella.  He  has 
served  as  moderator  of  a  great  many  associations,  and  other  religious  meetings,  and  has  had  all 
the  blushing  honors  of  that  kind  which  any  one  need  crave,  and  more,  we  venture  to  say,  than  he 
desired. 


T 


HON.   LEVI    NORTH. 

KEWANEE. 

HE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  oldest 
lawyers  in  this  part  of  Illinois,  and  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1871-2,  during  which 
period  he  attended  four  sessions,  and  gave  ten  months'  time  to  law  making  and  law  amending. 
He  is  a  native  of  the  Empire  State  ;  is  a  son  of  Darius  North,  a  farmer,  born  in  Canaan,  Connec- 
ticut, and  Joanna  (Wilcox)  North,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  he  was  born  at  Turin,  Lewis 
county,  March  12,  1821. 

In  1834  the  family  immigrated  to  Ohio,  settled  near  Mount  Vernon,  Knox  county,  where  Levi 
finished  his  school  studies  in  a  log  school  house,  and  farmed  more  or  less  each  season  until  he  was 
nineteen  years  of  age.  He  also  taught  a  district  school  three  winters,  and,  though  his  own  tutor, 
obtained  a  fair  English  education.  Naturally  very  ingenious,  he,  at  about  eighteen  years  of  age, 
undertook  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  portrait  painting  by  the  "natural  way  ;"  that  is,  without  the 
aid  of  instruction,  for  at  that  time  none  was  to  be  had  within  reaching  distance,  and  he  had  no 
means  to  expend  on  traveling  and  tuition.  He,  therefore,  observed  and  learned  as  he  went,  and 
by  slow  degrees  acquired  considerable  proficiency  in  the  art,  and  "  itinerated  "  around  the  state 
for  about  five  years  as  an  artist.  Within  this  time  he  found  opportunity  to  be  in  the  society  of 
many  of  the  most  intelligent  people,  and  had  much  leisure  to  read.  During  the  latter  part  of  this 
time  he  turned  his  attention  to  studying  law,  thinking  it  would  widen  his  intelligence  and  disci- 
pline his  mind,  but  with  no  thought  of  ever  practicing  law.  Finding  his  way  into  Mount  Vernon, 
he  read  law  with  John  W.  Cotton,  and  finally,  in  1845,  when  twenty-four  years  old,  he  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar. 

Mr.  North  practiced  a  short  time  at  Mount  Vernon  ;  came  to  Illinois  in  1847  ;  resided  nearly  a 
year  in  Peoria.  and  then  settled  in  Princeton,  Bureau  county.  While  in  the  latter  place  he  held 
several  local  offices.  In  1860  he  moved  to  Kewanee,  which  has  since  been  his  home,  and  where, 
for  a  dozen  or  more  years,  he  was  quite  successful  in  his  profession.  Here,  in  1874,  he  completed 
"  North's  Probate  Practice,"  the  first  work  of  the  kind  having  any  value  adapted  to  the  laws  of 
Illinois. 

Mr.  North  never  subordinates  the  man  to  the  lawyer  or  allows  himself  to  stir  up  strife  among 
his  neighbors  for  the«sake  of  business.  He  is  a  peacemaker  where  justice  can  be  done  without 
litigation,  and  thinks  the  lawyer  should  honor  his  profession  rather  than  the  profession  honor 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  43 

him.  He  is  of  a  judicial  turn  of  mind,  and  considers  justice  the  true  aim  rather  than  successful 
advocacy. 

In  the  autumn  of  1870  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  general  assembly,  and  during 
the  next  two  years  he  represented  Henry  county  in  that  body.  It  was  a  very  important  period  in 
the  legislative  history  of  the  state,  it  being  necessary  to  adapt  the  statutes  to  the  new  constitution, 
and  make  many  important  changes  in  other  respects,  and  to  call  an  extra  session  on  account  of 
the  Chicago  fire,  October,  1871.  The  consequence  was  that  Mr.  North  had  to  attend  the  regular 
session,  an  adjourned  session,  and  two  extra  sessions,  and  his  legislative  labors  kept  him  from 
attending  courts  a  year  and  a  half.  He  is  one  of  the  few  who  held  that  no  one  could  honestly 
accept  an  office  whose  duties  he  was  unwilling,  even  at  a  sacrifice,  to  perform.  The  best  work  of 
Mr.  North  in  the  legislature  was  done  in  the  bill  establishing  the  house  of  correction  in  Chicago, 
and  the  penitentiary  bill,  he  being  one  of  the  penitentiary  committee  and  one  of  the  foremost 
members  in  defeating  "  ring  "  measures.  In  1867  the  Buckmaster  and  Casey  crowd  refused  to 
proceed  any  further  under  former  arrangements  with  them  for  maintaining  the  penitentiary,  so 
at  an  extra  session,  a  law  was  passed  establishing  a  system  of  working  the  convicts  under  the 
supervision  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  state.  At  no  former  time'  had  the  penitentiary  been  self- 
supporting,  and  great  brutality  had  been  practiced  upon  the  prisoners.  The  new  plan  was 
humane,  but  was  run  at  great  loss  to  the  state.  Politicians  were,  therefore,  growing  uneasy  about 
republican  extravagance.  The  present  plan  was  devised  by  the  joint  committee  of  the  two 
houses,  and  at  once  passed  by  the  senate;  but  party  lines  were  drawn  in  the  house,  and  other 
schemes  were  presented,  two  of  which  were  embodied  in  the  Hough  and  the  Buckmaster  bills 
which  were  substantially  alike.  Each  was  intended  to  catch  a  few  republican  votes  and  all  the 
opposition  support.  And  it  was  discovered  that  the  authors  of  these  plans  had  agreed  that  which- 
ever plan,  if  either,  was  adopted,  they  were  to  be  partners  in  the  job.  Mr.  North  figured  the 
probable  expense  of  the  1,439  prisoners,  with  probable  increase,  at  Joliet,  would  not  be  less  than 
$58,000  each  year,  and  would  probably  reach  $75,000  if  either  of  these  two  bills  were  adopted. 
The'friends  of  the  respective  measures  were  active,  and  nearly  equal  in  numbers.  The  time  came 
for  the  house  committee  to  report.  Two  republicans  had  gone  over  to  the  opposition,  and  two 
were  attending  sick  families  at  home,  and  the  opposition  had  the  majority,  and  were  determined 
to  report  Buckmaster's  bill.  And  here  Mr.  North  and  his  fellow  republican  members  of  the  com- 
mittee refused  to  go  into  committee  for  several  days,  notwithstanding  the  house  ordered  a  report. 
At  last,  after  much  censure,  he  made  a  statement  showing  the  facts,  and  the  matter  was  laid  over 
till  the  other  members  arrived,  and  the  senate  bill  was  reported,  and  at  an  extra  session  passed  by 
three  majority.  The  saving  to  the  state  in  ten  years  he  estimated  at  $1,000,000.  He  also  led  suc- 
cessfully in  the  fight  against  proposed  high  salaries,  about  twenty  per  cent  above  the  present  for 
state  officers.  His  speech  on  that  occasion  gave  him  a  large  influence  with  those  in  favor  of  mod- 
erate but  just  expenditures.  He  zealously  advocated  the  law  requiring  saloon  keepers  to  give 
bonds  to  pay  damages  caused  by  selling  or  giving  away  intoxicating  liquors,  and  making  them 
liable  to  wives,  children,  etc.,  of  persons  made  drunk  by  them,  for  all  injuries  to  persons,  property  or 
means  of  support.  He  also  caused  an  amendment  to  be  made  in  the  statute  relating  to  testamen- 
tary guardians,  providing  that  wills  of  fathers  creating  such  guardians  could  not  operate  to 
deprive  the  mother  during  her  life  of  the  custody  and  tuition  of  their  children,  without  her  consent. 

Mr.  North  was  originally  a  democrat;  joined  the  liberty  party  in  1843;  voted  for  James  G. 
Birney  in  1844,  and  was  a  free  soiler  in  1848  and  1854,  and  has  been  a  republican  since  there  was 
such  a  party.  While  in  Ohio  he  sometimes  took  the  stump,  and  did  valiant  service  for  the  cause 
of  the  downtrodden  slave,  but  of  late  years  has  resorted  to  the  press  through  which  to  express  his 
political  sentiments.  Mr.  North  is  a  firm  republican,  yet  independent  enough  to  refuse  to  vote 
for  an  unworthy  nominee  of  his  party.  He  is  an  independent  thinker  on  all  subjects,  and  asks 
no  man  to  furnish  him  with  opinions.  He  is  a  member  of  no  social  organization  or  sect,  and  will 
not  be  responsible  for  the  acts  of  others,  nor  allow  others  to  dictate  his  conduct. 

The  first  wife  of  Mr.  North  was  Miss  Laura  Johnson,  of  Monroe  county,  Ohio,  to  whom  he 


44  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

was  married  September  18,  1848.  She  died  in  1852.  By  her  he  had  one  daughter,  now  the  wife 
of  Duncan  L.  Murchison,  of  Wethersfield.  He  married  his  second  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Charlotte  C.  Strong,  in  1853.  They  have  had  four  sons,  all  now  living  but  the  eldest,  Milo,  who 
died  at  twenty-four  years  of  age.  Foster  and  Arthur  Tappan  are  students  in  the  Illinois  Indus- 
trial University,  Champaign,  and  Charles  Kelsey  is  at  home. 


HON.  THOMPSON   W.  McNEELY. 

PE  TEKSB  UKGH. 

THOMPSON  WARE  McNEELY,  a  prominent  member  of  the  bar  in  central  Illinois,  is  a  son 
of  Robert  T.  McNeely,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  Ann  Maria  (Ware)  McNeely,  of  the  same 
state.  The  progenitor  of  the  McNeely  family  in  this  country  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  and 
was  of  Scotch-Irish  blood.  The  Wares  were  of  English  descent.  Thompson  was  born  in  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois,  October  5,  1835.  He  lost  his  mother  in  1839,  and  soon  afterward  the  family 
came  to  Menard  county.  Rottert  McNeely  was  a  carpenter  in  early  life,  and  afterward  a  mer- 
chant. He  is  still  living,  being  in  his  seventy-eighth  year,  and  is  a  substantial,  much-respected 
citizen,  living  with  his  son  in  the  city  of  Petersburgh. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  one  year  at  Jubilee  College,  Peoria ;  four  years  at  Lombard 
University,  Galesburgh  ;  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  in  1856,  and  received 
the  degree  of  master  of  arts  three  years  later.  He  studied  law  in  Petersburgh  ;  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1857,  teaching  school  one  term  while  studying  his  profession  ;  attended  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Kentucky,  Louisville,  and  was  graduated  in  March,  1859.  He  soon 
rose  to  the  front  rank  at  the  county  bar,  and  has  been  steadily  growing  for  more  than  a  score  of 
years.  He  has  a  great  deal  of  criminal  practice,  in  which  he  has  been  quite  successful. 

In  1861  Mr.  McNeely  represented  Menard  and  Cass  counties  in  the  constitutional  convention, 
and  although  then  a  young  man,  he  took  an  honorable  position  among  the  legal  minds  in  that  body. 

In  1868  his  democratic  constituents  in  the  old  ninth  district,  composed  of  Menard,  Cass,  Mason, 
Fulton,  McDonough,  Schuyler,  Brown  and  Pike  counties,  sent  him  to  the  national  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, and  returned  him  in  1870,  he  serving  from  March  4,  1869  to  March  4,  1873.  He  was 
on  the  committees  on  education,  labor  and  weights  and  measures.  In  1879  he  was  chairman  of 
the  democratic  state  central  committee. 


HON.   GEORGE  H.   LOCEY. 

LA   SALLE. 

EORGE  HARVEY  LOCEY,  lawyer  and  ex-judge  of  the  city  court  of  La  Salle,  is  a  native 
V_T  of  Tioga  county,  New  York,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Candor,  June  29,  1834.  His  parents 
are  Isaac  V.  Locey,  farmer  and  bank  director,  and  Susan  (Hart)  Locey,  both  still  living  in  Tioga 
county.  George  was  educated  mainly  at  Lima,  New  York,  where  he  prepared  for  and  went 
through  Genesee  College,  being  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1856.  While  pursuing  his  college  course, 
he  taught  some  in  the  Wesleyan  Seminary,  an  older  institution  than  the  college;  and  on  receiving 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  he  went  to  Tennessee,  and  taught  in  the  literary  department  of 
the  University  of  Nashville.  A  year  or  two  later  he  became  principal  of  the  male  and  female 
academy  at  Goodletsville,  same  state,  holding  that  position  when  the  civil  war  began.  In  1861  he 
returned  to  the  North.  While  teaching  in  Tennessee  he  gave  his  leisure  time  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  at  Nashville  in  1860.  On  reaching  Illinois,  he  opened  an  office 
at  Dixon,  where  he  practiced  between  one  and  two  years,  and  in  1863  settled  in  La  Salle,  continu- 
ing the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  elected  judge  of  the  city  court;  held  that  office  about 
two  years,  and  then  resigned.  Latterly  he  has  given  considerable  attention  to  mining,  having 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  45 

a  mine  of  his  own  on  the  Rock  Island  road,  ten  miles  west  of  La  Salle,  with  which  his  office  is 
connected  by  telephone,  by  which  medium  of  communication  he  works  the  mine.  His  legal  busi- 
ness is  limited  to  office  work,  and  is  largely  consultation. 

Mr.  Locey  is  a  well  read  and  sound  lawyer,  and  while  in  full  practice,  made  a  success  in  his 
profession;  but  as  in  La  Salle  more  money  can  be  made  by  mining  than  in  the  law,  and  as  Mr. 
Locey  is  very  much  like  the  rest  of  mankind,  he  gives  the  most  attention  to  that  calling  which 
yields  the  largest  returns  in  mirk  drops,  as  one  of  Dickens'  characters  calls  the  yellow  boys. 

Our  subject  is  not  so  fully  absorbed  in  money  making  as  not  to  leave  any  time  to  devote  to 
the  interests  of  his  adopted  home.  At  one  period  he  served  for  three  years  as  president  of  the 
board  of  education,  and  did  all  he  could  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  public  schools.  He  is  a  man 
of  culture,  and  of  a  progressive  disposition,  and  if  he  was  backed  up  in  his  efforts  to  elevate  the 
tone  of  education,  he  must  have  been  successful.  He  has  also  been  mayor  of  the  city,  and  is  one 
of  the  leading  men. 

Mr.  Locey  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  held  at  one  time  the  office  of  high  priest  of  St.  John's 
Chapter.  He  was  joined  in  marriage,  September  i,  1859,  with  Miss  Jennie  Ogden,  daughter  of 
General  Isaac  B.  Ogden,  of  Tioga  county,  New  York,  and  they  have  one  son,  Edmund  T.,  aged 
seventeen  years.  He  is  being  educated  mainly  under  the  eye  of  his  father. 


T 


HON.  THOMAS  B.  CABEEN. 

KEITHSBURG. 

HOMAS  BOYD  CABEEN,  banker  and  land  owner,  is  a  grandson  of  Thomas  Cabeen.  of 
Ireland,  who  had  seven  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  whom  came  to  America,  and  settled 
in  different  states.  One  of  these  sons  was  Samuel  Cabeen,  the  father  of  our  subject,  who  was 
born  in  Antrim,  Ireland,  in  1788;  crossed  the  ocean  in  1808;  was  a  clerk  for  an  older  brother  in 
Bristol,  Pennsylvania;  married,  February  14,  1815,  Elizabeth  P.Wright,  a  native  of  Bucks  county, 
Pennsylvania;  moved  that  year  to  Muskingum  county,  Ohio;  immigrated  to  Mercer  county,  Illi- 
nois, in  1836,  and  lived  in  Ohio-  Grove  township  until  his  death,  in  1856.  His  widow  died  in 
1874,  aged  eighty-four  years. 

Thomas  B.  Cabeen  was  born  in  Union  township,  Muskingum  county,  Ohio,  December  15, 
1815;  received  an  ordinary  English  education  in  Ohio,  mainly  in  private  schools;  came  with  the 
family  to  Mercer  county;  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  worked  at  it  for  several  years,  doing 
some  of  the  first  work  of  the  kind  in  Keithsburg,  in  1845.  The  first  court  house  in  Mercer  county 
was  built  in  1839,  by  Mr.  Cabeen  and  Abram  B.  Sheriff,  they  receiving  $1,400  for  the  job.  It  was 
located  at  Millersburgh,  then  the  county  seat.  During  this  period  our  subject  was  also  opening, 
in  Ohio  Grove  township,  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  which  he  sold  in  1858  to  his 
uncle,  Richard  Cabeen,  who  still  owns  it. 

Since  1845  our  subject  has  been  a  resident  of  Keithsburg,  and  a  year  or  two  later  became  a 
clerk  for  Noble  and  Gayle,  general  merchants,  and  was  holding  that  post  when,  in  1848,  he  was 
elected  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  an  office  which  he  held  until  1856.  In  1862  his  constituents  in 
Mercer  and  Henderson  counties  elected  him  to  the  legislature,  where  he  served  one  term,  being 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  miscellaneous  business,  and  a  member  of  two  or  three  other  com- 
mittees. For  a  long  period  Mr.  Cabeen  has  been  largely  interested  in  real  estate,  and  wild  as 
well  as  improved  lands,  of  which  he  has  between  three  thousand  and  four  thousand  acres,  situ- 
ated in  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Missouri.  He  is  one  of  the  most  reliable,  straightforward  and  success- 
ful business  men  in  the  village.  He  helped  to  organize  the  Farmers'  National  Bank  of  Keithsburg, 
in  the  spring  of  1871,  and  from  that  date  has  held  the  office  of  vice  president.  Since  January  i, 
1880,  when  the  bank  surrendered  its  charter,  it  has  been  a  private  corporation.  It  is  a  stanch 
institution,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000.  Its  president  is  William  Drury,  who  has  a  sketch  in  this 
book.  It  is  now  called  the  Farmers'  Bank  of  Keithsburg. 


46  UNITED  STATES  FtrOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Cabeen  has  always  voted  the  democratic  ticket;  is  a  Universalist  in  religious  belief,  and 
is  a  member  of  Robert  Burns  Lodge,  Number  113,  of  the  Illinois  Chapter,  Number  17,  and  of  the 
Galesburgh  Commandery,  Number  8.  His  wife  was  Miss  Lucy  Wilson,  daughter  of  William  and 
Sarah  (McHerron)  Wilson,  she  being  a  native  of  Danville,  Pennsylvania.  They  were  married 
June  26,  1849,  and  have  had  three  children:  William  S.,  merchant,  married  to  Miss  Lou  Demp- 
ster; Sarah  E.,  wife  of  Tom  A.  Marshall,  druggist,  Keithsburgh,  and  Boyd  W.,  who  died  in 
infancy.  ^ 

MAURICE  J.  CHASE,   M.D. 

GALESBURGH. 

MAURICE  JAMES  CHASE,  thirty-two  years  a  medical  practitioner,  belongs  to  the  old  New 
Hampshire  family  of  Chases.  The  town  of  Cornish,  where  he  was  born,  March  4,  1826, 
was  ceded  to  his  great-great-grandfather  some  time  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, when  what  is  now  Sullivan  county  was  little  more  than  a  wilderness,  inhabited  by  Indians 
and  wild  beasts.  Benjamin  C.  Chase,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a  second  cousin  of  the  late 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  chief -justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and  a  native  of  Cornish. 
Benjamin  C.  Chase  married  Eliza  Royce,  a  native  of  Claremont,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maurice 
was  the  fourth  child  in  a  family  of  five  children.  He  was  educated  at  Kimball  Union  Academy, 
Plainville,  New  Hampshire;  studied  medicine  at  Franklin,  same  state,  with  Doctor  L.  M.  Knight; 
attended  two  courses  of  lectures  at  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  one  course  at 
Woodstock,  Vermont,  and  received  his  diploma  from  the  latter  institution  in  1850.  Doctor  Chase 
practiced  the  allopathic  system  one  year  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  two  years  in  Truro,  same  state, 
and  one  year  at  Newport,  Indiana,  and  then  changed  to  the  homoeopathic  method  of  treatment. 
He  practiced  one  year  in  Muncie,  Indiana,  three  years  in  Macomb,  Illinois,  and  in  1859  settled  in 
Galesburgh,  where  he  is  meeting  with  marked  success.  He  loves  his  profession,  is  thoroughly 
wedded  to  it,  and  ignores  everything  likely  to  distract  the  attention  or  absorb  valuable  time.  He 
has  nothing  to  do  with  politics  except  to  vote,  being  a  republican;  accepts  no  civil  offices,  and 
connects  himself  with  no  secret  societies.  Being  of  a  studious  turn  of  mind,  he  gives  his  leisure 
time  to  fresh  medical  works  and  periodicals.  He  uses  neither  tea  nor  coffee,  and  in  his  practice 
makes  no  use  of  alcoholic  liquors.  His  manners  are  those  of  a  polished  gentleman. 

Doctor  Chase  was  married  March  15,  1849,  to  Miss  Lucy  F.  Crocker,  of  Falmouth,  Massachu- 
setts, and  they  buried  two  children  in  infancy,  one  being  killed  by  a  fall,  and  have  two  living. 
Ella  is  the  wife  of  Arthur  Conger,  post  trader  at  Fort  Union,  New  Mexico,  and  Henry  M.  is  a 
clerk  for  his  brother-in-law.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Chase  are  members  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ 
(Congregational),  and  prominent  factors  in  Galesburgh  social  circles. 


SAMUEL  W.  RAYMOND. 

OTTAWA. 

SAMUEL  WARD  RAYMOND,  treasurer  of  La  Salle  county,  and  a  resident  here  for  fifty-five 
years,  was  born  in  Woodstock,  Vermont,  May  8,  1815,  his  parents  being  Barnabas  and  Mary 
(Mayo)  Raymond.  His  father,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  the 
mother  country,  was  born  in  Middleborough,  Massachusetts,  and  his  grandfather,  John  Raymond, 
a  soldier  in  the  French  and  Indian  war,  was  of  Huguenot  blood,  the  family  fleeing  from  France 
to  England,  and  thence  to  the  United  States.  The  Mayos  are  of  Welsh  lineage. 

Young  Raymond  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of  his  native  town;  was  on  a  farm  until 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  subsequently  spent  seven  years  in  a  store  at  Morrisville,  Vermont.  He 
came  into  this  county  June  i,  1837,  making  his  home  at  first  in  Peru,  and  for  two  years  was 
engaged  with  an  engineering  party  on  different  roads  under  the  old  internal  improvement  system. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  47 

Afterward  he  ran  a  ferry  part  of  the  time,  and  was  keeping  a  hotel  in  1847  when  he  was  elected 
recorder  of  the  county,  and  moved  from  Peru  to  Ottawa.  He  held  that  office  two  years  (1847  to 
1849),  and  was  then  county  clerk  for  eight  years.  After  being  out  four  years  he  was  elected  to  the 
same  county  office,  holding  it  four  years  more,  when  he  retired  and  went  into  the  grain  business. 
In  1871  he  was  elected  county  treasurer,  and  has  held  that  office  for  twelve  years.  No  safer,  better 
man  could  be  trusted  with  the  finances  of  the  county,  and  for  aught  we  know  Mr. -Raymond  may 
die  in  that  office.  During  the  forty-five  years  that  he  has  been  in  the  county  he  has  been  in  public 
life  more  than  half  of  them,  and  has  discharged  the  duties  of  the  several  offices  which  he  has  held 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  He  is  a  democrat,  of  independent  proclivities,  and  very 
popular,  as  his  history  would  indicate,  with  all  parties,  La  Salle  being  of  late  years  a  republican 
county. 

Mr.  Raymond  is  an  Odd-Fellow,  past  noble  grand,  and  was  at  one  time  chief  patriarch  of 
the  encampment. 

July  24,  1849,  Mr.  Raymond  married,  at  Peru,  Miss  Floretta  Lewis,  a  native  of  Dryden, 
Tompkins  county,  New  York,  and  they  have  eleven  children,  having  never  had  a  death  in  the 
family.  William,  the  eldest  son,  is  married  and  living  in  Ottawa;  Frances  is  the  wife  of  A.  M. 
Hoffman,  Ottawa;  Susan  E.  is  the  wife  of  John  A.  Carton,  banker,  Ackley,  Iowa,  and  Eliza  C.  is 
the  wife  of  Samuel  A.  Reed,  attorney-at-law,  Eldora,  Iowa.  The  others,  Mary  H.,  Charles  H., 
Emma,  Samuel  W.,  Jr.,  Floretta,  Carrie  and  Walter,  are  at  home  or  living  in  Ottawa.  Mr.  Ray- 
mond, as  is  here  seen,  has  reared  a  large  family,  and  he  has  given  all  his  children  a  fair  education, 
two  or  three  of  the  youngest  still  pursuing  their  studies.  He  has  stock  in  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Ottawa,  and  is  in  comfortable  circumstances,  his  accumulations  being  the  result  of  his  own 
industry.  The  rectitude  of  his  public  life,  his  social  qualities  and  his  neighborly  kindnesses  have 
greatly  endeared  him  to  the  citizens  of  Ottawa  and  to  the  people  generally  of  La  Salle  county. 


JOHN   I.  SMITH,  M.D. 

SHANNON. 

JOHN  ISAAC  SMITH,  son  of  Rev.  John  Smith,  and  Margaret  (Blackburn)  Smith,  was  born 
near  Chatham,  county  of  Kent,  Canada  West,  now  Ontario,  June  29,  1843.  His  father  and 
mother  were  also  natives  of  that  province.  When  he  was  two  years  old  the  family  came  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Stephenson  county,  where  the  mother  died  in  1859.  His  father  died  in  October, 
1879,  after  having  been  a  Methodist  preacher  between  thirty  and  forty  years.  John  was  taught  to 
read  and  write  by  a  younger  sister,  and  was  kept  on  his  father's  farm  until  nineteen  years  of  age, 
when,  in  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  92d  regiment,  Illinois  infantry,  and  served 
three  years.  He  was  shot  in  the  left  elbow  at  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  leaving  him  with 
an  anchylosed  joint.  While  laid  up  he  read  medicine,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  be  of  service,  he 
was  placed  in  charge  of  three  wards  of  the  Mound  City,  Illinois,  Hospital,  remaining  there  until 
mustered  out  in  the  autumn  of  1865. 

The  next  year  he  entered  the  college  at  Fulton,  Whiteside  county,  and  studied  for  two  years; 
subsequently  read  medicine  with  Doctor  F.  W.  Byers,  of  Lena,  Stephenson  county;  attended  lec- 
tures at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago;  lost  his  little  library  and  his  apparatus  in  the  great  fire 
of  October,'  1871,  and  received  his  diploma  from  Rush  in  January,  1872.  Early  in  the  following 
month  he  settled  at  Shannon,  Carroll  county;  entered  at  once  upon  a  liberal  practice,  and  has 
made  a  brilliant  success  in  his  profession,  his  rides  not  unfrequently  extending  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  miles,  and  sometimes  even  thirty  from  his  home,  and  that  too,  in  a  thickly  settled  country, 
with  half  a  dozen  villages  and  small  cities  within  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  of  Shannon.  The  doc- 
tor has  an  unusually  choice  medical  library,  of  which  he  makes  the  best  of  use,  and  consequently 
is  a  growing  man.  He  pays  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  study  of  surgery,  of  which  he  seems 
to  be  very  fond  and  in  which  he  excels,  although  he  makes  a  specialty  of  no  one  branch  of  medi- 


48  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

cal  science.  He  has  repeatedly  operated  with  complete  success  in  strangulated  hernia,  hare  lip, 
talipes,  tracheotomy,  lithotomy,  and  other  difficult  cases  of  surgery,  and  his  uniform  success  has 
extended  his  reputation  over  a  wide  district.  The  doctor  has  more  business  than  any  one  man 
should  think  of  attending  to,  and  will  be  obliged,  at  no  distant  day,  to  lessen  his  rides  or  they 
will  lessen  his  days.  He  never  has  less  than  five  horses,  and  usually  keeps  from  seven  to  nine. 

Doctor  Smith  married  in  June,  1877,  Miss  Wealthy  Ann  Taber,  daughter  of  Oliver  P.  Taber, 
of  Lanark,  Illinois,  and  we  believe  they  have  no  issue. 


EDWIN  C.  ALLEN. 

OTTAWA. 

EDWIN  CUTLER  ALLEN,  banker,  and  mayor  of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  is  a  son  of  Asa  K.  and 
Lucy  (Cutler)  Allen,  and  was  born  in  the  city  of  Rochester,  New  York,  in  November,  1820. 
His  grandfather,  Philip  Allen,  a  revolutionary  soldier,  was  a  native  of  Vermont.  The  Cutlers 
were  a  Massachusetts  family.  Edwin  received  a  high  school  or  academic  education  in  his  native 
city;  came  thence  as  far  west  as  Ypsilanti,  Michigan,  where  he  was  a  clerk  in  a  bank.  From 
Michigan  he  pushed  westward  into  Wisconsin,  and  was  in  mercantile  life  at  Allen's  Grove  (named 
for  his  father  and  uncles)  until  1852,  when  he  came  into  La  Salle  county,  and  was  cashier  of  a 
bank  at  Peru  for  three  or  four  years. 

In  1856  Mr.  Allen  settled  in  Ottawa  and  commenced  the  banking  business  in  the  firm  of 
Eames,  Allen  and  Company.  In  1865  the  National  City  Bank  of  Ottawa  was  organized  and 
opened,  and  he  is  the  vice  president  and  principal  manager  of  that  stanch  institution.  He  is  one 
of  the  best  financiers  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Allen  was  city  treasurer  for  several  years,  and  is  now  (1882)  at  the  head  of  the  municipal- 
ity, making  a  public-spirited  and  efficient  chief  magistrate.  He  is  a  republican,  and  a  man  of  a 
good  deal  of  influence  in  his  party.  Many  years  ago  he  was  an  active  and  prominent  Odd-Fellow, 
but  since  coming  to  Ottawa  has  rarely  attended  a  meeting  of  the  order. 

The  wife  of  Mayor  Allen  was  Mary  C.  Champion,  a  native  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  their 
marriage  bearing  date  July  20,  1845.  They  have  four  children,  Katie,  Edith  C.,  Emma  and  Edwin 
C.,  Jr.  The  family  attend  the  Congregational  Church,  of  which  the  parents  are  members  and 
liberal  supporters. 

HON.   REUBEN    ELLWOOD. 

SYCAMORE. 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  notice  is  one  of  the  most  enterprising  citizens  of  Sycamore, 
and  was  born  in  Minden,  Montgomery  county,  New  York,  February  17,  1821,  his  parents 
being  Abraham  and  Sarah  Ellwood.  Reuben  finished  his  education  at  the  Cherry  Valley  Acad- 
emy, and  in  early  life  engaged  extensively  in  raising  broom  corn  and  in  the  manufacture  of 
brooms  at  Glenville,  Schenectady  county,  where  he  remained  for  eight  or  nine  years. 

In  1857  Mr.  Ellwood  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  at  Sycamore,  De  Kalb  county,  engaging  in 
the  hardware  trade,  dealing  also,  at  the  same  time,  in  real  estate.  About  1870  he  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  agricultural  implements,  believing  that  such  industries  would  aid  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  city  of  Sycamore  as  well  as  accrue  to  his  own  pecuniary  interests.  In  1875  he 
commenced  to  build  what  is  now  known  as  the  factory  of  the  R.  Ellwood  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, in  which  he  invested  $50,000,  and  which  was  completed  in  October,  1875,  and  gives  employ- 
ment to  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  workmen. 

Mr.  Ellwood  was  a  prominent  politician  of  the  republican  stripe  while  a  resident  of  the  Empire 
State,  being  a  member  of  the  board  of  supervisors  while  living  at  Glenville,  a  member  of  the 
legislature  in  1851,  and  a  presidential  elector  in  1856  on  the  Fremont  and  Dayton  ticket.  Since 


K  U.Conpor   Jr  4  "a 


ny   R.D.William  G  i  Br  MY" 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGKAPH1CA I.    DICTIONARY.  51 

coming  to  this  state  he  has  been  equally  as  active  as  a  politician,  and  his  republican  friends  in 
De  Kalb  county  have  not  been  slow  to  recognize  his  fitness  for  high  official  positions,  he  being  in 
1868  their  unanimous  choice  for  representative  to  congress.  In  1882  he  was  nominated  for  that 
office  and  carried  every  county  in  his  district  by  a  large  majority.  He  is  a  practical  business  man 
and  will  make  a  valuable  member  of  congress. 

He  was  appointed  United  States  assessor  in  1866,  and  held  that  post  till  the  office  was  abol- 
ished. He  was  the  first  mayor  of  Sycamore,  and  has  been  a  foremost  citizen  in  various  public 
works  and  projects  for  the  advancement  of  the  city.  Says  a  writer  who  has  long  known  Mr. 
Ellwood: 

"  He  is  a  man  of  great  enterprise,  of  positive  traits  of  character,  indomitable  energy,  strict 
integrity  and  liberal  views,  thoroughly  identified  in  feelings  and  acts  with  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity ot  the  town,  county  and  state." 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Ellwood  was  Miss  Eleanor  Vedder,  of  Schenectady  county,  New  York,  they 
being  married  August  8,  1850.  They  have  had  six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters. 


D.   HENRY  SHELDON. 

CHICAGO. 

D  HENRY  SHELDON'S  forefathers  were  stanch  Puritans,  and  mostly  settled  about  Massa- 
.  chusetts  Bay  before  1634,  but  holding  Baptist  sentiments.  They,  with  others,  were  ban- 
ished, and  followed  Roger  Williams.  Among  the  earliest  proprietors,  settlers  and  civil  officials  of 
Providence,  Portsmouth,  Newport  and  contiguous  Rhode  Island,  were  Governor  Brenton, .Shear- 
man, James,  Rogers  and  Sheldon,  ancestors  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  It  is  remarkable 
that  Mr.  Sheldon's  family  claims  direct  descent  from  John  Rogers,  the  first  English  martyr,  who 
was  burned  in  1555,  and  kindred  with  the  last  one,  John  James,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  who  was 
hanged  in  1660.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  descendants  of  such  stock  should  push  into  the 
Canaan  of  which  their  forefathers  were  defrauded.  On  leaving  Leyden,  the  Pilgrims  purposed 
to  pass  the  colony  at  Manhattan,  sail  up  the  Hudson,  beyond  the  Dutch  authority,  and  locate 
around  and  beyond  that  outmost  trading  post,  since  called  Albany;  but  not  wishing  a  distinct- 
ively English  colony  in  a  country  which  they  hoped  to  control,  the  Dutch  bribed  the  pilot  to  land 
his  precious  charge  on  a  distant,  inhospitable  shore.  A  hundred  years  later,  the  progenitors  of 
our  subject  spied  out  the  promised  land,  and  in  1767  the  Rhode  Island  Baptists  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  the  Gospel  on  the  Bottenkill,  New  York. 

In  1777  Samuel  Sheldon's  ample  homestead  on  the  Hudson  was  sheltered  by  the  cannon  of 
Fort  Saratoga,  which,  from  an  eminence  in  the  rear,  aided  the  American  troops  on  the  opposite 
bank  to  force  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne.  In  those  revolutionary  struggles  both  the  grandfathers 
of  our  subject  were  officially  engaged.  That  was  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  Fort  Sara- 
toga, or  Fort  Clinton,  as  it  was  also  called,  has  long  since  disappeared.  The  family  still  occupy 
the  estate  on  which  the  old  proprietor,  though  an  extensive  landholder,  was  among  the  first  to 
free  his  slaves,  and  to  refuse  intoxicating  drinks  to  those  in  his  employ. 

Here  the  grandparents  of  our  subject,  Samuel  Sheldon  and  Tabitha  Rogers,  his  wife,  reared  a 
thrifty  family.  One  of  the  sons,  Caleb,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  David  Tefft  and  Ruhamah 
James,  and  our  subject  is  their  youngest  child.  John,  a  major  of  artillery,  married  Jane,  daughter 
of  General  DeRydder  of  the  old  Dutch  colony.  The  sons  occupy  not  only  the  Sheldon  but  the 
adjoining  estate,  which  has  been  in  the  DeRydder  family  since  1685.  The  old  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish blood  are  merged  and  forgotten.  Elizabeth  married  Moses  Cowan,  and  their  sons  are  mer- 
chants in  New  York  city  and  Chicago.  Susan  became  the  wife  of  Doctor  Hiram  Corliss,  a  Nestor 
in  the  profession.  Their  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Rev.  Sabin  McKinney.  Their  son,  Rev. 
Albert  H.  Corliss,  is  father  of  Sheldon  Corliss,  a  distinguished  lawyer.  William  and  George  are 
inventors,  and  enjoy  a  more  than  national  reputation.  When  the  latter,  George  H.  Corliss,  of 

6 


52  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Providence,  had  placed  the  gigantic  motive  power  in  the  centennial  machinery  hall,  at  Philadel- 
phia, 1876,  he  affirmed,  "that  engine  shall  not  move  on  the  Lord's  day." 

Of  Mr.  Sheldon's  family  are  Henry  A.  Tefft,  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  California;  Charles 
R.  Ingalls,  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  New  Y6rk;  Lieutenant-Colonel  E.  F.  Norton,  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Chancellorsville;  Lieutenant  H.  S.  Taber,  of  the  engineer  corps,  United  States 
military  academy,  at  West  Point;  Rev.  J.  A.  Tefft,  missionary  to  Africa,  etc. 

D.  Henry  Sheldon  was  born  March  12,  1830.  An  accident  in  boyhood  rendered  his  father 
almost  totally  deaf;  yet,  despite  the  misfortune,  he  acquired  a  competency.  But  his  kind  heart 
could  never  refuse  a  favor.  He  became  surety  for  several  friends;  the  financial  crisis  of  1837 
followed,  and  other  men's  debts  swept  away  a  fortune  he  could  never  restore.  The  loss  of  his 
wife  proved  a  crowning  calamity. 

The  church  in  Union  village,  New  York,  was  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  state.  Its  historian  says: 
"  Bottskill  Baptist  Church  has  never  shrunk  from  the  performance  of  a  disagreeable  duty.  Here 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Colver,  D.D.,  led  to  advanced  ground  on  the  questions  of  slavery  and  temperance. 
Rev.  William  Arthur,  D,D.,  followed,  and  was  greatly  blessed.  Jn  March,  1844,  he  led  a  rejoicing 
band  through  the  broken  ice,  and,  without  stopping,  baptized  more  than  sixty  persons  in  the 
warmer  flood  beneath."  Among  them  was  the  lad  of  whom  we  write.  At  fifteen  he  undertook 
to  support  and  educate  himself.  He  resided  with  his  unc'le,  Doctor  Corliss;  collected  accounts, 
looked  after  help,  rose  from  bed  at  midnight  to  care  for  the  physician's  horses,  and  otherwise 
provided  for  board,  clothing,  tuition  and  books,  while  attending  the  academy  in  Union  village. 
Among  his  school  fellows  was  his  pastor's  brilliant,  genial,  true-hearted  son,  Chester  A.  Arthur, 
since  President  of  the  United  States. 

Through  a  kinsman  who  had  been  a  professor  there,  Henry  hoped  to  obtain  a  place  in  the 
military  academy  at  West  Point;  but  the  needs  of  home  compelled  him  to  abandon  the  project, 
and  aid  in  the  care  of  and  marketing  for  a  large  farm.  At  seventeen  he  accepted  a  position  with 
a  gentleman  whose  extensive  business  included  a  general  store.  Soon  becoming  disgusted  with 
the  petty  routine  of  the  counter,  he  was  transferred  to  outside  duties.  Discovering  how  most  of 
the  profits  were  made,  at  the  end  of  his  trial  month  he  threw  up  his  situation,  and  commenced 
some  independent  operations,  which  were  successful  from  the  first.  That  success  was  his  misfor- 
tune, for  it  developed  a  taste  for  speculation.  The  year  1849  found  him  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan,  where  he  selected  and  developed  land  with  good  returns,  and  on  the  death  of  his  father 
he  turned  over  his  accumulations  for  the  use  of  others,  and  again  commenced  empty-handed. 

From  this  time  he  began  a  new  life,  under  the  influence  of  one  of  the  truest  and  noblest  of 
Christian  characters,  of  rare  attainments  and  culture.  March  12,  1854.  he  married  Augusta, 
daughter  of  Rev.  David  Searle  and  granddaughter  of  Hon.  James  McCall,  all  of  New  York  state. 
In  a  few  months  Mr.  Sheldon  passed  an  examination  and  entered  the  sophomore  class  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Rochester,  and  thus  came  under  President  M.  B.  Anderson,  LL.D.,  so  renowned  for  his 
marvelous  power  to  draw  out  a  young  man's  better  self,  and  arouse  him  to  earnest  endeavor.  Mr. 
Sheldon  loved  him  as  a  father,  spending  three  years  in  the  institution,  and  graduating  in  1857 
with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science. 

Having  prepared  himself  for  a  civil  engineer,  our  subject  went  upon  the  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota 
and  Pacific  railroad  survey,  under  Colonel  Dale,  member  of  congress  for  Delaware.  The  only 
vacant  position  on  the  corps,  when  he  reached  Saint  Paul,  was  axeman,  which  Mr.  Sheldon 
accepted,  and  soon  rose  through  five  grades  to  a  position  next  to  the  colonel's.  The  panic  of 
1857  stopped  the  work,  and  when  two  years  later,  it  was  resumed,  Mr.  Sheldon  was  tendered  his 
previous  position,  but  declined,  as  he  had  become  a  real-estate  dealer  in  Saint  Louis. 

While  in  Rochester  Mr.  Sheldon  discovered  much  of  the  workings  of  the  beneficiary  system, 
both  in  the  university  and  the  theological  seminary.  One  painful  incident  suggested  a  future 
course.  In  the  university  was  a  brilliant,  high-spirited,  consecrated  young  man  from  the  West, 
with  great  self  reliance  and  perseverance,  but  no  available  friends.  His  funds  being  exhausted, 
through  over  exertion  and  privations  nature  gave  way,  and  he  crept  back  to  die.  A  timely  loan, 
to  be  paid  back  in  after  years,  would  have  saved  a  man  of  great  promise. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


53 


This  painful  incident  led  Mr.  Sheldon  to  consider  whether  he  could  not  be  of  slight  service  tc 
this  class  of  persons,  and  having  some  funds  at  his  command,  he  lent  them  to  empty-pursed 
promising  young  men.  As  soon  as  the  money  was  returned  by  one,  it  went  to  another.  The 
loans  were  at  a  small  per  cent,  and  without  security,  yet  not  a  dollar  of  principal  or  interest  was 
ever  lost.  Most  of  those  thus  aided  are  now  very  prominent  as  clergymen  and  educators. 

While  a  resident  of  Saint  Louis,  Mr.  Sheldon  was  pressed  to  become  interested  in  a  neighbor- 
ing university,  to  which  a  small  theological  class  was  attached.  He  appreciated  the  need  of  a 
well  equipped  school  for  ministers  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  but  felt  that  for  many  reasons  a  more 
northern  locality  would  be  desirable,  and,  though  intending  to  remain  in  Saint  Louis,  in  1859  he 
made  a  will  bequeathing  $10,000  to  a  Baptist  theological  seminary  for  the  Northwest,  probably 
to  be  located  in  Chicago;  and  at  that  time,  if  any  others  entertained  such  a  project  he  was  not 
aware  of  it. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  in  1861,  he  removed  to  this  city.  He  became  interested  in  the 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  located  at  Chicago,  which  was  chartered  in  1865,  and  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  and  executive  committee  to  the  present  time.  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Colyer,  D.D.,  his  father's  old  friend  and  pastor,  who  had  done  able  service  in  Philadelphia  and 
Boston,  gathered,  and,  assisted  by  Professor  J.  C.  C.  Clarke,  for  two  years  instructed  the  first 
classes  of  this  theological  seminary. 

Mr.  Sheldon  executed  his  own  will  by  paying  over  his  bequest,  largely  augmented,  and  also  his 
loan  fund,  to  the  infant  institution.  In  1867  he  made  his  home  among  the  groves  of  Kenwood, 
south  of  Chicago,  a  location  very  retired  then,  but  now  having  all  the  advantages  and  convenien- 
ces of  the  city,  besides  being  surrounded  by  over  a  thousand  acres  of  parks  and  boulevards. 

Mr.  Sheldon's  business  has  been  mainly  real  estate.  His  only  child,  Verna  Evangeline,  is  in 
Wellesley  College,  Massachusetts. 


JOSEPH    STOUT,   M.D. 

OTTA  WA. 

ONE  of  the  oldest  and  most  reputable  physicians  and  surgeons  in  La  Salle  county,  is  Joseph 
Stout,  a  native  of  Morris  county,  New  Jersey.  He  was  born  on  Suckasunny  Plains,  January 
30,  1818,  being  a  son  of  Charles  and  Margaret  (McCord)  Stout.  Both  parents  were  also  born  in 
that  state,  his  mother  on  the  same  plains.  The  Stouts  were  originally  from  Holland.  Joseph 
fitted  for  college  at  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  is  a  graduate  of  Miami  University,  Oxford,  that  state, 
class  of  1842.  He  studied  medicine  at  Springfield,  with  Doctor  Rodgers,  and  at  Cincinnati  with 
Professor  Mussey;  attended  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  Cincinnati;  received  the  degree  of  doc- 
tor of  medicine  in  1845;  came  directly  to  Ottawa,  and  has  been  in  regular  practice  here  thirty- 
seven  years.  Physicians  were  few  and  far  between  in  those  early  days,  and  Doctor  Stout  had  all 
the  surgical  cases  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  all  the  medical  practice  any  young  man,  however 
ambitious  and  however  robust,  could  reasonably  desire,  his  rides  in  some  directions  often  extend- 
ing fifteen  and  twenty,  and  sometimes  thirty  miles.  He  had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  study 
the  geography  of  this  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  and  to  fathom  the  depths  of  most  of  its 
quagmires,  being  obliged  on  three  occasions  to  lie  out  over  night.  There  are  very  few  old  settlers 
of  La  Salle  county,  living  within  twenty  miles  of  the  seat  of  justice,  that  do  not  know  Doctor 
Stout,  know  him  and  esteem  him  for  his  arduous  and  self-sacrificing  labors  in  behalf  of  the  sick 
or  the  disabled.  Most  physicians  ought  to  retire  from  any  but  consulting  practice  by  the  time 
they  are  sixty  or  sixty-five  years  old,  and  no  doubt  our  subject  would  be  glad  to,  but  he  has  too 
many  old  patrons,  who  will  call  nobody  else,  to  completely  abandon  the  field.  His  practice,  how- 
ever, is  mostly  in  and  near  the  city  of  Ottawa,  except  in  cases  of  consultation,  when  he  is  some- 
times called  out  of  the  county,  which  is  the  largest  in  the  state. 

Doctor  Stout  was  for  years  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  met  with  that 


54  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

body  a  few  times,  forming  a  pleasant  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  leading  members  of  the  fra- 
ternity in  the  country,  but  latterly  has  enjoyed  no  such  privilege.  He  has  written  a  few  articles 
for  medical  periodicals,  reporting  cases  of  especial  interest  to  the  medical  brotherhood. 

The  doctor  was  a  county  coroner,  and  a  member  of  the  city  council  a  period  of  four  years 
each,  and  has  held  the  office  of  school  director,  he  being  willing  to  bear  such  a  share  of  that  class 
of  burdens  as  would  be  consistent  with  the  exacting  character  of  his  professional  duties. 

His  political  views  were  always  anti-slavery,  and  in  1859,  when  a  slave  was  taken  to  Ottawa 
under  a  habeas  corpus,  and  Judge  Caton  decided  that  the  fugitive  must  be  sent  back  to  his  master, 
Doctor  Stout  aided  in  running  him  off.  For  that  act  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  jail  at 
Chicago.  At  the  end  of  the  five  months  he  was  tried  and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  one  thousand 
dollars,  and  confined  ten  days  more.  He  went  to  jail  January  i,  1860,  and  during  that  winter, 
while  the  Chicago  Medical  College  was  in  session,  he  had  permission  to  attend  lectures  during 
the  clay,  returning  nightly  to  durance  vile,  so  doing  until  the  close  of  the  session  of  the  college  in 
March. 

He  was  an  active  Odd-Fellow  years  ago,  and  passed  all  the  chairs.  He  is  a  warden  of  Christ 
Episcopal  Church,  and  a  man  of  unblemished  record  in  all  the  spheres  of  life.  The  doctor  has  a 
third  wife.  The  first  was  Catharine  Fowler,  married  in  1847,  and  dying  in  child-bed  in  1848. 
The  second  was  Adelia  E.  Fowler,  married  in  1851,  and  dying  of  cholera  in  1853,  leaving  one  son, 
John  Stout,  now  a  physician  in  Peoria,  this  state,  and  his  present  wife  was  Mrs.  Mary  E.  (Bacon) 
Cotton,  married  in  1858.  By  her  he  has  had  three  children,  losing  one  of  them,  Mary,  the  first- 
born. The  living  are  Josephine  and  Margaret. 


COLONEL    BENJAMIN.   F.    SHEETS. 

OREGON. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  SHEETS,  a  leading  merchant  of  the  town,  was  born  in  Wattsburgh, 
Erie  county,  Pennsylvania,  October,  6,  1832,  his  parents  being  David  F.  and  Lucy  (Macom- 
ber)  Sheets.  His  father  was  born  in  Dansville,  Livingston  county,  New  York,  and  his  grand- 
father, Jacob  Sheets,  in  Germany.  David  Sheets  moved  to  Pennsylvania  in  early  life,  and  was 
engaged  in  tanning,  and  running  a  boot  and  shoe  factory  at  Wattsburgh  for  many  years. 

Our  subject  came  to  Illinois  in  1844,  and  settled  at  first  at  Blackberry,  Kane  county,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  farming  until  1852,  when  he  went  to  Mount  Morris,  Ogle  county,  and  took  a 
course  of  studies  in  the  Rock  River  Seminary,  being  graduated  in  1855,  the  valedictorian  of  his 
class.  During  that  period  he  taught  a  public  school  a  short  time,  and  also  in  the  seminary  while 
a  student. 

He  then  became  a  merchant  and  miller  at  that  "place,  remaining  there  until  January  i,  1861, 
when  he  removed  to  Oregon,  the  county  seat,  to  serve  as  deputy  circuit  clerk.  He  filled  that  post 
until  May,  1862,  when  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  the 
demands  of  his  country  were  too  urgent  for  him  to  think  of  remaining  at  home.  When  the  call 
for  six  hundred  thousand  men  was  made,  he  promptly  enlisted,  and  was  mustered  in  as  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Q2d  Illinois  infantry,  September  4.  His  regiment  was.  in  General  Thomas'  corps. 
Colonel  Sheets  resigned  April  21,  1864,  and  was  brevetted  brigadier-general.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  colonel  and  aide  on  the  staff  of  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Illinois  national  guard. 

In  December,  1872,  General  Sheets  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Oregon,  which  office  he  still 
holds.  In  1881  he  built  a  brick  block  forty-four  by  eighty  feet,  and  two  stories  above  the  base- 
ment, and  moved  the  postoffice  to  his  new  quarters,  corner  Main  and  Fourth  streets.  He  occu- 
pies three  fronts,  carries  the  largest  stock  of  merchandise  in  town,  consisting  of  hardware,  hollow 
ware,  agricultural  implements,  etc.,  and  is  one  of  the  most  active  and  enterprising  business  men 
in  Ogle  county. 


r. \~ITKD    ST.-ITKS    KlOGKAriUCAL    DICTIONARY.  55 

General  Sheets  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  been 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  for  twenty-one  consecutive  years.  He  is,  and  has  long  been 
quite  active  in  the  temperance  reform,  and  is  a  man  of  ths  most  humane  and  noble  impulses. 

He  has  been  twice  married,  first  at  Mount  Morris,  June  25,  1855,  to  Alice  V.  Hill,  daughter  of 
Mrs.  F.  G.  Petrie,  she  dying  December  8,  1870,  leaving  two  children,  Frank  D.  and  Frederick  H.; 
the  second  time,  at  Oregon,  April  16,  1872,  to  Kate  Gale,  daughter  of  Lewis  Hormell,  she  being 
a  native  of  Dayton,  Ohio.  He  has  had  by  her  five  children:  George  Benjamin,  Carrie  Maud, 
Kate  Alice  (now  dead),  and  Horace  and  Homer. 

At  the  time  that  this  sketch  is  prepared  (May,  1882),  the  name  of  Mr.  Sheets  is  prominently 
before  the  public  as  a  nominee  for  congress,  and  a  republican  paper  in  Oregon  thus  speaks  of  him: 

"  The  people  of  this  community,  we  believe,  heartily  indorse  him  as  a  man  well  qualified  for 
the  position,  and  as  their  choice  as  a  congressman  to  represent  this  district.  He  is  a  man  of  more 
than  average  education  and  unexceptionable  habits.  For  years  he  has  identified  himself  with 
every  good  work.  Possessing  fine  business  abilities,  he  is  at  the  same  time  an  eloquent  speaker. 
We  think  he  possesses  all  the  needed  qualifications  for  the  position.  Colonel  Sheets  has  always 
been  an  earnest  and  active  republican.  He  has  done  good  service  in  every  campaign  since  the 
organization  of  the  party,  and  the  position  would  be  but  a  fair  reward  to  him  for  his  past  services." 

A  democratic  paper,  also  published  in  Ogle  county,  thus  honorably  speaks  of  General  Sheets 
as  a  possible  nominee: 

"The  newspapers  of  this  county  are  engaged  in  a  heated  discussion  over  the  congressional 
question.  The  office  of  course  is  almost  certain  to  be  filled  by  a  republican,  and  we  do  not  see 
why  Ogle  county  should  not  be  entitled  to  the  position,  having  quietly  acceded  to  the  claims  of 
other  counties  for  a  long  term  of  years.  Several  names  have  been  suggested,  but  none  possess 
more  real  merit  for  the  position  than  Colonel  B.  F".  Sheets,  of  Oregon.  A  gentleman  of  scholarly 
attainments  and  an  eloquent  speaker,  we  are  sure  that  he  would  carry  more  ability  into  our  con- 
gressional halls  than  has  been  the  case  since  the  days  of  Baker,  Turner  or  Campbell.  As  one  of 
the  most  aggressive  republicans  of  our  county,  every  voter  in  his  party  should  enlist  himself  in  a 
hearty  demand  for  his  nomination.  This  is  a  democratic  suggestion  which  republicans  will  do 
well  to  profit  by,  and  is  offered  only  with  a  knowledge  of  the  almost  hopeless  minority  in  which 
as  democrats  we  find  ourselves  in  this  district." 


HON.  JAMES    H.  STEWART. 

MONMOUTH. 

TAMES  HARVEY  STEWART,  judge  of  Warren  county,  and  one  of  the  oldest  lawyers  in  this 
J  part  of  the  state,  dates  his  birth  at  Elkton,  Kentucky,  January  5,  1818,  his  parents  being  Rev. 
William  K.Stewart,  a -Presbyterian  minister,  and  Lucretia  (Moore)  Stewart.  His  father  was  born 
in  Rowan  county,  North  Carolina,  and  his  mother  in  South  Carolina.  Her  father,  William  Moore, 
was  a  revolutionary  soldier.  When  James  was  twelve  years  old  the  family  moved  into  this  state, 
settling  at  Vandalia,  then  the  capital,  where  his  mother  died  many  years  ago.  His  father  died  at 
Macomb,  after  preaching  more  than  forty  years.  Our  subject  was  educated  at  Hanover  College, 
Hanover,  Indiana,  taking  a  partial  course,  and  taught  schools  in  Illinois  and  Kentucky.  He  read 
law  at  Macomb,  in  this  state,  with  Cyrus  Walker,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  January  i,  1840. 

Mr.  Stewart  practiced  one  year  at  Lewistown,  Fulton  county;  four  years  at  Millersburgh,  Mercer 
county;  fifteen  at  Oquawka,  Henderson  county;  between  one  and  two  years  at  Knoxville,  Knox 
county,  and  in  1861  settled  in  Monmouth.  While  at  Oquawka  he  held  the  office  of  state's  attorney 
for  one  term,  for  the  151!)  circuit,  and  at  Knoxville  and  Monmouth  was  for  eight  years  state's 
attorney  for  the  roth  circuit.  He  was  elected  to  his  present  office  of  county  judge  in  1881. 

As  a  lawyer  Judge  Stewart  has  stood  for  many  years  among  the  prominent  men  in  this  part  of 
Illinois,  and  has  preserved  an  untarnished  record,  both  professional  and  personal.  As  a  judge  he 


56  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

is  very  regular  at  his  post  of  duty,  and  attends  faithfully  to  probate  and  other  matters  pertaining 
to  his  office.  His  politics  are  democratic,  and  he  usually  takes  much  interest  in  pending  elections. 
He  was  a  delegate  in  1880  to  the  Cincinnati  convention,  which  nominated  Hancock  and  English 
as  candidates  for  president  and  vice  president. 

Judge  Stewart  was  married  in  1842  to  Miss  Isabella  C.  McKarney,  of  McDonough  county,  this 
state,  and  of  ten  children,  the  fruit  of  this  union,  only  three  are  living.  William  R.  is  an  attor- 
ney-at-law  in  partnership  with  his  father.  Isabella  S.  is  the  wife  of  D.  M.  Hammack,  lawyer, 
Burlington,  Iowa,  and  Mary  M.  is  at  home.  The  family  attend  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which 
most  of  them  are  members. 


JOHN  W.  SWANBROUGH. 

WA  UKEGAN. 

THE  sheriff  of  Lake  county,  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  was  a  brave  young  soldier  during 
the  civil  war,  and  is  making  a  good  record  as  a  county  officer,  and  merits  mention  in  a  work 
like  this.  He  dates  his  birth  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  November  13,  1843,  being  a  son  of  Henry  and 
Ann  (Brewster)  Swanbrough,  both  natives  of  the  Empire  State.'  The  family  immigrated  to  this 
state  in  1855,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Lake  county,  both  parents  still  living.  The  son  received 
an  academic  education  in  Waukegan,  and  at  eighteen  years  of  age,  August,  1862,  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  company  G,  96th  Illinois  infantry,  being  soon  afterward  appointed  color  sergeant.  He 
carried  the  colors  at  Chickamauga  and  Lookout  Mountain,  and  was  slightly  wounded  in  both 
battles;  was  also  in  several  other  engagements  in  the  Atlanta  campaign,  and  shortly  afterward 
was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant;  was  subsequently  in  Jhe  battle  of  Nashville,  where  he  re- 
ceived his  third  wound,  and  was  mustered  out  with  his  regiment  in  July,  1865.  An  officer  under 
whom  our  subject  fought,  states  that  he  was  the  only  color  bearer  out  of  nine  who  did  not  come 
out  of  the  battle  at  Lookout  Mountain  either  killed  or  severely  wounded,  and  that  he  was  one  of 
the  bravest  members  of  the  regiment,  always  at  his  post,  and  ready  for  duty. 

Mr.  Swanbrough  farmed  for  a  few  years  after  coming  out  of  the  army,  and  has  been  for  some 
years  engaged  in  speculating  and  breeding  fine  horses  at  Waukegan,  and  in  1876  was  elected  to 
his  present  county  office.  He  was  reelected  in  1878  and  again  in  1880,  and  was  reelected  again  in 
1882  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  is  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
parties  except  criminals.  He  is  a  republican  and  a  third-degree  Mason. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  married,  in  1866,  Mary,  daughter  of  J.  L.  Williams,  at  that  time  a 
resident  and  prominent  lawyer  in  Waukegan,  and  they  have  had  three  children,  losing  two  of  them. 


REV.  CHESTER  COVELL. 

BUDA. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  is  pastor  of  the  Union  Church  at  Buda,  and  in 
early  life  was  a  teacher  in  western  New  York,  and  later  in  Marshall  county,  this  state.  He 
is  largely  self-educated  in  the  sciences,  and  wholly  in  theology,  and  is  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of 
mental  culture  and  social  refinement.  He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Ogden,  west  of  Rochester, 
New  York,  June  18,  1817,  being  a  son  of  Edward  and  Polly  (Oilman)  Covell,  members  of  the 
farming  community.  He  lost  his  mother  when  he  was  only  five  years  old.  His  father  is  still  liv- 
ing in  western  New  York,  being  in  his  ninety-third  year.  Most  of  the  school  drill  which  our 
subject  received  was  at  the  Middlebury  Academy  and  Whitesboro  Manual  Labor  School,  one  of  the 
oldest  schools  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  The  means  of  attending  these  institutions  were  earned 
by  Mr.  Covell  in  teaching.  Ten  years  of  his  life  at  different  periods  were  devoted  to  this  work, 
and  while  thus  engaged  he  took  a  course  of  studies  in  theology,  being  his  own  tutor,  and  was 
ordained  in  Orleans  county  in  1842.  Among  the  places  where  he  taught  and  preached  was 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY*  57 

Freehold,  Greene  county,  where  he  filled  the  pulpit  for  five  years.  In  1851  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Harriet  Morrison,  daughter  of  Rev.  A.  C.  Morrison,  of  western  New  York,  she  being  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Le  Roy  Seminary. 

In  1852  he  came  to  this  state,  opened  a  select  school  at  Henry,  Marshall  county,  and  con- 
ducted it  for  one  year,  being  assisted  by  his  wife,  preaching  at  the  same  time  in  the  Christian 
Church.  While  there,  during  part  of  the  time  he  was  also  city  superintendent  of  schools.  In 
1855,  Mr.  Covell  moved  to  Mineral  township,  in  Bureau  county,  where  he  spent  two  years  in  farm- 
ing, preaching  at  the  same  time,  every  other  Sunday,  at  Buda.  In  the  autumn  of  1857  he  was 
persuaded  to  return  to  Henry,  where  he  and  his  wife  taught  a  few  more  terms,  and  in  1859  he 
settled  in  Buda  as  pastor  of  the  Union  Church,  which  he  organized,  and  which  now  numbers 
about  fifty  families  in  its  society.  It  is  entirely  independent  of  all  ecclesiastical  bodies,  Unitarian 
in  faith,  and  is  having  a  healthy  growth.  Mr.  Covell  has  also  a  charge  at  Sheffield,  to  which  he 
preaches  regularly  on  Sunday  afternoons.  It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  he  is  a  busy  man  on 
Sundays,  and  a  hard  student  the  rest  of  the  week.  Since  becoming  a  resident  of  Buda,  our  sub- 
ject has  served  his  community  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  supervisors,  as  school  director,  and 
as  county  school  superintendent.  Latterly  his  time  has  been  given  exclusively  to  his  calling  as  a 
minister.  He  has  a  good  deal  of  power  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it;  gives  his  whole  time  to  the 
enlightenment  and  social  and  moral  elevation  of  the  people,  and  he  and  his  accomplished  wife 
are  very  important  factors  in  Buda  society. 


HON.  GEORGE  W.  ARMSTRONG. 

SENECA, 

EORGE  WASHINGTON  ARMSTRONG,  a  prominent  farmer,  is  a  son  of  Joseph  and 
Elsie  (Strawn)  Armstrong,  and  dates  his  birth  in  McKane  township,  Licking  county,  Ohio, 
December  n,  1813.  His  grandfather,  John  Armstrong,  came  from  Fermanagh  county,  Ireland, 
with  his  family,  in  1789,  and  settled  in  Somerset  county,  Pennsylvania.  Before  coming  to  this 
country  he  was  a  flax  and  linen  dealer,  and  in  this  country  a  merchant  and  general  business  man. 
Joseph  Armstrong  was  a  farmer,  merchant  and  woolen  manufacturer,  and  at  a  very  early  age 
George  was  put  to  splicing  rolls  and  winding  bobbins  in  the  factory,  having  no  schooling  after 
that  age  until  he  had  reached  his  majority,  and  then  only  one  month.  He  went  through  all  the 
rooms  in  the  factory  but  the  spinning,  and  became  an  expert  weaver,  thoroughly  mastering  the 
trade. 

In  April,  1831,  Mr.  Armstrong  came  to  Putnam,  now  Marshall  county,  this  state,  and  in  the 
following  July  settled  in  La  Salle  county,  where  he  has  lived  since  that  date.  He  was  the  second 
son  in  the  family,  which  accompanied  him,  all  but  the  father,  who  remained  behind  to  adjust 
business.  The  oldest  son  soon  went  back,  and  our  subject  had  charge  of  the  family,  the  father 
dying  not  long  afterward,  before  leaving  Ohio.  The  family  settled  in  the  township  of  South  Otta- 
wa, where  the  widowed  mother  lived  until  1851.  She  moved  to  Ottawa  and  died  in  Morris,  June,  1871. 

In  1832,  Mr.  Armstrong  shouldered  his  musket,  and  had  a  little  taste  of  the  Black  Hawk  war. 
In  the  autumn  of  1833  he  bought  a  claim  in  congress  lands,  in  Brookfield  township,  and  in 
November  of  that  year  commenced  building  a  log  house.  He  was  in  the  woods  with  two  work- 
men early  in  the  morning  of  the  I3th  of  that  month,  when  the  stars  commenced  falling,  and  the 
two  hired  men  were  very  much  frightened  But  Mr.  Armstrong  had  read  Humboldt's  travels, 
and  having  learned  that  most  of  stars  were  very  much  fixed,  and  that  the  capers  of  other  heavenly 
bodies  were  innocent  and  usually  harmless,  was  more  calm. 

In  December,  1834,  Mr.  Armstrong  attended  a  canal  meeting  at  Ottawa,  acted  as  its  secretary, 
carried  its  proceedings  to  Vandalia,  then  the  seat  of  government,  and  spent  the  winter  there,  aid- 
ing to  get  a  canal  bill  through  the  legislature,  having  his  newly  formed  friend,  Stephen  A  Douglas, 
to  assist  him.  Before  returning  to  La  Salle  county,  Mr.  Armstrong  spent  a  short  month  at  school 


58  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

in  Jacksonville,  paying  most  special  devotions  to  Pike's  arithmetic.  He  was  also,  about  that 
period,  paying  his  devotions  to  Miss  Anna  Green,  whom  he  married  at  that  place,  March  15, 
1835,  and  they  went  to  housekeeping  at  Brookfield.  In  1836  Mr.  Armstrong  built  a  saw  mill  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  and  in  1837  took  a  contract  on  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  at 
Utica,  La  Salle  county,  and  moved  thither.  There  he  remained  until  1841,  when  he  returned  to 
his  home,  and  resumed  farming. 

Mr.  Armstrong  has  always  been  a  politician,  and  was  of  the  Douglas  school  while  that  great 
statesman  and  his  life-long  friend  was  on  the  stage  of  action;  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in 
1844,  and  to  the  convention  for  the  revision  of  the  constitution  in  1847,  and  was  t  ic  Douglas 
democratic  candidate  for  congress  in  1858,  and  received  more  than  15,000  votes,  then  jting  also 
a  Buchanan  democrat  on  the  course.  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  the  republican  nomine-;,  distanced 
both.  Mr.  Armstrong  was  a  nominee,  with  Judge  Caton,  to  revise  the  constitution  in  1870,  but 
was  defeated.  He  was  a  member  of  the  27th,  28th,  agth  and  3Oth  general  assemblies,  serving 
eight  consecutive  years,  and  was  an  eminently  useful  member  of  that  body. 

He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors  for  twenty-two  years,  and  was 
its  chairman  for  fourteen  of  them.  He  is  now  (summer  of  1882)  chairman  of  the  La  Salle  county 
court  house  and  jail  building  committee,  and  the  people  of  the  county  have  most  implicit  confi- 
dence in  his  judgment  in  such  matters.  Mr.  Armstrong  was  one  of  the  five  directors  who  built 
the  Kankakee  and  Seneca  railroad,  a  track  forty-three  miles  in  length,  built  on  a  capital  stock  of 
$10,000,  requiring  the  expending  of  over  $500,000,  without  a  mortgage  or  lien  on  anything. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Armstrong  have  raised  a  family  of  nine  children,  and  given  them  a  good  educa- 
tion, and  all  but  two  are  married  and  settled  in  life.  John  Green,  the  eldest  son,  is  a  journalist 
in  Ottawa;  William  was  a  captain  in  the  army,  a  provost  marshal  under  General  Sherman  on  the 
march  to  the  sea,  and  is  now  in  Colorado;  Julius  C.  was  also  a  soldier,  carrying  his  Greek  and 
Latin  grammar  in  his  knapsack,  pursuing  his  studies  when  .not  pursuing  the  enemy,  and  is  now 
a  Congregational  minister  at  Western  Springs,  Cook  county,  near  Chicago;  Elisa  P.  is  the  wife 
of  William  Crotty,  a  large  cattle  dealer  in  Kansas;  Marshall  Ney  is  an  attorney-at-law,  Ottawa; 
Joseph  is  at  home;  Susan  Ida  is  the  wife  of  L.  B.  Laughlin,  farmer,  Grundy  county,  this  state; 
James  E.  is  a  graduate  of  the  Industrial  University,  Champaign,  and  a  teacher  in  that  institution, 
and  Charles  G.  is  a  graduate  of  the  same  school,  and  a  druggist  in  Ottawa. 


HON.  WILLIAM  ALDRICH. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  ALDRICH,  representative  to  congress  from  the  first  Illinois  district,  is  a  native 
of  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  dating  his  birth  at  Greenfield,  January  19-,  1820.  His 
parents  were  William  and  Mercy  (Farnum)  Aldrich,  both  families  being  from  Rhode  Island,  and 
were  Quakers  or  Friends.  Mr.  Aldrich  received  a  public-school  education,  supplemented  with 
one  term  with  a  private  tutor,  devoted  to  the  higher  mathematics,  including  surveying,  and  one 
term  at  the  Aurora  Academy,  Erie  county,  New  York.  He  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  at 
Greenfield;  taught  district  schools  during  the  winter  season  for  six  years;  came  west  as  far  as 
Jackson,  Michigan,  in  1846,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  In  1851  he  pushed  on  to  Two 
Rivers,  Manitowoc  county,  Wisconsin,  and  there  to  merchandising  added  the  manufacturing  of 
lumber,  furniture  and  wooden  ware.  While  a  resident  of  Wisconsin  he  held  several  offices,  such 
as  superintendent  of  schools  for  three  years,  chairman  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors  one 
year,  and  a  member  of  the  legislature  one  term  (1859).  It  is  a  loss  to  any  state  to  lose  such  a  man. 
In  1861  Mr.  Aldrich  settled  in  Chicago,  and  for  fifteen  years  was  engaged  in  the  wholesale 
grocery  business.  For  the  last  three  or  four  years  he  has  filled  the  office  of  president  of  the  Chi- 
cago Linseed  Oil  Company,  whose  manufactory  is  at  Grand  Crossing,  Illinois,  and  their  office  at 
No.  i  Wabash  avenue.  Mr.  Aldrich  is  a  painstaking,  shrewd  business  man,  careful  in  his  man- 
agement, and  has  been  eminently  successful  in  most  of  his  ventures. 


r\'ITl-:n   STATES   RfOGRAPlflCAI.    DICTIONARY.  6  I 

He  was  chosen  alderman  of  the  third  ward  of  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1876,  and  the  next 
autumn  was  elected  to  congress  for  the  first  Illinois  district,  and  was  reelected  in  1878  and  1880, 
each  time  by  a  majority  which  indicated  that  he  was  very  popular  with  his  party.  His  district 
includes  the  first  six  wards  in  Chicago,  thirteen  townships  of  Cook  county,  and  all  of  Du  Page 
county,  and  is  one  of  the  wealthiest  districts  in  the  state.  It  is  represented  by  a  practical,  thor- 
oughgoing business  man,  and  he  is  giving  great  satisfaction  to  his  constituents.  He  belongs  to 
that  class  who  wear  well,  and  whose  usefulness  increases  with  their  experience. 

Mr.  Aldrich  is  more  of  a  worker  than  talker  in  congress;  but  when  he  does  get  the  floor  he 
always  speaks  right  to  the  point.  As  a  specimen  of  his  style  we  give  a  short  extract  from  his 
speech,  made  May  2,  1878,  on  the  revision  of  the  tariff,  Wood's  bill  then  being  before  the 
house.  In  the  bill  it.  was  proposed  to  increase  the  tax  on  foreign  sugars,  Mr.  Wood  hoping  by 
that  means  to  please  the  Louisiana  sugar  manufacturers  and  catch  southern  votes  for  his  bill.  On 
this  point  Mr.  Aldrich  spoke  as  follows: 

"With  pepper  and  salt,  sugar  is  the  universal  element  of  every  meal  of  the  rich  and  the  poor. 
Poverty  may  separate  its  victim  from  tea  and  coffee,  but  from  sugar  never  while  starvation  is  kept 
at  bay.  Every  increase  of  tax  upon  this  article  means  exaction  universal  upon  one  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  It  invades  the  almshouse  and  the  hovel,  and  the  exaction  is  more  nearly  in  pro- 
portion to  the  mouths  to  be  filled  than  upon  any  other  article  that  can  be  mentioned.  Now,  why, 
in  the  name  of  revenue  reform  and  reduction  of  taxation,  this  new  exaction  upon  sugar,  while 
silks  and  velvets,  at  once  the  badges  of  wealth  and  costumes  solely  of  the  rich,  are  relieved  of  a 
large  part  of  the  tax  which  they  now  pay  ?  "Judas  professed  and  kissed."  The  advocates  of  this 
measure,  alive  with  professions  of  relief  for  the  poor  laborer  from  his  burdens,  further  tax  his 
sugar  to  relieve  the  silk,  the  velvet,  the  lace,  that  are  flaunted  before  his  eyes,  but  gladden  not  the 
sight  of  his  wife  or  daughter. 

"  If  this  increased  tax  upon  sugar  is  made  necessary,  or  is  designed  to  protect  the  Louisiana 
planter,  now  that  he  no  longer  owns  but  hires  labor,  let  us  have  the  fact,  not  any  false  pretense. 
If  it  is  true  that  the  sugar  planters  really  require  the  $6,000,000  or  $10,000,000  additional  exaction 
to  enable  them  to  pay  wages  to  their  late  slaves  and  to  prosecute  and  uphold  this  industry,  the 
patriotism  of  the  people,  laborer  and  all,  will  bear  it.  They  will  want  the  fact  openly  stated; 
they  will  require  that  you  convince  their  understanding.  In  the  light  of  the  other  provisions  of 
the  bill,  it  looks  as  if  the  real  purpose  of  the  increased  sugar  tax  is  to  relieve  silks,  velvets,  laces, 
broadcloths  and  other  articles  solely  enjoyed  and  consumed  by  the  wealthy  and  pretentious,  and 
saddle  the  burden  upon  the  necessaries  of  life. 

"If  the  purpose  of  this  proposed  law  is  not  to  shift  the  burdens  of  taxation  from  the  shoulders 
of  the  rich  to  those  of  the  poor  and  the  comparatively  poor,  nor  to  benefit  those  who  design  both 
to  defraud  the  government  of  its  dues  and  monopolize  the  trade  in  sugar,  but  is  designed  to 
secure  revenue  to  the  government,  and  at  the  same  time  afford  unprecedented  protection  to  our 
sugar  producers,  then,  in  the  name  of  honesty  and  fair  dealing,  give  us  some  plain  and  simple 
specific  rate  of  duties  which  shall  raise  the  desired  revenue,  and  treat  the  producers,  the  refiners, 
the  distributers,  and  the  consumers  with  fairness. 

"A  duty  of  two  and  a  half  cents  per  pound  on  all  sugar  not  above  No.  16  Dutch  standard  in 
color,  and  of  three  and  a  half  or  even  four  cents  per  pound  on  all  above  No.  16  Dutch  standard 
in  color,  would  accomplish  the  object.  Under  such  a  traffic  the  revenue  would  be  collected  at  a 
nominal  expense  by  simply  weighing  the  importations,  and  the  trade  freed  from  deception  and 
fraud." 

Mr.  Aldrich  was  originally  a  whig,  and  with  most  of  the  Wisconsin  members  of  that  party, 
together  with  the  free-soil  democrats,  aided  in  forming  the  republican  party,  one  of  the  earli- 
est movements  in  that  direction  anywhere  in  the  United  States  being  made  at  Ripon,  in  that  state. 

Our  subject  is  a  Reformed  Episcopalian,  and  senior  warden  of  Christ  Church  (Rev.  Dr.  Cheney, 
rector),  and  a  man  whose  Christian  character  has  always  stood  far  above  reproach.  He  was  mar- 
ried at  Aurora,  Erie  county,  in  1846,  to  Anna  M.  Howard,  a  refined  and  accomplished  woman, 
7 


62  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

and  they  have  had  four  children,  three  of  them,  all  sons,  yet  living.  William  Howard,  the  eldest, 
is  at  the  head  of  a  large  steam  bakery;  James  Franklin  is  secretary  and  manager  of  the  Linseed 
Oil  Company,  already  mentioned,  and  Frederick  C.,  the  youngest,  is  a  manufacturer.  The  two 
oldest  are  married.  Their  other  child,  "Charlie,"  who  left  them  when  a  little  more  than  five 
years  old,  was  a  bright  and  promising  child,  the  memory  of  whom  does  not  dim  with  the  lapse 
of  years.  He  is  not  "lost,"  but  simply  "gone  before." 

Mr.  Aldrich  is  living  a  life  of  great  usefulness,  as  well  as  of  much  honor,  and  has  the  warmest 
esteem  of  people  who  have  known  him  the  longest.  He  is  cordial  and  unaffected  in  manners,  and 
has  the  bearing  of  a  perfect  gentleman  —  a  gentleman  who  has  inherited  all  the  best  moral  ele- 
ments and  social  amenities  of  the  Quaker  school  of  society. 


JULIUS   P.  ANTHONY,  M.D. 

STERLING. 

JULIUS  PHELPS  ANTHONY,  with  one  exception  the  oldest  physician  and  surgeon  in  prac- 
tice in  Whiteside  county,  was  born  at  Cambridge,  Washington  county,  New  York,  September 
16,  1822.  His  father,  Isaac  Anthony,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Rhode  Island,  and  is  a  second  or 
third  cousin  of  Senator  Anthony,  of  that  state.  His  grandfather,  Giles  Anthony,  was  a  lad  eight 
or  nine  years  old  when  the  British  invaded  Rhode  Island.  Seth  Anthony,  the  father  of  Giles, 
being  a  Quaker,  took  no  part  in  the  long  struggle  to  free  the  Country  from  the  British  yoke. 
The  mother  of  Julius  was  Permelia  Phelps,  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York. 

He  took  a  full  academic  course  of  study  at  Homer,  Cortland  county,  New  York,  and  was  pre- 
pared, excepting  in  Greek,  to  enter  the  sophomore  year  in  college  ;  read  medicine  in  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  ;  attended  lectures  at  the  Berkshire  Medical  College,  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts, 
and  was  there  graduated  in  1848.  Doctor  Anthony  practiced  a  short  time  at  Ralston,  Lycoming 
county,  Pennsylvania  ;  one  year  in  Jackson  county,  West  Virginia,  and  in  March,  1850,  married, 
at  Jerseytown,  Columbia  county,  Pennsylvania,  Miss  Martha  Jane  Park,  and  moved  the  same 
spring  to  Camanche,  Clinton  county,  Iowa.  In  March,  1851,  he  settled  in  Sterling,  where  he  has 
been  in  general  and  extensive  practice  for  thirty-one  years,  except  three  years  spent  in  the  civil 
war.  When  he  first  came  here  the  village  was  quite  small,  and  there  was  only  one  other  physi- 
cian in  the  place,  Doctor  Benton,  who  died  a  few  years  ago  at  Fulton  City,  this  county.  The 
country  was,  comparatively  speaking,  sparsely  settled,  and  his  rides  were  often  very  extensive. 
The  roads  too,  in  those  early  days,  in  his  practice  in  Whiteside  county,  were  very  poor,  and 
hence  his  labors  were  hard  and  fatiguing.  But  the  doctor  has  always  been  a  man  of  prudence, 
and  of  excellent  habits,  and,  is  seemingly  good  for  another  decade  of  field  as  well  as  office  work. 
The  old  families,  whose  physician  he  has  been  for  thirty  years,  or  more,  would  be  very  loth  to  call 
anybody  else.  In  cases  of  consultation  he  still  often  goes  a  great  distance.  The  doctor  has  held 
one  or  two  local  offices  only,  and  has  left  such  honors  to  parties  more  ambitious  in  that  direction, 
and  whose  professional  duties  are  less  exacting. 

He  was  mustered  into  the  army  in  September,  1862,  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  I27th  regiment 
Illinois  infantry;  was  promoted  to  surgeon  of  the  6ist  regiment  at  the  end  of  a  year,  and  was 
mustered  out  in  October,  1865,  never  being  off  duty  for  a  single  day.  During  the  last  six  months 
he  was  post  surgeon  at  Franklin,  Tennessee,  and  had  charge  of  the  confederate  wounded 
lying  there,  as  well  as  our  own  sick  and  disabled. 

Doctor  Anthony  had  .taken  the  second  degree  in  Masonry  when  he  went  into  the  army,  and 
has  gone  no  higher.  In  his  younger  years  he  was  a  Good  Templar,  and  an  active  worker  in  the 
temperance  cause.  His  instincts  and  sympathies  are  still  with  every  movement  tending  to 
benefit  society.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Anthony  have  five  children,  having  never  lost  any.  Permelia, 
the  oldest  daughter,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Rockford  Seminary,  and  has  been  teaching  for  seven  or 
eight  years  in  the  Sterling  public  schools.  Darwin  was  at  one  time  assistant  librarian  of  the 


r.V/ /'AY)    STATES   RTOllR.inilCAI.    DICTIONARY.  6^ 

Chicago  Public  Library,  and  is  now  in  the  mining  regions  of  Colorado.  Martha  L.  is  at  home. 
Mary  L.  is  married  to  Henry  C.  Ward,  of  Sterling,  and  Frank  is  a  graduate  of  Rush  Medical  Col- 
lege, Chicago,  and  in  practice  with  his  father. 

Doctor  Anthony  is  a  member  of  the  "Whiteside  county  Medical  Society,  and  of  the  Union 
Medical  Society,  which  embraces  that  county  and  Clinton  county,  Iowa.  He  has  not  written 
much  for  medical  periodicals,  but  occasionally  scribbles  for  the  local  press,  always  with  a  sharp 
pen,  and  for  some  laudable  purpose. 


JAMES  B.   BROWN. 

GALENA. 

TAMES  BARTON  BROWN,  postmaster  at  Galena,  and  proprietor  of  the  Galena  "Gazette," 
J  dates  his  birth  in  Gilmanton,  New  Hampshire,  September  i,  1833.  His  parents  were  Jonathan 
and  Mary  Ann  (Clough)  Brown.  His  grandfather  was  James  Brown,  who  was  born  at' Hampton 
Beach,  New  Hampshire.  The  family  is  of  English  extraction.  Jonathan  Brown  was  one  of  the 
selectmen  of  Gilmanton  for  seven  or  eight  years,  and  represented  his  district  in  the  legislature  for 
two  terms,  being  one  of  the  leading  men  of  that  town  for  many  years,  and  is  still  living  at  Gil- 
manton,  being  in  his  eighty-second  year.  James  was  educated  at  the  Gilmanton  Academy,  and 
contemplated  becoming  a  physician.  With  that  profession  in  view  he  studied  one  year  under 
Doctor  Nahum  Wight,  the  celebrated  anatomist,  and  then  discontinued  his  medical  studies. 

In  1857  Mr.  Brown  came  to  Illinois,  settled  at  Dunleith,  Jo  Daviess  county,  where  he  accepted 
the  principalship  of  the  public  school,  holding  that  post  until  1861,  when  he  was  elected  county 
superintendent  of  schools.  That  office  he  held  for  three  years,  and  did  a  good  work  in  creating 
fresh  interest  in  the  cause  of  education  throughout  Jo  Daviess  county.  In  November,  1863,  he 
purchased  the  Galena  "  Gazette,"  daily,  tri-weekly  and  weekly,  and  removed  to  this  city,  and  did, 
and  is  still  doing  valiant  service  for  the  republican  party,  of  which  he  has  always  been  a  member. 

On  the  death  of  W.  W.  Huntington,  postmaster  of  Galena,  in  December,  1880,  Mr.  Brown  was 
appointed  by  President  Hayes  to  fill  the  vacancy.  He  took  this  office  early  in  January  following, 
and  is  performing  its  duties  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  public.  Mr.  Brown  is  a  Knight 
Templar  in  the  Masonic  order. 

In  September,  1858,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Shannon,  of  his  native  town,  and  they  have 
one  daughter,  Abbie  M.,  who  is  a  student  in  the  old  and  well  known  academy  at  Bradford,  Essex 
county,  Massachusetts.  The  family  attend  the  South  Presbyterian  Church,  West  Galena,  of 
which  Mrs.  Brown  and  daughter  are  members. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  long  had  a  pleasant  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Brown,  who  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  a  kindly  and  obliging  disposition,  of  unaffected  and  easy  manners,  and  calculated  to 
make  and  retain  friends. 

HON.  GEORGE  S.  ROBINSON. 

5  YCAMORE. 

GEORGE  STEWART  ROBINSON,  judge  of  De  Kalb  county,  is  a  native  of  Orleans  county, 
Vermont,  being  born  in  the  town  of  Derby,  June  24,  1824.  His  father,  George  Robinson, 
a  farmer,  was  born  in  Connecticut,  and  took  part  in  the  second  war  with  England,  and  his  grand- 
father, Eber  Robinson,  commanded  a  company  in  the  first  war  against  the  mother  country.  The 
last  was  an  early  settler  in  northern  Vermont.  He  was  of  Scotch  descent.  George  Robinson 
married  Harriet  Stewart,  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  a  daughter  of  Major  Rufus  Stewart,  an  officer 
in  the  war  of  1812  and  1814.  Our  subject  was  educated  at  Derby  Academy,  being  fitted  for  col- 
lege, but  ill  health  prevented  him  from  matriculating.  He  taught  school  in  his  native  state,  read- 
ing law  at  the  same  time,  first  with  Hon.  Stoddard  B.  Colby,  of  Derby,  afterward  register  of  the 


64  r.\'/r/-:n  sT.-r/'K.s  HIOCKATIUCAI.  IIICTIOXAKY. 

United  States  treasury,  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  and  subsequently  with  Hon.  Lucius  B. 
Peck,  member  of  congress,  of  Montpelier;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Vermont  in  1846;  went 
south  on  account  of  his  health,  and  taught  three  years;  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession 
at  Cuthbert,  Georgia,  in  1852,  and  remained  there  untrl  1866,  when  he  returned  to  the  North,  and 
settled  at  Sycamore.  He  was  elected  county  judge  in  autumn  of  1877,  and  is  filling  that  office 
with  decided  ability  and  great  acceptance  to  his  constituents.  He  is  a  well  read,  clear  headed 
lawyer,  a  judicious  and  candid  adviser,  a  graceful  and  polished  speaker,  and  has  great  influence 
and  success  with  a  jury.  The  people  of  De  Kalb  county  have  unbounded  confidence  in  his  integ- 
rity, and  he  will  no  doubt  hold  the  office  of  county  judge  as  long  as  he  will  consent  to  retain  it. 

Prior  to  being  elected  county  judge,  Mr.  Robinson  was  master  in  chancery  for  several  years, 
and  was  an  alderman  for  two  terms,  immediately  after  Sycamore  received  its  city  charter.  He 
was  acting  city  attorney  at  that  time,  and  had  much  to  do  with  the  framing  of  the  ordinances. 

He  is  a  director  of  the  Sycamore,  Cortland  and  Chicago  railroad,  and  secretary  of  the  R.  Ell- 
wood  Manufacturing  Company,  Sycamore,  and  takes  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  public  enterprises 
tending  to  improve  the  home  of  his  adoption.  He  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Public  Charities,  and  is,  and  has  been  for  years,  the  president  of  that  board.  Judge 
Robinson  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  was  for  some  years  master  of  a  lodge  at  the  South,  and  was 
High  Priest  of  the  Sycamore  Chapter  for  three  years.  The  politics  of  Judge  Robinson  are  repub- 
lican, but  he  is  not  a  bitter  partisan  or  an  office  seeker.  He  will  work  harder  to  elevate  his  friends 
into  public  positions  than  for  himself. 

He  married  at  Derby,  Vermont,  October  13,  1853,  Olive  A.,  daughter  of  Nehemiah  Colby,  and 
sister  of  Hon.  Stoddard  B.  Colby,  and  they  have  lost  one  son,  and  have  two  daughters  living: 
Hattie  M.,  wife  of  Champion  L.  Buchan,  of  Sycamore,  and  Nellie  C.,  who  is  at  home. 


AUGUSTINE  B.  CHILDS. 

KEITHSBURGH. 

THE  young  men  who  came  into  Illinois  at  an  early  day,  when  land  was  cheap,  made  a  prompt 
purchase,  opened  a  farm  and  worked  it  faithfully,  were  as  a  general  rule,  prosperous.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  no  exception  to  the  rule,  save  that  he  has  worked  unusually  hard,  and 
has  been  unusually  prosperous,  as  a  brief  notice  of  his  life  will  show. 

Augustine  Barker  Childs  is  a  son  of  Horace  and  Lucy  M.  (Barker)  Childs,  and  was  born  in 
Whitestown,  Oneida  county.  New  York,  October  31,  1816.  His  father,  who  was  born  in  the  same 
state,  laid  out  the  town  of  Borodino  on  Skaneateles  Lake,  and  was  a  merchant  there  for  many  years, 
also  served  in  the  war  of  1812-14.  His  paternal  ancestors  were  from  Wales,  coming  over  prior 
to  the  strife  with  England,  when  the  colonists  struck  for  independence.  Timothy  Childs,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  went  into  the  army  at  seventeen  years  of  age.  Augustine  received  a 
common  English  education  in  a  country  school,  adding  to  it  by  private  study,  and  farming  has 
been  his  leading  occupation,  commencing  in  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  until  his  sixteenth 
year.  He  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade  in  Jordan  and  Rochester,  New  York,  and  at  sixty-two 
and  a  half  cents  a  day  earned  the  money  to  make  his  first  purchase  of  prairie  land,  bringing  with 
him  one  of  Van  Buren's  treasury  notes,  which  he  drew,  with  four  dollars'  interest,  at  Galena, 
Illinois,  after  coming  west.  He  came  to  Mercer  county,  his  present  home,  in  1838,  and  settled 
in  Eliza  township.  The  historian  states  that  Mr.  Childs  came  into  this  county  on  a  borrowed 
horse.  On  his  return  eastward  in  1839  he  took  the  horse  to  the  owner,  walked  most  of  the  way 
from  the  Mississippi  to  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  and  at  Mooresville,  Morgan  county,  Indiana, 
worked  till  he  had  money  enough  to  purchase  a  horse,  which  he  rode  to  Sandusky,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Childs  settled  on  a  farm  in  Eliza  township,  commencing  with  eighty  acres,  for  which  he 
had  previously  earned  the  money  in  the  manner  already  indicated,  and  enlarging  from  time  to 
time,  until  at  one  period  he  was  the  owner  of  thirteen  hundred  acres,  much  of  it  as  good  land  as 


sr.-trr-:s  niot;i<AnncAi.  DICI-IOXAKY.  65 

Mercer  county  can  show.  During  the  first  few  years,  particularly  in  the  winter  season,  he  worked 
at  his  trade,  rising  as  early  as  four  o'clock,  and  shoeing  horses  by  candle  light.  He  made  his 
horses  nails  while  his  neighbors  were  asleep,  and  for  some  years  had  to  split  his  own  iron.  June 
28,  1840,  he  married  in  Morgan  county,  Indiana,  Miss  Catharine  Reynolds,  who  shared  with  him 
the  hardships  and  struggles  of  a  new  home  in  prairie  land. 

When  Mercer  county  was  organized  in  1835,  Millersburgh  became  the  county  seat,  which  was 
not  long  afterward  moved  to  Keithsburgh  and  thence  to  Aledo,  and  Mr.  Childs  was  a  grand  jury- 
man at  the  first  sitting  of  the  court  at  the  last  named  place.  Among  all  the  early  settlers  in 
Eliza,  no  one  has  been  more  successful  than  Mr.  Childs,  and  this  is  owing  not  only  to  his  indus- 
try, but  to  his  prudent  management  and  his  temperate  and  economical  habits.  He  has  had  as 
high  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  cattle  and  horses,  and  equally  as  many  hogs ;  has  sold  as 
high  as  six  thousand  dollars  worth  of  stock  in  a  single  year,  and  one  year  sold  four  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  hogs  alone  of  his  own  raising. 

The  first  wife  of  our  subject  died,  June  5,  1878,  leaving  eight  children,  two  having  preceded 
her  to  the  other  world,  one  of  them  in  infancy  and  one  after  she  had  become  a  wife  and  mother. 
The  eight  living  children  are  married  and  doing  well.  His  present  wife  was  Miss  Lucy  E.  Wil- 
lits,  daughter  of  Isaiah  Willits,  of  Keithsburgh,  and  he  has  by  her  one  son. 

Since  1880  Mr.  Childs  has  resided  in  Keithsburgh,  and  has  disposed  of  some  of  his  land.  He 
.has  the  home  farm  of  four  hundred  and  forty-four  acres  in  Eliza  township,  and  one  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  acres  in  Abington  township,  and  some  other  land,  in  all  about  seven  hundred 
acres  in  his  own  name,  and  his  farming  is  now  done  largely  by  proxy.  Like  a  man  of  sense,  he 
is  inclined  to  let  the  world  do  its  own  fretting.  Although  a  so-called  home-body,  he  has  seen  a 
little  of  his  own  country,  the  Pacific  coast  and  the  Gulf  states,  including  Florida,  where  he  once 
planted  an  orange  grove,  and  then  sold  it,  concluding  to  lessen  rather  than  increase  his  cares  and 
responsibilities. 

t 

HON.   JAMES  A.  CONNOLLY. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JAMES  AUSTIN  .CONNOLLY,  United  States  district  attorney  for  the  southern  district  of 
Illinois,  and  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Coles  county,  is  a  son  of  William  and  Margaret  (McGuire) 
Connolly,  and  was  born  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  March  8,  1838.  Both  parents  were  natives  of 
Ireland.  John  Connolly,  the  grandfather  of  James,  participated  in  the  revolution  of  1798,  and 
had  his  property  confiscated,  and  was  a  fugitive  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  old  country. 
William  Connolly,  a  tanner  and  currier  by  trade,  came  to  this  Country  in  1824,  and  died  at  Mans- 
field, Ohio,  in  1881. 

Our  subject  was  educated  at  the  Chesterville,  Ohio,  Academy  ;  taught  school  three  consecu- 
tive winter  terms  ;  studied  law  at  Mount  Gilead,  with  Judge  A.  K.  Dunn,  and  while  a  law  student 
was  elected  second  assistant  clerk  of  the  Ohio  state  senate,  and  held  that  post  two  years.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Mount  Gilead  in  September,  1859,  and  practiced  there  a  little  more 
than  one  year,  in  company  with  his  preceptor,  Judge  Dunn. 

During  the  presidential  campaign  of  1860  Mr.  Connolly  was  a  member  of  the  democratic  state 
central  committee  of  Ohio,  and  at  the  close  of  that  campaign  went  to  the  South,  intending  at  the 
time  to  locate  in  that  part  of  the  country.  But  in  December  of  that  year  he  hurried  northward 
in  order  to  save  his  life,  coming  back  a  full-grown  republican,  and  settled  at  Charleston,  Illinois, 
which  is  still  his  home.  In  August,  1862,  he  was  appointed  major  of  the  i23d  regiment  Illinois 
infantry,  which  was  assigned  to  the  army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  in  which  he  served  for  three 
years.  After  the  battle  of  Chicamauga,  Major  Connolly  was  assigned  to  staff  duty,  and  was  with 
General  Sherman  in  his  march  to  the  sea.  He  happened  to  be  in  New  York  city  at  the  time  of  the 
funeral  of  President  Lincoln,  and  was  detailed  by  General  Dix  to  serve  as  a  member  of  the  guard 
of  honor,  the  only  volunteer  officer  of  an  Illinois  regiment  who  happened  to  serve  on  that  guard 


66  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAmiCAI.    DICTIONARY. 

in  that  city.  Our  subject  went  into  the  army  and  came  out  holding  the  rank  of  major,  there 
being  no  promotions  among  the  field  officers  of  his  regiment  during  the  whole  three  years  of 
service.  In  the  spring  of  1865  he  was  breveted  lieutenant-colonel  of  volunteers  for  meritorious 
services  in  the  field. 

At  the  close  of  his  military  career  Major  Connolly  returned  to  Charleston,  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  which  soon  became  quite  large  and  lucrative.  He  is  a  closely  read 
and  able  lawyer,  a  ready,  fluent  and  eloquent  speaker,  and  a  very  successful  practitioner,  having 
great  influence  with  a  jury.  While  the  civil  war  was  in  progress,  1863,  he  married  Miss  Mary 
Dunn,  a  sister  of  Judge  Dunn,  and  they  have  no  children.  Major  Connolly  was  elected  to  the 
state  legislature  in  1872,  and  reelected  in  1874,  representing  the  thirty-second  district.  In  the 
first  session  (1873)  when  his  party  was  in  power,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  public 
library,  and  a  member  of  the  judiciary  and  railroad  committees.  These  last  two  at  that  particu- 
lar time  were  especially  important  committees  as  the  former  had  in  charge  the  revision  of  the 
statutes,  and  the  latter  the  origination  of  the  railroad  legislation  now  in  force  in  the  state.  Our 
subject  was  on  the  judiciary  committee  all  the  time  that  he  was  in  the  legislature.  His  present 
office  of  United  States  district  attorney  he  received  at  the  hands  of  President  Grant  in  1876,  and 
he  is  temporarily  residing  at  the  capital  of  the  state,  attending  to  the  duties  of  his  office  with 
promptness  and  marked  ability. 
%  . 

HON.    REUBEN    M.    BENJAMIN. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

T~)  EUBEN  MOORE  BENJAMIN,  judge  of  McLean  county,  is  a  son  of  Darius  and  Martha 
_1_\.  (Rogers)  Benjamin,  and  was  born  at  Chatham  Centre,  Columbia  county,  New  York,  June 
29,  1833.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country,  dying  at  Chatham 
Centre  in  1850,  and  his  grandfather,  Ebenezer  Benjamin,  was  a  captain  in  the  first  war.  The 
latter  moved  from  Norwich,  Connecticut,  to  the  town  of  Chatham,  and  there  died  in  1789.  The 
Benjamins  and  Rogerses  were  of  English  descent,  the  latter  being  early  settlers  in  Rhode  Island, 
moving  thence  to  Connecticut.  The  maternal  grandmother  of  Reuben  was  Sarah  (Moore)  Rog- 
ers, of  Welsh  extraction. 

Mr.  Benjamin  prepared  for  college  at  Kinderhook  Academy,  New  York;  entered  Amherst 
College,  Massachusetts,  in  January,  1850,  and  was  graduated  in  1853,  receiving  the  third  honor 
of  his  class.  He  was  principal  of  Hopkins  Academy,  at  Hadley,  near  Amherst,  in  1853-54;  a 
student  in  the  law  school  of  Harvard  University,  1854-55;  and  tutor  in  Amherst  College,  1855-56. 
In  April  of  the  latter  year  he  came  to  Bloomington,  which  has  since  been  his  home,  and  in  Sep- 
tember of  that  year  was  licensed  to  practice  law,  his  examination  papers  being  signed  by  Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

Mr.  Benjamin  was  a  partner  of  General  A.  Gridley  and  Colonel  J.  H.  Wickizer  until  the  former 
retired  from  practice,  and  the  latter  went  into  the  army.  In  1863  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Judge  Thomas  F.  Tipton,  and  since  then,  at  different  times,  has  had  as  partners  Captain  J.  H. 
Rowell  and  Hon.  Lawrence  Weldon,  who  have,  like  himself,  a  high  standing  at  the  Illinois  bar. 
Mr.  Benjamin  is  thoroughly  read  in  his  profession,  and  his  services  have  long  been  in  great 
demand  as  an  office  lawyer  and  counselor. 

He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  in  1869,  and  in  that  body  during 
the  following  year  did  a  good  deal  of  valuable  work.  He  served  on  the  committees  on  bill  of 
rights,  municipal  corporations,  state  institutions,  accounts  and  expenditures,  and  schedule;  was 
one  of  the  most  active  and  efficient  members  of  the  convention,  and  during  the  sessions  and  after 
their  close  was  the  recipient  of  highly  complimentary  remarks,  made  by  his  colaborers  in  that 
body  and  by  the  press. 

Our  subject  was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  people  in  the  celebrated  Lexington  case  against 
the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad  Company,  a  case  involving  the  question  of  the  right  of  railroad 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  67 

corporations  to  charge  more  for  a  less  than  fora  greater  distance,  and  was  subsequently  employed 
as  special  counsel  for  the  railroad  and  warehouse  commission,  and  assisted  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
Munn  and  Scott  case,  which  was  taken  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and  being  there 
affirmed,  finally  established  the  constitutional  right  of  the  legislature  to  regulate  warehouse 

charges. 

Mr.  Benjamin  was  elected  to  the  bench  in  1873,  and  reflected  in  1877,  and  also  in  1882.  We 
learn  from  "  Good  Old  Times  in  McLean  County  "  that  he  has  won  the  admiration  of  the  bar  and 
of  the  people,  on  account  of  the  rapidity  and  accuracy  with  which  he  dispatches  business.  In 
personal  appearance  "  he  bears  the  impress  of  the  student.  His  demeanor,  language  and  pose 
are  those  of  a  delver  in  the  mines  of  knowledge."  He  retains  all  the  polish  of  mind  and  man- 
ners of  his  New  England  culture. 

Judge  Benjamin  was  appointed  dean  of  the  law  department  of  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  Univer- 
sity in  1874,  and  still  holds  that  position,  his  chair  being  "  real  property."  In  1879  he  published 
a  work  entitled  "Student's  Guide  to  Elementary  Law."  He  married  at  Chatham,  New  York, 
September  15,  1856,  Miss  Laura  E.  Woodin,  daughter  of  David  G.  Woodin. 


HON.  WILLIAM    HENRY  SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  SMITH,  general  manager  of  the  Associated  Press,  and  late  collector 
of  the  port  of  Chicago,  was  born  in  the  Green  River  Valley,  Columbia  county,  New 
York,  December  i,  1833.  His  father,  William  De  Forest  Smith,  grandson  of  a  revolutionary 
soldier,  was  a  native  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  belonged  to  the  farming  community.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Almira  Gott,  whose  father,  Story  Gott,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  conti- 
nental army,  and  a  descendant  of  a  family  which  came  from  Scotland,  and  settled  in  Connecticut 
prior  to  1690.  The  Gotts  were  driven  out  of  Holland  at  the  time  of  religious  persecution,  two  or 
three  centuries  ago,  and  fled  to  Scotland  for  refuge. 

The  late  Hon.  Daniel  Gott,  for  many_years  a  judge  of  the  court  of  appeals,  New  York,  and  at 
one  time  a  member  of  congress  from  that  state,  was  an  uncle  of  Mrs.  Smith.  Mr.  Smith  was 
educated  at  the  Quaker  college,  Green  Mount,  Richmond,  Indiana,  being  graduated  in  1853. 
He  had  some  experience  in  teaching  school  before  entering  college,  was  tutor  a  few  terms  while 
in  college  and  taught  one  year  after  his  graduation. 

In  1854  we  find  Mr.  Smith  at  Cincinnati,  engaged  in  editing  books  and  a  weekly  paper,  enti- 
tled "The  Type  of  the  Times,"  which  was  devoted  to  literature  and  independent  politics.  Mr. 
Smith  early  became  interested  in  the  great  free-soil  movement,  and  commenced  writing  for 
newspapers  on  political  subjects  before  he  was  of  age.  About  1857  he  became  a  correspondent 
of  the  "Cincinnati  Commercial,"  and  a  little  later  went  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  "Daily 
Gazette,"  of  the  same  city.  While  thus  engaged,  in  1863  he  became  the  private  secretary  of  the 
great  war  governor  of  Ohio,  Hon.  John  Brough.  He  was  holding  that  position  in  1864,  when 
nominated  by  the  republican  party  for  the  office  of  secretary  of  state.  Success  attended  the  can- 
vass, as  he  received  the  largest  majority,  over  fifty-six  thousand,  ever  cast  for  the  head  of  a 
republican  ticket  in  that  state,  except  in  the  case  of  John  Brough.  He  was  reelected  in  1866. 
He  resigned  in  January,  1868,  after  the  inauguration  of  Governor  Hayes,  to  return  to  journalism, 
for  which  he  seems  to  have  always  had  great  fondness  and  peculiar  adaptation,  he  being  a  ready, 
vigorous  and  trenchant  writer.  Mr.  Smith  aided  in  establishing  the  "Cincinnati  Chronicle," 
(1868)  which  was  afterward  merged  into  the  "Times,"  and  in  1870  he  was  proffered,  and  accepted 
the  position  which  he  now  holds,  that  of  general  manager  of  the  Western  Associated  Press,  the 
largest  news  organization  in  the  world,  a  position  which  he  is  filling  with  a  good  deal  of  execu- 
tive ability,  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  all  parties  concerned. 

Mr.  Smith  has  long  been  an  intimate  friend  of  General  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  and  while  the 


68  rxrrr.n  STATES  RTOGRAPIIICAI.  DICTIONARY. 

one  was  gallantly  fighting  for  the  Union  cause  in  the  field,  the  other  was  doing  a  similar  work 
with  the  pen  at  home,  and  when  General  Hayes  became  president,  he  appointed  Mr.  Smith  to 
the  office  of  collector  of  customs  for  the  port  of  Chicago,  which  he  held  from  September  14,  1877, 
to  January  9,  1882.  In  the  last  named  year  was  published,  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Smith,  "The  Life 
and  Public  Services  of  General  Arthur  Saint  Clair,"  a  work  in  two  large  volumes,  abounding  in 
original  matter,  and  prepared  with  great  care.  So  interesting  and  popular  is  this  work  that  a 
second  edition  was  called  for  at  the  end  of  the  first  six  months.  It  covers  Saint  Clair's  services 
in  the  French-English  Canadian  war,  the  American  revolution,  as  president  of  the  continental 
congress,  and  as  the  governor  and  real  founder  of  the  five  great  states  in  the  territory  northwest 
of  the  Ohio  River.-  The  first  title  of  the  book  is  "The  Saint  Clair  Papers." 

Our  subject  has  been  connected  with  the  newspaper  press  so  long,  and  has  become  so  wedded 
to  its  interests,  that  he  finds  it  difficult  to  let  his  pen  remain  idle.  He  still  writes  essays  and 
editorials  for  different  dailies,  and  takes  up  no  topic  which  he  does  not  treat  with  decided  ability, 
and  in  a  most  readable  manner.  He  was  married,  in  1855,  to  Miss  Emma  Reynolds,  a  member 
of  a  Quaker  family,  and  they  have  a  son  and  daughter.  Mr.  Smith's  religious  associations  are 
with  the  Presbyterian  church,  to  which  he  is  much  attached. 

Since  the  above  sketch  was  written,  the  daily  journals  have  announced  that  a  union  has  been 
formed  between  the  Western  Associated  Press  and  the  New  York  Associated  Press,  the  original 
organization  which  established  agencies  in  all  of  the  great  cities  of  the  world,  and  inaugurated 
that  system  which  is  essential  to  the  success  of  any  first-class  daily  newspaper.  Mr.  Smith  is  the 
general  manager  of  the  Consolidated  Associated  Press,  with  headquarters  in  Chicago  and  New 
York. 


Ai 


AARON    H.    COLE. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

HUTCHINSON  COLE,  deceased,  was  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Davis)  Cole,  and 
was  born  in  Stanstead,  Lower  Canada  (now  the  Province  of  Quebec),  November  23,  1823. 
His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  the  family  was  from  Saint  Johnsbury,  Vermont.  Aaron  was  the 
fourth  son  of  seven  brothers,  of  whom  two,  Philo  B.  and  John  S.,  live  in  Mount  Carroll,  two  in 
Iowa,  and  two  are  dead. 

Mr.  Cole  received  an  ordinary  English  education,  and  when  about  twenty-five  years  old  left 
Canada,  and  made  a  trip  to  California,  going  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  starting  in  1849,  when  the 
gold  fever  in  reference  to  that  country  first  broke  out,  and  being  six  months  on  the  voyage.  His 
brother,  Philo,  went  with  him.  He  had  very  good  success  in  the  mines,  and  on  his  return  came 
to  Carroll  county,  and  settled  at  first  in  Salem  township,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock  raising.  Four  or  five  years  later  (1859)  he  moved  to  Mount  Carroll,  where  he  lived  till  his 
death,  which  occurred  July  7,  1880,  his  disease  being  pulmonary  consumption.  He  left  a  widow 
and  one  child.  He  married  in  April,  1854,  Miss  Lovisa  Elmira  Shurtleff,  a  native  of  Stanstead, 
and  an  acquaintance  of  his  youth.  Her  father  was  Lothrop  Shurtleff,  also  a  native  of  Canada, 
and  a  descendant  of  a  New  England  family,  noted  for  its  benevolence.  One  of  them,  Doctor 
Shurtleff,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  partially  endowed  Shurtleff  College,  a  Baptist  institution  at 
Upper  Alton,  Illinois. 

Mrs.  Cole  is  the  mother  of  two  children,  both  sons,  Wilbert  Aaron,  who  died  in  infancy,  and 
Flavius  Shurtleff,  who  was  born  in  1862,  and  who  is  nobly  trying  to  fill  his  father's  place  in  taking 
care  of  the  farms  and  other  property,  of  which  his  father  left  a  great  amount,  and  wholly  unin- 
cumbered.  Much  of  it  is  in  real  estate  in  Iowa.  Mr.  Cole  was  one  of  the  best  financiers  in 
Carroll  county. 

We  learn  from  the  Carroll  county  "Herald"  of  July  9,  1880,  that  the  Coles  are  relatives  of 
Roger  Sherman,  of  revolutionary  fame,  Mr.  Cole's  grandmother  being  a  Sherman.  He  was  also 
related  to  Hon.  John  Sherman,  now  United  States  senator  from  Ohio,  for  whom  John  S.  CoJe  was 
named.  The  mother  of  our  subject  survived  him  just  three  months. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  uflL 


UNITED    STATES   KIOC.KA  rilICA  I.    DICTIONARY.  J] 

Mr.  Cole  was  baptized  by  a  Freewill  Baptist  minister  when  nineteen  years  of  age,  but  was 
not,  we  understand,  in  full  accord  with  that  branch  of  the  great  Baptist  family,  and  did  not  con- 
nect himself  with  any  church.  His  wife  was  and  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Mount 
Carroll,  which  he  attended  quite  regularly  when  at  home,  and  to  the  support  of  which  he  contrib- 
uted. He  lived  a  strictly  moral,  unblemished  life;  often  expressed  to  his  wife  a  hope  in  Christ; 
'  on  his  death-bed  was  perfectly  resigned  to  his  lot,  and  urged  his  son  to  "remember  his  Creator 
in  the  days  of  his  youth,"  and  identify  himself  with  the  church. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  was  acquainted  with  Mr.  Cole,  and  has  shared  in  his  social  cheer 
and  hospitality.  He  was  a  not  a  man  of  a  superfluity  of  words,  and  did  not  covet  a  large  circle 
of  confidential  friends.  He  minded  his  own  business,  and  succeeded  in  his  business  by  putting 
mind  into  it.  He  was  strictly  honest  himself,  and  despised  anything  to  the  contrary  in  others; 
established  a  good  reputation  for  integrity,  and  left  to  his  son  an  unblemished  record,  —  a  bright 
example  to  follow,  —  as  well  as  a  good  deal  of  land  and  other  property.  The  widow,  also,  he 
placed  in  perfectly  independent  circumstances;  but  no  amount  of  worldly  goods  can  compensate 
for  his  absence  from  the  little  domestic  circle,  which  he  himself  so  much  enjoyed.  Others  beside 
her  miss  him.  Several  of  the  best  class  of  men  in  Mount  Carroll  have  passed  away  during  the 
last  lustrum,  and  the  vacancy  is  painfully  felt. 


REV.    NATHANIEL    S.    SAGE,   LL.D. 

AURORA. 

NATHANIEL  S.  SAGE  comes  of  good  patriotic  and  fighting  stock,  both  grandsires  partici- 
pating in  the  struggle  for  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  He  was  born  in  Huntington, 
Lorain  county,  Ohio,  May  7,  1838,  and  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Harlow  Parson  Sage  and  Susan  (Malroy) 
Sage.  His  father  is  a  well-known  Universalist  minister.  He  is  still,  living  at  his  old  home  in 
Lorain  county,  being  in  his  eighty-fifth  year.  He  is  a  cousin  of  Henry  Sage  and  Russell  Sage,  of 
New  York  city.  The  Sages  are  of  Scandinavian  extraction,  the  original  name  being  Saga,  mean- 
ing chief  of  the  tribe.  The  first  emigrants  from  the  old  world  settled  in  Connecticut,  from  which 
state  Joseph  Sage,  father  of  Harlow  P.,  took  up  arms  against  King  George  the  Third,  enlisting  at 
eighteen  years  of  age.  The  Malroys  are  of  Irish  descent,  and  Susan  Malroy  Sage  was  a  cousin 
of  General  Malroy,  of  Indiana,  well  known  as  the  "War  Eagle  "  of  that  state.  She  died  at  Hunt- 
ington in  1872. 

The  education  of  our  subject,  preparatory  to  entering  college,  was  largely  due  to  his  father, 
who  is  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  who  was  very  thorough  in  his  drill  of  the  son.  The  latter 
attended  the  Liberal  Institute,  at  Marietta,  two  or  three  terms,  and  then  entered  Oberlin  College, 
where  he  remained  until  1857.  Prior  to  hjs  entering  college,  his  father  had  met  with  reverses  of 
fortune,  and  the  son  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  two  industrious  hands  and  a  resolute 
heart.  He  sawed  wood,  set  type,  taught  school,  did  anything,  in  short,  by  which  he  could  earn  a 
few  dollars,  and  meet  his  pecuniary  obligations.  We  doubt  if  he  ever  had  any  boyhood,  or  knew 
by  experience  anything  about  the  sports  of  youth.  With  him  work  and  study  monopolized  his 
younger  years. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Sage  taught  school  most  of  the  time  for  nine  years,  mainly  in  his 
native  town,  preaching  at  the  same  time.  He  was  ordained  at  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  com- 
menced preaching  two  years  earlier,  the  father  being  unwell  at  times,  and  the  son  taking  his  place. 

In  the  autumn  of  1860  our  subject  went  to  Minnesota,  and  spent  the  winter  in  Fillmore  county. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  civil  war,  he  enlisted  at  Preston,  that  county,  as  a  private  in  company  A, 
2d  Minnesota  infantry;  was  slightly  wounded  at  the  capture  of  Ford  Donelson,  and  was  soon 
afterward  mustered  out  of  service.  Returning  to  Ohio,  he  again  enlisted,  and  not  being  accepted 
as  a  soldier,  he  was  elected  chaplain  of  the  i82d  regiment,  and  served  in  that  capacity  till  the  close 
of  the  war. 

8 


JT2  UNITED    S'fATES   H/OCK.U'/flCAf.   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Sage  was  pastor  of  the  Universalist  church  at  New  Philadelphia.  Ohio,  three  years; 
preached  at  Logansport,  Indiana,  eight  years,  and  in  February,  1876,  came  to  this  state,  preach- 
ing at  Sycamore  until  April,  1881,  when  he  settled  in  Aurora,  where  the  Universalists  have  a 
strong  and  influential  church.  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  from  the 
Saint  Louis  University  in  1874.  As  a  speaker  he  is  very  fluent,  as  a  reasoner  clear,  logical  and 
strong,  and  as  a  denouncer  of  wrong,  powerful  in  invective.  He  is  very  studious,  and  shows  in 
in  his  discourses  and  public  address  the  freshness  of  his  reading,  as  well  as  the  breadth  of  his 
thinking. 

Mr.  Sage  is  not  much  of  a  stickler  for  denominational  lines;  is,  in  fact,  quite  independent  in 
his  theological  views,  and  has  a  thoroughly  brotherly  feeling  for  everybody  who  is  trying  to  do 
right.  He  has  a  good  deal  of  literary  taste,  as  well  as  mental  culture,  and  often  addresses  teach- 
ers' institutes,  college  societies,  and  literary  associations,  and  his  efforts  on  such  occasions  are 
usually  marked  by  fine  scholarship  and  a  good  deal  of  oratorical  power.  He  also  writes  more  or 
less  for  the  newspapers  and  magazines  of  his  denomination,  and  sometimes  for  the  "  Quarterly 
Review,"  and  some  of  his  articles  have  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention.  At  the  time  this  sketch 
is  written  our  subject  holds  the  office  of  grand  chaplain  of  the  Odd-Fellows  of  Illinois,  and  he  is 
also  a  prominent  Mason. 

He  married,  in  1857,  Miss  Margaret  Wagoner,  of  Medina  county,  Ohio,  and  she  died  June  20, 
1878,  leaving  four  sons  and  one  daughter,  one  son  having  preceded  her  to  the  spirit  world.  Cora, 
the  oldest  daughter,  is  married  to  Harris  W.  Sabin,  of  Freeport,  Illinois;  Wallace  Irving  is  city 
editor  of  the  Aurora  "Daily  Post,"  and  James  Ashley,  Arthur  Dixon  and  Harry  Renan  are  pur- 
suing their  studies. 

LAWRENCE  W.   CLAYPOOL. 

MORRIS. 

LAWRENCE  WILSON  CLAYPOOL  comes  of  a  family  which  originated  about  the  time  of 
Oliver  Cromwell.  Its  first  representatives  in  this  country  were  two  young  men,  brothers, 
who  emigrated  from  England  about  1650,  and  settled  in  Virginia.  One  of  them  subsequently 
removed  to  Philadelphia  and  became  attached  to  William  Penn.  The  family  embraced  his  Quaker 
faith,  and  became  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  that  colony.  One  of  them,  James  Claypole,  appears 
as  a  witness  to  Penn's  charter,  and  his  descendants  to  this  day  spell  their  names  Claypole.  Will- 
iam Claypool  was  a  son  of  the  Virginia  brother,  born  in  about  1690,  had  three  sons,  and  lived 
to  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and  two  years.  One  son,  James,  also  had  three  sons  'whom 
he  reverently  named  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob.  He  was  Washington's  chief  of  commissary  for 
eastern  Virginia,  and  furnished  the  revolutionary  heroes  with  beef—  —when  he  could  get  it. 
Abraham,  his  eldest  son,  was  the  father  of  a  baker's  dozen,  thirteen,  of  whom  eleven,  six  sons  and 
five  daughters,  reached  maturity.  The  Claypools  were  all  people  of  consequence  in  the  Old  Do- 
minion, and  owned  plantations  and  slaves.  Nevertheless,  like  all  of  the  original  old  Virginia  set- 
tlers, they  were  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  the  accursed  system,  and  when  Abraham  removed 
with  his  large  family  to  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  in  1799,  he  took  with  him  his  two  slaves  for  the  express 
purpose  of  giving  them  that  liberty  which  by  the  ordinance  of  1787  was  eternally  pledged  to  all  who 
should  settle  in  the  great  Northwestern  territory.  In  his  new  home  Abraham  prospered  exceed- 
ingly, and  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and  bore  all  the  honors  they  were  able 
to  confer  on  him,  till  the  day  of  his  death.  He  aided  in  the  formation  of  the  first  state  govern- 
ment in  Ohio,  was  a  member  of  its  first  senate,  and  occupied  a  seat  in  its  halls  as  long  as  he  would 
consent  to  do  so. 

Jacob,  his  second  son,  had  two  children  only,  Perry  Amos  and  Lawrence  Wilson,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch.  He  first  settled  in  Brown  county,  Ohio,  but  in  1822  removed  to  and  helped  to 
found  the  new  city  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  ague  and  fever 
was  so  abundant  in  that  region  about  that  time,  that  it  is  said  the  early  inhabitants  cut  it  up  and 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGKA  THICAL    DICTIONARY.  73 

stored  it  away  like  cordwood  for  winter's  use.  At  any  rate  they  were  never  without  a  full  sup- 
ply, winter  or  summer,  and  Jacob,  fortunately  having  a  farm  still  in  Ohio,  returned  to  it,  and  left 
his  share  of  the  principal  Indiana  crop  for  others  to  harvest.  In  1812  Jacob  Claypool  served 
his  country  in  the  war  with  Great  Britain.  He  was  a  member  of  the  ist  regiment  of  Ohio 
infantry,  Colonel  McArthur  (afterward  governor)  commanding.  His  regiment  served  under  Gen- 
eral Hull,  and  was  a  part  of  the  force  surrendered  by  him  to  the  British  at  Detroit.  He  kept  a 
diary  from  the  time  he  left  home  till  he  returned,  and  claims  in  it  that  Hull  did  not  surrender 
till  the  British  had  crossed  1,000  soldiers  below  the  fort  and  collected  1500  howling  savages  in  its 
rear.  . 

In  1834  Jacob  Claypool  finally  set  his  face  toward  the  setting  sun,  and  removed  to  Grundy 
county,  Illinois.  The  Pottawatomie  Indian  chief,  Waupansee,  had  his  camp  at  that  time  in  what  is 
now  the  township  of  Waupansee,  south  of  the  river,  and  the  hardy  pioneer  and  his  family,  who  had 
been  familiar  with  the  Indians  and  their  ways  all  their  lives,  had  no  hesitation  in  settling  close  to 
them  on  the  ten  mile  tract,  which  the  government  had  before  bought  of  them.  He  secured  for 
himself  and  his  sons  and  their  families  a  large  tract  of  this  rich  prairie  soil,  became  rich  in  conse- 
quence, and  a  prominent  and  powerful  man  in  the  state.  He  filled  many  important  offices  in  the 
county,  as  the  first  county  commissioner,  probate  judge,  etc.,  and  died  in  1876,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-eight  years.  He  was  a  true  pioneer,  a  man  of  great  strength  and  courage,  and  a  natural 
leader 'and  commander  among  men.  His  sons  were  both  true  sons  of  their  sire.  The  subject  of 
this  paper  was  born  June  4,  1819,  at  Perry  township,  Brown  county,  Ohio.  His  mother's  name  was 
Nancy  Ballard.  His  schooling  in  boyhood  was  confined  within  the  limits  of  about  eleven  months, 
in  a  little  log  school  house  in  Ohio,  but  like  all  strong  minds  his  life  has  been  a  long  and  valuable 
school.  In  1841  when  not  yet  twenty-two  years  old,  he  was  elected  recorder  of  deeds  for  Grundy 
county,  and  served  till  1847.  He  was  the  first  postmaster  in  the  town  of  Morris,  and  served 
from  1842  to  1845.  In  1848  he  received  an  appointment  as  assistant  agent  of  the  canal  lands,  and 
served  in  that  capacity  till  the  lands  were  all  finally  sold  in  1860.  E.  S.  Prescott  and  Mr.  Clay- 
pool  had  the  duty  and  responsibility  of  reexamining,  managing  and  assisting  to  sell  this  vast 
body  of  land,  which  they  did  to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of  all  parties,  and  much  credit  to  them- 
selves. He  was  also  town  supervisor,  member  of  school  board,  etc.,  for  many  years. 

During  the  war  he  was  a  very  active  and  prominent  worker  in  the  important  business  of  rais- 
ing volunteers  and  providing  sanitary  supplies.  As  treasurer  of  the  sanitary  commission  in  Grundy 
county,  he  at  one  time  sent  $2,000  to  the  Chicago  Christian  and  sanitary  commissions. 

It  goes  without  saying  it  that  Mr.  Claypool  was  an  old-line  whig,  an  abolitionist,  then  a  free- 
soiler,  an  anti-Nebraska  man,  and  finally  when  all  these  elements  crystallized  into  the  republican 
party  he  made  a  tolerably  large  and  solid  crystal.  He  was  of  age  at  the  time  of  the  presidential 
canvass  of  1840,  and  voted  for  old  Tippecanoe.  During  the  campaign  he  was  at  Cincinnati  at  one 
time  when  the  General  made  a  speech,  and  stood  within  a  few  feet  of  the  old  hero,  and  heard  him 
reply  to  the  charge  of  being  an  abolitionist.  "  I  am  accused,"  said  he,  "of  being  an  abolitionist," 
pausing  and  raising  his  eyes  and  stretching  his  long  arm  at  full  length  toward  heaven,  "  I  would 
to  God  that  yonder  sun  might  never  again  shine  upon  a  slave." 

November  15,  1849,  Mr.  Claypool  was  married  to  Miss  Caroline  B.  Palmer,  the  daughter  of 
John  Palmer,  of  Ottawa,  who  with  his  family  settled  in  that  place  in  1834.  Eight  children  have 
been  born  to  hem,  two  only  of  whom  survive  to  the  present  time,  Henry  Clay,  the-eldest,  now 
thirty,  and  Lawrence  Wilson,  a  lad  of  sixteen  years. 

Mr.  Claypool  is  one  of  a  type  of  men  who  have,  under  God,  made  this  country  what  it  is  to- 
day. Tall  and  straight  as  an  arrow;  lithe  and  active  as  a  greyhound,  with  sinews  of  steel  and 
heart  of  oak;  of  undaunted  courage  and  self  reliance,  of  incorruptible  integrity,  to  whom  it  is 
impossible  to  teach  the  crooked  ways  of  self-seeking  men;  earnest,  industrious,  faithful,  ever 
ready  for  any  labor  or  sacrifice  for  the  cause  of  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man;  simple  and 
childlike  in  manners,  with  heart  as  tender  as  a  woman's,  and  stern  only  in  the  face  of  wrong; 
these  are  the  men  whose  characters  have  been  moulded  after  the  pattern  of  the  heroes  of  the 


74 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


Bible;  who  have  been  reared  in  intimate  companionship  with  nature,  and  with  nature's  God;  who 
are  the  unspoiled  children  of  nature,  and  have  received  the  indelible  impress  of  her  nobility  and 
purity.  Alas  !  when  they  and  their  influences  shall  have  passed  away,  and  the  nation  shall  be 
left  to  the  guidance  of  the  artificial  and  godless  philosophy  of  a  pleasure-seeking  and  self-wor- 
shiping geration  of  men! 


w 


HON.  WILLIAM   E.  SHUTT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ILLIAM  EDWARD  SHUTT,  state  senator,  and  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Palmers, 
Robinson  and  Shutt,  was  born  in  Waterford,  London  county,  Virginia,  May  5,  1840,  his 
parents  being  Jacob  and  Caroline  (Leslie)  Shutt.  His  paternal  grandparents  were  natives  of 
Strasburg,  in  the  province  of  Alsace,  and  his  maternal  grandparents  were  from  Scotland.  Jacob 
Shutt  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-14,  and  participated  in  the  battle  at  Bladensburg,  near 
Washington.  He  moved  his  family  from  Virginia  to  the  city  of  Springfield,  in  November,  1842, 
when  William  was  in  his  third  year,  and  here  died  in  1866,  his  wife  having  died  a  year  earlier. 

Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  local  schools;  read  law  with  Hon.  James  H.  Matheny,  now 
judge  of  Sangamon  county,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  May  1862.  Two  years  afterward  he 
was  elected  city  attorney,  and  held  that  office  one  year.  He  was  mayor  of  the  city  in  1868.  In 
1874  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  for  the  thirty-fifth  district,  and  was  reflected  in  1878,  his 
second  term  expiring  with  the  present  year  (1883).  He  has  always  been  a  staunch  democrat,  and 
during  the  session  that  the  coalition  of  democrats  and  grangers  held  the  balance  of  power  in  the 
legislature,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committees  of  public  buildings  and  grounds,  and  expenses  of 
the  general  assembly,  and  has  always  been  on  the  judiciary  committee,  his  talents  and  peculiar 
fitness  for  a  place  on  that  committee  being  recognized  by  all  parties.  He  has  repeatedly  served 
as  chairman  of  the  democratic  senate  caucus.  Mr.  Shutt  is  the  author  of  more  than  twenty  bills, 
which  passed  and  became  laws,  some  of  them  being  quite  important. 

He  was  formerly  of  the  law  firm  of  Robinson,  Knapp  and  Shutt,  which  was  formed  July  i, 
1869,  and  which  consisted  of  Hon.  James  C.  Robinson,  Hon.  Anthony  L.  Knapp  and  himself,  and 
which  continued  unchanged  until  the  demise  of  Mr.  Knapp  in  May  1881.  Soon  after  that  date 
the  two  surviving  members  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  John  M.  Palmer  and  J.  Mayo  Palmer, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Palmers,  Robinson  and  Shutt.  He  is  a  man  of  great  physical  and  men- 
tal power ;  prepares  his  cases  for  trial  with  adroitness  and  skill,  and  favorably  impresses  a  jury 
with  his  candor  and  sincerity,  as  well  as  logic. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Shutt  was  Ella  V.  Collins,  of  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  their  marriage  being 
dated  January' n,  1866.  They  have  two  children,  a  daughter,  Maggie  T.,  aged  fifteen,  and  a 
son,  William  E.,  aged  twelve  years. 


EDMUND  STEVENS,   D.D.S. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  hotel  keeper,  and  the  leading  dentist  in  Bloomington,  is  a  native 
of  Talbot  county,  Maryland,  dating  his  birth  February  19,  1832.  His  father,  Charles  R. 
Stevens,  and  his  grandfather,  were  also  born  in  that  state.  The  great-grandfather  of  Edmund 
was  from  England,  and  fought  for  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  An  uncle  of  Edmund  was  in 
the  war  of  1812-4,  Charles  R.  Stevens  married  his  cousin,  Julia  A.  Stevens,  who  had  five  children, 
all  sons,  Edmund  being  the  fourth.  He  received  a  common  English  education  in  his  native  state; 
was  apprenticed  to  a  s.ilversmith,  Thomas  J.  Brown,  of  Baltimore,  who  still  resides  there;  remained 
with  him  two  years;  finished  learning  his  trade  in  Philadelphia,  with  George  K.  Childs,  who  held 
a  prominent  office  in  the  United  States  mint,  and  after  completing  his  apprenticeship  studied 
dentistry.  He  attended  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  medical  department  of  the  Pennsylvania  Col- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  75 

lege,  Philadelphia,  and  was  graduated  at  the  Pennsylvania  College  of  Dental  Surgery  in  1857. 
Before  receiving  his  degree  he  practiced  his  profession  for  a  year  or  two  in  Philadelphia,  and  sub- 
sequently for  a  few  months  in  Camden,  New  Jersey. 

In  the  autumn  of  1857  Doctor  Stevens  came  to  Bloomington,  and  was  in  successful  practice 
here  until  1878,  doing  the  largest  business  in  the  city.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  he  moved  to 
Kansas  City,  Missouri;  there  opened  the  Stevens'  House  on  Main  street,  near  Seventh,  which  hotel 
is  still  conducted  in  his  name.  While  there  he  also  had  a  dental  office,  and  did  a  fair  business  in 
both  branches. 

On  account  of  ill  health,  Doctor  Stevens  returned  to  his  old  home  in  Bloomington  in  February, 
1881;  opened  the  Stevens  (formerly  the  St.  Nicholas)  House,  remodeled  and  refurnished  it,  fitted 
it  up  in  good  style,  and  it  is  neat  and  cleanly.  It  is  the  second  hotel  in  size  in  Bloomington,  and 
is  usually  full.  Often  persons  seeking  lodgings  there  are  compelled  to  be  turned  away.  Doctor 
Stevens  has  also  a  dental  office.  His  old  patrons  have  nearly  all  returned  to  him,  together  with 
many  new  ones,  and  between  the  two  branches  of  business  he  is  one  of  the  busiest  men  in  the 
city.  There  is  no  dental  surgeon  in  central  Illinois  that  has  a  better  professional  education  than 
the  doctor.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Odd-Fellows'  fraternity  for  thirty  years,  and  is  past 
grand  in  that  order. 

In  1860  Doctor  Stevens  married  Mary  B.  Smith,  only  daughter  of  James  R.  and  Eliza  H.  Smith, 
of  Mechanicsburgh,  Sangamon  county,  Illinois,  and  they  lost  their  first-born  child  in  infancy,  and 
have  three  daughters  and  three  sons  living:  Carrie  J.,  Herbert,  Harry  Smith,  Grace,  Charles  and 
Mamie  Parker. 


HON.   WILLIAM    BROWN. 

ROCKFORD. 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch,  judge  of  the  thirteenth  judicial  circuit,  is  a  native  of 
Cumberland  county,  England,  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Morton)  Brown,  and  was  born 
June  i,  1819.  When  he  was  eight  years  old  the  family  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  after 
spending  two  or  three  years  in  the  vicinity  of  Hudson,  Columbia  county,  New  York,  settled  on  a 
farm  at  Western,  Oneida  county,  same  state.  William  remained  on  the  farm,  attending  school 
during  the  winters,  until  seventeen  years  old,  when  he  commenced  teaching  during  the  winter 
season,  and  was  not  much  at  home  after  that  age.  As  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  he  seems  to  have 
relied  upon  his  own  hands  and  scholarship  for  support  after  the  date  mentioned,  for  he  continued 
to  teach  a  writing  school  for  three  or  four  seasons  before  leaving  the  East.  He  studied  law  at 
Utica  and  Rome,  and  on  his  way  westward,  in  the  autumn  of  1845,  he  halted  at  Rochester,  was 
examined  before  the  supreme  court  of  New  York,  and  licensed  to  practice.  He  reached  Rock- 
ford,  his  present  home,  in  November  of  that  year;  taught  a  district  school  a  few  miles  out  of 
town  durjng  the  following  winter,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1846  opened  an  office,  and  was  ready 
for  legal  business.  Rockford  was  then  a  very  small  village.  The  chief  end  of  the  new  comers 
was  to  enter  land,  and  litigants  were  scarce.  It  is  doubtful  if  he  was  electrified  with  visions  of 
wealth  during  the  first  twelve  months  that  his  shingle  swung  lazily  in  the  wind.  In  1847  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  and  he  held  it  till  1852.  It  brought  him  business,  and 
business  brougut  him  comfort,  and  how  much  better  can  any  office,  however  exalted,  do  for  a 
man  ?  Since  "that  honorable  office  of  magistrate  was  given  him,  our  subject  has  been  kept  almost 
constantly  in  some  official  position.  He  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  Rockford  before  the  city  was 
incorporated;  was  state's  attorney  from  1852  to  1856;  was  master  in  chancery  for  six  years  prior  to 
that  period;  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1865-66,  and  mayor  of  the  city  of  Rockford  in 
1857.  We  may  fail  to  enumerate  all  the  blushing  honors  thrust  upon  our  subject  during  his  first 
quarter  of  a  century's  residence  in  this  place,  but  that  will  not  grieve  him.  Office  has  sought 
him;  not  he  office.  In  1870  he  was  placed  upon  the  bench  of  the  circuit  court,  in  accordance 
with  the  general  wish  of  the  bar  of  the  circuit,  and  by  the  spontaneous  and  strong  vote  of  the 


76  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

people,  his  majority  being  very  heavy  where  he  was  best  known.  By  repeated  reelections  he  still 
retains  his  seat  on  the  bench.  Both  as  a  lawyer  and  judge  he  is  noted  for  being  thoroughly  con- 
scientious and  honest.  He  is  very  painstaking,  and  looks  up  a  case  to  his  complete  satisfaction 
before  making  a  decision.  His  decisions  are  about  as  often  sustained  as  those  of  any  circuit 
judge  of  the  state.  His  candor  and  good  judgment,  and  his  efforts  to  deal  justly  with  all  men, 
make  him  popular  among  the  people. 

Judge  Brown  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  a  man  of 
unblemished  life.  He  has  his  share  of  pride  in  fostering  local  industries  and  institutions,  and  in 
aiding  to  build  up  the  beautiful  home  of  his  adoption.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Rockford 
Watch  Factory  Company,  a  director  of  the  People's  Bank,  and  president  of  the  Nelson  Knitting 
Company.  He  has  other  interests  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Judge  Brown  married,  in  1850,  Miss  Caroline  H.  Miller,  of  Winnebago  county,  Illinois,  and 
they  have  three  children  here  and  three  in  the  spirit  world. 


AARON    LEWIS,    M.D. 

WA  UKEGAN. 

ONE  of  the  oldest  physicians  still  in  practice  in  northeastern  Illinois  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  Loudoun  county,Virginia, 
February  12,  1818,  being  a  son  of  Jehu  Lewis,  a  farmer,  and  Eleanor  (Cadwallader)  Lewis,  both 
also  natives  of  Virginia  His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  surveyor,  and  was  'employed  by  the 
government  to  survey  some  of  the  wild  lands  of  the  Old  Dominion.  The  family  were  Quakers, 
and  hence  took  no  part  in  the  war  for  independence.  Jehu  Lewis,  who  moved  to  the  Big  Miami 
valley,  Ohio,  when  Aaron  was  young,  had  a  large  family,  and  being  in  moderate  circumstances, 
found  it  difficult  to  give  his  children  anything  more  than  a  slight  knowledge  of  the  elementary 
branches  of  learning;  but  at  seventeen  years  of  age  Aaron  resolved  to  have  a  professional  educa- 
tion, although  there  was  no  one  to  assist  him  even  to  the  amount  of  one  dollar.  After  attending 
a  Quaker  high  school  in  the  aggregate  about  two  years,  he  read  medicine  twelve  months  with 
Doctor  Isaac  Wrightt  of  Highland  county,  Ohio,  followed  by  a  period  of  two  years  with  Doctor 
Daniel  Meeker,  of  La  Porte,  Indiana.  In  order  to  secure  his  medical  education,  he  built,  with  his 
own  hands,  a  little  cabin  out  of  refuse  lumber,  with  a  mud  chimney,  and  there  lived  for  eighteen 
months,  isolated  from  the  world,  living  on  the  cheapest  of  food,  and  seeing  his  preceptor  once  in 
two  weeks.  He  was  examined  by  a  medical  board,  passed  without  any  difficulty,  and  received 
his  license.  He  began  practice  at  McHenry,  McHenry  county,  Illinois,  in  1840.  About  that  time 
he  married  Isabella  T.  Randall,  of  Pleasant  Grove,  near  Marengo,  and  of  three  children,  the  fruit 
of  this  union,  only  one  daughter  is  now  living. 

In  the  spring  of  1843  Doctor  Lewis  moved  to  Libertyville,  then  the  seat  of  justice  in  Lake 
county,  and  its  leading  town,  and  the  next  year  went  back  to  La  Porte,  and  took  his  degree  of 
doctor  of  medicine.  In  1846  he  removed  to  Little  Fort,  now  Waukegan,  and  the  Mexican  war 
breaking  out,  he  received  the  appointment  of  examining  surgeon,  and  went  to  Shawneetown, 
on  the  Ohio  river,  where  he  remained  one  year,  and  then,  the  war  being  over,  returned  to  Wau- 
kegan. About  four  years  later,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  some  prominent  lumbermen  in  Mich- 
igan, he  crossed  the  lake,  and  spent  two  years  at  Muskegon  Lake,  at  the  end  of  which  time  we 
find  him  once  more  among  his  friends  at  Waukegan. 

Soon  after  the  civil  war  broke  out,  Doctor  Lewis  was  appointed  provost  marshal  surgeon  for 
his  congressional  district,  and  he  examined  most  of  the  soldiers  for  six  counties,  with  his  head- 
quarters at  Marengo.  That  position  he  held  until  the  close  of  the  rebellion. 

With  the  exception  of  four  months,  spent  with  his  wife  at  the  Hot  Springs,  Arkansas,  quite  as 
much  for  a  respite  from  hard  work  as  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  and  short  periods  at  medical 
colleges  in  Chicago  and  Saint  Louis,  Doctor  Lewis  has  been  confined  very  closely  to  his  profes- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  77 

sional  duties  in  Waukegan  and  vicinity.  Although  at  an  age  when  most  medical  men  begin  to 
curtail  their  rides,  he  finds  it  extremely  difficult  to  do  so.  Old  friends  are  unwilling  to  change 
their  family  physician,  and  his  kindly  heart  cannot  say  no  to  their  pressing  appeals  for  his  skillful 
hand  in  their  hour  of  sickness.  During  his  long  professional  career  and  his  life  of  exposure  the 
doctor  has  taken  the  best  of  care  of  himself,  and  is  well  preserved,  and  as  active,  seemingly,  as 
he  was  twenty  years  ago. 

During  the  war  the  post  which  he  held  brought  him  in  contact  with  a  great  many  people,  and 
he  is  one  of  the  best  known  medical  men  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  is  well  known  among  the 
Masonic  as  well  as  medical  fraternity,  being  a  Royal  Arch  Mason. 

The  doctor  is  a  Quaker  by  birthright,  and  he  has  never,  we  believe,  withdrawn  from  that 
society,  but  he  is  an  out-and-out  spiritualist,  and  frequently  conducts  funeral  services,  and  lec- 
tures in  public  on  his  favorite  religious  topic,  always  to  full  houses.  He  is  a  man  of  great  candor 
and  sincerity;  couples  principle  with  his  Christian  as  well  as  medical  profession,  and  has  the 
warm  esteem  of  a  very  extensive  circle  of  acquaintances. 


CORNELIUS  G.   BRADSHAW. 

BLOOMINGTON. 
ORNELIUS  GARRISON  BRADSHAW,  attorney-at-law,  son  of  Thomas  and  Lucretia  (Gar- 


rison)  Bradshaw,  was  born  in  Shelbyville,  Kentucky,  May  26,  1839.  His  father  was  a  farmer, 
and  born  in  Virginia,  where  the  family  settled  at  a  very  early  day  in  the  history  of  the  colonies, 
their  home  being  near  Jamestown,  on  land  granted  by  the  Crown.  Thomas  Bradshaw,  the  grand- 
father of  Cornelius,  was  a  captain  in  the  first  war  with  the  mother  country,  and  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  John  Bradshaw,  who  was  at  one  time  president  of  the  house  of  commons,  and  also  of  the 
court  which  decreed  the  beheading  of  Charles  the  First.  Lucretia  Ga/rison  was  of  Greek  extrac- 
tion, her  family,  who  belonged  to  the  Greek  church,  coming  to  this  country  from  Russia. 

Cornelius  was  educated  at  Asbury  College,  Greencastle,  Indiana,  leaving  in  the  senior  year 
(1857),  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  class  '59.  He 
practiced  a  short  time  at  Camargo,  Douglas  county,  Illinois;  taught  two  or  three  years,  and  was 
president  of  Marshall  College  when  civil  war  was  raging  in  the  country.  In  1862  he  went  into  the 
army  as  chaplain  of  the  7Qth  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  and  for  meritorious  conduct  on  the  field 
of  battle  at  Stone  River,  was  promoted  from  the  rank  of  captain  to  that  of  colonel.  He  remained 
in  the  army  until  after  the  battles  in  and  around  Chattanooga,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of 
physical  disability. 

Returning  to  Illinois,  our  subject  became  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  Havana,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  year  was  presented  with  an  elegant  gold  watch  by  his  friends  in  that  place.  He 
then  became  connected  with  the  female  college  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and  in  1866  came  to 
Bloomington,  and  had  charge  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  Normal  one  year.  Mr.  Bradshaw 
returned  to  his  original  profession  in  1867,  and,  has  practiced  it  since  that  time  with  marked  suc- 
cess. A  writer  in  the  Bloomington  "  Leader  "  of  July,  1878,  gives  an  account  of  his  success  in  his 
profession,  enumerating  two  or  three  of  the  noted  cases  in  which  he  had  been  engaged.  The  first 
case  of  any  note  in  which  he  figured,  says  the  "  Leader,"  was  a  suit  at  Charleston,  Coles  county, 
Illinois,  which,  was  a  prosecution  brought  under  the  old  fugitive  slave  law  against  a  colored 
woman,  named  Mary  Brown.  He  was  counsel  for  the  defendant,  and  succeeded  in  securing  his 
client's  acquittal.  When  the  war  broke  out  Mr.  Bradshaw  was  president  of  Marshall  College,  but 
resigned  his  duties  as  an  instructor,  to  become  a  soldier.  He  experienced  active  service  as  a  cap- 
tain of  cavalry,  and  several  times  received  honorable  mention  in  the  reports. 

His  position  as  senior  counsel  in  the  celebrated  Roach  case  was  a  responsible  one.  It  was  in 
the  defense  of  the  notorious  desperado  Rande,  however,  that  Mr.  Bradshaw's  great  originality 
was  brought  conspicuously  into  play.  He  made  one  of  the  most  learned,  striking  and  original 


78  C. \ITKD   STATKS  ftlOGRArfllCAl.   DICTIONARY. 

appeals  that  was  ever  addressed  to  any  jury.  Extracts  from  this  effort  were  telegraphed  to  all  the 
leading  papers  of  the  country. 

The  case  of  Professor  Jefferson,  tried  for  murder  at  Kansas  City  in  the  August  term  of  1881,  is 
truly  noteworthy.  The  accused  was  one-eighth  colored,  and  up  to  that  date  the  courts  of 
Missouri  had  violated  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  by  prohibiting  colored  people  from 
acting  as  jurors.  Mr.  Bradshaw  secured  them  their  rights  on  that  occasion. 

He  defended  the  Storer  brothers  at  Dallas,  Texas,  accused  of  robbery  and  murder,  and 
secured  their  acquittal,  which  was  regarded  as  a  great  legal  victory.  Since  that  time  he  has 
been  called  to  different  and  remote  parts  of  the  country,  Connecticut,  Iowa,  Tennessee,  etc. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  is  diplomatic,  managerial,  planning,  fertile  of  invention,  ready  to  conceive  and 
quick  to  execute.  He  will  turn  up  the  most  unexpected  cards  upon  the  shortest  notice,  and  will 
gain  a  point  while  most  men  are  looking  for  the  means. 

The  "  Leader  "  thus  speaks  of  the  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Bradshaw  :  "  He  is  of  rather  a 
striking  figure,  being  tall,  somewhat  slender,  but  graceful  in  motion,  and  wears  long  hair,  in  which 
the  silver  may  be  traced,  and  has  deep-set,  cold  gray  eyes.  In  manners  he  is  suave  and  entertain- 
ing. His  likes  and  dislikes  are  very  pronounced.  As  a  friend  he  is  tireless  in  advancing  one's 
interests,  and  as  an  enemy  he  is  like  Nemesis  on  one's  track." 

Mr.  Bradshaw  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  a  Royal  Arch  Mason.  He  married  in  March, 
1860,  Sarah  Ann,  daughter  of  Snowden  Sargent,  of  Douglas  county,  a  prominent  man  in  that 
part  of  the  state,  and  they  have  three  children. 


ROBERT  K.  SWAN. 

MO  LINE. 

ONE  of  the  most  straightforward,  energetic  and  successful  business  men  who  ever  lived  in 
Moline,  was  the  late  Robert  Kerr  Swan,  a  native  of  Huntingdon  county,  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  born  July  19,  1825;  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  received  an  ordinary  English  education.  When 
he  was  fourteen  years  old  the  family  moved  to  Preble  county,  Ohio,  where  our  subject  remained 
until  March,  1852,  when  he  came  to  Moline.  He  brought  empty  pockets,  but  a  large  stock  of 
pluck  and  perseverance,  sound  sense,  and  industrious  habits.  He  commenced  work  here  for 
Alonzo  Nourse,  as  traveling  salesman  for  fanning  mills,  meeting  with  success  from  the  start,  and 
making  many  valuable  acquaintances. 

In  1854  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Henry  W.  Candee,  and  they  commenced  the  manufac- 
ture of  chain  pumps,  and  hay  rakes,  and  Mr.  Swan  went  on  the  road  as  salesman.  He  met  with 
unexpected  and  very  great  success,  and  the  firm  found  themselves  on  the  road  to  fortune.  Andrew 
Friberg  joined  them  in  1865,  and  the  firm  of  Candee,  Swan  and  Company,  soon  became  broadly 
and  favorably  known.  In  1866  Mr.  Swan  suggested  to  his  partners  the  propriety  of  starting  a 
shop  for  the  manufacture  of  steel  plows  and  cultivators.  His  associates,  including  George  Ste- 
phens, who  had  joined  the  firm,  seconded  his  plans,  and  in  a  short  time  the  great  manufactory, 
corner  of  Maine  street  and  Rodman  avenue,  was  erected,  and  ready  for  use.  The  establishment 
has  since  been  enlarged  three  or  four  times,  and  the  Moline  Plow  Company,  which  name  the  firm 
took  in  1870,  has  had  wonderful  success.  Mr.  Swan  was  chosen  president  of  the  company,  and 
held  that  position  at  the  time  of  his  death,  May  25,  1878,  his  disease  being  erysipelas.  No  funeral 
that  has  ever  occurred  in  Moline  drew  out  such  a  multitude  of  mourners.  All  the  business  houses 
were  closed,  and  the  whole  city  turned  out  to  bewail  their  great  loss.  At  the  time  of  his  demise 
a  Rock  Island  paper  thus  spoke  of  him: 

'•  Mr.  Swan  was  known  all  over  the  Northwest,  from  the  source  of  the  Ohio  River  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia,  and  could  count  his  friends  by  the  thousand.  As  an  indication  of  the  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held,  and  of  the  interest  that  was  taken  in  his  case  during  his  illness,  it  may  be 
stated  that  telegrams,  inquiring  about  his  condition,  were  received  in  every  quarter  of  the  North- 


o    '••; „,- 

UNIVERSITY  - 


r.\Y /•/•:/>    STATES   RfOGK.irillCM.    DICTIONARY.  8  I 

west,  and  many  a  man  on  his  way  east  or  west  stopped  over  a  few  hours  in  Moline  to  learn  some- 
thing of  the  condition  of  Mr.  Swan.  His  life  was  full  of  incidents  of  great  actions,  in  which  he 
was  the  principal.  The  soldier  boys  who  fell  wounded  on  the  field  after  the  battle  of  Stone  River 
will  never  forget  his  kindness  to  them.  He  was  sent  from  Moline  by  the  people  to  look  after  the 
dead  and  wounded  who  had  gone  from  our  midst  to  fight  the  battles  of  freedom.  He  arrived  at 
the  enemy's  lines,  and  was  told  that  he  could  go  no  farther,  and  probably  there  were  few  men  in 
the  country  who  would  have  attempted  to  disobey,  but  Mr.  Swan  went  through  the  lines  and 
cared  for  the  wounded  Moline  boys  who  were  lying  on  the  battle.-field  waiting  for  death  at  the 
hands  of  a  brutal  rebel  soldiery.  He  provided  for  their  wants,  and  saw  that  they  had  as  good 
treatment  as  could  be  obtained,  and  when  he  returned  to  Moline  he  brought  home  with  him  the 
body  of  Lieutenant  Wellington  Wood,  one  of  Moline's  favorite  sons,  who  fell  at  Stone  River. 
There  was  nothing  too  hard  for  Mr.  Swan  to  undertake,  or  too  difficult  for  him  to  execute.  He 
was  one  of  those  men  who  knew  no  such  word  as  fail,  and  all  his  deeds  were  characterized  by 
Christian  virtue.  He  was  for  many  years,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church,  and  gave  liberally  of  his  means  to  the  Lord's  cause.  In  politics  he  was  a  repub- 
lican, of  the  staunchest  kind,  whose  faith  and  allegiance  never  wavered.  In  Mr.  Swan's  death, 
Moline  has  been  deprived  of  one  of  its  best,  most  useful  and  public  spirited  citizens,  and  the 
Northwest  has  lost  one  of  the  most  energetic  business  men  it  ever  knew.  The  rich  and  poor  alike 
will  mourn  his  loss,  for  he  was  beloved  by  men  of  every  walk  in  life." 

Mr.  Swan  left  a  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mercy  Parsons,  and  whom  he  married  at  Wood- 
stock, Illinois,  December  17,  1856,  and  four  children,  whose  names  are  Lillie  E.,  Robert  E.,  Clara 
B.,  and  Edith  L.  In  addition  to  a  competency,  he  left  his  family  the  legacy  of  a  good  namei 
which  is  better  than  silver  and  gold. 


s 


SAMUEL    P.    CRAWFORD.  , 

ROCKFORD. 

AMUEL  PRESTON  CRAWFORD,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Rockford,  and  one  of  its  enterpris- 
ing manufacturers,  was  born  in  Union,  Tolland  county,  Connecticut,  May  16,  1820,  his  parents 
being  Charles  and  Polly  (Preston)  Crawford,  both  of  New  England  stock.  The  Crawfords  are  an 
old  Connecticut  family,  and  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Samuel  Crawford,  was  one  of 
those  brave  sons  of  liberty  who  took  up  arms  against  the  mother  country,  and  aided  in  gaining 
the  independence  of  the  colonies. 

Mr.  Crawford  received  an  academic  education  principally  at  Dudley,  Massachusetts,  and  for  a 
few  years  was  engaged  in  farming  with  his  father,  and  lumbering  in  his  native  state,  marrying 
Miss  Philena  Leonard  Chamberlain,  of  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  in  1845.  In  1848  he  went  to 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  was  a  merchant  there  for  two  years;  returned  to  his  native  state 
in  1850,  and  was  engaged  in  merchandising  until  May,  1852,  when  he  came  to  Illinois  and  selected 
Rockford  as  his  future  home.  The  writer  of  this  sketch  first  saw  this  city,  then  a  village,  in  the 
summer  of  that  year,  and  was  smitten  with  its  natural  beauties,  and  conscious  of  its  bright  future, 
because  of  its  superior  water  power.  The  whole  Rock  River,  then  but  slightly  utilized,  was  at  the 
command  of  capital  and  industry,  and  thirty  years  ago  it  required  but  little  of  the  gift  of  the  seer, 
to  see  a  city  gradually  arising  where  Rockford,  the  loveliest,  if  not  the  liveliest  Illinois  city  of  the 
younger  class,-now  stands. 

When  Mr.  Crawford  settled  here,  he  engaged  in  the  grain  and  general  produce  business,  rail- 
road communication  being  opened  with  Chicago  in  that  year,  and  that  line  of  traffic  he  followed 
for  several  years,  afterward  engaging  extensively  in  farming  operations.  But  manufacturing  has 
become  the  leading  industry  of  the  place,  and  a  few  years  ago  he  made  a  change,  and  is  now  run- 
ning a  planing  mill,  and  manufacturing  sash,  door,  blinds,  etc.,  on  an  extensive  scale,  he  being 
the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Crawford  and  Upton.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Winnebago 
National  Bank.  From  the  time  that  Mr.  Crawford  settled  in  Rockford,  he  has  identified  the  city's 


82  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

interests  with  his  own,  and  showed  in  more  ways  than  one,  his  public  spirit  and  his  desire  to  aid 
in  advancing  its  prosperity.  He  was  for  ten  consecutive  years  alderman  of  the  7th  ward,  and  so 
faithfully  did  he  serve  his  constituents,  and  so  zealously  worked  for  the  welfare  of  the  city,  that 
at  the  end  of  that  period  (1881)  the  citizens  placed  him  at  the  head  of  its  municipality.  He  makes 
a  good  executive,  being  a  practical,  as  well  as  an  efficient  business  man,  and  as  he  has  energetic- 
backers  and  co-workers  in  the  council,  the  people  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  city  is 
under  a  progressive  as  well  as  safe  administration. 

Rockford  is  a  very  strong  republican  city,  and  has  not  for  many  years  had  a  mayor  of  any 
other  school  of  politics.  Mayor  Crawford  is  a  deacon  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  and  a  man  of 
solid  character  and  good  impulses.  In  him  the  poor  find  a  true  friend. 


HON.   ISAAC    RICE,   M.D. 

MOUNT  MORRIS. 

ONE  of  the  most  thoroughly  self-made  citizens  of  Ogle  county,  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
who  came  here  in  early  youth,  and  was  soon  thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  It  was  before 
the  advent  of  school  houses  in  the  farming  districts  in  this  part  of  the  county,  and  for  a  few  years 
he  had  to  pick  up  knowledge  at  a  great  disadvantage,  as  cattle  sometimes  browse  upon  trees 
when  they  can  do  no  better. 

Isaac  Rice  is  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Mary  (Rowland)  Rice,  both  natives  of  the  state  of  Maryland, 
and  was  born  in  Washington  county,  that  state,  October  28,  .1826.  He  seems  to  have  had  no 
ambition  to  trace  the  family  tree  to  its  original  trunk,  and  knows  very  little  of  his  ancestors, 
except  that  on  the  paternal  side  they  were  probably  German.  If  that  is  the  case  the  name  may 
have  been  spelt  Reis  a  hundred  years  ago.  But  Isaac  was  satisfied  to  follow  his.  honest  father  in 
his  orthography,  and  whatever  history  he  has  made  is  under  the  plain  English  name  of  Rice.  In 
July,  1837,  in  his  eleventh  year  he  came  with  the  family,  consisting  of  the  parents  and  twelve 
children,  (Isaac  being  the  eleventh)  to  Ogle  county,  and  they  settled  on  land  three  miles  north  of 
Mount  Morris.  Here  he  was  reared,  and  early  inured  to  hard  farm  work.  That  was  long  before 
anybody  in  these  parts  had  to  look  out  for  the  engine  while  the  bell  rung,  and  Chicago,  a  hun- 
dred miles  away,  was  the  market  town.  Isaac  has  still  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  length  of  the 
road  leading  to  that  town.  (>n  one  occasion  he  drove  a  four  ox  team  with  a  covered  wagon  to 
Chicago,  carrying  fifty  bushels  of  wheat,  for  which  he  received  thirty  cents  a  bushel,  the  entire 
load  bringing  the  round  sum  of  fifteen  dollars.  He  carried  his  own  provisions  with  him,  and 
slept  in  his  wagon,  in  order  to  lessen  traveling  expenses.  The  oxen  fed  on  the  wayside  grass. 
Such  experiences  as  this  were  common  forty  and  fifty  years  ago  with  younger,  and  older  per- 
sons, living  fifty  and  a  hundred  miles  from  Chicago. 

Jacob  Rice  was  a  pioneer  settler  in  this  part  of  Ogle  county,  preceding  the  church  as  well  as 
the  school  house.  But  he  was  a  thoughtful  man,  and  soon  built  a  house  in  which  young  ideas 
could  be  taught  to  shoot  on  week  days,  and  ministers  could  talk  on  Sundays.  In  that  humble 
log  structure  Isaac  had  a  little  mental  drill  when  there  was  no  work  for  him  to  do  on  the  farm. 
A  little  later,  having  a  strong  thirst  for  knowledge,  he  alternated  between  teaching  school  and 
attending  the  Rock  River  Seminary  in  the  village  of  Mount  Morris,  with  a  little  episode  now  and 
then  in  the  harvest  field.  He  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  strong  constitution,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  improve  from  year  to  year  and  which  he  still  enjoys,  having  never  done  anything  to 
injure  it.  After  securing  a  fair  English  education,  Mr.  Rice  concluded  to  study  medicine.  He 
read  with  Doctor  Francis  A.  McNill,  of  Mount  Morris,  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  at  Rush 
Medical  College,  Chicago,  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  February  1855.  He 
did  a  little  prescribing,  but  soon  abandoned  drugs  and  resumed  agricultural  pursuits.  He  has 
two  good  farms  near  Mount  Morris,  and  very  likely  may  have  other  lands  of  which  we  have  no 
knowledge.  Since  1878  he  has  been  in  the  banking  business,  and  is  of  the  firm  of  Newcomer  and 
Rice,  Mount  Morris,  and  is  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Oregon. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOC,KA /'///( 'A I.    DICTIONARY.  8^ 

Doctor  Rice  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legislature  in  1873  and  1876,  and  is 
now  in  the  upper  house,  and  chairman  of  the  committee  on  banks  and  banking.  He  introduced 
into  the  senate  what  is  known  as  the  Hind's  bill,  which  gave  women  a  voice  in  saying  who 
should  and  who  should  not  be  licensed  to  sell  intoxicating  drinks.  He  also  introduced  the  first 
resolution  for  the  submission  to  the  people  of  the  question  in  regard  to  the  manufacture  of  dis- 
tilled spirits  in  the  state.  Both  measures  failed,  but  Doctor  Rice  is  a  hopeful  man,  and  never  aban- 
dons a  good  cause.  He  is  an  indomitable  worker  for  temperance,  and  for  every  reform  designed 
to  benefit  the  people.  No  truer  heart  than  his  beats  in  Mount  Morris.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  church,  has  held  the  post  of  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  and  is  president  of 
the  county  Sunday-school  convention.  He  has  also  held  various  civil  offices  of  a  local  character, 
such  as  road  master,  school  director,  school  trustee,  etc.,  making  himself  useful  in  many  ways  to 
the  community. 

Doctor  Rice  was  married,  January  n,  1857,  to  Miss  Sarah  Hiestand',  a  native  of  Washington 
county,  Maryland,  and  they  have  buried  two  children,  Rowland  and  Anna,  and  have  one  son, 
Joseph  T.,  living.  Jacob  Rice  died  at  Mount  Morris  in  April,  1870,  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  and 
his  wife  in  December  1840.  They  were  members  of  the  so-called  River  Brethren,  a  branch  of 
the  Baptist  family,  much  like  the  Dunkards. 


HON.  GEORGE  RYON,  M.D. 
•  AM  BO  y. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  is  a  son  of  James  and 
Sarah  (Place)  Ryon,  and  was  born  at  Elkland,  Tioga  county,  Pennsylvania,  June  5,  1827. 
His  father  was  born  in  Luzerne  county,  same  state.  His  paternal  grandfather,  John  Ryon,  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  served  for  seven  years,  coming  out  as  orderly  sergeant 
of  his  company.  His  great-grandfather  was  from  Ireland.  James  Ryon  came  to  Illinois  with 
his  family  in  1838,  and  halted  in  Long  Grove,  Kendall  county,  where  George  finished  his  literary 
education  at  the  academy,  working  more  or  less  on  his  father's  farm  until  seventeen  years  old. 
He  lost  his  mother  in  Kendall  county  in  1851,  and  his  father  at  Streator,  Illinois,  in  1872.  Our 
subject  taught  school  one  winter  before  studying  medicine;  read  at  first  with  Doctor  Isaac  Ives,  of 
Pavilion,  Kendall  county;  finished  with  Doctors  Wheeler  and  Holden,  of  the  same  county; 
attended  lectures  two  terms  at  Rush  Medical  College,  when  his  funds  gave  out,  and  to  replenish 
them  he  taught  school  another  winter  term,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Paw 
Paw  Grove,  Lee  county,  in  1850.  Subsequently  he  attended  lectures  at  Rush,  and  received  his 
medical  degree.  After  practicing  for  six  or  seven  years,  and  building  up  an  extensive  business, 
he  was  seized  with  a  violent  passion  for  the  law,  and  turned  to  Coke  and  Blackstone.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Dixon  in  1858,  and  while  engaged  in  legal  practice  in  Lee  county  he  was 
drawn  into  politics,  and  in  1860  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  representing  Lee  and  Whiteside 
counties. 

In  August,  1862,  he  raised  a  company  of  volunteers  for  the  75th  Illinois  infantry,  and  at  its 
organization  was  elected  colonel.  After  serving  a  short  time  his  health  failed,  and  he  resigned, 
and  resumed  the  practice  of  medicine  at  Paw  Paw.  In  1866  he  was  again  elected  to  the  legisla- 
ture, this  time  to  represent  Lee  county  alone.  He  also  served  for  several  years  as  a  member  of 
the  board  of  supervisors.  In  1869  Colonel  Ryon  removed  from  Paw  Paw  to  Amboy,  started  a 
private  bank,  and  continued  it  until  the  spring  of  1873,  when  he  went  to  Streator,  and  with  two 
brothers,  Hiram  N.  and  Francis  M.  Ryon,  sunk  a  shaft,  and  organized  the  Streator  Coal  Com- 
pany, which  is  still  doing  well. 

In  1876  Doctor  Ryon  moved  to  Chicago,  and  practiced  medicine  in  that  city  in  company  with 
Doctor  Franklin  B.  Ives  until  the  autumn  of  1879,  when  he  settled  in  Amboy,  and  has  since  built 
up  a  prosperous  business.  Notwithstanding  the  episodes  in  his  life,  diverting  his  attention  for 


84  UNITED    STATES  FtlOGRAPHICAI.   DICTIONARY. 

the  time  being  from  the  medical  profession,  he  has  kept  well  read  up,  and  is  very  skillful  in  the 
healing.  His  mind  is  active,  quick  and  grasping,  and  he  packs  away  knowledge  with  great  speed. 
He  has  written  occasionally  for  medical  periodicals,  reporting  such  cases  as  came  under  his  notice, 
and  were  deemed  of  importance  enough  to  interest  the  fraternity. 

The  doctor  is  a  thoroughgoing  republican,  and  at  times  is  quite  active  in  the  interests  of  the 
party,  being  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  influence  and  magnetic  power.  Doctor  Ryon  was  mar- 
ried in  November,  1851,  to  Miss  Ruth  A.  Ives,  daughter  of  Doctor  Isaac  Ives,  of  Pavilion,  Illinois, 
and  they  have  one  daughter,  Carrie  S.,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  class  of  1880. 
Mrs.  Ryon  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church. 


LEWIS  STEWARD. 

PL  A  NO. 

IF  any  person  in  the  state  of  Illinois  is  deserving  of  the  title  of  a  self-made  man,  that  person 
was  the  granger-democratic  candidate  for  governor  in  1876.  He  was  carved  out  of  solid 
material,  and  some  of  the  roughness  still  remains,  but  the  material  is  sound,  and  it  is  seldom  that 
more  true  manhood  is  found  in  an  equal  number  of  pounds  avoirdupois  weight.  Lewis  Steward 
made  his  appearance  in  this  world  in  Wayne  county,  Pennsylvania,  about  November  20,  1824, 
his  parents  being  Marcus  and  Ursula  (Hollister)  Steward.  His  father  was  born  in  New  London, 
Connecticut,  and  belonged  to  a  family  of  educators  and  agriculturists,  the  father,  grandfather 
and  great-grandfather  of  Marcus  being  school  teachers.  The  Hoilisters  were  among  the  first 
families  who  settled  in  Connecticut.  The  maternal  grandmother  of  Lewis  was  a  Rogers,  a 
descendant  of  Rev.  John  Rogers,  the  martyr,  and  she  had  his  copy  of  the  Bible. 

Marcus  Steward  was  a  farmer,  and  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  who  regard  it  as  a  sin  to  rear 
a  family  in  idleness,  and  if  Lewis  was  afflicted  with  laziness  it  was  early  worked  out  of  him.  His 
father  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania  to  this  state  in  the  spring  of  1834,  when  our  subject  was  thir- 
teen years  old,  and  settled  in  land  now  partly  covered  by  the  site  of  the  village  of  Piano,  and  here 
the  son  aided  in  breaking  land  and  opening  the  farm,  with  scanty  opportunities  in  youth  for  self- 
improvement.  Tradition  affirms  that  Lewis  picked  up  his  letters,  one  by  one,  at  a  very  early  age, 
his  mother  assisting  him,  being  much  encouraged  by  his  precocity.  Whether  she  saw  smart- 
ness enough  in  him  to  lead  her  to  predict  his  early  death,  we  know  not.  What  we  do  know  is, 
that  he  is  still  alive,  and  able  to  do  a  man's  work.  Furthermore,  the  fruits  of  his  industry  are 
seen,  in  part,  in  his  accumulation  of  real  estate,  he  having  nearly  five  thousand  acres  of  land,  all 
of  the  best  quality,  all  under  excellent  cultivation,  and  three-fifths  of  it  within  two  miles  of  Piano. 

At  an  early  day,  long  prior  to  going  into  farming  so  extensively,  Mr.  Steward  had  a  leaning 
toward  the  legal  profession.  His  early  friend,  Judge  Helm,  put  this  notion  in  his  head,  lent  him 
books,  and  Lewis  read  law  while  farming  and  running  a  saw  mill.  Some  years  afterward  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  but  for  some  reason  had  but  little  to  do  with  the  briefs.  He  seems  to  have 
learned  just  enough  of  the  law  to  know  how  to  keep  out  of  it,  having  never  had  a  suit. 

Mr.  Steward  early  saw  the  importance  of  a  railroad  in  developing  the  country  and  furnishing 
the  means  of  conveying  produce  to  the  market,  and  it  was  largely  through  his  influence  that  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  railroad  came  to  Piano.  Surveys  for  that  road  had  been  first 
made  both  north  and  south  of  that  village.  Nor  was  he  slow  in  discovering  that  if  Piano  ever 
reached  a  point  much  beyond  a  "four  corners,"  she  must  have  manufactories,  and  here,  in  1860, 
he  began  to  assist  in  the  manufacture  of  the  then  unknown  but  now  famous  Marsh  harvester, 
turning  out  twenty-five  of  these  machines  the  first  year,  and  also  the  second,  he  being  at  first  of 
the  firm  of  Marsh  Brothers  and  Steward.  In  five  years  four  hundred  and  fifty  of  these  machines 
were  turned  out  annually;  in  ten,  three  thousand,  and  three  or  four  years  later,  no  less  than  five 
thousand,  giving  employment  to  four  hundred  workmen,  the  firm  name  meanwhile  b.eingchangec} 
several  times. 


UNITED    STATES  ftfOGK.tr/flCA/.    DICTIONARY.  85 

The  shops  were  also  enlarged  from  year  to  year,  until  they  are  seven  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
long,  five  hundred  and  forty  feet  being  two  stories  high  and  the  rest  one  story.  The  buildings 
are  now  owned  by  the  Piano  Steam  Power  Company,  which  was  organized  in  1881,  and  of  which 
Mr.  Steward  is  president.  Soon  afterward  the  Piano  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized, 
with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  with  W.  H.  Jones  president,  our  subject  having  an  interest  in  both  of 
the  organizations,  the  one  company  furnishing  steam  for  the  other.  In  June,  1882,  the  capital 
stock  of  the  steam  power  company  was  doubled,  bringing  it  up  to  $200,000. 

The  machines  now  manufactured  by  the  company  are  the  Piano  harvester  and  binder  and 
mowers,  in  all  about  five  thousand  a  year.  And  here  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  that  no 
longer  ago  than  1875,  Mr.  Steward  started  with  Mr.  Gordon,  in  Texas,  the  first  automatic  binder 
that  ever  went  through  a  harvest  with  a  farmer  alone,  that  farmer  managing  the  machine  himself 
and  cutting  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  That  was  only  eight  years  ago,  and  now  most  farmers 
are  using  the  automatic  binder. 

Mr.  Steward  is  interested  in  nearly  every  branch  of  husbandry,  and  has  at  times  paid  a  good 
deal  of  attention  to  blooded  stock.  Some  of  the  best  horses  the  writer  has  ever  seen  in  northern 
Illinois  were  owned  by  him. 

He  took  much  interest  in  the  granger  movement  of  1873-6,  and  when  the  delegates  of  that 
party  met  at  Decatur,  in  February,  1876,  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  governor,  to  his  great  sur- 
prise, he  was  the  choice  of  the  convention.  A  few  months  later  the  democrats  held  their  state 
convention  at  Springfield,  indorsed  his  nomination,  and  he  came  so  near  succeeding  that  a  change 
of  one-half  of  one  per  cent  of  the  votes  would  have  elected  him.  He  survived  the  shock,  and  is 
to-day  one  of  the  livest  men  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Steward  was  first  married  in  1848  to  Miss  Cornelia  Gale,  who  died  in  1854,  leaving  one 
son,  who  has  since  died,  in  Vienna,  Europe;  and  the  second  time  in  1866  to  Miss  Mary  Hunt,  by 
whom  he  has  had  eight  children,  six  of  them,  all  sons,  yet  living. 


T 


GEORGE    STEPHENS. 

MOLINE. 

HE  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  pioneer  settler  in  Moline,  and  one  of  its  prominent  manufactur- 
ers, was  born  in  Fairfield,  Ligonier  township,  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania,  February 
22,  1819.  His  father,  Randall  Stephens,  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-4,  was  born  in  the  -same 
state.  An  older  brother  of  his  father  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  and  never  heard  of  afterward. 
Randall  Stephens  married  Martha  Boggs,  a  native  of  Clearfield  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  they 
had  ten  children,  of  whom  George  was  the  ninth  child.  His  school  privileges  were  quite  limited, 
but  he  succeeded,  by  private  study,  in  securing  a  fair  business  education.  He  learned  his  father's 
trade,  that  of  millwright,  and  worked  at  it  in  Pennsylvania  until  1843,  when  he  came  to  Moline, 
there  being  only  three  houses  there  then,  and  to-day  there  are  more  than  a  thousand  private  resi- 
dences. Mr.  Stephens  built  the  first  saw  mill  ever  put  up  in  Davenport,  Iowa.  The  winter  of 
l843~4  he  spent  at  the  East;  in  the  following  spring  returned  to  Moline,  and  made  a  permanent 
settlement  here,  and  for  several  years  gave  his  time  to  b'uilding  mills  in  Illinois  and  Iowa. 

Subsequently  he  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  and  furniture  on  the  island  of 
Rock  Island,  in  company  with  Jonathan  Herntoon,  until  the  United  States  government  took  pos- 
session of  the  property.  In  the  summer  of  1861  Mr.  Stephens  went  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
built  a  quartz  mill  for  a  St.  Louis  man,  at  Lincoln  Gulch,  Colorado. 

In  1866  the  Moline  Plow  Company  was  formed,  and  Mr.  Stephens  linked  his  interests  with 
Candel,  Swan  and  Friberg  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  plows,  commencing  by  turning  out 
above  one  thousand  a  year.  The  premises  and  force  were  enlarged  from  time  to  time;  the  busi- 
ness grew  rapidly,  and  in  1882  the  Moline  Plow  Company  turned  out  no  less  than  sixty  thousand 
plows.  Mr.  Swan,  of  the  original  firm,  died  in  1878,  and  in  1881  other  changes  were  made,  the 


86  UNITED   STATES  flfOGRA  Pff/CA  f    DICTIONARY. 

proprietors  now  being  George  Stephens,  Andrew  Friherg  and  S.  W.  Wheelock.  Mr.  Wheelock 
is  president  and  Mr.  Stephens  vice-president,  a  position  which  he  has  held  from  the  start.  The 
company  employs  about  three  hundred  workmen,  and  turns  out  a  steel  plow  second  in  quality  to 
nothing  of  the  kind  made  in  the  West.  Mr.  Stephens  is  a  skillful  mechanic,  and  has  always  given 
his  entire  time  to  supervising  certain  departments  of  the  work.  He  has  lived  a  very  industrious 
life,  and  in  a  pecuniary  sense  has  been  generously  rewarded  for  the  time  and  strength  expended. 
The  wife  of  Mr.  Stephens  was  Miss  Mary  Ann  Gardner,  of  Rock  Island  county,  married  in 
1846.  They  have  buried  two  children,  and  have  six  living:  George  A.  and  Charles  Randall  are 
at  Carmi,  White  county,  they  being  mill  owners;  Mary  L.  is  married  to  George  Herntoon,  of 
Moline;  Minnie  Florence,  to  Frank  Allen,  of  Aurora,  Illinois,  and  Ada  A.  and  Nellie  May  are  at 
home. 


HON.   IRA.  V.   RANDALL. 

DE  KALB. 

IRA  VAIL  RANDALL,  the  oldest  lawyer  in  practice  at  De  Kalb,  and  one  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  that  city,  was  born  in  Mount  Holly,  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  March  2,  1820,  his 
father,  Isaac  Randall,  being  a  native  of  the  same  county.  The  grandfather  of  Ira  was  Snow 
Randall,  who  came  from  England  after  the  colonies  had  gained  their  independence.  Isaac  Ran- 
dall married  Gallana  Chandler,  whose  grandfather  was  a  millionaire,  and  settled  in  Chester,  Rut- 
land county,  Vermont,  and  is  reported  to  have  owned,  at  an  early  day,  that  entire  town.  He  kept 
for  years  a  public  house,  or  more  properly,  a  house  for  the  public,  in  which  his  hospitalities  were 
dispensed  with  an  entirely  gratuitous,  as  well  as  liberal,  hand.  He  married  a  sea  captain's  daugh- 
ter, and  tradition  states  that  at  the  wedding  he  (the  landlord)  measured  out  half  a  bushel  of  gold 
coin,  uncounted,  as  a  present  to  his  wife.  He  was  a  leading  politician  in  his  day,  and  held  vari- 
ous official  positions. 

Our  subject  prepared  for  college  at  West  Poultney,  in  his  native  state,  and  was  intending  to 
take  a  full  college  course,  but  the  state  of  his  health  deterred  him  from  matriculating.  He 
taught  school  for  thirteen  winters,  commencing  in  his  seventeenth  year,  studying  law  at  the  same 
period.  He  commenced  reading  with  Hon.  Sewell  Fullam,  State's  Attorney  Ludlow,  and  finished 
with  Hon.  Solomon  Foot,  of  Rutland,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847. 

In  April  of  the  year  before  he  had  married  Miss  Susan  L.  Earle,  of  Mount  Holly,  daughter  of 
Lawson  Earle,  an  extensive  farmer  and  dairyman.  Mr.  Randall  practiced  his  profession  for  three 
years  at  Barnard,  Windsor  county,  and  during  that  period  he  visited  the  West,  and  spent  three 
months  in  Illinois,  lecturing  in  advocacy  of  the  Maine  law,  an  episode  in  his  life  on  which  no 
doubt  he  still  looks  back  with  pleasure. 

December  27,  1856,  he  landed  in  the  embryotic  village  of  De  Kalb,  with  his  family,  con- 
sisting of  his  wife  and  one  daughter,  Emma  A.,  now  the  wife  of  Lawrence  Hulser,  of  De  Kalb. 
Here,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  Mr.  Randall  has  been  practicing  law,  doing  business 
in  all  the  state  and  federal  courts,  and  making  a  success  in  his  profession.  He  has  the  reputation 
of  being  a  well  read  lawyer,  faithful  to  his  client,  clinging  to  that  client's  interests  with  bull-dog 
tenacity,  and  being  on  the  whole  quite  successful  in  his  profession,  the  state  of  his  health  being 
his  only  drawback. 

Mr.  Randall  was  postmaster  at  Mount  Holly,  and  held  the  same  office  at  an  early  day  in  De 
Kalb.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  state  legislature  in  1865-6,  and  has  held  one  or  two 
municipal  offices  in  this  city,  serving  at  one  period  as  a  member  of  the  school  board.  He  has 
always  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  not  unlikely  still  regrets  that  poor 
health  prevented  him  from  going  through  college. 

He  was  originally  a  whig,  an  unterrified  Vermont  whig,  and  left  that  state  two  years  after 
that  party  had  begun  to  moulder  in  the  ground  with  the  remains  of  John  Brown.  Since  1855 
he  has  been  an  enthusiastic  republican,  and  up  to  a  recent  date  was  an  active,  earnest  worker  in 


UNITED    STATES  filOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  £7 

its  interests,  attending  judicial,  congressional  and  state  conventions  as  a  delegate  from  his  county, 
and  doing  at  times  manly  work  on  the  stump.  He  is  still  a  zealous  advocate  of  temperance,  in  behalf 
of  which  cause  he  has  pleaded  in  half  a  dozen  states  besides  Illinois,  including  Vermont,  Massachu- 
setts, New  York,  Michigan,  New  Hampshire.  Mr.  Randall  also  lectures  on  various  other  sub- 
jects, such  as  the  enfranchisement  of  women,  pre-Adamite  man,  etc.  He  is  well  posted  on  the 
various  questions  agitating  the  public  mind  to-day,  and  is  a  fascinating  talker,  a  keen  logician, 
and  a  splendid  debater. 

His  first  wife  died  in  1861,  and  in  1868  he  married  Mrs.  Mardula  D.  (Bent)  Boeyton,  by  whom 
he  has  no  issue.  Mr.  Randall  has  a  compact  build,  is  five  feet  ten  inches  tall,  and  weighs  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds.  His  eyes  are  blue,  but  his  disposition  is  not.  He  is  rather 
jovial,  laughs  easily  and  heartily,  and  is  a  good  factor  of  a  social  circle. 


HENRY   REED,   M.D. 

ROCHELLE. 

HENRY  REED,  for  thirty  years  a  medical  practitioner  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  one  of  the 
best  known  men  in  Ogle  county,  is  a  native  of  Oneida  county,  New  York,  dating  his  birth 
January  10,  1817.  His  father,  Henry  Reed  Sr.,  in  early  life  a  mechanic,  and  in  later  years  a  far- 
mer, was  born  in  Connecticut.  This  branch  of  the  Reed  family  was  from  Massachusetts.  The 
wife  of  Henry  Reed,  Sr.,  was  Sarah  Moore,  a  native  of  Connecticut.  Our  subject  was  reared  in 
Crawford  county,  Pennsylvania,  attending  school  in  the  winter  term,  and  farming  the  rest  of 
the  year,  until  eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  age;  studied  medicine  at  Meadville,  Pennsylvania, 
with  Doctors  Woodruff  and  Bemus;  attended  lectures  at  Cincinnati;  practiced  in  Pennsylvania 
four  or  five  years;  came  to  Illinois  in  1852,  and  practiced  five  years  at  Shabbona  Grove,  and 
in  April,  1855,  settled  in  Rochelle,  then  called  Lane.  Twenty-five  and  thirty  years  ago  this  part 
of  the  state  was  somewhat  thinly  settled,  and  the  doctor  had  very  extensive  rides,  extending  into 
Lee  as  well  as  De  Kalb  and  Ogle  counties,  and  in  various  parts  of  these  several  counties  his  face 
was  as  familiar  as  that  of  almost  any  man  of  any  profession  in  this  section  of  Illinois.  He  has 
been  successful  in  a  pecuniary  as  well  as  a  professional  sense,  and  could  have  retired  years  ago 
with  a  competency,  but  is  too  much  wedded  to  his  calling,  and  has  too  many  friends  pleading" for 
his  professional  aid,  to  lay  aside  the  gallipots. 

Doctor  Reed  once  held  the  office  of  coroner,  but  has  never  sought  official  positions  of  any  kind 
Originally  a  whig,  he  became  a  republican  on  the  demise  of  the  former  party,  and  is  very  firm  in 
his  political  tenets.  In  religious  belief  he  is  an  Adventist,  and  as  far  as  we  can  ascertain  he  has 
lived  an  unblemished  life. 

Doctor  Reed  married  August  6,  1839,  Miss  Diantha  C.  Bly,  of  Crawford  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  they  have  seven  children,  all  settled  in  life  but  the  youngest. 


LUCIAN   L.   LEEDS,   M.D, 

LINCOLN. 
UCIAN   LAVASSA  LEEDS,  a  son  of  Peter  T.   Leeds,  M.D.,  and  Jane  (Harden)  Leeds,  was 


born  in  Clermont,  Ohio,  April  23,  1831.  Both  parents  were  natives  of  New  Jersey.  His 
paternal  great-grandfather  was  from  Leeds,  England,  and  his  grandfather  was  a  soldier  in  the 
American  revolution.  Lucian  received  an  academic  education  in  Batavia,  Ohio,  including  the 
classics;  studied  medicine  with  his  father,  commenced  practice  at  Mechanicsburgh,  Sangamon 
county,  Illinois,  in  1852;  located  in  Lincoln  in  1854;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College, 
Chicago,  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  from  that  institution  in  1856,  and  has  been 
in  practice  at  Lincoln  for  twenty-eight  years,  ignoring  all  side  issues,  including  politics.  Doc- 


88  UNITED   STA  TES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAR  V. 

tor  Leeds  has  attended  exclusively  and  very  closely  to  his  business,  and  made  it  a  marked  success. 
His  practice  has  been  general,  and  he  has  had  a  liberal  share  of  surgery,  obstetrics,  etc.  His 
skill  in  every  branch  of  the  medical  profession  is  undoubted,  and  his  reputation  wide-spread. 

The  doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Brainard  District  Medical  Society,  and  of  the  State  Medical 
Society,  and  is  well  known  among  the  medical  fraternity.  He  is  also  well  known  among  the 
Freemasons  and  Odd-Fellows,  being  high  up  in  both  orders;  in  the  York  rite  up  to  the  Comman- 
dery;  in  the  Scottish  rite  up  to  the  Consistory,  and  a  member  of  the  subordinate  lodge  and 
encampment  in  Odd-Fellowship.  In  both  orders  he  has  held  the  highest  offices  in  all  but  the 
Consistory.  In  his  religious  views  he  is  quite  liberal,  with  a  leaning  toward  Swedenborgianism. 

Doctor  Leeds  served  four  years  on  the  local  board  of  education,  two  of  them  as  chairman  of 
the  board,  and  did  some  good  work  in  that  noble  cause,  in  which  he  takes  a  great  deal  of  interest. 
Although  very  busy  usually  in  a  professional  line,  he  finds  time  occasionally  to  use  the  pen,  and 
employs  it  in  reporting  cases  and  preparing  essays  for  medical  periodicals. 

Doctor  Leeds  has  been  twice  married,  first  in  1852  to  Miss  Susan  Shoup  of  Logan  county,  Illi- 
nois, she  dving  in  1853,  leaving  one  daughter,  now  married  to  Edward  Spillman,  Lincoln;  and  the 
second  time  in  1856  to  Miss  Hannah  Wilson,  of  Lincoln,  having  by  her  three  daughters,  all  at 
home. 


WESTEL  W.  SEDGWICK. 

SANDWICH. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  of  a  highly  respectable  family,  June  7,  1827,  at  West- 
moreland, Oneida  county,  New  York.  His  father,  Samuel  Sedgwick,  was  a  physician.  His 
mother  was  Ruhamah  P.  Knights.  When  he  was  ten  years  old  his  parents  removed  to  Hartford, 
Ohio,  where  he  attended  the  common  school  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fourteen.  He  then 
spent  a  year  as  clerk  in  a  store  at  East  Union.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  began  to  learn  the  sad- 
dler's trade,  and  worked  at  it  two  years,  when,  with  his  parents,  he  removed  to  Little  Rock, 
Kendall  county,  Illinois.  Here  he  took  a  clerkship  in  a  store  for  a  time,  but  in  1845  went  to 
Bloomingdale,  Du  Page  county,  and  began  the  study  of  medicine.  Not  having  sufficient  means 
to  pay  his  expenses,  he  divided  his  time  between  study  and  farm  work  for  two  years,  except  dur- 
ing the  winters,  when  he  taught,  receiving  twelve  dollars  per  month.  In  1847^6  entered  his 
father's  office,  at  Little  Rock,  as  assistant,  and  after  his  father's  death,  which  occurred  in  March 
of  that  year,  he  continued  his  practice. 

In  the  autumn  of  1847  he  entered  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  was  graduated  in  1848. 
He  followed  his  profession  for  six  years  at  Little  Rock,  when  his  health  began  to  fail  from  over- 
work, and  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  practice.  In  1854  he  opened  a  store  of  general  mer- 
chandise at  Little  Rock,  and  continued  the  business  till  1857,  in  which  year  he  removed  to 
Sandwich,  his  present  home.  He  at  once  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  laid  out  what  is 
known  as  Sedgwick's  addition  to  Sandwich. 

In  1858  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Hendee,  he  opened  a  drug  store,  which  he  conducted  till  1860, 
when  he  began  the  study  of  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1862,  at  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and  at 
once  began  practicing  at  Sand'wich.  In  1862  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  Illinois  from 
the  fifty-first  district.  He  was  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Sandwich  in  1865,  and  the 
two  following  years.  For  nine  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  supervisors,  during  six 
of  which  he  was  chairman. 

In  1869  he  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention,  and  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Beveridge  a  trustee  of  the  Insane  Asylum  at  Jacksonville.  He  was  also  a  director  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Sandwich  Manufacturing  Company,  and  three  years  president  and  several  years 
director  of  the  Sandwich  Enterprise  Company,  and  of  the  Sandwich  Cheese  Company.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  since  1860,  and  was  elected  mayor  of  Sandwich  two  terms, 
in  1873  and  1874,  and  is  the  city  attorney  of  Sandwich  at  the  present  time.  In  all  these  positions 


::.-• 


CXITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  gi 

his  course  has  been  upright  and  honorable,  and  no  better  evidence  of  his  skill  and  good  manage- 
ment can  be  given  than  is  shown  by  the  success  that  has  attended  him.  He  is  an  elder  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  and  an  active  Christian  worker. 
He  has  been  republican  in  his  political  opinions  since  the  organization  of  that  party. 

Mr.  Sedgwick  married,  June  7.  1848,  Miss  Sarah  A.  Toombs.  of  Little  Rock,  and  she  has  had 
ten  children,  losing  five  of  them.  In  the  summer  of  1881  he  started  for  the  old  world,  and 
visited  Ireland,  Scotland.  England,  France.  Italy,  Greece.  Turkev,  Syria,  the  Holy  Land,  Egypt, 
the  Valley  of  the  Nile  as  far  up  as  ancient  Memphis,  through  the  Suez  Canal  to  Port  Said,  etc. 
He  was  absent  six  months,  and  during  that  time  wrote  more  than  thirty  letters,  which  were  pub- 
lished in  the  Sandwich  "  Free  Press,"  and  very  eagerly  read  by  its  patrons. 


J 


JOAMS  O.  HARRIS.  M.D. 

OTTAWA. 

OANIS  ORLANDO  HARRIS,  son  of  Orris  and  Luanda  K.  (Calley)  Harris,  was  born  in  Liv- 
erpool, Onondaga  county.  New  York.  September  13.  1828.  His  father,  a  native  of  Long  Island, 
was  captain  of  the  first  packet  that  ever  ran  on  the  Syracuse  and  Oswego  canal,  and  was  a  soldier 
in  the  second  war  with  England.  Both  grandfathers,  Harris  and  Calley,  were  in  the  first  war 
with  the  mother  countrv. 

Our  subject  received  his  literary  and  medical  education  at  Baldwinsville,  and  Geneva,  New 
York.  He  read  medicine  with  Doctor  J.  E.  Todd.  Baldwinsville;  attended  lectures  at  Genera, 
where  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1851,  and  the  next  year  he  settled  in 
Ottawa,  his  present  home  where  he  was  in  steady  and  extensive  practice  about  twenty  years,  when. 
finding  that  the  night  work  of  the  profession  did  not  agree  with  his  health,  he  nearly  withdrew 
from  the  practice.  He  made  an  excellent  record  as  medical  practitioner,  and  not  unlikely  worked 
too  hard  in  his  early  years  in  the  profession.  Latterly  he  has  done  little  more  than  make  out  a 
prescription  occasionally  for  some  intimate  friend,  or  for  some  old  family  whose  only  physician 
he  was  perhaps  for  a  score  of  years. 

Doctor  Harris  went  into  the  army  in  1862,  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  5jd  Illinois  infantry,  and 
held  that  position  a  little  more  than  one  year,  resigning  because  of  seriously  impaired  health;  was 
surgeon  in  charge  of  a  hundred-day  regiment,  while  it  was  in  camp  at  Ottawa:  was  post  surgeon 
at  La  Grange,  and  at  Bolivar.  Tennessee,  and  also  belonged  to  the  Illinois  corps  of  volunteer  sur- 
geons, after  leaving  the  service.  He  was  recommended  by  General  Grant  for  brevet  surgeon,  with 
rank  of  major.  Since  retiring  from  the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery,  the  doctor  has  been 
engaged  in  real  estate,  being  the  leading  man  in  that  business  in  La  Salle  county.  He  deals  not 
only  in  local  property,  city  and  county,  but  is  land  agent  for  railroad 
Nebraska,  Missouri  and  Texas.  We  have  known  Doctor  Harris  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  < 
tnry,  and  take  pleasuie  in  bearing  testimony  to  his  integrity  and  high  sense  of  honor  in  all 
ness  transactions.  To  real  estate  he  has  added  fire  and  fife  insurance,  in  which  he  is  also  doing 
a  good  business. 

The  doctor  is  public-spirited,  and  identifies  himself  with  every  local  enterprise  falr^fannri  to 
benefit  the  public.  He  was  secretary  of  the  La  Salle  County  Agricultural  Society  for  fire  or  six 
years,  and  has  held  the  ~imi  nfc  i  for  some  rears,  of  the  Ottawa  Mnanf  •  laiia^  Company,  and 
the  Ottawa  BuihKng  A^soriajiq^the  fast  in  Illinois,  and  organised  soletr  through  Ins  egbrts.  He 
was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Ottawa  Business  Men's  Association,  of  which  be  was  secretary 
for  several  years,  doing  a  great  deal  of  hard  work  to  build  k  up.  No  other  man  here  has  done  so 
much  in  that  line. 

He  is  a  Master  Mason,  and  was  Grand  Patriarch  of  the  Grand  Fnrimpmrnt  of  m«»oig  Odd- 
Fellows  in  1868.  and  a  member  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  Slates  in  1869  and  1*70.  the 
last  being  a  very  high  post  of  honor.  In  politics  he  is  a  democrat,  and  in  i 


g2  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

lian,  and  was  for  years  clerk  of  the  vestry,  and  warden  of  Christ  Church.  The  purity  of  his  life 
is  unquestioned. 

The  doctor  has  been  married  since  November  i,  1855,  the  maiden  name  of  his  wife  being 
Mary  Alice  Merwin,  daughter  of  Sheldon  and  Emily  H.  Merwin,  of  Ontario  county,  New  York. 
They  have  five  children,  Alice  Gertrude,  Vernon  Clarence.  Washington  Irving,  Leon  Louis  and 
Marion  Maud. 

Doctor  Harris  is  an  inventor,  having  procured  no  less  than  four  patents,  including  one  of  the 
first  two-horse  corn  plows  ever  patented.  He  is  also  a  fluent  writer,  and  has  contributed  to  various 
newspapers  and  magazines,  and  has  published  an  invaluable  work  for  the  use  of  insurance  agents, 
and  several  books  for  the  use  of  Odd-Fellows,  all  of  which  are  in  extensive  use,  and  very  much 
prized.  The  doctor  is  a  very  industrious  man,  making  himself  useful  in  many  ways,  and  as  a 
neighbor  and  fellow-citizen  is  held,  together  with  his  wife,  in  very  high  esteem.  The  two  eldest 
sons  are  with  him  in  his  business  office,  and  are  steady  and  efficient  young  men. 


HON.  ELIJAH  W.   BLAISDELL. 

ROCKFORD. 

THE  Blaisdells,  from  whom  Elijah  Whittier  Blaisdell,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  descended, 
went  from  Denmark  to  North  Wales  after  the  Danes  had  been  subdued  by  Alfred  the 
Great  and  his  successors,  and,  descendants  of  those  daring  seafarers,  came  thence  to  this  country. 
In  Wales  many  of  them  were  forgemen  and  iron  workers.  Sir  Ralph  Blaisdell  was  a  noble 
knight,  and  several  of  the  name  were  members  of  the  British  parliament.  On  the  coat  of  arms, 
which  is  in  the  possession  of  our  subject,  and  which  is  as  old  as  the  crusades,  the  name  was  spelt 
Blasdell,  and  was  so  spelt  in  this  country  until  1808,  when,  on  the  certificate  of  Hon.  Daniel 
Blaisdell,  representative  to  congress  from  New  Hampshire,  it  was  spelt  as  we  have  just  written  it, 
and  has  been  so  written  from  that  date. 

Enoch,  Abner  and  Elijah  Blaisdell,  brothers  and  sons  of  Enoch  Blaisdell.  came  from  the  north- 
eastern part  of  Wales,  and  landed  in  Newburyport,  Massachusetts.  Enoch  settled  in  Maine,  Abner 
in  western  New  York,  and  Elijah  in  Amesbury,  Massachusetts.  From  these  three  brothers  a  very 
large  number  of  the  Blaisdells,  now  found  in  all  the  northern  and  western  states,  are  descended. 
A  Sergeant  Blaisdell,  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower,  is  thought  to  have  been  one  of  the  same 
family. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  descendant  of  Elijah  Blaisdell,  the  youngest  of  the  three 
brothers,  being  from  him  the  sixth  generation.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  Parrit  Blais- 
dell, son  of  Elijah,  born  in  Amesbury.  He  lived  in  different  towns  in  New  Hampshire;  moved 
to  Montpelier,  Vermont,  and  finally  died  at  Fort  Covington,  New  York,  in  1836.  He  was  a  brave 
and  resolute  patriot,  taking  part  in  both  wars  with  the  mother  country,  and  in  the  latter  war  on 
one  occasion  took  four  men  prisoners  alone,  and  marched  them  into  camp.  He  had  two  sons  and 
seven  daughters,  the  sons  being  Parrit  Blaisdell  and  Elijah  Whittier  Blaisdell,  Senior.  The  latter, 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Montpelier,  Vermont,  in  1800;  married  Ann  Maria  Deacon,  and 
was  a  printer  and  newspaper  publisher  for  many  years,  dying  at  Rockford  in  1876. 

E.  W.  Blaisdell,  Junior,  was  born  in  Montpelier,  July  18,  1826;  was  partially  educated  in  a 
classical  school  at  Vergennes,  Vermont,  but  still  more  in  his  father's  printing  office,  and  at  seven- 
teen years  of  age  was  installed  as  editor  of  the  Vergennes  "  Vermonter,"  which  was  established 
by  the  late  Rufus  Wilmot  Griswold.  The  "Vermonter"  was  a  whig  paper,  and  when  "Old 
Zack"  became  President  of  the  United  States  Mr.  Blaisdell  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Ver- 
gennes, and  held  that  office  for  the  term  of  four  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1853  he  came  to  Rockford,  purchased  the  "  Republican,"  and  conducted  it 
for  nine  years.  Meantime,  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  served  one  term,  1860-1,  declin- 
ing to  be  renominated.  While  devoting  himself  to  journalism  Mr.  Blaisdell  gave  more  or  less 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  93 

time  to  the  reading  of  law,  and  in  1862  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Since  that  date  he  has  been  in 
practice  in  Rockford.  Mr.  Blaisdell  has  also  attained  to  some  celebrity  as  an  author,  both  in 
prose  and  poetry,  his  last  production,  published  by  the  Petersons,  of  Philadelphia,  being  a 
popular  novel,  entitled  "The  Hidden  Record."  He  is  extensively  known  in  the  Northwest  as  an 
able  and  eloquent  speaker.  He  received  a  nomination  for  Congress  from  the  "fourth  district  of 
Illinois  in  1880,  and  has  been  prominently  connected  with  most  of  the  leading  enterprises  of 
Rockford  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Blaisdell  has  been  twice  married,  first,  in  1849,  to  Miss  Frances  A.  Robinson,  of  Barre, 
Vermont,  she  dying  in  1855,  leaving  one  child,  Byron,  now  in  his  father's  office,  and  the  second 
time,  in  1856,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  J.  Lawrence,  daughter  of  Judge  Ville  Lawrence,  of  Vergennes, 
Vermont,  and  sister  of  Hon.  Charles  B.  Lawrence,  late  chief-justice  of  Illinois,  having  by  her 
four  children  living:  Henry,  George,  Shelley  and  Elijah. 


JOHN    N.    BRUEN. 

MONMOUTH. 

JOHN  NICOL  BRUEN,  one  of  the  most  successful  farmers  in  this  part  of  Illinois,  is  a  native 
of  Essex  county,  New  Jersey,  his  birth  being  dated  October  25,  1825.  Both  of  his  parents, 
William  and  Jane  (Williamson)  Bruen,  were  also  born  in  that  state.  The  Bruens  are  of  Scotch 
descent.  William  Bruen  was  a  boot  and  shoe  manufacturer  and  merchant,  and  when  our  subject 
had  received  an  academic  education  at  Bloomfield,  in  his  native  state,  he  learned  the  shoemaker's 
trade,  doing  also  some  farm  work  now  and  then,  till  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  had  an  uncle, 
Thomas  Gould,  who  owned  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  in  Henderson  county,  this  state, 
and  promised  to  give  John  eighty  of  it  if  he  would  go  to  Illinois  and  occupy  it  for  five  years. 
The  conditions  were  accepted,  and  in  1844  Mr.  Bruen  went  to  Henderson  county,  his  land  being 
ten  miles  from  Oquawka.  In  order  to  make  a  start,  he  must  have  some  money,  and  he  hired  out 
to  a  farmer  for  $7  per  month.  He  did  so  well  that  at  the  end  of  the  first  month  his  wages  were 
raised  to  $8.  He  broke  five  acres  of  his  land  the  first  year.  He  had  brought  with  him  from  the 
East  a  silver  watch  and  a  rifle.  He  traded  the  watch  for  days'  work  in  assisting  to  split  rails,  and 
in  exchange  for  his  rifle  had  ten  acres  more  of  his  land  broken.  The  next  year  he  had  fifteen 
acres  of  wheat,  which  he  cradled  with  his  own  hands,  hauled  to  Burlington,  Iowa,  and  sold  the 
grain  (450  bushels)  for  thirty  cents  a  bushel.  He  broke  more  land  from  year  to  year;  received 
his  deed  at  the  end  of  five  years;  added  to  his  little  farm  from  time  to  time;  bought  wild  land  in 
other  states,  and  continued  to  live  in  Henderson  county,  and  to  earn  his  bread  with  liberal  mois- 
ure  on  his  own  brow,  until  1875,  when  he  moved  to  Monmouth,  and  is  now  living  very  much  at 
his  ease. 

The  original  eighty-acre  lot,  whose  sod  he  began  to  turn  in  1844,  has  had  six  hundred  acres 
added  to  it,  including  his  uncle's  other  eighty.  He  has  also  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  acres 
more  in  that  vicinity,  and  five  thousand  acres  in  Mills,  Montgomery  and  Pottawatomie  counties, 
Iowa.  All  that  Iowa  land  is  under  first-class  improvement,  and  he  raised  on  it  in  1882  between 
two  thousand  and  three  thousand  acres  of  corn,  three  hundred  acres  of  wheat,  two  hundred  of 
oats,  and  one  thousand  of  tame  grass,  having  about  one  thousand  head  of  cattle  grazing  on  it; 
also  twelve  hu-ndred  hogs.  All  this  and  a  good  deal  more  has  grown  out  of  the  original  eighty, 
the  silver  watch,  the  rifle,  two  toil-hardened  hands,  a  knack  at  saving,  and  a  fair  modicum  of  will 
power.  Years  ago  he  paid  his  uncle  double  price  for  that  other  eighty,  thus  rewarding  him  hand- 
somely for  his  kindness. 

Mr.  Bruen  is  a  stockholder  and  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Monmouth.  While  a 
resident  of  Henderson  county  he  was  a  school  director  for  a  long  period,  being  willing  to  bear 
some  part  of  that  class  of  burdens,  and  to  help  on  the  cause  of  education;  but  he  has  never  been 
an  office  seeker. 


g4  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Bruen  was  first  married  in  1848,  to  Miss  Jane  Sharpless,  of  Henderson  county,  and  she 
died  in  1863,  leaving  three  children:  William  Sumner,  who  has  a  family  and  is  a  farmer  in  Hen- 
derson county;  Charles  Edward,  who  has  charge  of  a  twenty-five  hundred  acre  farm  in  Mills 
county,  Iowa,  and  Ida,  the  wife  of  Alexander  Graham,  merchant,  Monmouth.  The  present  wife 
of  our  subject  is*  Mary  A.,  daughter  of  Preston  Martin,  of  Biggsville,  Henderson  county,  their 
marriage  taking  place  October  10,  1865.  Mrs.  Bruen  and  Mrs.  Graham  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  to  which  Mr.  Bruen  is  a  generous  contributor. 


LESTER    M.   BURROUGHS,    M.D. 

BA  TA  VIA. 

EISTER  MORGAN  BURROUGHS,  one  of  the  physicians  the  longest  in  practice  in  Kane 
county,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  being  born  at  Shalersville,  Portage  county,  near  the  birth-place 
of  President  Garfield,  September  25,  1820,  His  father,  Daniel  Burroughs,  Jr.,  a  soldier  in  the 
second  war  with  England,  and  captured  with  General  Hull's  army,  was  born  at  Alstead,  New 
Hampshire,  but  reared  in  Orange  county,  Vermont.  Daniel  Burroughs,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Tolland, 
Connecticut,  in  1755;  was  at  Lexington  a  day  or  two  after  the  battle,  while  the  dead  still  lay  on 
the  ground,  and  was  also  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga,  and  the  capture  of  General  Burgoyne  and  his 
army.  The  Burroughses  were  among  the  early  settlers  in  New  England. 

Daniel  Burroughs,  Jr.,  was  a  brick-mason,  and  worked  at  that  trade  in  early  life,  and  later  was 
a  farmer.  He  married  Abigail  Hine,  a  native  of  Milford,  Connecticut,  by  whom  he  had  twelve 
children,  nine  of  them  living  to  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  eight  are  yet  alive.  Lester  was 
the  fifth  child.  When  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age  (1836)  the  family  moved  into  this  state,  and 
settled  in  what  is  now  Kendall,  then  part  of  Kane,  county,  and  Lester  had  no  schooling  after  that 
age.  The  residue  of  his  knowledge  he  picked  up  as  best  he  could,  and  as  almost  any  young  man, 
determined  to  know  something,  will  do.  His  business  was  farming  until  past  his  majority,  and 
he  early  acquired  the  art  of  turning  the  prairie  sod,  planting  corn,  and  killing  weeds.  He  also 
learned  to  kill  wolves,  and  when  about  twenty  was  captain  of  a  wolf  hunt,  the  highest  in  the  mili- 
tary line  that  he  ever  rose. 

Our  subject  evidently  had  an  early  desire  to  study  medicine,  as  he  began  to  peer  into  medical 
works  as  soon  as  he  could  find  any,  and  luckily  a  doctor's  library  was  not  a  great  way  off.  He 
acquired  knowledge  rapidly,  and  was  .literally  forced  into  the  practice  long  before  he  felt  himself 
competent;  but  the  sick  were  all  around  him,  and  he  had  to  help  them,  beginning  in  1846,  his 
first  patients  being  on  the  present  site  of  Batavia,  though  he  was  then  residing  in  the  town  of 
Blackberry.  Subsequently  he  studied  at  the  medical  infirmary  at  Southport,  near  Kenosha,  Wis- 
consin, and  afterward  took  a  course  of  medical  lectures  at  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

At  an  early  day  the  practice  of  Doctor  Burroughs  extended  over  a  wide  range  of  country, 
including  two  or  three  towns  on  the  Fox  River,  Lodi,  now  Maple  Park,  De  Kalb,  Sycamore  and 
Ohio  Grove,  and  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  he  and  his  horse  used  to  experiment  in  trying  to 
find  the  bottom  of  some  of  the  deeper  sloughs.  His  reminiscences  of  such  experience  are  decid- 
edly entertaining. 

November  24,  1849,  tne  doctor  took  to  himself  a  helpmeet  in  the  person  of  Miss  Elmira  J. 
Wheeler,  daughter  of  David  Wheeler,*  of  Blackberry,  and  they  have  two  daughters,  Mary  Gove, 

*  David  Wheeler  was  born  in  New  Salem,  New  Hampshire,  in  1785;  in  1792  went  with  the  family  to  Fairlee,  Ver- 
mont; was  in  the  war  with  England,  taken  prisoner  in  1812,  and  carried  to  Barbadoes,  one  of  the  Caribbean  islands, 
and  exchanged  at  the  end  of  nine  months.  He  married  Miss  Judith  Pearson  in  1815,  and  they  moved  to  West  Troy, 
New  York  (then  Gibbonsville),  in  1824,  and  he  was  postmaster  there  during  the  eight  years  of  President  Jackson's 
administration.  He  came  to  Blackberry,  Illinois,  in  1838,  and  here  lived  a  noble  Christian  life.  The  Christian  church 
at  Blackberry  is  a  monument  of  his  generosity,  he  being  very  liberal,  as  well  as  active  in  the  cause  of  his  master.  No 
more  hospitable  man  ever  lived  in  Blackberry.  He  had  the  respect  of  everybody  who  knew  him,  and  his  death,  in 
April,  1869,  was  a  loss  felt  by  the  whole  community. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  95 

married  to  William  K.  Coffin,  of  Eau  Claire,  Wisconsin,  and  Nellie  May,  who  is  at  home.  Since 
1861  the  doctor  has  resided  at  Batavia. 

He  has  held  a  few  civil  offices,  and  but  a  very  few,  his  time,  his  studies  and  his  energies  having 
been  devoted  to  his  profession,  in  which  he  has  been  quite  successful.  He  is  well  known  in  this 
part  of  the  Fox  River  Valley,  and  very  generally  esteemed  for  his  assiduity  in  taking  care  of  the 
sick,  and  his  sympathetic  and  kindly  nature.  His  labors  have  been  very  severe,  and  are  begin- 
ning to  tell  upon  his  constitution,  yet  he  is  still  very  active,  and  endeavors  to  respond  to  every 
professional  call.  He  belongs  to  the  Calumet  Club,  but  rarely  has  an  opportunity  to  meet  the 
old  settlers. 

Doctor  Burroughs  is  a  Master  Mason,  and  many  years  ago  was  also  an  active  Odd-Fellow,  having 
filled  all  the  chairs  in  the  latter  order.  Of  late  years  he  has  paid  very  little  attention  to  such 
gatherings,  being  a  home  body,  and  finding  the  greatest  comfort  in  his  own  little  family  circle. 


HON.  ALBERT  G.  BURR. 

CARROLLTON. 

A  LBERT  GEORGE  BURR,  late  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  and  an  eminent  jurist,  was  born 
t\.  in  western  New  York,  November  8,  1829.  He  was  brought  to  Illinois  by  his  widowed 
mother  when  only  a  year  old,  and  she  settled  near  Springfield.  He  almost  entirely  educated  him- 
self, and  fitted  himself  for  a  teacher,  his  first  school  being  at  Vandalia.  In  1850  he  moved  to 
Winchester,  Scott  county,  and  for  a  while  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  Subsequently,  at 
the  suggestion  of  a  friend,  who  discovered  his  fitness  to  shine  at  the  bar,  he  turned  his  attention 
to  the  study  of  law.  In  1856  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  soon  made  his  way  to  the  front. 
A  few  years  later  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature,  and  there  served  his  constituents  so  ably 
and  satisfactorily  that  they  returned  him,  and  not  long  afterward  elect'ed  him  to  the  constitutional 
convention. 

In  1868  Mr.  Burr  settled  in  Carrollton,  where  he  continued  to  distinguish  himself  among  the 
legal  fraternity.  He  was  a  member  of  the  fortieth  and  forty-first  congress;  in  1877  was  elected 
circuit  judge,  and  that  high  position  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death,  June  10,  1882. 

The  "Gazette"  of  Carrollton,  of  June  17,  1882,  thus  spoke  of  him: 

"  As  a  jurist  Judge  Burr  has  few  equals.  His  analyses  of  intricate  questions  were  clear  and 
explicit,  and  his  decisions  were  satisfactory.  As  an  orator,  who  can  describe  him  ?  We  will  not 
attempt  it,  but  will  leave  it  for  those  who  can  portray  perfection.  In  his  domestic  relations  he 
was  great  as  elsewhere,  and  happy  as  he  was  great.  His  first  wife,  Miss  Alicia  A.  Anderson,  he 
married  in  Vandalia,  and  by  her  reared  two  children,  Louis  L.,  of  Chicago,  and  Mrs.  Lucy  B. 
McMillen,  of  Mount  Sterling,  Illinois,  both  of  whom  were  present  in  his  last  hours.  His  second 
wife  was  Miss  Mary  Harlan,  of  Winchester,  who,  with  four  children,  survives  him.  He  had  an 
only  sister,  Mrs.  Lucy  S.  Garland,  who  lives  in  Springfield." 

The  same  paper  thus  speaks  of  the  funeral  of  Judge  Burr: 

"  At  an  early  hour  carriages  from  the  country,  from  villages  and  towns,  came  in  great  numbers, 
bringing  sorrowing  friends.  Each  incoming  train  was  filled  with  friends  from  a  distance,  and 
with  members  of  the  fraternities  to  which  the  deceased  belonged.  A  special  from  Jacksonville 
brought  the  Jacksonville  bar,  and  others  from  remote  parts  of  the  district.  At  one  o'clock  P.M., 
the  business  houses  all  closed,  the  city  seemed  alive  with  people,  and  yet  all  was  silent.  Colonel 
Nulton,  the  marshal,  then  formed  a  procession  of  Masons  and  Odd-Fellows,  and  the  long  line  of 
three  hundred  in  regalia  slowly  moved  to  the  house  of  the  dead,  and  thence  to  the  Christian 
Church  near  by,  of  which  Mr.  Burr  was  an  active  member.  Here  the  pall-bearers  placed  the  cas- 
ket amid  an  embankment  of  beautiful  flowers,  tributes  of  love.  Elder  Berry  gave  an  eloquent  and 
impressive  address,  during  which  he  read  two  poems,  found  in  an  old  album  of  the  deceased,  and. 
written  by  him  thirty  years  ago," 


96  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

As  indicated  above,  Judge  Burr  was  a  poet,  as  well  as  jurist  and  statesman,  as  the  following, 
one  of  those  poems  read  by  the  officiating  clergyman  will  show: 


LIFE'S  VOYAGE. 

Though  waves  may  swell  and  billows  rise, 
And  threatning  clouds  hang  o'er  the  skies- 

O'er  me  and  mine — 
Though  driven  on  where  breakers  roar, 
And  ragged  rocks  surround  the  shore, 
I'll  not  repine. 

Though  riding  on  the  maddened  wave — 
To  time  and  circumstance  a  slave — 

I'll  bear  my  lot. 
I'll  raise  aloft  religion's  sail, 
And  strive  to  ride  throughout  the  gale, 
And  falter  not. 

Though  friends  upon  the  sea  of  life, 
Are  from  my  bosom  torn  in  strife, 

And  by  the  swell 

Of  ocean  wave,  borne  from  my  side, 
I'll  bid  them  with  a  stoic's  pride, 
A  long  farewell. 

Though  all  desert  me  in  the  gloom 
And  leave  me  o'er  life's  sea  to  roam, 

Without  one  friend — 
Still  I  will  always  onward  keep, 
Triumphant  o'er  the  raging  deep, 
'Till  life  shall  end. 


MOSES    M.  ROYER,  M.D. 

STERLING. 

MOSES  MILLER  ROYER,  who  belongs  to  the  older  class  of  physicians  in  Whiteside 
county,  is  a  son  of  George  and  Elizabeth  (Miller)  Royer,  his  birth  being  dated  August  i, 
1828,  in  Lebanon  county,  Pennsylvania.  His  father  was  born  in  the  same  county,  and  was  the 
third  or  fourth  generation  from  the  progenitor  of  the  family,  who  was  from  Germany.  The  Mil- 
lers are  also  an  old  family  in  the  Keystone  State.  The  father  of  Elizabeth  Miller  was  Nicholas 
Miller,  and  her  mother  was  Elizabeth  Troutman.  She  had  a  brother  who  was  a  noted  banker  in 
Philadelphia. 

Moses  had  a  common  school  education  ;  was  with  his  parents  on  the  farm  until  seventeen 
years  old ;  commenced  at  that  age  to  teach  school,  and  taught  for  seven  consecutive  winters, 
studying  medicine  the  rest  of  the  time  during  the  last  three  years  ;  attended  lectures  at  the  Penn- 
sylvania Medical  College,  Philadelphia  ;  was  graduated  in  1855  ;  practiced  between  one  and  two 
years  at  Lebanon,  in  his  native  county,  and  in  August,  1856,  came  to  Whiteside  county,  this 
state,  and  settled  in  Sterling.  With  one  exception,  he  is  the  oldest  medical  practitioner  in  this 
city,  and  is  well  known  in  this  county,  and  the  western  part  of  Lee  county,  into  which  his  rides 
often  extend.  At  an  early  day,  they  extended  into  Carroll  and  Ogle  counties.  He  spent  most  of 
the  winter  of  1868-69  in  the  colleges  and  hospitals  of  Philadelphia,  brushing  up  his  knowledge  of 
the  profession,  giving  particular  attention  to  midwifery,  and  diseases  of  women  and  children. 
He  has  had  remarkable  success  in  obstetrics  ;  has  had  over  three  thousand  cases  of  his  own,  and 
never  lost  one. 

The  doctor  pays  very  little  attention  to  politics,  simply  voting  the  republican  ticket ;  accepts 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  gj 

no  civil  office,  and  gives  his  leisure  time  almost  exclusively  to  the  study  of  medical  periodicals, 
aiid  the  standard  professional  works  in  his  library.  He  seems  ambitious  to  retain  his  good 
standing  in  the  medical  fraternity,  and  is  not  likely  to  lower  the  mark.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  Medical  Society,  which  consists  of  Whiteside  county,  Illinois,  and  Clinton  county,  Iowa. 
He  was  for  a  short  time  assistant  surgeon  of  the  33d  Illinois  infantry. 

Doctor  Royer  is  a  Sir  Knight  in  the  Masonic  order,  and  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  Odd- 
Fellowship.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Hoover,  daughter  of  Samuel  Hoover,  of  Sterling,  their 
marriage  occurring  in  October,  1861.  They  have  two  daughters:  Emma,  who  has  just  finished  a 
thorough  education  at  Mount  Vernon,  Iowa,  and  Libbie,  who  is  attending  the  Sterling  graded 
schools. 

• 

JOHN    R.    BULLOCK,    M.D. 

WAUKEGAN. 

JOHN  ROW  BULLOCK,  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  and  a  leading  surgeon  in  Waukegan,  is  of 
English  extraction,  his  ancestors  in  this  country  coming  over  about  the  time  of  the  American 
revolution,  and  settling  in  Albany  county,  New  York,  where  our  subject  was  born,  October  28, 
1826.  His  parents  are  John  M.  and  Margaret  (Row)  Bullock,  both  being  still  alive.  John  Bullock 
was  a  farmer  until  about  1839,  when  he  moved  into  Albany,  where  he  still  resides.  His  wife  was 
born  in  Columbia  county,  New  York.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Matthew  Bullock,  was  the 
first  person  to  introduce  Cotswold  sheep  into  this  country,  and  he  and  another  man  imported  the 
first  Durham  bull. 

Doctor  Bullock  received  an  academic  education  at  Albany,  where  he  read  medicine  with  Doc- 
tor David  Martin,  after  which  he  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  in  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia,  where  he  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1850.  After  practicing  three  years  in 
Albany,  he  concluded  that  the  West  presented  a  more  promising  field  for  a  young  man  just  setting 
out  in  his  profession,  and  in  June,  1853,  he  came  to  Waukegan,  and  has  been  in  successful  prac- 
tice here  for  nearly  thirty  years.  His  business  has  been  general,  embracing  all  the  branches  of 
the  healing  art,  yet  in  surgery  he  has  had  an  unusual  share,  and  excellent  success.  In  all  the 
departments  of  his  profession  he  has  always  stood  well,  and  his  rides  have  been  and  still  are 
extensive. 

Doctor  Bullock  was  reared  in  the  Episcopal  church,  which  he  usually  attends,  and  he  bears 
an  irreproachable  character.  He  is  a  32d  degree  Freemason.  His  wife  was  Sarah  H.  Garwood, 
of  Waukegan,  and  they  have  three  children. 

Doctor  Bullock  has  given  very  little  attention  to  politics,  except  to  keep  well  read  up  on  the 
news  of  the  day;  has  never  sought  official  promotion  in  any  organization,  but  has  devoted  his 
time  and  his  studies  assiduously  to  his  profession,  satisfied,  evidently,  with  rendering  faithful 
service  to  patients,  and  having  a  highly  creditable  standing  as  a  physician  and  surgeon. 


CHARLES  C.   BLISH. 

KEWANEE. 

CHARLES  CHENEY  BLISH,  farmer  and  banker,  is  a  son  of  Sylvester  and  Rhoda  (Cheney) 
Blish,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Glastonbury,  Hartford  county,  Connecticut,  May  26,  1820. 
His  grandfather,  Thomas  Blish,  was  a  teamster  in  the  revolutionary  army,  going  in  at  eighteen 
years  of  age,  his  father  and  grandfather  are  buried  in  the  old  graveyard  at  Marlborough,  Con- 
necticut. The  Cheneys  are  also  an  old  family  in  that  state,  the  great-grandfather  and  grand- 
father of  Rhoda  Cheney  being  interred  in  the  old  Manchester  cemetery,  Hartford  county,  where 
she  was  born.  She  was  a  cousin  of  Cheney  brothers,  the  well  known  silk  manufacturers  of  Man- 
chester. Thomas  Blish  was  buried  in  Eastbury  cemetery,  Hartford  county. 


98  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Charles  received  a  very  ordinary  education,  and  at  seventeen  years  of  age  (1837)  came  with  the 
family  to  Henry  county,  this  state,  and  settled  on  land  in  Weatherfield,  adjoining  the  present 
village  of  Kewanee,  where  his  parents  died.  Their  remains  lie  in  the  Kewanee  cemetery. 

Our  subject  has  always  been  a  farmer,  and  he  is  a  practical  and  successful  one,  never  afraid  of 
work,  and  never  failing  to  make  his  labor  count  in  the  increase  of  his  exchequer.  He  added  to 
the  original  farm  from  time  to  time,  and  it  now  has  430  acres.  He  has  also  detached  lands,  which, 
with  the  homestead,  make  about  800  acres,  well  improved  and  uneclipsed  for  excellence  in  Henry 
county.  He  has  one  of  the  best  herds  of  short-horn  cattle  in  this  part  of  the  state. 

Many  years  ago  Mr.  Blish  was  county  surveyor,  still  farming,  however,  as  usual.  In  1871 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Kewanee  was  organized;  Mr.  Blish  became  its  president  in  1874,  still 
holding  that  office.  Mr.  Blish  is  a  Master  Mason.  • 

He  was  married  in  December,  1840,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  P.  Bonar,  of  Knox  county,  Illinois,  and 
they  have  buried  four  children,  and  have  two  living.  James  K.  is  a  lawyer  in  Kewanee,  a  stock- 
holder in  the  bank,  and  in  the  Haxtun  Steam  Heater  Company,  and  Matthew  B.  is  a  farmer,  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  homestead,  and  being  a  thorough-going  business  man.  The  wife  of  our  subject 
is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  Kewanee,  of  which  Mr.  Blish  is  a  liberal  supporter. 


CHARLES    P.    SWIGERT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 
HARLES    PHILIP    SWIGERT,  auditor   of   the   state,   and    son   of    Philip   and    Caroline 


Swigert,  was  born  in  the  state  of  Baden,  Germany,  November  27,  1843,  and  came  to  the 
United  States  when  a  child.  The  family  tarried  for  two  years  in  Chicago,  where  Charles 
attended  the  Scammon  School,  on  the  West  Side;  and  in  1854  the  family  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Kankakee  county,  where  there  was  no  school  for  two  years.  Between  the  ages  of  twelve  and 
eighteen  our  subject  aided  his  father  and  others  in  breaking  between  400  and  500  acres  of  prairie 
in  that  county,  attending  school  during  the  winter  term  only,  as  soon  as  there  was  one. 

In  July,  1861,  a  few  months  before  he  was  eighteen,  Mr.  Swigert  enlisted  as  a  private  in  com- 
pany H,  42d  Illinois  infantry,  which  was  connected  with  the  Army  'of  the  Cumberland.  In 
April,  1862,  he  was  one  of  the  twenty  brave  and  heroic  men  who  ran  the  blockade  on  the  gunboat 
Carondelet,  landing  at  New  Madrid.  They  afterward  'spiked  seven  guns  between  that  place  and 
Tiptonville,  and  participated  in  the  capture  of  7,000  men  at  Island  No.  10.  At  the  battle  of 
Farmington,  Mississippi,  during  the  siege  of  Corinth,  May  9,  1862,  Mr.  Swigert  lost  his  right  arm, 
having  it  torn  from  the  socket  by  a  six-pound  solid  shot  This  ended  his  military  career. 

Returning  to  Kankakee  county,  he  entered  a  public  school,  and  in  1863  commenced  a  course 
of  study  in  Bryant  and  Stratton's  Business  College,  Chicago,  whence  he  was  graduated  in  May, 
1864.  During  the  summer  of  that  year  he  canvassed  for  Smucker's  "  History  of  the  War,"  and 
the  following  winter  taught  a  district  school  in  Kankakee  county.  From  April,  1865,  to  October, 
1866,  Mr.  Swigert  was  a  letter  carrier  in  Chicago,  and  resigned  that  position  to  enter  the  county 
clerk's  office  at  Kankakee,  serving  as  deputy  one  year.  In  September,  1867,  he  entered  the  Sol- 
diers' College,  at  Fulton,  Whiteside  county;  studied  there  till  June,  1869,  in  November  of  which 
year  he  was  elected  treasurer  of  Kankakee  county,  and  by  repeated  reelections  he  retained  that 
office  until  November  24,  1880,  when  he  resigned  it  to  assume  the  duties  of  his  present  office.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Kankakee  from  1876  to  1878,  first  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  bills  and  accounts,  and  then  as  chairman  of  the  finance  committee. 

Mr.  Swigert  has  pushed  on,  literally  single-handed,  now  earning  a  little  money,  and  then 
investing  in  knowledge,  filling  one  office,  and  then  fitting  himself  for  another,  until,  rising  step 
by  step,  we  find  him  the  auditor  of  the  state,  an  office  which  he  is  thoroughly  competent  to  fill, 
and  the  honors  of  which  are  only  a  just  reward  for  his  services  to  his  adopted  country,  and  a 
handsome  acknowledgment  of  his  peculiar  fitness  for  the  position.  Before  going  into  the  army 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UfflTF.n    STATES   FtlOGRA  T II ICA I    HICTIONARY.  IOI 

he  was  intending  to  study  medicine,  but  the  loss  of  his  arm  necessarily  led  him  to  abandon  such 
a  plan. 

In  politics  Mr.  Swigert  has  never  been  anything  but  a  republican;  is  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  a  past 
grand  of  Howard  Lodge,  No.  218,  Kankakee,  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 
December  25,  1869,  he  married  Miss  Lavinia  L.  Bigelow,  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  they  have  four 
children,  all  sons.  A  neighbor  of  Mr.  Swigert  at  Kankakee  thus  writes  to  the  editor  of  this  work: 

"Mr.  Swigert 's  long  residence  at  Kankakee,  and  twelve  years'  administration  of  the  office  of 
county  treasurer,  with  marked  ability  and  efficiency,  made  him  known  not  only  socially  and 
politically  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  his  residence,  but  his  prominence  at  home  gave  him  more 
than  a  local  reputation,  and  brought  him  into  association  with  public  officers  and  public  men 
in  the  state.  He  impressed  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  with  the  absolute  integrity  of  his 
character,  his  capacity  and  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  a  public  trust,  and  the  quiet  firmness  which 
characterized  every  act  in  public  or  private  life.  No  man  commanded  more  fully  the  confidence 
of  personal  friends  or  political  opponents,  or  secured  to  a  higher  degree  the  respect  of  all  who 
knew  him.  The  satisfaction  with  which  his  friends  regarded  his  transfer  to  his  present  position 
was  accompanied  with  a  sincere  regret  at  the  loss  sustained  by  themselves  and  by  the  people 
whom  he  had  so  long  and  so  faithfully  served." 


ROBERT   V.   SUTHERLAND. 

PER  U. 

ROBERT  V.  SUTHERLAND,  banker,  dates  his  birth  in  Portage  county,  O^iio,  August  27, 
1834,  his  parents  being  Thomas  C.  and  Sarah  (McMillan)  Sutherland.  His  father  and 
grandfather  were  born  in  Pennsylvania,  where  the  family  settled  in  the  last  century.  The  Mc- 
Millans were  from  the  county  of  Antrim,  Ireland,  and  were  Scotch-Irish.  The  maternal  great- 
grandfather of  Robert  was  a  revolutionary  pensioner.  In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  of  1847 
our  subject  left  home  on  a  youthful  trip  of  observations.  He  came  as  far  west  as  Illinois,  reaching 
Peru  June  20.  Here  he  spent  a  year  with  a  second  cousin,  a  general  merchant;  then  went  to  Chi- 
cago, Racine  and  Milwaukee,  and  sailing  round  the  lakes  through  Mackinac,  went  home,  and 
finished  his  studies  at  the  Middebury,  Summit  county,  high  school.  He  then  started  as  axeman, 
with  a  corps  of  civil  engineers  on  the  Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh  railroad,  and  was  engaged  in  rail- 
roading between  seven  and  eight  years,  with  headquarters  at  Steubenville,  working  his  way  up, 
step  by  step,  to  the  post  of  division  engineer  on  that  road. 

In  1857,  when  the  crisis  in  money  matters  came  on,  and  railroad  building  stopped,  Mr.  Suth- 
erland became  teller  and  bookkeeper  of  the  Ravenna  branch  of  the  state  bank  of  Ohio,  and  not 
long  afterward  was  appointed  teller  of  the  state  bank  of  Cleveland.  In  1859  Mr.  Sutherland  went 
to  Lake  Superior  to  make  surveys  for  an  iron  mining  company,  and  then  returned  to  Cleveland. 
About  that  period  a  number  of  Oberlin  persons  were  arrested  and  put  in  the  Cleveland  jail, 
charged  with  obstructing  the  fugitive  slave  law.  A  mob  gathered  round  the  jail,  threatening 
violence,  and  the  Cleveland  Grays  and  the  Perry  Guards  were  called  out  to  protect  the  prisoners. 
Mr.  Sutherland  belonged  to  one  of  these  companies,  and  helped  to  guard  the  underground  rail- 
road conductors.  And  his  heart  was  no  doubt  in  the  service  as  well  as  his  rifle,  for  he  was  always 
anti-slavery  in  sentiment,  and  regarded  the  fugitive  slave  act  as  simply  infamous.  His  political 
views  he  inherited  from  his  father,  who  was  an  associate  and  co-laborer  with  Ben.  Wade,  Joshua 
R.  Giddings,  and  that  type  of  free-soilers.  Our  subject,  by  the  way,  was  born  and  reared  near 
James  A.  Garfield,  and  they  were  personal  and  political  confreres  up  to  the  day  that  the  latter 
was  assassinated.  At  Steubenville  Mr.  Sutherland  made  the  acquaintance  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
years  before  the  great  war  secretary  became  known  outside  his  county. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862  our  subject  left  Cleveland,  came  to  Peru  once  more,  and  November  18, 
became  cashier  of  the  bank  of  Peru,  and  when,  in  May,  1864,  the  First  National  Bank  of  Peru  was 
ii 


IO2  UNITED   STATES  BfOGKAPHlCAl.   DICTIONARY. 

organized,  he  accepted  the  same  position  in  that  institution.  At  the  time  of  writing  he  is  just 
rounding  up  his  first  score  of  years  in  the  same  official  bank  position.  He  is  one  of  the  best 
financiers  in  the  county  of  La  Salle,  and  has  an  extensive  circle  of  acquaintances  and  friends. 

Mr.  Sutherland  is  a  stockholder  and  director,  as  well  as  cashier  of  the  bank,  and  is  also  treas- 
urer and  a  stockholder  of  the  Peru  City  Plow  Company,  which  has  a  capital  of  $120,000,  and  is 
quite  flourishing.  He  was  married  in  1868  to  Miss  Mary  Maze,  daughter  of  Samuel  N.  Maze,  cap- 
italist, of  Peru,  and  they  have  one  daughter  and  one  son. 


WILLIAM   H.    COLE,   M.D. 

KE  WANEE. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  COLE,  at  one  period  a  leading  educator  in  Tioga  county,  New  York, 
and  now  a  physician  and  surgeon  in  Henry  county,  this  state,  is  a  son  of  Cornelius 
Debois  Hasbrouk  Cole,  M.D.,  and  Sylvia  (Walker)  Cole,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Owego, 
Tioga  county,  October  19,  1836.  His  father  is  of  Holland  descent,  and  was  named  for  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Knickerbocker  family,  Doctor  Debois  Hasbrouk.  The  father  of  Cornelius 
was  John  Cole,  a  soldier  in  the  continental  army,  and  whose  venerable  gun,  carried  in  those  days, 
is  still  in  the  Cole  family.  Sylvia  (Walker)  Cole  is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  is  of  Scotch- 
English  lineage.  Both  parents  of  William  are  still  living,  their  residence  being  Bradford  county, 
Pennsylvania.  Cornelius  Cole  was  a  teacher,  like  his  son,  before  he  studied  medicine.  He 
received  his  medical  degree  at  Geneva,  New  York,  and  was  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  most 
of  the  time  in  Bradford  county,  for  more  than  thirty  years.  During  the  civil  war  he  was  surgeon 
of  the  I72d  Pennsylvania  infantry,  and  at  the  close  of  the  service  the  regiment  presented  him  with 
an  elegant  watch  and  chain. 

Our  subject  obtained  most  of  his  literary  education  at  the  Owego  Academy,  and  the  Ovid 
Collegiate  Institute,  his  course  of  studies  including  the  higher  mathematics  and  physical  sciences. 
He  commenced  teaching  a  country  school  at  seventeen  years  of  age;  at  about  twenty-four  became 
principal  of  the  Owego  public  schools,  and  held  that  position  for  nine  consecutive  years,  being 
one  of  the  most  successful  teachers  in  Tioga  county.  Before  his  nine  years  were  up  he  was 
elected  county  school  commissioner,  and  held  that  office  three  years.  So  well  pleased  were  the 
teachers  of  the  county  with  him  that  at  the  end  of  the  three  years,  they  presented  him  with  a  full 
set  of  silver. 

Our  subject  was  reared  among  gallipots,  and  as  early  as  fourteen  years  of  age  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  should  one  day  be  a  physician.  During  all  the  years  that  he  was  attending  school 
and  teaching,  he  was  dipping  occasionally  into  medical  books,  and  while  serving  as  commissioner 
he  gave  all  the  time  at  his  command  to  the  same  class  of  studies.  He  read  more  or  less  with  his 
father,  and  also  with  Doctor  Ezekiel  Daniels,  twenty  years  ago  an  eminent  physician  in  Owego; 
attended  his  first  course  of  lectures  in  the  Buffalo  Medical  College,  and  his  second  at  the  Long 
Island  College,  Brooklyn,  and  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  in  June  1873. 
About  that  time  he  also  took  a  special  course  in  surgery,  under  Professor  William  Warren  Green, 
of  Portland,  Maine. 

Doctor  Cole  settled  in  Kewanee  in  September  of  that  year,  and  for  nearly  ten  years  has  given 
his  time  very  faithfully  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Since  boyhood  he  has  been,  so  to  speak, 
a  medical  student,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  was  never  more  studious  than  at  the  present  time. 
He  enjoys  his  profession,  and  practices  it  con  amore.  He  has  an  inquiring  mind,  and  knows  how 
to  feed  it  judiciously.  His  course  as  a  physician  is  upward.  He  is  one  of  the  most  scientific  men 
in  Kewanee,  and  an  instructive  talker.  The  doctor  takes  some  interest  in  politics,  and  was  at  one 
time  chairman  of  the  republican  township  committee  of  Kewanee.  He  has  also  held  some  offices 
in  the  Congregational  Church,  of  which  he  is  a  member,  and  up  to  a  very  recent  date  was  a  con- 
stant worker  in  the  Sunday-school  cause. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  103 

Doctor  Cole  was  married  in  Newark  Valley,  in  November,  1860,  to  Miss  Bessie  Rounseyille 
Watson,  a  native  of  Richford,  Tioga  county,  New  York.  They  have  a  son  and  daughter  living, 
and  had  one  son,  Herman,  killed  by  accident  when  thirteen  months  old.  Haydn  S.  is  a  cadet  at 
West  Point,  and  Mary  E.  is  attending  the  local  schools. 

Doctor  Cole  has  one  sister,  Caroline  E.,  the  wife  of  Dennis  Porter,  of  Rockford,  Michigan. 
When  he  was  a  teacher  he  was  accustomed  to  address  county  and  state  teachers'  associations,  and 
most  of  his  productions  of  that  class  were  published  in  the  educational  periodicals  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  and  had  a  wide  circulation  among  the  educators  of  the  land. 


BENJAMIN    N.   SMITH. 

WOODSTOCK. 

BENJAMIN  N.  SMITH,  judge  of  McHenry  county,  is  a  grandson  of  Lieutenant  William 
Smith,  an  officer  in  the  revolutionary  army,  who  came  from  Ireland  with  his  father  about 
1746,  settling  in  Connecticut;  and  a  son  of  Captain  Nathaniel  Smith,  who  had  command  of  a 
company  of  soldiers,  and  who  aided  in  raising  the  siege  of  Boston  in  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land,, and  who  settled  in  Chemung,  McHenry  county,  Illinois,  in  1838.  There,  August  13,  of  that 
year,  our  subject  was  born,  his  mother  being  Mary  Bentley,  a  native  of  Rensselaer  county,  New 
York.  Her  father  was  Colonel  Caleb  Bentley,  a  prominent  officer  in  the  Continental  army,  and 
stood  by  the  side  of  General  Washington  through  all  those  trying  times.  A  brother  of  Mrs. 
Smith,  Judge  Darius  Bentley,  died  in  Chemung  county,  New  York,  in  November,  1881,  aged 
ninety-four  years.  Mrs.  Smith  is  still  living,  being  in  her  eighty-seventh  year,  and  draws  a  pen- 
sion on  account  of  her  husband's  services  already  mentioned.  She  has  her  second  sight ;  reads 
fine  type  with  the  utmost  ease,  without  glasses,  and  her  mind  and  memory  are  seemingly  as  clear 
as  when  she  was  in  middle  life.  She  lost  her  husband  in  November  1864. 

Mr.  Smith  received  an  academic  education,  including  the  classics  and  higher  mathematics,  at 
Bigfoot,  McHenry  county,  and  in  the  spring  of  1860  went  to  California,  and  was  absent  from  the 
state  between  two  and  three  years.  Returning  in  the  winter  of  1862-63,  ne  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  company  E,  95th  Illinois  infantry,  purposing  to  go  into  the  field,  but  was  detailed  at  Spring- 
field to  the  headquarters  state  rendezvous  Illinois  volunteers,  which  was  short  of  clerical  help 
just  then,  and  he  was  there  retained  until  the  war  closed,  having  charge,  most  of  the  time,  of  a 
room  containing  ten  or  fifteen  clerks. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  graduate  of  the  law  department  of  Michigan  University,  receiving  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  laws  in  1866.  While  at  Ann  Arbor,  he  was  at  one  period  president  of  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  Society,  which  was  connected  with  the  literary  department  of  the  University,  and  his 
standing  while  in  that  institution  was  in  all  respects  highly  creditable.  He  has  been  in  the 
steady  practice  of  his  profession  at  Woodstock  since  leaving  the  University,  and  has  made  it  a 
success. 

As  a  lawyer  he  is  clear-headed  and  well  posted,  and  before  a  jury  talks  directly  to  the  point, 
and  has  great  weight.  His  candor,  logical  acumen  and  persuasive  eloquence  are  powerful  helps 
to  him  in  his  profession.  Being  fairly  installed  in  law  practice,  in  October,  1866,  Mr.  Smith  mar- 
ried Miss  Abbie  B.  Dake,  of  Woodstock,  and  they  have  four  children.  He  filled  the  offices  of 
mayor  of  Woodstock,  and  member  of  the  school  board  one  term  each  ;  in  1869  was  elected 
judge  of  the  county  of  McHenry,  and  having  served  three  full  terms  of  four  years  each,  he  is  at 
the  time  of  the  writing  of  this  sketch  serving  his  thirteenth  year  by  virtue  of  a  change  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  state.  He  is  an  impartial  judge,  and  quite  popular  in  the  county.  While  digni- 
fied without  being  especially  grave  in  his  official  capacity,  in  the  social  circle  he  is  decidedly 
humorous,  genial  and  entertaining. 

Judge  Smith  is  a  firm  republican,  and  sometimes  takes  the  stump  near  the  close  of  air  exciting 
and  important  campaign.  He  is  not  only  well  read  in  law  and  politics,  but  in  the  rules  of  elocu- 


IO4  UNrrr.n  STATES  RiocKArrncAi. 

tion  ;  is  familiar  with  the  masters  of  eloquence,  Grecian  and  Roman,  as  well  as  British  and 
American,  and  whether  at  the  bar  or  on  the  platform,  he  has  but  few  peers  outside  of  Chicago  in 
this  part  of  the  state.  Those  who  have  known  him  longest,  state  that  from  boyhood,  public- 
speaking  has  been  almost  a  passion  with  him,  and  his  progress  in  that  art  has  surprised  his  most 
intimate  and  hopeful  friends.  There  is  no  other  Fourth  of  July  orator  in  these  parts,  for  whose 
service  there  is  such  a  demand,  or  who  can  eclipse  him  on  such  an  occasion.  Judge  Smith  is  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  a  member  of  Calvary  Commandery.  He  is  also  a  member  and  officer  of 
the  Methodist  church,  and  an  eminentlv  useful  citizen  of  McHenry  countv. 


HON.  JOHN    C.  SHERWIN. 

AURORA. 

JOHN  CROCKER  SHERWIN,  lawyer  and  late  member  of  congress  from  the  fourth  district, 
is  a  son  of  James  Sherwiri,  farmer,  and  Lydia  M.  (Crocker)  Sherwin,  both  natives  of  the  state 
of  New  York.  His  great-grandfather,  Parker,  shouldered  his  musket  at  the  opening  of  the  revo- 
lutionary war,  and  was  at  Lexington,  Concord,  Bunker  Hill,  etc.,  and  his  maternal  grandfather, 
John  Crocker,  was  in  the  second  war  with  England.  Our  subject  was  born  at  Gouverneur,  New 
York,  February  8,  1838,  and  was  educated  at  the  Wesleyan  Seminary  in  his  native  town,  and 
Lombard  University,  Galesburgh,  Illinois,  graduating  from  the  latter  institution  in  1862.  He 
taught  a  country  school  six  consecutive  winters  prior  to  receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts. 
On  taking  his  degree  he  went  immediately  into  the  service,  enlisting  as  a  private  in  company  H, 
8gth  Illinois  infantry,  and  was  mustered  out  as  a  non-commissioned  officer,  after  serving' a  few 
weeks  less  than  three  years.  About  a  year  before  the  war  closed  he  was  offered  a  commission, 
but  for  some  reason  refused  to  accept  it. 

On  returning  from  the  war  Mr.  Sherwin  read  law  at  Aurora  with  Messrs.  Wagner  and  Can- 
field  ;  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1867,  and  was  for  some  time  in  company  with  one  of  his  pre- 
ceptors, Hon.  Eugene  Canfield.  Mr.  Sherwin  was  city  attorney ;  served  one  term  as  county 
clerk,  and  in  1878  was  reelected  to  the  latter  office,  but  resigned  to  represent  his  district  in  the 
forty-sixth  congress.  He  was  reelected  to  the  forty-seventh,  and  served  through  that  term,  which 
expired  in  1882.  He  was  the  author  of  the  apportionment  bill  under  the  tenth  assessment, 
having  charge  of  it  in  the  house.  At  the  request  of  the  committee  on  education,  he  introduced 
the  bill  on  national  or  common  school  education,  which  has  been  reported  upon  favorably  by  the 
committee. 

The  congressional  record  of  Mr.  Sherwin  is  highly  creditable  to  himself,  and  was  eminently 
satisfactory  to  the  body  of  his  republican  constituents.  Mr.  Sherwin  married,  in  1865,  Miss  Edith 
V.  Whitehead,  of  Peru,  this  state,  and  they  have  buried  two  children,  and  have  three  living.  The 
family  attend  the  Universalist  Church,  of  which  Mr.  Sherwin  is  a  liberal  supporter. 


o 


NELSON    LAN  DON. 

WAUK&GAif, 

NE  of  the  noteworthy  landmarks  of  Lake  county  is  Nelson  Landon  who  settled  here  about 
forty-seven  years  ago,  and  was  one  of  the  county  commissioners,  with  Leonard  (rage  and 
Thomas  A.  Payne,  to  locate  the  county  seat  at  Waukegan.  His  father,  Rufus  Landon,  of  Ger- 
man birth,  was  in  the  first  and  second  wars  with  England,  going  into  the  former  at  sixteen  years 
of  age;  settled  in  Salisbury,  Litchfield  county,  Connecticut,  where  he  served  as  selectman,  and 
was  one  of  the  leading  farmers  in  that  town.  There  Nelson  first  saw  the  light,  January  26,  1807, 
his  mother  being  Sarah  (Hunt)  Landon,  who  was  of  English  pedigree.  Both  parents  are  sleep- 
ing in  the  old  burying  ground  at  Salisbury. 


VNITF.D  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  105 

Nelson  Landon  received  a  very  limited  English  education  in  a  district  school,  which  he 
attended  during  the  winter  term  only,  after  he  was  old  enough  to  do  farm  work.  He  remained 
at  home  till  twenty-one  years  old,  when  he  went  to  New  Haven,  Vermont,  and  spent  two  years  in 
a  country  store.  In  1832  he  started  westward,  halted  a  short  time  at  Niles,  Michigan,  then,  con- 
tinuing his  westward  course  into  Indiana,  put  up  a  store  on  the  prairie  near  where  La  Porte, 
Indiana,  now  stands,  and  soon  afterward  built  the  first  store  on  the  present  site  of  that  city,  and 
opened  the  first  stock  of  goods  ever  offered  for  sale  there.  Eighteen  months  later,  in  the  autumn 
of  1835,  Mr.  Landon  made  another  westward  hegira,  this  time  sweeping  round  Lake  Michigan 
into  Lake,  then  Cook  county,  Illinois,  which  has  since  been  his  home.  In  the  spring  of  1836  he 
squatted  on  a  large  tract  of  unsurveyed  land,  in  the  town  of  Benton,  and  there  eventually  opened 
a  first-class  farm  of  1400  acres,  eight  miles  from  Waukegan,  bearing  another  name,  which  then 
had  a  dim  prospect  of  becoming  the  county  seat.  While  a  resident  of  Benton,  Mr.  Landon  held 
the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  for  several  years,  but  he  never  had  to  injure  his  health  in  attend- 
ing to  an  excess  of  duties  in  that  line. 

May  28,  1867,  Mr.  Landon  lost  his  first  wife,  Phebe  (Phelps)  Landon,  whom  he  had  married 
September  16,  1833,  and  who  had  cheerfully  shared  with-  him  the  trials  and  privations  of  frontier 
life.  Two  years  afterward,  in  September,  1869,  he  married  Louisa  M.  Ryder,  of  Waukegan,  in 
the  same  year  settling  in  this  city.  Here  he  is  living  entirely  at  his  ease,  and  in  very  comfortable 
circumstances.  The  office  of  county  supervisor  for  a  short  time,  is,  we  believe,  the  only  public 
post  which  .he  has  held  since  leaving  the  farm.  He  is  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Waukegan,  and  has  an  open  hand  for  the  needy,  being  a  man  of  kindly  impulses,  and 
much  respected. 

Mr.  Landon  had  five  children  by  his  first  wife,  four  of  whom  were  living  at  the  time  of  her 
demise.  One  of  them  has  since  joined  her  in  the  other  world.  The  three  still  surviving  are  all 
daughters,  and  very  pleasantly  situated.  When  Mr.  Landon  left  Benton  he  gave  the  farm  to  his 
children,  and  Phebe  Jannette,  the  oldest  daughter,  is  married  to  George  P.  Kellogg,  and  lives  on 
the  old  homestead;  Emily  J.  is  married  to  William  M.  Hoyt,  of  Chicago,  and  Helen  Josephine  is 
living  with  her  sister  in  that  city. 

HON.   MILES  S.    HENRY. 

STERLING. 

MILES  SMITH  HENRY,  for  many  years  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Sterling,  and  mayor 
of  the  city  at  the  time  of  his  death,  November  26,  1878,  was  born  in  Geneva,  Ontario 
county,  New  York,  March  i,  1815.  His  father  was  Charles  William  Henry,  a  graduate  of  Prince- 
ton College,  New  Jersey,  and  in  his  day  a  prominent  merchant.  His  mother,  before  her  mar- 
riage, was  Penelope  Potter,  granddaughter  of  Judge  Potter,  of  New  Jersey,  who  gave  an  exten- 
sive tract  of  land  to  the  Ouakers,  and  who  was  a  firm  friend  of  Jemimah  Wilkinson,  one  of  the 
nursing  mothers  of  (Quakerism  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Henry  .was  a  schoolmate  and  roommate  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  three  years  at  the  Can- 
andaigua  Academy;  finished  his  education  at  Hobart  College,  Geneva;  studied  law  with  Hon. 
John  C.  Spencer,  Canandaigua;  came  to  the  West  in  1834,  stopping  a  short  time  in  Chicago,  then 
a  small,  unpromising  village;  went  to  La  Porte,  Indiana,  and  purchased  an  interest  in  the  then 
developing  village  of  Michigan  City:  finished  his  law  studies  at  La  Porte  with  Hon.  Gustavus  A. 
Everts,  who  was  afterward  circuit  judge  in  northern  Indiana,  and  there  our  subject  commenced 
practice. 

In  1843  he  married  Miss  Philena  N.  Mann,  a  niece  and  adopted  daughter  of  Judge  Everts,  and 
in  that  year  formed  a  partnership  with  the  judge,  and  they  emigrated  to  Platte  county,  Missouri. 
But  Mr.  Henry  was  not  pleased  with  the  country,  and  in  the  spring  of  1844,  at  the  suggestion  of 
his  old  friend,  Judge  Douglas,  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  halted  at  Macomb,  McDonough  county, 
win-re  he  commenced  practice  in  company  with  Hon.  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  circuit  judge.  We  learn 


IO6  UNITED   STATF.S  RIOCKA  PHTCAI.   DICTIONARY. 

from  the  Sterling  "Gazette  "  that  at  the  close  of  the  August  term  of  the  court  that  year,  Mr.  Henry 
came  to  the  Rock  River  country  on  an  exploring  tour;  attended  the  session  of  the  court  held  at 
Lyndon,  Whiteside  county,  and  was  so  pleased  with  the  Rock  River  Valley  that  he  settled  at 
Sterling,  the  new  county  seat.  In  October  of  that  year  he  brought  his  family  here,  living  one 
year  in  the  upper  town,  then  known  -as  Harrisburgh,  the  next  year  building  him  a  stone  house  on 
Third  street,  near  Cedar,  where  he  died,  the  material  for  the  house  being  hewn  out  with  his  own 
hands.  In  1852  he  opened  a  bank,  and  in  1854  formed  a  partnership  with  Lorenzo  Hapgood,  and 
the  firm  of  M.  S.  Henry  and  Company  continued  in  the  banking  business  until  1861,  our  subject 
keeping  his  law  office  open  all  these  years. 

In  1854  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  on  what  was  known  as  the  people's  ticket,  and  which 
the  next  year  was  merged  into  the  republican  ticket.  In  the  legislature  Mr.  Henry  favored  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  United  States  senator,  and  voted  for  him  until  a  compromise  can- 
didate was  taken  up,  when  he  cast  his  vote  for  Lyman  Trumbull,  who  was  successful.  Mr.  Henry 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  regretted  to  the  end  of  his  days  the  failure  to  send 
that  great  statesman  to  the  senate.  In  the  state  legislature  our  subject  was  one  of  the  champions 
of  the  first  free  school  law  of  Illinois. 

He  was  a  delegate  in  1856  to  the  national  convention  which  nominated  Fremont  and  Dayton, 
though  his  first  choice  was  McLean  and  Lincoln.  The  next  year  Governor  Bissell  appointed  him 
bank  commissioner,  a  post  which  he  held  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war.  In  the  same 
year,  1857,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Sterling  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  Company,  holding 
that  office  till  1861,  when,  for  various  reasons,  the  enterprise  was  abandoned. 

He  tendered  a  regiment  of  cavalry  to  his  country's  service  in  1861,  but  the  cavalry  wing,  in 
General  McClellan's  view,  was  sufficiently  full,  and  in  1862  Mr.  Henry  was  appointed  paymaster 
in  the  army,  which  position  he  held,  with  the  rank  of  major,  until  the  rebellion  collapsed. 

He  now  engaged  in  the  oil  business  in  West  Virginia  and  in  the  manufacture  of  salt  at  Bay 
City,  Michigan,  being  for  three  years  president  and  general  manager  of  the  salt  company  in  that 
place,  exhibiting  meanwhile  business  capacities  of  a  very  high  order. 

His  wife  died  in  1870,  and  in  October,  1871,  he  married  Mrs.  Emily  J.  C.  Bushnell,  widow  of 
Major  Douglas  R.  Bushnell,  a  civil  engineer  who  aided  in  surveying  several  railroads  in  west- 
ern Illinois.  Major  Bushnell  went  into  the  service  in  1861  as  captain  of  company  B,  i3th  Illinois 
infantry,  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major.  He  was  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Lookout  Mountain,  etc.,  and  was  killed  at  Ringgold,  Georgia,  while  leading  on  his  brave 
men  to  victory,  November  27,  1863.  He  was  one  of  the  true  heroes  of  the  state.  The  maiden 
name  of  Mrs.  Henry  was  Edson,  her  native  place  being  Randolph,  Vermont.  Her  father,  Captain 
John  Edson,  was  an  officer  in  the  war  of  1812-4.  The  Edsons  are  a  noted  military  family.  One 
of  them  was  Captain  Alvin  Edson,  of  the  marine,  an  intimate  friend  of  General  Scott.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  West  Point,  as  was  also  his  son,  Major  J.  H.  Edson,  who  belonged  to  the  regular 
army  and  served  during  the  late  War.  Mrs.  Henry,  then  the  widow  Bushnell,  was  appointed  post- 
mistress of  Sterling,  February  6,  1865,  and  was  holding  that  office  at  the  time  of  her  second 
marriage,  she  being  the  first  woman  that  ever  held  that  office  under  presidential  appointment. 
She  possesses  nicely  framed  the  autograph  letter  of  President  Lincoln  appointing  her  to  that 
office.  It  was  obtained  by  her  friend,  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne. 

Prior  to  the  death  of  his  wife,  in  1869,  Major  Henry  had  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  company  with  Caleb  C.  Johnson,  they  being  in  partnership  till  his  death.  He  was  mayor 
of  the  city  at  that  time,  and  also  a  director  of  the  second  ward  school.  He  made  a  very  efficient 
municipal  executive,  and  was  foremost  in  every  project  tending  to  advance  the  pecuniary,  educa- 
tional and  moral  interests  of  the  city.  He  was  a  member  of  Grace  Episcopal  Church. 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  very  sympathetic,  and  an  indefatigable  worker  for  the  interests  of  his 
client.  In  any  cause,  legal  or  other,  which  he  espoused,  and  which  he  believed  to  be  right,  his 
energy  and  persistency  were  simply  astonishing.  He  was  attorney  for  the  Chicago  and  North- 
Western  Railroad  Company.  At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Major  Henry  the  bar  association  of 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Whiteside  county  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  paying  proper  tribute  to  his  legal  talents,  etc.,  and 
Mr.  McCartney,  one  of  the  oldest  members,  made  a  very  feeling  speech,  and  was  followed  by 
Judge  Eustace.  The  city  council  also  passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  among  which  was  the 
following: 

Resolved,  That  the  deceased  has  left  us  the  memory  of  his  royal  friendship;  that  we  shall  esteem  it  one  of  the 
privileges  of  life  that  we  intimately  knew  him,  and  our  present  sadness  is  mitigated  by  the  thought  that  he  is  happy  in 

Those  everlasting  gardens 

Where  angels  walk  and  seraphs  are  the  wardens; 
Where  every  flower,  brought  safe  thro'  death's  dark  portal, 

Becomes  immortal! 

Major  Henry,  when  mayor,  in  September,  1878,  called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Sterling  to 
aid  the  sufferers  at  the  South,  caused  by  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever,  and  was  the  leader  in 
raising  funds  at  that  time.  The  last  public  speech  that  he  ever  made  was  at  the  time  when  the 
free  iron  bridge  between  Sterling  and  Rock  Falls  was  opened,  another  enterprise  in  which  he  was 
among  the  foremost  men.  He  was  president  of  the  Sterling  Burial  Case  Company. 

Mrs.  Henry  has  had  a  beautiful  Italian  marble  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  her  lamented 
husband,  and  a  year  after  his  death  the  following  poem  from  her  pen  appeared  in  the  Chicago 
"Tribune  ": 

IN    MEMORIAM. 

Oh,  pale  white  flowers,  one  year  ago  to-day 
Upon  a  coffined  form  in  fragrant  bloom  ye  lay. 
I  cannot  bear  the  faint  perfume  ye  shed, 
Since  soft  it  floated  o'er  my  precious  dead. 

Oh,  manly  form  that  bore  an  angel's  grace, 
And  crowned  its  glory  with  an  angel's  face, 
1  see  thee  lying  there  with  bated  breath, 
Thy  grand  life  yielded  to  the  conqueror  —  death! 

I  call  aloud  to  thee  in  wild  despair; 

I  plead  with  God  in  agony  of  prayer; 

I  hold  thee  close,  my  heart  and  lips  to  thine, 

But  still  I  catch  no  word,  or  look,  or  sign. 

Oh,  rare,  pale  lips  that  mine  so  oft  have  pressed; 
Oh,  tender  hands  in  mine  so  oft  caressed; 
Oh,  loving  eyes  o'er  which  the  white  lids  close, 
And  God  has  set  the  seal  of  death's  repose! 

No  more  shall  loving  hand,  or  lip,  or  eye, 
Meet  mine  in  tender  glance  or  sweet  reply; 
No  more  that  form  or  face  shall  greet  my  view 
And  thrill  my  soul  with  rapture  ever  new. 

How  can  I  call  thee  dead,  my  own,  my  own  ? 
Though  the  dear  lips  are  mute,  the  spirit  flown, 
Although  I  see  upon  thy  forehead  fair 
That  God's  own  hand  has  placed  death's  signet  there. 

Peace,  murmuring  heart,  thy  Father  knoweth  best! 
His  hand  alone  can  lead  to  perfect  rest. 
Beyond  the  valley,  dark  and  shadow  deep, 
He  giveth  my  beloved  peaceful  sleep. 
STK.KUXC,  ILLINOIS,  November  27,  1879.  EMILY  J.  C.  HENRY. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  here  add  that  Mrs.  Henry  has  a  good  deal  of  skill  in  versifying,  and 
that  she  wrote  a  clever  decoration  hymn  to  the  tune  "America,"  which  was  sung  on  decoration 


IO8  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

day,  May  30,  1871.  Other  metrical  pieces  from  her  pen  show  no  ordinary  degree  of  merit.  She 
has  also  a  beautiful  crayon  portrait  of  her  husband,  executed  by  herself  from  a  small  photograph, 
and  which  is  an  admirable  piece  of  artistic  work.  Her  parlors  are  decorated  with  water  and  oil  col- 
ors and  crayon  specimens  of  her  skill  in  that  line  of  art.  It  is  fortunate  that  she  can  find,  in  such 
tasty  and  refining  study,  a  way  of,  passing  portions  of  her  lonely  hours  and  partially  soothing  her 
sorrows. 


NAHUM    E.    BALLOU,    M.D. 

SANDWICH. 

NAHUM  ENON  BALLOU,  physician  and  surgeon  and  scientist,  is  a  son  of  Nahum  and 
Anna  (Phelps)  Ballou,  and  was  born  at  Plymouth,  Chenango  county,  New  York,  September 
16,  1822.  His  father  was  born  in  the  same  town,  and  was  a  tanner  and  currier  and  shoe  manu- 
facturer. His  grandfather  was  Daniel  Ballou,  who  belonged  to  the  New  Hampshire  branch  of 
the  Ballou  family.  His  mother  was  a  native  of  Homer,  Cortland  county,  New  York,  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Enon  Phelps,  who  was  at  the  massacre  of  Wyoming.  She  was  a  sister  of  William  W. 
Phelps,  who  was  a  strong  anti-Mason,  and  published  at  Canandaigua  the  "  Ontario  Phoenix,"  an 
anti-Masonic  paper.  Reading  a  copy  of  Joseph  Smith's  bible,  he  became  a  Mormon,  and  followed 
that  new  sect  in  its  peregrinations  from  Kirtland,  Ohio,  to  Far- West,  Missouri,  Nauvoo,  Illinois) 
and  Salt  Lake,  Utah  Territory,  he  being  the  only  member  of  the  family  who  adopted  that  peculiar 
belief.  He  had  no  inconsiderable  lyrical  talent,  and  composed  the  first  collection  of  hymns  used 
by  the  Mormons.  On  the  opening  of  the  University  of  Deseret,  at  Salt  Lake  City,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  chair  of  Latin  and  Greek,  and  distinguished  himself  as  an  able  writer,  as  well  as 
brilliant  linguist.  He  was  a  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  speaker  of  the  legislative 
assembly  of  Utah,  and  materially  gave  character  to,  and  shaped  the  church  polity  of  the  Latter 
Day  Saints,  and  died  several  years  ago  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years. 

In  1830  Nahum  Ballou  moved  with  his  family  from  Chenango  to  Orleans  county,  same  state, 
and  settled  at  Carlton,  where  our  subject  spent  his  youth,  finishing  his  literary  education  at 
Gaines  and  Yates  Academies,  in  the  last  named  county.  He  had  meanwhile  picked  up  the  shoe- 
maker's trade  at  home,  and  for  some  time  alternated  between  pounding  the  lapstone  and  bran- 
dishing the  pedagogue's  ferule,  whichever  for  the  time  being  paid  the  best.  He  read  medicine 
at  Albion  with  Drs.  Nichoson,  Paine  and  Huff;  attended  his  first  course  of  lectures  at  Geneva, 
New  York,  and  finished  at  Berkshire  Medical  College,  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  Doctor  H.  H. 
Childs,  president,  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1846. 

Doctor  Ballou  practiced  ten  years  at  Carlton;  while  there  attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  the 
Buffalo  Medical  College;  settled  in  Sandwich  in  1856,  and  has  here  been  a  successful  physician 
and  surgeon  for  twenty-six  years.  He  has  always  had  a  large  business,  and  long  ago  attained  a 
high  standing  in  the  profession  and  as  a  scientist.  He  is  a  good  classical  scholar,  having  for 
years  been  taking  private  lessons  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages.  He  has  also  considerable 
skill  in  metrical  composition,  his  elegies  in  particular  being  tender  and  wholesome  in  tone,  and 
almost  faultless  in  measure. 

The  doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and  the  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Academies  of  Science, 
and  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science;  is  a  practical  meteorologist, 
having  already  published  thirty  years'  observations,  using  all  needful  physical  instruments;  is 
associate  editor  of  the  meteorological  department  of  "  Our  Home  and  Science  Gossip,"  published 
at  Rockford,  this  state,  and  is  president  of  the  Naturalist  Association  of  Sandwich.  Ichthyology 
and  the  arachnida  are  his  specialties  in  natural  history,  he  having  devoted  a  great  deal  of  time  to 
the  study  of  fishes  and  the  spider. 

The  doctor  is  in  correspondence  with  several  eminent  scientists  in  Europe,  as  well  as  in  this 
country,  and  is  well  known  among  scholars  in  natural  history  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
He  has  written  many  essays  on  medical  science  and  other  subjects,  which  have  been  published  in 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  '< '.!.;; 


I'XITED.  STATES  BIOGKA  ritlCAI.    DICTIO\'AKY.  Ill 

different  periodicals,  and  which  have  received  a  wide  circulation  and  high  commendation.  Some 
of  them  have  brought  him  valuable  prizes,  notably  those  on  agricultural  and  horticultural  sub- 
jects. Perhaps  the  most  useful  of  these  prize  essays  was  on  "  Dairy  Husbandry,"  which  was 
published  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Illinois  State  Agricultural  Society.  He  is  statistical  corre- 
spondent of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture;  has  managed  a  meteorological  station 
at  Sandwich  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  for  eighteen  years  reported  to  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  and  for  five  years  to  the  United  States  Signal  Service. 

During  all  the  thirty-six  years  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  been  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  it  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  state  that  he  has  led  a  very  busy  life.  While  in  west- 
ern New  York,  during  the  administration  of  President  Fillmore,  in  addition  to  his  professional 
rides,  he  held  the  post  of  custom  house  officer  of  the  Niagara  district,  and  since  1863  he  has  been 
United  States  pension  surgeon,  a  position  in  which  his  great  skill  in  that  line  has  shown  to  good 
advantage.  He  is  also  health  officer  of  the  city,  and  chairman  of  the  board  of  health,  positions 
which  he  is  admirably  adapted  to  fill.  He  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Sandwich  Fair,  and 
its  secretary  for  fourteen  years. 

Doctor  Ballou  has  probably  the  largest  medical  and  miscellaneous  library  in  De  Kalb  county, 
it  being  especially  full  and  rich  in  medical  science,  surgery,  natural  history  and  belles  lettres.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  stands  high  socially  and  morally,  as  well  as  profes- 
sionally. He  was  first  married  in  1850,  to  Miss  Catherine  Maria  Fuller,  of  Carlton,  an  acquain- 
tance of  his  early  youth,  and  she  died  in  April,  1877.  His  second  marriage  is  dated  November 
10, 1879.  his  present  wife  being  Mrs.  Calista  (Clark)  Byington,  also  of  Carlton,  another  lady  embraced 
in  the  circle  "of  his  youthful  acquaintances.  Her  mother  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  Ridge- 
way,  Orleans  county.  His  deceased  wife  was  an  active  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  as  is 
also  his  present  wife.  The  doctor  has  a  beautiful  southern  home  at  Lawtey,  on  the  Gulf  and 
Transit  railroad,  in  central  Florida,  with  a  large  orange  grove  and  other  attractions,  and  he  and 
his  wife  have  already  spent  one  or  two  winters  there. 

Doctor  Ballou  is  remotely  related  to  that  eminent  divine,  the  late  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  with 
whom  the  Garfields  are  also  connected  by  marriage,  the  martyred  president's  mother  being  a 
Ballou.  The  doctor's  oldest  brother,  Hosea  M.  Ballou,  of  Carlton,  New  York,  is  custom  house 
officer  of  the  Rochester  district,  and  his  youngest  brother,  Daniel  R.  Ballou,  a  wealthy  farmer 
near  Sandwich,  and  a  captain  in  the  civil  war,  is  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Jackson- 
ville Asylum  for  the  Insane.  The  whole  family  are  republicans,  and  sprung  from  the  best  whig 
stock  in  the  Empire  State. 


PETER  VAN   SCHAACK. 

GHICAGO. 

THE  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Van  Schaack,  Stevenson  and  Company,  the  leading  drug 
house  of  the  Northwest,  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  oldest  Knickerbocker  families  of  New 
York.  He  is  the  son  of  Hon.  Henry  Cruger  Van  Schaack,  the  author  of  several  revolutionary 
memoirs,  a  prominent  contributor  to  the  leading  historical  magazines  of  the  country,  who  has 
been  for  more  than  sixty  years  an  eminent  member  of  the  New  York  bar,  and  who  has  frequently 
lectured  before  the  historical  societies,  both  of  New  York  and  Chicago.  The  grandfather  of 
Peter  Van  Schaack,  after  whom  he  was  named,  and  from  whom  he  inherits  his  indomitable  pluck, 
was  the  famous  blind  lawyer  of  New  York.  He  was  a  remarkable  man,  a  profound  lawyer,  an 
accomplished  scholar,  and  one  of  the  worthies  of  New  York  legal  history.  While  temporarily 
residing  in  London,  he  was  designated  by  the  attendants  at  his  lodgings  as  "the  gentleman  with 
a  hard  name." 

He  was  born  in  March  1747.     At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  entered  the  freshman  class  of 
King's  (now  Columbia)  College,  in  the  city  of  New  York.     It  was  thc-re  he  formed  an  interesting 


112  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

and  valuable  acquaintance  with  John  Jay,  afterward  the  first  chief-justice  of  the  United  States. 
As  an  illustration  of  Mr.  Van  Schaack's  friendship  with  Governor  Jay,  no  better,  evidence  can  be 
given  than  Jay's  own  letter,  penned  at  Paris  in  1782.  It  was  while  the  latter  was  engaged  on  his 
mission  as  one  of  the  five  commissioners  to  negotiate  peace  with  Great  Britain,  and  while  the 
former  was,  with  heroic  fortitude,  suffering  from  the  fear  of  total  blindness  that  constantly  stared 
him  in  the  face,  that  Jay  wrote  his  old  college  chum,  "While  I  have  a  loaf,  you  and  your  children 
may  freely  partake  of  it.  Don't  let  this  idea  hurt  you.  If  your  circumstances  are  easy,  I  rejoice  ; 
if  not,  let  me  take  off  their  rougher  edges."  Mr.  Van  Schaack's  circumstances  were  easy,  but  Mr. 
Jay  had  good  reason  to  think  otherwise,  and  it  is  certainly  a  rare  instance  of  elevated  and  disin- 
terested friendship. 

Mr.  Van  Schaack  survived  his  old  friend  three  years,  and  Mr.  Jay's  epitaph  fell  from  the  blind 
man's  lips.  While  at  college  he  received  several  premiums  for  scholarship,  and  ranked  first  in 
his  class,  and  sixty  years  after  his  graduation  the  following  toast  was  drunk  at  the  anniversary 
meeting  of  the  alumni  of  his  alma  mater,  and  which  deserves  to  be  mentioned  for  its  appropriate- 
ness and  classic  beauty:  "Peter  Van  Schaack,  admired  for  his  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  for  his 
classical  attainments,  and  beloved  for  the  virtues  which  adorn  our  nature.  QMS  jure  peritior,  i/iiis 
virtitte  prcestantior  ? ' ' 

He  formed  an  early  matrimonial  alliance  with  the  ancient  and  distinguished  Cruger  family  of 
New  York  city.  His  brother-in-law,  Henry  Cruger,  the  colleague  of  Edmund  Burke,  in  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament,  was  the  first  American  member  of  that  most  august  assembly,  having  been  elected 
with  Burke  in  1774,  to  represent  the  city  of  Bristol  in  the  English  House  of  Commons,  while 
sojourning  in  England. 

At  the  January  term,  1769,  of  the  New  York  supreme  court,  he  was  licensed  to  practice  as  an 
attorney.  Shortly  after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  unlike  most  young  attorneys,  he  found  a  rap- 
idly increasing  business  intrusted  to  his  charge.  Respected  for  his  talents,  and  with  an  ambitious 
nature  and  a  reputation  unsullied,  bringing  to  the  profession  habits  of  industry,  and  a  disciplined 
mind,  and  having  also  an  extensive  and  influential  family  connection,  the  world  looked  bright 
upon  the  dawn  of  his  professional  career,  and  little  he  thought  of  the  gloomy  night  of  darkness 
in  store  for  him.  It  is  rare  that  a  young  attorney  has  entered  upon  his  professional  career  under 
such  flattering  circumstances,  but  rarer  still  that  human  nature  has  met  life's  vicissitudes  with 
such  heroic  fortitude. 

In  1773  Peter  Van  Schaack  was  appointed  to  the  important  and  responsible  office  of  collect- 
ing and  revising  the  statute  laws  of  the  colony  of  New  York.  The  execution  of  the  work  was 
intrusted  to  him  solely,  and  it  was  performed  in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to  his  judgment  and 
industry.  At  this  time  he  was  only  twenty-six  years  old.  His  revision  embraced  the  legislation 
of  the  colony  from  the  year  1691  to  1773,  inclusive,  being  a  period  of  upwards  of  eighty  years. 

The  assiduity  with  which  he  applied  himself  to  this  work  had  an  unfavorable  effect  upon  his 
vision,  and  he  was  always  of  the  opinion  that  it  was" a  leading  cause  of  his  subsequent  blindness, 
and  with  which  he  was  threatened  soon  after  the  completion  of  this  work,  and  the  dread  of  which 
was  ever  before  him.  At  an  early  day  his  vision  had  become  so  much  impaired  as  to  render  nec- 
essary the  employment  of  an  amanuensis.  He  continued,  however,  in  the  active  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession  for  twenty  years  afterward,  by  which  time  the  dreaded  storm  had  overtaken 
him.  But  he  still  clung  to  the  life  boat,  and  lived  up  to  his  chosen  family  motto. 

During  a  good  portion  of  his  life  he  was  totally  blind,  and  occupied  himself  with  training 
others  for  the  profession  which  he  had  practiced  for  more  than  forty  years.  Nearly  a  hundred 
young  gentlemen  were  educated  at  the  feet  of  this  learned  lawyer,  many  of  whom  became  emi- 
nent members  of  the  bar.  One  of  his  pupils  was  Judge  William  Kent,  the  only  son  of  the  chan- 
cellor. Another  was  Frederic  de  Peyster,  late  president  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and 
to  whom  he  wrote  in  his  eighty-third  year:  "You  see  that  like  an  old  coachman,  who  loves  the 
smack  of  his  whip,  I  still  have  some  professional  regards  ;  indeed,  I  have  some  professional  occu- 
pations, as  I  have  two  students  on  whom  I  bestow  much  of  my  time  and  attention,  of  which  I 
trust  they  will  enjoy  the  fruits." 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  \\\ 

He  continued  to  give  counsel  in  his  profession,  and  occasionally  gave  a  written  opinion  in 
critical  cases,  until  he  had  reached  four  score.  He  might  be  seen  in  his  study  with  his  law  stu- 
dents around  him  imparting  instruction  nearly  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  His  blindness  did 
not  shorten  his  days,  for  he  lived  until  September  27,  1832,  dying  at  his  native  Kinderhook  in  the 
eighty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

Mr.  Van  Schaack  was  extensively  familiar  with  English  literature,  and  was  probably  the  finest 
Latin  scholar  in  the  state  of  New  York,  and  was  extremely  partial  to  the  writers  of  the  Augustan 
age;  of  these  Virgil  was  his  favorite.  He  could  repeat  many  of  the  Eclogues  and  a  great  portion 
of  the  yEneid,  and  he  had  the  minutest  part  of  the  story  at  his  tongue's  end.  So,  also,  he  could 
recite  large  portions  of  the  odes  and  epistles  of  Horace,  and  of  the  orations  of  Cicero  in  the  origi- 
nal. His  opinions  and  other  papers  on  legal  subjects  were  always  drawn  up  with  logical  preci- 
sion, and  in  a  style  of  peculiar  purity  and  elegance.  These  accomplishments,  so  rare  in  the  legal 
profession,  and  so  ornamental  when  possessed,  in  connection  with  his  profound  knowledge  of  the 
law,  procured  for  him  from  Columbia  College  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws. 

Such  was  the  vigor  of  the  ancient  tree,  from^vhich  has  sprung  the  branch  whose  remarkable 
career  we  now  sketch.  It  is  a  matter  worthy  of  note  that  the  mother  of  Peter  Van  Schaack,  the 
younger,  was  as  remarkable  as  a  woman  as  his  father  and  grandfather  were  among  men.  She 
was  the  mother  of  fourteen  children,  and  was  made  always  happy  in  the  singular  reverence  and 
.affection  of  them  all.  She  was  a  woman  of  refinement  and  culture,  and  possessed  the  rare  accom- 
plishment of  elegant  conversational  powers,  combined  with  great  energy  of  character.  To  her  do- 
mestic virtues,  a  household  well  ordered  by  her  care,  a  numerous  family  trained  by  the  strenuous 
authority  of  love  to  lives  of  honor  and  usefulness,  bear  the  best  witness.  Added  to  her  domestic 
virtues  she  was  distinguished  for  a  notable  kindliness  of  temper,  gentle  courtesy,  great  benevo- 
lence and  deep  piety.  She  was  married  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  was  called  to  rest  from  her 
labors  August  31,  1876,  after  being  blessed  in  a  most  happy  married  life  of  nearly  fifty  years.  She 
was  a  native  of  Southwick,  Hampden  county,  Massachusetts,  and  a  daughter  of  Chauncey  Ives,  an 
officer  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  a  gentleman  of  great  refinement,  energy  and  decision  of  character. 
Her  grandfather  Pelton  was  a  soldier  in  the  revolutionary  war. 

Peter  Van  Schaack,  whose  career  we  now  record,  was  born  at  Manlius,  New  York,  April  7, 
1832.  He  attended  the  academy  at  that  place  till  about  fourteen  years  old,  when,  stimulated  by 
a  worthy  ambition,  he  boldly  set  out  upon  the  business  of  his  life.  From  a  very  early  age  he  had 
developed  a  great  preference  for  the  drug  business,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  get  permission  he 
entered  a  drug  store  in  Albany,  New  York,  as  a  clerk.  Here  he  made  very  rapid  progress,  and  in 
the  year  1849  went  to  New  York  city,  and  engaged  in  business  there,  but  the  climate  not  agreeing 
with  his  health,  in  1856  he  went  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  established  a  wholesale  and 
retail  drug  house.  He  soon  had  a  very  large  and  lucrative  business,  commanded  the  confidence 
of  the  trade,  had  unlimited  credit  in  New  York,  and  most  brilliant  prospects  for  the  future, 
when  the  bombardment  and  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter  sounded  the  death  knell  of  all  his  busi- 
ness hopes.  He  had  the  wisdom  to  foresee  the  trouble  in  store  for  all  northern  men  within  the 
rebel  lines,  and  without  delay  sent  his  wife  and  two  little  children  north.  He  remained  till  mid- 
summer, when  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  all  his  possessions,  and  went  to  Europe.  On  his 
return  he  visited  General  Gilmore,  and  was  present  at  the  bombardment  of  Charleston  by  the 
gunboats  under  his  command.  He  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  his  store  with  what  remained  of 
its  contents  unconfiscated,  consumed  by  the  fire  of  the  Union  shells. 

It  may  be  well  to  mention  here  that  of  all  his  possessions  in  Charleston  he  brought  away 
scarcely  anything,  but  after  the  close  of  the  war  he  recovered  the  life-size  image  of  a  negro,  which 
stood  as  a  sign  in  front  of  his  store,  holding  the  brazen  mortar  and  pestle.  That  oaken  corpse  of 
defunct  hopes  still  stands  in  the  yard  in  the  rear  of  his  residence  in  Chicago,  minus  head  and 
arms,  knocked  off  by  one  of  Gilmore's  shells,  thrown  over  three  miles,  from  the  Swamp  Angel,  in 
1864.  It  is  a  melancholy  memento  of  what  Judge  Tourgee  calls  "  A  Fool's  Errand,"  but  invaluable 
to  him  and  his  family  as  a  proof  of  the  indomitable  energy  and  skill  of  the  head  of  the  house  who 
so  rapidly  and  surely  snatched  victory  from  defeat,  and  replaced  a  lost  fortune  by  a  greater  one. 


114  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

While  being  entertained  by  General  Gilmore  at  his  headquarters,  on  Morris  Island,  Charleston 
Harbor,  he  shared  in  the  common  anticipation  of  an  easy  victory  and  the  speedy  termination  of 
the  rebellion,  but  after  a  fruitless  waiting  of  some  months  he  gave  up  the  hope  and  returned  to 
New  York.  Here  he  remained  in  business  about  a  year,  but  in  the  spring  of  1864  came  to  Chi- 
cago, and  established  "The  Old  Salamander  Drug  House,"  an  establishment  whose  name  and  solid 
reputation  has  penetrated  to  every  drug  store  of  the  Northwest.  As  an  unmistakable  indication 
of  the  strength  of  his  character  and  of  its  solid  foundation  in  the  principles  of  honesty  and 
uprightness,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  Van  Schaack  steadily  refused  to  leave  his  old  home  in 
Charleston  until  all  his  business  indebtedness  at  the  North,  as  well  as  at  the  South  had  been  paid 
in  full.  As  an  illustration  of  this  it  may  be  stated  that  the  gold  that  went  to  pay  his  last  northern 
account  had  to  be  bought  at  a  premium  of  eighty-six  per  cent. 

But  adverse  fortune  seemed  bent  on  his  overthrow;  and  after  he  became  fully  established  in 
Chicago,  but  before  he  had  recovered  his  losses  consequent  upon  the  rebellion,  the  terrible  Lake 
street  fire,  in  the  winter  of  1868,  came  and  swept  all  away  for  the  second  time.  Everything  but 
honor,  reputation  and  energy  went  down  in  the«fury  of  the  flames.  But  "The  Old  Salamander 
Drug  House "  justifies  its  reputation,  and  the  next  day,  phcenix-like,  it  had  arisen  from  the 
ashes  and  stuck  out  a  new  shingle. 

Mr.  Van  Schaack,  who  is,  by  the  way,  a  great  wag,  informed  the  trade,  on  a  large  sign  board 
placed  in  front  of  the  ruins  of  his  old  store,  that,  "on  account  of  the  intense  heat,"  they  had 
removed  to  new  quarters,  and  could  hereafter  be  found  at  the  corner  of  Randolph  street  and 
Michigan  avenue.  The  drug  house  of  Van  Schaack,  Stevenson  and  Company,  although  having 
sustained  heavy  losses  in  the  great  Chicago  fire  of  1871  by  the  total  destruction  of  their  store  and 
warehouse,  paid  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  immediately  resumed  business  upon  as 
sound  a  basis  as  before.  After  the  fire,  when  mercantile  houses  were  at  a  great  extremity  to 
secure  temporary  facilities  for  carrying  on  their  business,  Mr.  Van  Schaack  found  a  large  and 
commodious  church,  which  had  recently  been  vacated,  and  thinking  that  a  building  once  ded- 
icated to  religious  uses  would  be  still  further  consecrated  by  the  pure  incense  of  genuine  drugs 
and  patent  medicines,  the  firm  made  that  their  resting  place  until  their  new  store,  on  the  old  site, 
at  the  corner  of  Lake  and  Dearborn  streets,  was  completed. 

For  a  period  now  of  nearly  twelve  years  fortune  has  continued  to  smile  on  them,  and  the 
house  has  reached  the  pinnacle  of  prosperity,  and  may  be  said  to  be  second  to  none  in  their  line 
in  the  Northwest.  His  energy  and  executive  ability  are  remarkable.  To  witness  the  celerity 
and  vim  with  which  he  dispatches  business  makes  an  easy-going  man  feel  like  stepping  off  the 
track  to  let  the  train  go  by.  Few  men  have  either  the  energy  or  the  will-power  to  battle  as  he 
has  done  with  the  outrages  of  an  adverse  fortune,  and  conquer  them  all  while  still  a  young  man. 
He  has  been  the  living  embodiment  of  persistent  energy  and  indomitable  pluck,  and  has 
triumphed  over  obstacles  and  disasters  which  would  have  crushed  ordinary  men. 

His  whole  life  has  been  a  grand  illustration  of  the  motto  of  his  family,  "  Snperanda  fortiina 
ferendo."  This  has  been  the  philosophy  of  his  life,  as  it  was  that  of  his  grandfather,  Peter  Van 
Schaack,  and  interpreted  by  his  own  language  and  the  events  through  which  he  has  passed,  means 
that  "  fortune  is  to  be  overcome  by  enduring  it  with  patience  and  fortitude." 

In  the  fall  of  1857  Mr.  Van  Schaack  contracted  a  happy  matrimonial  alliance  with  Miss  Louise 
Smith,  the  only  child  of  J.  Calvin  Smith,  a  wholesale  merchant  of  New  York  city,  and  a  gentle- 
man of  great  education  and  fine  social  position.  Her  grandfather  was  the  well-known  Isaac  T. 
Storm,  the  founder  of  the  firm  of  Storm,  Smith  and  Company,  one  of  the  oldest  mercantile 
houses  in  America.  Four  sons  and  one  daughter,  the  latter  recently  happily  married,  are  the  fruit 
of  this  union.  Mr.  Van  Schaack  gives  employment  to  three  sons  in  his  immense  establishment. 
His  second  son,  Henry  Cruger  Van  Schaack,  is  one  of  the  rising  young  attorneys  of  Chicago,  and 
bids  more  than  promise  to  keep  up  the  legal  reputation  of  the  family.  He  has  a  fine  legal  mind, 
is  a  great  student  and  a  fluent  orator,  and  will  make  his  mark  as  'a  court  advocate.  He  is  one  of 
the  trustees  of  his  ahna  mater,  the  Chicago  University,  and  is  associated  with  his  uncle,  Corne- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  115 

Hits  Van  Schaack,  a  well  known  and  successful  attorney  of  this  city,  and  an  officer  under  General 
Sheridan  in  the  late  war.  In  1880  Mr.  Van  Schaack  took  his  entire  family  with  him  to  Europe 
for  an  extended  trip.  The  eldest  son,  however,  continued  his  travels  into  Egypt,  and  furnished 
the  "Times"  and  European  journals  with  a  series  of  very  brilliant  letters  from  the  ancient  land 
of  the  Pyramids.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  fine  mind  and  extensive  information,  and  his  letters  were 
widely  read  and  greatly  admired.  Politically  Mr.  Van  Schaack  is  a  democrat,  but  not  an  office- 
seeker,  nor  a  slave  to  party.  With  his  natural,  sturdy  independence  he  follows  his  own  inclina- 
tions, and  votes  for  the  best  man,  regardless  of  party.  He  is  by  nature,  however,  an  inveterate 
'foe  to  oppression  and  without  reverence  for  ancient  abuses,  however  strongly  intrenched  in  cus- 
tum.  This  makes  him  a  reformer,  and  hence,  while  a  member  of  Christ  Episcopal  Church,  he 
took  sides  heartily  in  the  reformed  movement  headed  by  Bishop  Cheney,  and,  as  a  member  of 
the  vestry,  stood  by  him  in  the  subsequent  successful  struggle  with  Bishop  Whitehouse  over  the 
possession  of  the  church  property  belonging  to  the  congregation. 


NATHAN  E.   LYMAN. 

ROCK  FORD. 

NATHAN  ELIJAH  LYMAN,  president  of  the  People's  Bank  of  Rockford,  was  born  in  Rush- 
ford,  Allegany  county,  New  York,  November  17,  1834,  being  a  son  of  Reuben  L.  Lyman, 
a  farmer,  of  New  York  birth,  and  Mary  C.  (Kimball)  Lyman,  a  native  of  Vermont.  His  grand- 
father, Elijah  Lyman,  was  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  England,  and  his  great-grandfather, 
Gideon  Lyman,  in  the  first.  The  Lyman  family  came  from  Highongar,  England,  near  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  our  subject  is  descended  from  John  Lyman,  which  branch  settled 
at  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  spreading  thence  into  New  York  and  the  western  states. 

Nathan  was  educated  at  the  Rushford  Academy,  having  among  his  schoolmates  Hon.  Henry 
M.  Teller,  United  States  senator  for  Colorado,  and  Hon.  Thaddeus  C.  Pound,  member  of  congress 
from  Wisconsin. 

Mr.  Lyman  taught  school  three  years  in  his  native  state,  and  in  1855  came  to  Illinois,  locating 
at  Erie,  Whiteside  county,  and  there  engaging  in  mercantile  pursuits.  In  1861  he  removed  to 
Livingston  county,  and  aided  in  founding  the  old  Fairbury  Bank,  which  afterward  became  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Fairbury. 

In  1873,  at  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  Mr.  Lyman  was  elected  president  of  the  People's  Bank 
of  Rockford,  and  immediately  removed  to  this  city.  He  has  proved  an  able  manager  of  this  insti- 
tution, and  is  making  it  a  grand  success,  it  being  one  of  the  most  substantial  banks  in  Winnebago 
county. 

Mr.  Lyman  is  treasurer  and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Rockford  Boot  and  Shoe  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  founders;  is  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Rockford 
Cutlery  Company,  and  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Lockwood  and  Lyman,  who  are  manufacturing 
screen  doors,  green  wire  cloth,  brass  and  iron  wire  cloth,  door  springs,  etc.,  these  all  being  pros- 
perous enterprises.  Mr.  Lyman  is  also  treasurer  of  the  Home  Building  and  Loan  Association, 
another  thrifty  institution.  He  has  likewise  the  same  office  in  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers' 
Mutual  Insurance  Company.  The  burdens  of  office  seem  to  be  heaped  upon  him,  but  he  has 
spirit  sufficient  for  them  all. 

Sunday  is  a  busy  day  with  him,  as  well  as  the  six  week  days,  for  he  is  superintendent  of  the 
Court  street  Methodist  Sunday  school,  of  which  church  he  is  a  member  and  very  liberal  supporter, 
and  we  doubt  if  any  labor  is  performed  by  him  with  more  cheerfulness  and  zest  than  that  of  the 
day  of  rest.  "Mr.  Lyman  is  known,"  writes  a  friend,  "as  an  earnest  Christian  worker,  ready  for 
every  good  word  and  work.  Sincerely  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  city,  the  church  and  his 
home,  there  is  not  to  be  found  a  busier  man  in  Rockford.  His  advice  is  sought  in  matters  of 
business,  and  the  various  official  relations  he  sustains  to  the  church  attest  to  the  high  esteem  in 


Il6  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

which  he  is  held.  His  genial  nature  wins  him  many  warm  friends.  Mr.  Lyman  is  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  local  schools,  and  was  at  one  period  president  of  the  city  board  of  education.  He 
has  held  the  office  of  city  treasurer  for  two  or  three  terms. 

Mr.  Lyman  married,  March  30,  1857,  Rachel  A.,  daughter  of  Joseph  Weaver,  one  of  the  leading 
citizens  of  Erie,  Illinois,  and  they  have  three  children. 


JOHN   H.   BEAUMONT,  M.D. 

FREE  FOR  T. 

JOHN  HENRY  BEAUMONT,  homoeopathic  physician  and  surgeon,  one  of  the  oldest  medical 
J  practitioners  in  Stephenson  county,  was  a  native  of  Washington  county,  New  York,  being  born 
at  Sandy  Hill,  February  12,  1818.  His  father  was  William  Beaumont,  a  millwright;  his  grand- 
father was  Daniel  Beaumont,  a  revolutionary  patriot  and  soldier  of  French  pedigree,  and  his 
mother  was  Deborah  Harris,  a  native  of  New  York  state.  When  John  was  five  years  the  family 
moved  to  Champlain,  Clinton  county,  where  the  son  was  educated  in  the  common  school,  doing 
also  some  work  on  a  farm  which  his  father  owned.  At  an  early  age  he  began  to  take  much  inter- 
est in  surgery,  which  he  studied  in  private,  much  to  the  detriment  and  even  destruction  of  certain 
live  animals  in  and  about  the  pig-sty.  In  his  studies  in  this  branch  of  the  healing  art,  he  received 
some  encouraging  words  from  his  cousin,  Doctor  William  Beaumont,  that  eminent  surgeon  of  the 
United  States  army,  who  gave  the  first  insight  into  the  theory  of  digestion,  and  is  the  highest 
authority  on  that  subject  in  this  country. 

The  family  of  William  Beaumont  fell  into  the  westward  current  when  their  son  John  was 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  the  father,  mother,  and  ten  children  found  a  new  home  in  Elkhart, 
Indiana,  in  1840.  Of  this  large  family  of  children  but  one  survives  the  doctor,  James  Beau- 
mont, of  Kidder,  Missouri,  who  was  present  at  his  brother's  funeral. 

It  was  about  four  years  later  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch  accepted  employment  with  his 
uncle,  Deacon  Josiah  Beaumont,  of  Joliet,  in  this  state.  In  1863  he  settled  in  Freeport,  where  he 
died  February  24,  1883. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  and  in  1870  was  president  of  the 
Illinois  Homoeopathic  Medical  Association,  being  well  known  in  this  state,  and  having  many 
prominent  medical  friends  in  other  states.  The  doctor  wrote  occasionally  for  medical  peri- 
odicals, mainly  reports  of  cases  in  connection  with  his  practice.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  a  man  of  excellent  standing. 

He  married  in  1844,  Miss  Alcista  Melissa  Bebee,  a  native  of  Starksborough,  Vermont,  and  they 
had  three  children,  all  settled  in  life:  Emma,  married  to  George  W.  Clark,  merchant,  Freeport; 
Rose  Ann,  married  to  Doctor  L.  M.  Currier,  of  Sycamore,  Illinois,  and  John  Flanders  Beaumont, 
M.D.,  a  graduate  of  the  Homoeopathic  College,  Philadelphia,  and  of  the  Ophthalmic  Hospital,  New 
York,  who  is  practicing  at  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  making  a  specialty  of  the  eye  and  ear,  and 
being  a  young  man  of  much  promise. 


ALEXANDER    BRUCE. 

MARSEILLES. 

ALEXANDER  BRUCE,  banker  and  railroad  contractor,  is  a  native  of  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland, 
I\.  a  son  of  George  and  Ann  (Brown)  Bruce,  and  was  born  July  30,  1827.  His  mother  was  a 
native  of  Banff,  Scotland.  His  father  and  grandfather  were  millers  and  mill-wrights,  and  when 
he  had  finished  his  education  (common  English)  he  learned  the  same  trade.  In  1844  he  left  the 
old  country,  came  directly  to  Lockport,  this  state,  and  there  worked  at  his  trade  until  1852,  when 
he  moved  to  La  Salle,  and  took  charge  of  the  construction  of  bridges  on  the  Illinois  Central  rail- 
road, which  was  then  building.  The  first  train  to  enter  La  Salle  went  in  from  Chicago  on  the 
Rock  Island  road,  March  6,  1853. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  117 

In  1855  Mr.  Bruce  moved  to  Marseilles,  continuing  the  same  business,  in  which  he  has  been 
engaged  most  of  the  time  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  has  had  contracts  on  more 
than  a  do/en  of  roads,  principally  the  masonry  of  bridges,  and  is  one  of  the  most  energetic  and 
competent  business  men  in  this  part  of  the  state.  In  1864  he  commenced  buying  and  shipping 
grain,  operating  at  different  points,  principally  at  Seneca,  La  Salle  county,  and  Henry,  Marshall 
county,  building  up  in  a  short  time  a  very  extensive  business,  and  becoming  the  leading  grain 
shipper  in  this  section. 

In  1873  Mr.  Bruce  became  a  stockholder  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Marseilles,  and  has 
been  its  president  ever  since.  It  is  a  well  managed  institution,  solid  and  popular,  and  doing  a 
good  business.  Mr.  Bruce  has  held  a  few  municipal  offices,  giving  a  reasonable  portion  of  his 
time  to  the  discharge  of  such  duties,  but  has  never  been  a  seeker  after  honors  in  that  direction. 
He  seems  to  have  aimed  to  become  a  successful  business  man,  and  has  succeeded  admirably.  In 
politics  he  early  became  a  republican,  voting  for  General  John  C.  Fremont  in  1856,  and  for 
Abraham  Lincoln  in  1860  and  1864.  He  married  Mary  Smith,  a  native  of  Scotland,  in  1854,  and 
they  have  six  children. 

Mr.  Bruce  came  to  the  United  States  with  very  little  means,  save  a  desire  to  find  something  to 
do,  and  a  good  constitution  to  back  up  that  desire  when  work  was  found.  His  accumulations 
are  the  result  of  wise  plannings  and  business-pushing  propensities. 


HENRY    L.  BENNETT. 

GENEVA. 

HENRY  LEROY   BENNETT,  a  prominent  flour  manufacturer  and  enterprising  man,  and  a 
son  of  Stephen  Bennett,  miller,  was  born  at  Lisle,  Broome  county,  New  York,  June  6,  1828. 
His  mother  was  Robey  Green,  whose  father  was  an  officer  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  whose 
mother  was  the  wife  of  three  revolutionary  officers,  and  aided  in  preparing  many  a  meal  for  General 
Washington.     She  drew  a  pension  till  her  death,  which  occurred  at  ninety-eight  years  of  age. 

Henry  was  educated  in  a  district  school,  having  very  limited  opportunities,  and  acquiring  a  ' 
business  education  by  his  own  exertions  as  the  exigencies  arose.  He  left  home  at  seventeen 
years  of  age,  learned  the  milling  business  at  Oswego,  New  York,  and  was  engaged  for  several 
years  in  starting  mills  at  various  places  in  that  state.  Mr.  Bennett  came  to  the  West  in  1855,  and 
made,  at  Piano,  Illinois,  the  first  flour  ever  manufactured  for  Lewis  Stewart ;  also  the  first  flour 
made  at  Sandwich.  He  started  the  mill  for  Detcher  and  Wyman,  of  Amboy,  the  latter  member 
of  the  firm  being  General  Wyman,  who  was  killed  at  Vicksburg. 

In  1859  Mr.  Bennett  commenced  for  himself  at  Avon,  Fulton  county,  where  he  did  a  success- 
ful business  for  eight  years,  removing  thence  to  Geneva  in  1866.  Here  he  bought,  in  company 
with  his  brother,  of  C.  B.  Dodson,  the  City  Mills,  now  known  as  the  Bennett  Mills,  then  having 
three  run  of  stone,  and  since  greatly  enlarged.  The  mills  now  have  eight  run  of  stone,  and 
rollers  equivalent  to  three  run,  and  are  running  night  and  day,  usually  the  year  round,  turning 
out  one  hundred  and  sixty  barrels  every  twenty-four  hours. 

Among  the  most  popular  brands  made  in  these  mills  are  the  Geneva  Belle  patent,  and  the 
Oracle,  straight  vhite  winter,  which,  with  other  cheaper  brands  of  his,  are  well  known  all  over 
this  part  of  the  country.  So  excellent  is  the  quality  of  his  flour,  and  so  great  is  the  demand  for 
it,  that  he  is  sometimes  behind  in  his  orders,  which  is  slightly  annoying  to  a  prompt  business 
man  like  Mr.  Bennett.  He  is  one  of  the  best  practical  millers  in  the  state,  having  given  thirty- 
five  years  to  the  closest  study  of  the  business,  and  acquired  a  complete  mastery  of  the  art.  He 
takes  pride  in  his  trade,  gives  his  time  assiduously  to  it,  and  hence  the  difficulty  of  eclipsing  him 
in  the  manufacture  of  choice  brands  of  flour. 

Mr.  Bennett  has,  at  sundry  times,  done  some  valuable  work  in  the  town  council  of  Geneva, 
and  is  a  first-class  business  man,  but  he  evidently  does  not  covet  office.  He  is  a  straight  republi- 
can in  politics;  a  Unitarian  in  religion  and  an  upright,  substantial  citizen. 


Il8  r.YI TKD    STATKS  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

He  first  married  in  1848,  Miss  Isabel  Marsh,  of  Constantia,  Oswego  county,  New  York,  and  she 
died  in  1851,  leaving  one  son,  Adelbert  Bennett,  now  living  in  Constantia;  and  the  second  time  in 
1853,  Miss  Helen  E.  Bliss,  also  of  Constantia,  having  by  her  four  children:- Alice,  the  wife  of  C. 
W.  Gates,  of  Geneva,  and  Isabel  J.,  George  H.,  and  Fred  Elmer,  who  are  all  at  home. 


JACOB    HAISH. 

DE   KALB. 

AMONG  the  self-instructed,  self-made  and  eminently  successful  citizens  of  De  Kalb  county, 
Illinois,  may  be  safely  ranked  the  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of 
this  sketch.  He  is  a  native  of  Bonddish,  Germany,  dating  his  birth  March  9,  1827,  and  is  a  son  of 
Christian  and  Christena  (Laman)  Haish,  members  of  the  farming  community.  The  family  came 
to  this  country  when  Jacob  was  nine  years  old,  and  settled  in  Crawford  county,  Ohio,  where  he 
received  a  limited  English  education,  and  had  a  generous  experience  in  swinging  an  ax,  his  father 
opening  a  farm  in  the  woods.  He  aided  in  clearing  land  and  tilling  the  soil  until  nineteen  or 
twenty  years  of  age,  when  he  pushed  westward  into  Illinois,  and  made  a  halt  at  Naperville,  Du 
Page  county,  where  he  worked  a  few  seasons  at  first  as  a  farm  hand,  While  there,  in  1848,  he 
married  Miss  Sophie  Brown,  of  that  county,  and  a  year  later  came  into  this  county,  locating  on  a 
farm  in  Pierce  township.  A  few  years  afterward  he  moved  into  the  village,  now  city,  of  De  Kalb, 
and  after  working  awhile  as  a  house  carpenter,  a  trade  which  he  had  picked  up,  he  went  into 
the  lumber  trade,  at  the  same  time  taking  contracts  as  a  builder,  and  doing  a  thrifty  business. 

In  1873  he  made  his  first  attempt  to  attach  a  barb  to  wire,  in  December  of  which  year  he  filed 
his  first  patent,  which  was  issued  January  20,  1874.  Improvements  were  made  from  year  to  year, 
and  half  a  dozen  patents  in  all  of  his  have  been  issued,  fairly  entitling  him  to  rank  among  the 
prominent  inventors  of  the  present  decade.  Taking  a  choice  of  the  lot  of  his  inventions,  he  has 
since  been  manufacturing  steel,  barb  fencing  on  the  best  principle  and  devices,  the  same  being 
the  famous  S  patent,  and  is  meeting  with  almost  marvelous  success. 

Mr.  Haish  built  his  first  barb  wire  factory  in  1874,  a  humble,  unpretending  structure,  which 
he  enlarged  from  year  to  year,  and  in  1881  he  put  up  a  building  one  hundred  by  three  hundred 
feet  in  length,  and  two  stories  highland  now  gives  employment  to  a  hundred  workmen,  and  is 
turning  out  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  tons  of  steel  barb  wire  daily.  This  is  the  state  of  things 
in  May,  1882,  and  very  likely  before  this  work  gets  into  the  hands  of  its  patrons,  the  capacity  of 
his  shops  may  be  doubled. 

When  Mr.  Haish 's  new  factory  was  first  completed,  the  editor  of  a  local  paper  thus  spoke  of  it: 

"The  new  factory  just  completed,  wherein  is  manufactured  the  world  renowned  Pioneer  S 
Barb  Steel  Fence  Wire  rivals  any  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  West  as  the  most  perfect  in  all 
its  appointments,  and  the  most  casual  observer  will  be  startled  at  the  effort  displayed  to  intro- 
duce all  the  modern  improvements  of  the  age.  It  is  no  extravagance  of  language  to  say  that  a 
finer  equipped  factory  is  not  in  existence.  It  has  an  obelisk  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in 
height,  from  the  summit  of  which  you  may  look  down  the  inside  of  a  less  pretentious  structure 
twenty  miles  distant.  This  obelisk  is  both  ornamental  and  useful,  serving  as  an  advertisement  and 
guide  to  the  wanderer,  and  as  a  smoke  stack  to  the  factory.  The  building  covers  forty  thousand 
square  feet  of  floor  space ;  is  two  stories  in  height,  with  a  frontage  on  Sixth  street  of  one  hundred 
and  twelve  feet,  and  three  hundred  feet  on  Main  street.  The  structure  is  built  of  pressed  brick  of 
the  French  Renaissance  order  of  architecture. 

To  see  what  science  has  accomplished,  let  us  walk  through  the  building.  You  are  led  natur- 
ally to  where  the  gem  of  an  engine  is  running,  so  perfect  in  its  movements  that  no  sound  indi- 
cates that  it  makes  a  speed  of  .one  hundred  and  ten  revolutions  a  minute.  It  is  of  the  Buckeye 
pattern,  of  the  latest  approved  design,  one  hundred  and  fifty  horse  power,  capable  of  running  one 
hundred  barb  fence  machines  with  the  needed  complement  of  lathes,  drills,  spoolers,  planers,  saw- 


LIBfHRY 

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STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  121 

ing  and  boring  machines,  and  one  sixteen  Brush  electric  light  machine.  Just  beside  the  engine 
are  two  immense  tubular  boilers,  adorned  with  a  net  work  of  valves  and  pipes,  intricate  enough 
to  the  ordinary  observer,  but  all  serving  their  place.  One  set  leads  to  the  large  water  tanks, 
another  to  supply  steam  for  heating  the  building,  another  for  an  outlet  to  the  chimes  or  whistles, 
whose  musical  power  will  awaken  the  dead  memories  of  the  old  croakers  to  the  fact  that  De  Kalb 
stands  out  preeminent  as  a  town  of  push  and  energy,  and  the  near  future  will  reveal  that  improve- 
ments have  only  commenced.  Just  in  range  with  the  above  comes  the  dynamo,  which  generates 
the  electricity  to  feed  the  thirty  carbons  for  lighting  the  factory,  the  opera  house  and  principal 
streets  of  the  city. 

This  plant,  including  engine,  boilers,  steam  pipes,  radiators  and  coils  for  heating  the  entire 
building,  reaches  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Starting  at  one  end  of  the  building 
you  may  look  down  the  distance  and  see  fifty  barb  fence  machines  in  active  operation.  On  the 
floor  above  fifty  more  machines  will  be  placed  in  motion,  as  Mr.  Haish  finds  already  that  his 
calculations  for  space  were  too  small,  and  he  will  need  to  add  largely  to  his  works  ;  hence  in  the 
not  distant  future  the  old  hay  press  lots  will  have  to  pay  tribute  to  the  growing  demands  of  wire 
and  other  articles  of  merchandise  it  is  intended  to  manufacture. 

Mr.  Haish  was  the  first  person  to  introduce  barb  wire  into  the  country,  and  to  enamel  and 
coat  it,  and  in  his  line  of  manufacture,  is  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  world.  Steel  wire  fenc- 
ing has  become  extremely  popular,  especially  in  the  land  of  prairies,  and  Mr.  Haish  is  using  the 
best  wire  that  can  be  produced,  and  is  putting  a  superior  article  in  the  market,  hence  his  success 
is  simply  astonishing.  He  had  a  tremendous  struggle  in  introducing  it,  manfully  stood  the  brunt 
of  the  battle  for  years,  and  is  now  reaping  the  rich  reward  of  his  indomitable  energy  and  perse- 
verance. 

HON.  JOHN  CLARK. 

SOMONA  UK. 

JOHN  CLARK,  banker  and  farmer,  and  late  member  of  the  legislature,  dates  his  birth  at  Had- 
dam,  Middlesex  county,  Connecticut,  February  8,  1821.  His  father,  George  Clark,  a  farmer, 
was  born  in  the  same  town,  and  this  branch  of  the  Clark  family  was  among  the  first  settlers  on 
the  Connecticut  River.  Joseph  Clark,  the  grandfather  of  John,  participated  in  the  struggle  for 
independence.  George  Clark  married  Emily  Smith,  and  they  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  of 
whom  John  was  the  third  child.  He  finished  his  education  in  the  local  academy;  came  to  Illinois 
in  1842;  taught  school  five  winter  terms  and  one  summer  term  in  De  Kalb  and  La  Salle  counties, 
entering  land  meantime  and  improving  it  when  not  teaching. 

At  the  end  of  five  years  Mr.  Clark  returned  to  Haddam,  and  remained  there  eight  years, 
teaching  one  winter,  and  marrying  Miss  Amelia  B.  Shailer,  daughter  of  John  Shailer,  February 
29,  1847.  His  principal  business  during  the  period  spent  at  the  East  was  farming.  In  the  spring 
of  1856  he  returned  to  De  Kalb  county,  and  settled  on  one  of  his  farms,  two  miles  from  Somo- 
nauk.  For  a  few  years  he  gave  his  time  and  devoted  his  energies  almost  exclusively  to  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  and  he  now  has  four  farms,  all  within  five  or  six  miles  of  Somonauk,  all  under  good 
improvement  and  all  rented  to  prudent  parties.  During  the  last  seven  or  eight  years  much  atten- 
tion has  been  gi>-en  to  the  dairy  business,  there  being  from  fifty  to  sixty  cows  on  these  farms. 

Since  i87o-Mr.  Clark  has  resided  in  the  village  of  Somonauk.  While  living  on  the  farm  he 
was  for  some  time  assistant  school  director,  and  also  supervisor  of  the  town  of  Somonauk  for  a 
long  time.  A  few  years  ago,  in  company  with  other  parties,  he  organized  the  Somonauk  Wind- 
mill Company,  the  firm  name  being  Clark  and  Company,  a  prosperous  institution-. 

In  February,  1880,  he  engaged  in  the  banking  business  with  others  under  the  firm  name  of 
Clark,  Wright  and  Stevens,  an  institution  which  has  been  prosperous  from  the  start.  Mr.  Clark 
is  president  of  the  bank. 

In  the  autumn  of  1880  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  the  late  thirteenth  dis- 
13 


122  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

trict,  which  was  composed  of  De  Kalb,  Kendall  and  Grundy  counties.  These  are  all  republican 
counties  and  he  is  a  democrat,  and  he  owed  his  election  to  the  minority  representation,  his  party 
wisely  concentrating  their  votes  mainly  on  him.  He  has  usually  been  quite  active  in  politics, 
rarely  failing  to  attend  a  county  convention,  and  often  being  a  delegate  to  congressional  and  state 
conventions.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  was  for  years  secretary  of  the  Somonauk  Lodge, 
No.  646. 

As  already  intimated,  Mr.  Clark  got  possession  of  a  little  land  here  at  an  early  day,  and  but  a 
little  at  first,  his  means  being  quite  limited;  but  he  was  reared  in  habits  of  industry;  was  early 
inured  to  solid  farm  work;  had  instilled  into  his  mind  the  lessons  of  prudence  and  economy,  so 
commonly  taught  by  New  England  parents,  and  he  has  been  successful  because  he  early  began  to 
save  his  earnings,  and  has  been  a  shrewd,  yet  conscientious  and  straightforward  manager. 


HENRY    B.   PLANT. 

LA    SALLE. 

HENRY  BENJAMIN  PLANT,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Sarah  (Mason)  Plant,  was  born  in  Utica, 
Oneida  county,  New  York,  January  n,  1831.  His  father  was  born  in  Utica,  and  his  grand- 
father, Benjamin  Plant,  Sr.,  in  Connecticut.  The  family  were  early  settlers  in  Oneida  county. 
Two  great-grandfathers,  Mason  and  Potter,  were  in  the  revolutionary  war,  commencing  at  Bunker 
Hill,  and  his  maternal  grandfather  was  in  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country.  His  grand- 
sire,  Arnold  Mason,  was  an  early  canal  and  railroad  contractor,  and  was  engaged  in  the 
construction  of  many  public  works  in  the  East.  Sarah  (Mason)  Plant  was  a  sister  of  ex-Mayor 
R.  B.  Mason,  of  Chicago. 

Henry  received  an  academic  education  in  his  native  city;  was  on  his  father's  farm  till  seven- 
teen years  old,  when  he  engaged  in  civil  engineering,  commencing  in  Connecticut  on  the 
Naugatuck  railroad,  and  was  subsequently  on  the  New  York  and  New  Haven,  the  Vermont 
Valley  and  on  preliminary  surveys  in  Pennsylvania.  In  1851  Mr.  Plant  came  to  Illinois,  and  was 
chief  engineer  of  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  Illinois  Central  road,  with  headquarters  at  Blooming- 
ton  and  Decatur,  being  thus  engaged  until  the  completion  of  that  road. 

In  1854  he  went  to  Hastings,  Minnesota,  and  engaged  in  banking  and  real  estate.  While  he  was 
in  that  state  the  land  grant  railroads  were  building,  and  Mr.  Plant  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Sibley  as  engineer  to  inspect  and  report  upon  several  roads,  he  being  thus  employed  until  1858, 
when  he  returned  to  Illinois,  and  for  about  a  year  was  engaged  in  contracting  on  the  Illinois 
Central  road.  After  that  he  was  appointed  engineer  on  the  Chicago  and  Alton  road,  assisting 
his  uncle,  R.  B.  Mason. 

A  year  later,  1860,  Mr.  Plant  became  assistant  superintendent  of  the  Logansport,  Peoria  and 
Burlington  road  ;  was  soon  afterward  appointed  general  superintendent  of  the  same  road,  and 
holding  that  position  when  Sumter  fell.  In  1861  he  went  into  the  service  of  his  country,  as 
second  lieutenant,  battery  I,  2d  artillery,  and  was  in  for  three  years,  when  ill  health  compelled 
him  to  resign,  he  being  completely  broken  down.  Before  leaving  the  field  he  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  He  served  under  Generals  Buell,  Rosencranz,  and  Sherman,  and  was 
in  Sheridan's  division  a  considerable  period  of  time. 

Soon  after  he  had  recovered  his  health,  Mr.  Plant  spent  some  time  at  Cairo,  in  this  state,  and 
was  in  the  employ  of  Halliday  Brothers,  and  from  this  firm  he  went  to  St.  Johns,  Perry  county, 
Illinois,  as  superintendent  of  the  coal  mines,  and  while  there  he  was  married  in  April,  1871,  to 
Miss  Carrie  Neely.  of  Du  Quoin,  and  they  have  two  children. 

In  the  spring  of  1872  Mr.  Plant  removed  to  Joliet  and  engaged  in  the  lumber  and  planing  mill 
business.  In  August,  1876,  he  was  appointed  receiver  in  a  case  in  the  United  States  court  —  the 
case  of  the  Northern  Illinois  Coal  and  Iron  Company,  he  expecting  to  return  to  Joliet  within  a 
year.  He  still  has  charge  of  the  property,  which  is  part  of  the  estate  of  Henry  L.  Young,  late 


f.Vf't'KD    STATES   11IOC.KA  TIllCA  I.    DICTIONARY.  123 

of  New  York  city,  deceased.  In  addition  to  managing  that  property,  he  is  also  manager  of  a 
corporation  which  was  formed  to  work  the  mines,  likewise  still  continuing  his  interests  at  Joliet. 
Mr.  Plant  is  a  republican,  but  no  place  hunter,  and  has  managed,  thus  far,  to  keep  out  of  all 
civil  and  political  offices.  He  has  been  engaged  in  a  variety  of  industrial  pursuits  ;  has  held,  as 
it  is  here  seen,  responsible  posts  in  different  branches  of  business,  and  he  has  always  shown  him- 
self faithful  and  trustworthy  as  well  as  efficient  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  His  energy  of 
character  and  executive  ability  are  well  matched  by  his  integrity  and  high  sense  of  right  and 
justice.  Truer  men  than  he  arc  scarce  in  La  Salle. 


WILLIAM   H.   THATCHER. 

MQRRISON. 

\  T /ILLIAM  HENRY  THATCHER,  treasurer  of  Whiteside  county,  dates  his  birth  at  Ithaca, 
VV  New  York,  January  13,  1829,  his  parents  being  William  and  Anna  (Peckens)  Thatcher. 
His  father  was  from  Sussex,  England,  and  his  mother  from  Connecticut.  Her  father,  Isaac  Peck- 
ens,  was  in  the  war  of  independence.  When  William  was  two  years  old  the  family  moved  to 
Owego,  New  York,  where  he  received  an  academic  education.  William  Thatcher  was  a  mason 
and  builder,  and  also  owned  a  farm,  on  which  the  son  worked  more  or  less  until  of  age,  teaching 
school  four  terms. 

In  1851  he  went  to  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  bookkeeper,  etc.,  for  a  large  mining 
firm  for  three  years.  In  the  spring  of  1855  he  came  to  Dixon,  Illinois,  and  was  a  clerk  for  Var- 
ney  and  Oilman,  general  merchants,  until  the  autumn  of  that  year,  when  he  went  into  partnership 
with  them,  and  had  charge  of  a  branch  store  at  Sterling,  where  he  remained  for  fourteen  years. 
While  in  business  there  he  held,  for  several  years  each,  the  offices  of  city  treasurer  and  clerk  of 
the  city  council.  ' 

In  the  autumn  of  1869  Mr.  Thatcher  was  elected  county  treasurer,  and  has  held  that  office  for 
thirteen  consecutive  years,  He  is  a  straightforward,  trustworthy  man,  and  the  voters  of  White- 
side  county  have  unlimited  confidence  in  his  integrity  as  well  as  capacity.  His  politics  are  inde- 
pendent republican. 

Mr.  Thatcher  attends  the  Universalist  church,  and  is  a  man  in  all  respects  of  irreproachable 
character  and  of  generous  and  warm  impulses.  His  social  qualities  are  excellent;  his  manners 
are  cordial  and  agreeable,  and  his  popularity  in  the  county  is  no  surprise  to  any  one  who  knows 
him. 

He  married,  in  January,  1866,  Miss  Louisa  Lukens,  daughter  of  William  E.  Lukens,  of  Rock 
Falls,  Illinois,  and  they  have  one  daughter,  Gertrude,  who  is  attending  to  her  literary  and  musical 
education. 


H 


HORACE  S.   LELAND. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

GRACE  SAMUEL  LELAND,  proprietor  of  the  Leland  House,  and  one  of  the  best  known 
hotel  keepers  in  Illinois,  dates  his  birth  in  Landgrove,  Vermont,  July  26,  1836,  his  parents 
being  Aaron  P.-  and  Submit  (Arnold)  Leland.  His  father  was  an  extensive  stage  proprietor  and 
mail  contractor  forty  and  fifty  years  ago,  and  was  well  known  in  the  New  England  States  and 
New  York  as  an  energetic  and  thoroughgoing  business  man.  Both  parents  of  Horace  were 
natives  of  New  England.  His  great-grandfather  was  John  Leland,  a  noted  Baptist  minister  and 
author,  of  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  a  man  of  large  brain,  great  sagacity  and  strong  will 
power,  and  a  sort  of  oracle  among  the  common  people  of  western  Massachusetts  in  the  early  days 
of  the  republic.  He  once  (1801)  sent  Thomas  Jefferson  a  cheese,  out  of  pure  regard  for  the 
author  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  then  just  seated  in  the  presidential  chair.  The  Leland 


124  UNITED    STATKS   RiOCK.I I'lflCA I.    DICTIO.VAKY. 

family  were  originally  from  England,  two  brothers  coming  over  soon  after  the  settlement  of  Ply- 
mouth and  Boston.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  James  was  Judge  Samuel  Arnold,  of  London- 
derry, Vermont,  an  eminent  jurist  in  his  day. 

When  our  subject  was  quite  young  the  family  moved  to  Ohio,  and  afterward  went  to  New 
York.  He  finished  his  education  in  Cleveland,  and  when  only  twelve  years  old  we  find  him  in 
the  Clinton  Hotel  in  New  York  city.  In  1854,  when  the  Metropolitan  Hotel  was  opened,  he 
became  its  cashier,  and  for  eighteen  years  was  connected  with  that  public  house,  thirty  years 
ago  a  far  up  town  and  huge  institution. 

In  1867  Mr.  Leland  came  to  Springfield  and  opened  the  Leland  House,  then  just  completed 
by  a  stock  company,  and  leased  it  for  ten  years,  under  the  firm  name  of  H.  S.  Leland  and  Com- 
pany. In  1876  he  and  his  brother-in-law,  N.  B.  Wiggins,  purchased  the  property,  and  are  sole 
proprietors.  The  Leland  has  about  two  hundred  rooms,  spacious,  airy  and  inviting,  the  house 
being  elegantly  furnished  throughout.  It  is  the  rendevous  of  the  political  magnates  of  the  state, 
a  favorite  with  travelers  generally,  and  is  second  in  quality  to  no  hotel  in  Illinois,  outside  of 
Chicago. 

Mr.  Leland  grew  up  in  a  public  house;  has  lived  in  one  constantly  for  nearly  forty  years,  and 
would  be  at  home  nowhere  else.  He  has  perfected  himself  in  this  art, —  for  it  is  an  art  to  keep 
a  model  hotel, —  and  he  has  made  many  friends  in  many  states  outside  of  Illinois.  He  keeps  out 
of  politics,  craves  no  office,  attends  to  his  own  business,  and  yet  has  a  deep  interest  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lives.  He  is  generous  toward  local  churches  and  benevolent  institutions,  the 
poor  and  the  unfortunate,  and  is,  in  short,  a  neighborly  man  among  a  neighborly  public. 


HON.   HENRY  S.   HUDSON. 

YORK  VILLE. 

HENRY  SUMNER  HUDSON,  judge  of  the  county  court  of  Kendall  county,  is  a  son  of 
Joseph  and  Rachel  (Eddy)  Hudson,  and  dates  his  birth  at  Oxford,  Worcester  county,  Mas- 
sachusetts, May  13,  1827.  Both  of  his  parents  are  still  living,  his  father  being  in  his  eighty- 
seventh,  and  his  mother  in  her  eighty-sixth  year.  Himself,  his  father  and  his  grandfather,  John 
Hudson,  were  born  in  the  same  house,  the  Oxford  homestead  having  been  in  the  hands  of  the 
Hudson  family  for  about  six  generations.  The  progenitor  of  the  family  came  over  from  England 
with  a  small  colony  which  had  a  grant  of  land,  and  settled  in  Worcester  county  in  the  early  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  Eddys  were  also  a  Massachusetts  family. 

Henry  Sumner  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  ;  prepared  for  college  at  the  Leicester  Acad- 
emy, and  is  a  graduate  of  Amherst  College,  class  1849.  He  taught  school  both  before  going  to 
college  and  during  vacations  ;  commenced  studying  law  at  Worcester  with  Judges  Barton  and 
Bacon,  immediately  after  receiving  his  college  diploma  ;  a  few  months  later  went  to  Newton, 
New  Jersey,  and  there  taught  an  Academy  for  eighteen  months,  pursuing  his  legal  studies  at  the 
same  time;  returned  to  Worcester,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  December,  1851,  and  there 
practiced  until  1856,  being  of  the  firm  of  Matthews  and  Hudson.  In  that  year  he  came  to  Chi- 
cago, and  was  in  practice  there  for  six  years,,  part  of  the  time  in  company  with  Andrew  Garrison. 

In  1862  Mr.  Hudson  settled  in  Kendall  county,  locating  at  first  in  Oswego,  where  he  remained 
until  the  autumn  of  1865,  when  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  county  court,  and  removed  to  York- 
ville,  the  county  seat.  He  has  held  the  office  of  judge  for  seventeen  consecutive  years  ;  has  just 
entered  upon  his  fifth  term,  and  is  giving  eminent  satisfaction  to  the  people,  being  one  of  the 
most  popular  men  in  the  county.  He  has  also  had  at  the  same  time  more  or  less  practice  in  the 
circuit  and  supreme  courts,  and  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  sound  as  well  as  well  read  lawyer,  and 
true  to  his  clients.  He  is  scholarly,  yet  modest  and  unassuming,  perfectly  upright  and  straight- 
forward in  all  his  transactions,  and  has  won  his  way  to  the  confidence  of  everybody  who  knows 
him. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  125 

Judge  Hudson  is  a  republican  of  whig  antecedents,  and  has  been  quite  prominent  in  Kendall 
county  politics,  having  often  been  a  delegate  to  district  and  state  conventions.  He  is  a  man  of  a 
good  deal  of  influence  in  social  as  well  as  political  circles  ;  has  always  borne  a  high  character  for 
purity  of  life,  and  is  much  esteemed  by  his  many  friends  throughout  the  county  and  wherever 
known.  Judge  Hudson  was  married  in  Chicago,  in  1858,  to  Miss  Hannah  E.  Dayhoff,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  and  they  have  two  children,  Lizzie  H.  and  Joseph  E.,  both  at  home. 


CANTLEY   W.  STEWART,  M.D. 

KIRK  WOOD. 

/^ANTLEY  WALLACE  STEWART,  an  experienced  physician  and  surgeon,  and  a  man  of 
V_x  marked  skill  in  his  profession,  is  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  first  seeing  the  light  in  Madison 
county  March  2,  1823.  His  father  was  James  Stewart,  a  farmer,  born  in  Charles  county,  Mary- 
land, and  his  mother  was  Helen  Nichols,  whose  father  shared  in  the  perils  and  hardships  of  the 
first  war  with  the  mother  country.  When  Cantley  was  six  years  old  (1829)  the  family  moved  to 
Callaway  county,  Missouri,  where  he  was  reared  on  a  farm,  receiving  a  common  English  educa- 
tion, and  teaching  school  two  or  three  winters.  When  he  had  reached  his  majority  he  com- 
menced studying  in  Saint  Louis  county  for  his  profession.  He  attended  lectures  at  McDowell's 
College,  Sai.nt  Louis ;  practiced  at  Lancaster,  Schuyler  county,  Missouri ;  attended  another 
course  of  lectures  at  Saint  Louis  ;  received  his  medical  degree  (1857),  and  was  still  in  practice  at 
Lancaster  when  the  civil  war  began.  In  February,  1862,  he  went  into  the  service  as  surgeon  of 
the  second  Illinois  cavalry,  and  served  about  eighteen  months. 

In  1863  Doctor  Stewart  came  into  this  state,  practiced  six  years  at  Olena,  Henderson  county, 
and  in  1869  settled  in  Kirkwood,  then  Young  America.  His  business  here  is  good,  as  it  was  in 
Olena  and  in  Missouri.  He  holds  no  civil  or  political  offices,  and  lets  nothing  interfere  with  his 
professional  duties ;  is  a  Freemason,  but  has  attended  no  meetings  of  a  lodge  since  coming  to 
this  state.  Years  ago  he  wrote  a  few  articles  for  medical  periodicals. 

The  doctor  has  always  been  very  assiduous  in  attending  to  professional  calls,  and  has  not 
been  off  duty  more  than  four  months  in  thirty  years,  and  then  he  was  out  of  health.  The  doc- 
tor's professional  labors  have  at  times  been  very  trying  to  his  constitution,  and  his  life  has  been 
one  of  self-sacrifice,  he  wearing  himself  out  to  strengthen  the  constitution  and  lengthen  the  days 
of  others.  In  1844  Doctor  Stewart  was  joined  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Lucy  A.  Davis,  of  Missouri, 
and  she  died  August  2,  1877.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  an 
active  Christian  up  to  the  time  of  her  departure  for  her  heavenly  home.  She  was  the  mother  of 
eight  children,  six  of  whom  survive  her.  They  are  all  married  but  Bitula,  who  is  keeping  house 
for  her  father.  The  doctor  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  for  forty  years, 
but  has  rarely  been  able  to  devote  that  amount  of  time  to  church  work  that  his  heart  would 
prompt  him  to  give. 

HON.  JONATHAN    H.   BAKER. 

MA  COMB. 

JONATHAN  HASKELL  BAKER,  judge  of  the  McDonough  county  court,  dates  his  birth  at 
J  Walpole,  Cheshire  county,  New  Hampshire,  May  8,  1817,  his  parents  being  Edward  and  Anna 
(Haskell)  Baker,  both  natives  of  Massachusetts.  To  the  ordinary  drill  of  a  district  school  Jona- 
than added  a  single  term  in  a  select  school  at  Alstead,  in  his  native  county.  When  quite  young 
he  lost  his  father,  and  took  care  of  himself  after  he  was  nine  years  old,  being  bound  out  to  a 
farmer,  with  whom  he  lived  until  seventeen.  From  that  age  until  twenty-one  he  was  a  clerk  in  a 
store  at  Alstead.  In  the  spring  of  1838  he  left  New  England,  and  settled  in  Macomb,  then  little 
more  than  a  four  corners. 


126  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Baker  did  not  come  west  to  suck  his  thumbs,  but  was  ready  for  any  respectable  service 
that  turned  up.  The  first  month  here  he  worked  in  a  brick  yard;  was  then  a  clerk  in  a  store  one 
year,  after  which  he  became  deputy  clerk  for  James  M.  Campbell,  who  was  holding  different 
county  and  other  offices. 

From  1842  to  1855  Mr.  Baker  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  holding  also  the  office  of 
postmaster  during  the  administration  of  President  Polk,  1845-9.  From  1858  to  1861  he  was  clerk 
of  the  county  court,  during  the  same  time  doing  more  or  less  in  the  real  estate  business  in  part- 
nership with  others.  After  the  war  he  engaged  once  more  in  merchandising. 

Mr.  Baker  had  a  taste  for  legal  studies,  to  which  he  gave  considerable  attention,  although  he 
was  never  admitted  to  the  bar.  Yet  he  was  in  the  law  practice  from  1868  to  1877  with  Hon.  Wm. 
H.  Neece,  now  a  member  of  congress  from  the  eleventh  Illinois  district.  In  the  last  named  year 
he  was  elected  county  judge,  and  was  reelected  in  1882.  The  duties  of  that  office  he  is  discharg- 
ing with  promptness  and  fidelity,  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  public.  The  same  is  true 
in  regard  to  every  office  which  he  has  ever  held.  He  was  the  first  notary  public  in  McDonough 
county,  being  appointed  about  1850,  and  also  at  an  early  period  held  the  office  of  public  adminis- 
trator for  several  years. 

Judge  Baker  has  always  acted  with  the  democratic  party,  and  voted  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
in  1838,  the  first  time  he  was  a  candidate  for  congress,  being  beaten  by  Hon.  John  T.  Stewart. 
He  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Universalist  Church,  a  man  of  solid  character,  and  held  in 
great  esteem  by  his  large  circle  of  acquaintances. 

Judge  Baker  was  married  in  1843  to  Miss  Isabella  Hempstead,  of  Macomb,  and  they  have  four 
children:  Clarissa  A.,  the  oldest  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Charles  V.  Chandler,  banker,  Macomb; 
Mary  C.  is  the  wife  of  E.  L.  Wells,  hardware  merchant,  Macomb,  and  Isabella  and  Joseph  Has- 
kell  are  attending  school. 

HON.   DENNIS  CLARK. 

ABINGDON. 

ONE  of  the  early  settlers  in  Knox  county,  Illinois,  and  a  prominent  official  of  the  county,  is 
Hon.  Dennis  Clark,  county  jndge  for  the  last  seventeen  years.  He  is  a  native  of  Davis 
county,  Indiana,  a  son  of  Walter  and  Mary  (Young)  Clark,  and  was  born  August  14,  1817.  His 
father  was  born  near  Harper's  Ferry,  his  mother  in  New  Jersey.  His  grandfather  came  from  Ire- 
land, with  two  brothers,  before  the  outbreak  of  the  colonies  against  the  mother  country,  and  he 
and  one  of  the  brothers  took  up  arms  against  King  George.  Dennis  lost  his  mother  when  he  was 
not  more  than  five  years  old,  and  a  year  or  two  afterward  his  father  moved  to  Wabash,  Illinois, 
where  he  was  a  trader  for  two  years.  The  family  then  removed  to  Vermillion  county,  Indiana, 
near  Eugene,  where  the  father  was  engaged  in  farming,  and  running  a  brick  yard. 

About  1828,  when  Dennis  was  eleven  years  old,  his  father  took  the  family  to  the  mining  region 
of  Wisconsin,  where  he  was  poisoned  and  laid  up  on  account  of  drinking  mineral  water,  and  our 
subject,  being  the  oldest  living  child,  had  to  take  charge  of  the  family,  making  trips  of  fifty  miles 
with  an  ox-team,  to  provide  food.  The  next  season,  1829,  they  left  Wisconsin,  moved  to  Saint  Louis, 
Missouri,  and  thence  to  Sangamon  county,  this  state,  and  in  the  same  year  our  subject  was  bound 
out  to  a  farmer,  where  he  became  dissatisfied,  and  in  1833  he  tied  up  his  worldly  goods  in  a  small 
bundle,  and  without  observing  many  of  the  courtesies  of  polite  society,  left,  hauling  up  in  Knox 
county,  near  Abingdon.  That  was  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  and  Dennis  was  only  sixteen  years  old. 
A  good  deal  of  life  was  still  before  him,  and  although  he  had  done  some  literary  browsing  as  he 
wandered  from  place  to  place,  he  was  not  in  the  least  degree  puffed  up  with  the  amount  of 
knowledge  which  he  had  accumulated.  After  he  had  earned  a  little  money  by  working  for  a 
farmer  for  $5  a  month,  he  went  to  school  in  Warren  county,  after  which  he  taught  one  winter 
term,  it  being  the  first  school  ever  taught  in  Indian  Point  township,  and  subsequently  attended 
the  Cherry  Grove  Seminary,  near  Abingdon,  since  moved  to  Lincoln,  Logan  county,  and  grown 
to  a  college. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


127 


For  some  years  he  now  alternated  between  farming  in  the  summer,  and  teaching  in  the  winter, 
being  part  of  this  time  captain  of  a  militia  company.  In  1845  he  married  Miss  Martha  Meadows, 
of  Warren  county,  and  taught  several  winter  terms  after  taking  that  important  step.  Farming  now 
became  his  chief  occupation  for  some  years,  varied  only  by  episodical  recreations  in  a  justice's 
court;  for  during  this  period  he  did  considerable  fumbling  of  law  books.  Finally  in  1866 
he  came  out  a  full-fledged  attorney-at-law,  prepared  for  flights  into  any  of  the  courts  of  the  state. 

During  the  civil  war  he  was  enrolling  officer,  and  labored  faithfully  to  make  comfortable  the 
families  of  absent  soldiers.  In  the  autumn  of  1865  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  county  of  Knox, 
and  he  has  behaved  himself  so  well  that  his  constituents  still  insist  on  his  holding  that  office,  his 
home  being  all  the  time  at  Abingdon,  ten  miles  south  of  Galesburgh.  He  is  a  faithful  official  and 
has  the  fullest  confidence  and  high  esteem  of  the  citizens  of  the  county. 

Judge  Clark  is  a  republican  of  whig  antecedents,  casting  his  first  presidential  vote  for  Henry 
Clay  in  1844,  and  his  last  for  General  Garfield  in  1880. 

As  the  result  of  the  marriage  consummated  in  1845,  Judge  and  Mrs.  Clark  have  five  sons  living 
and  five  children  buried;  they  have  two  adopted  daughters  living.  Walter  H.  and  William  B.  are 
married,  the  former  being  one  of  the  editors  and  proprietors  of  the  "Abingdon  Argus,"  and  the 
latter  a  farmer  in  Shawnee  county,  Kansas.  Buford,  Horace,  Loren  and  the  orphan  girls  are  on  the 
home  farm. 

JAMES  L.   CAMPBELL. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES  LAFAYETTE  CAMPBELL,  real-estate  dealer,  and  father  of  the  house  of  correction 
bill  in  the  Illinois  legislature,  is  a  native  of  the  Empire  State,  being  born  in  the  town  of  Cale- 
donia, Livingston  county,  May  19,  1831.  His  father,  William  Campbell,  was  a  Vermonter  by 
birth,  and  remotely  of  Scotch  extraction.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Hannah  Ladd, 
was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  She  is  still  living.  Her  husband  died  December  15,  1880,  aged 
eighty-four  years. 

Mr.  Campbell  came  to  Illinois  in  1850,  and  subsequently  removed  to  Iowa,  finishing  his  edu- 
cation in  the  academic  department  of  the  upper  Iowa  University,  at  Fayette,  in  that  state,  and 
teaching  school  for  nine  or  ten  terms  in  Fayette  and  Delaware  counties.  He  read  law  with  Hon. 
Milo  McGathery,  of  West  Union,  Fayette  county;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  that  county  seat 
in  June,  1862;  settled  in  Chicago  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  was  graduated  from  the  law 
department  of  the  University  of  Chicago  in  1866.  After  practicing  his  profession  for  two  years 
he  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business,  which  he  has  since  followed  very  closely,  and  with  a  fair 
measure  of  success,  though  having,  like  others  in  the  same  line,  his  ups  and  downs.  Campbell 
avenue  and  Campbell  park,  on  the  west  side,  were  named  for  him. 

Mr.  Campbell  represented  the  twelfth  ward  in  the  city  council  from  December,  1869,  to  Decem- 
ber, 1871,  and  while  in  that  body  was  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  reform  in  the  management 
of  the  bridewell,  which  was  being  run  at  an  expense  to  the  city  of  $50,000  to  $100,000  a  year.  He 
made  frequent  attempts  to  have  the  matter  investigated,  but  was  defeated  through  the  influence 
of  the  ring.  Finally,  on  his  motion,  a  committee  of  the  common  council  was  chosen,  of  which 
he  was  made  chairman,  and  authorized  to  visit  different  reformatory  institutions,  and  to  make  a 
report.  This  they  did. 

In  order  to  effect  this  reform,  Mr.  Campbell  became  a  candidate  in  1870  for  the  legislature, 
whither  he  was  sent,  and  where  he  introduced  and  secured  the  passage  of  the  house  of  correction 
bill,  doing  away  with  the  bridewell  system,  and  introducing  the  present  self-supporting  system  of 
management,  and  thus  saving  to  the  city  annually  more  than  $50,000,  as  shown  by  the  reports  of 
the  superintendent  for  the  last  seven  or  eight  years. 

Although  the  writer  has  known  Mr.  Campbell  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  can  recall 
no  act  of  his  life  for  which  he  is  entitled  to  more  credit  than  for  his  persistent  efforts  in  securing 
the  extinction  of  the  bridewell  system,  so  tempting  to  public  plunders.  In  1873  Mr.  Campbell 


128  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

was  again  elected  alderman  of  the  twelfth  ward,  and  served  two  and  a  half  years,  being,  as  usual, 
faithful  and  efficient  in  his  duties  to  the  public.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  a  Master 
Mason,  being  a  member  of  Blair  Lodge. 

He  was  married  July  19,  1859,  to  Miss  Sophronia  R.  Crosby,  daughter  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Crosby, 
of  Iowa,  and  they  have  one  son,  who  has  just  finished  his  literary  education,  and  is  studying  for 
an  artist. 

WILLIAM   S.   CHERRY. 

STREA  TOR. 

WILLIAM  SLOAN  CHERRY,  general  superintendent  of  the  coal  mines  at  Braidwood  and 
Streator,  is  a  son  of  William  Cherry,  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  a  music  teacher,  and  Mary 
(Sloan)  Cherry,  who  was  of  Irish  parentage.  He  was  born  July  9,  1837;  was  educated  in  the 
graded  and  high  schools  of  that  city,  and  after  serving  an  apprenticeship  at  the  machinist's  trade, 
took  a  course  of  studies  in  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  Philadelphia,  paying  particular  attention  to 
mining  and  mechanical  engineering.  While  working  at  his  trade  as  a  machinist,  he  went  into 
the  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  engaged  there  in  mining,  and  alternated  between  work- 
ing at  his  trade  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  the  coal  regions,  until  the  war  broke  out. 

In  1861  he  enlisted  in  the  engineer  corps  of  the  United  States  navy,  and  was  in  the  service,  in 
all,  a  period  of  seven  years,  being  the  last  two  years  in  the  South  Atlantic  squadron,  off  the  coast 
of  South  America.  On  leaving  the  navy  Mr.  Cherry  turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture  of 
white  lead,  at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  carrying  on  that  business  between  two  and  three  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1871  Mr  Cherry  came  to  Illinois,  and  with  the  exception  of  one  year  since, 
spent  in  the  general  office  of  the  Chicago,  Wilmington  and  Vermilion  Coal  Company,  has  resided 
in  Streator,  his  position  here  being  that  of  general  superintendent  of  the  mines.  Both  by  educa- 
tion and  experience  he  has  especial  fitness  for  this  office,  and  is  managing  it  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  the  parties  concerned.  He  is  a  man  of  great  business  tact  and  ability. 

When  he  was  called  to  Chicago  he  was  holding  the  office  of  town  school  trustee,  being  presi- 
dent of  the  board.  That  post  he  had  to  resign  on  account  of  leaving,  and  we  cannot  learn  that 
he  has  accepted  any  other  civil  office.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Streator  National  Bank,  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason,  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  a  man  of  solid  parts,  and  a  highly  esteemed 
citizen. 

In  1872  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  D.  Godfrey,  of  Philadelphia,  and  they  buried  two  chil- 
dren in  infancy,  and  have  three  living. 


REV.  HIRAM   WASHINGTON   THOMAS,  D.L). 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is'the  son  of  Joseph  and  Margaret  (McDonald)  Thomas,  who  were 
well-to-do  farmers  in.  Hampshire  county,  West  Virginia.     On  his  father's  side  he  is  of  Ger- 
man and  Welsh,  and  on  his  mother's  Scotch  and  English  extraction.     Hiram  is  the  fourth  in  a 
family  of  six  children,  having  three  brothers  older  and  two  sisters  younger  than  himself,  and  was 
born  among  the  mountains  of  West  Virginia,  April  29,  1832. 

When  but  a  year  old  the  family  removed  to  Preston  county,  near  the  Maryland  line,  where  he 
grew  to  manhood.  He  was  naturally  of  a  slender  constitution,  with  a  massive  brain  overtopping 
his  body,  and  it  was  fortunate  that  his  childhood  and  early  manhood  was  spent  on  a  farm  among 
the  rugged  mountains.  The  out-door  active  life  of  a  farmer  toned  up  his  physical  to  a  reasona- 
ble equality  with  his  mental  constitution,  so  that  he  has  been  able  to  bear  an  amount  of  intellec- 
tual work,  surpassed  by  few,  and  at  the  age  of  fifty  years  his  vigor  is  unimpaired  and  his  personal 
appearance  still  youthful.  The  educational  facilities  of  his  native  place  were,  fortunately  perhaps 
for  him,  meager  and  primitive,  and  he  was  left  to  the  very  necessary  work  of  preparing  a  consti- 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  131 

tution  for  future  use.  The  thirst  for  knowledge  was,  however,  so  great  in  him,  that  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  went  one  hundred  miles  on  foot  to  Hardy  county,  Virginia,  and  worked  nights  and 
mornings  for  a  winter's  schooling  at  a  little  village  academy.  Two  years  after  one  Doctor  Mc- 
Kesson, of  his  neighborhood,  took  him  under  his  private  tutelage  for  two  years,  after  which  he 
attended  the  Cooperstown,  Pennsylvania,  academy,  and  subsequently  the  Berlin  Seminary,  in  the 
same  state,  then  under  the  direction  of  J.  F.  Eberhart,  now  a  member  of  the  People's  Church, 
Chicago,  and  a  fast  friend  of  the  doctor's. 

On  removing  to  Iowa  he  continued  his  studies  privately  under  Doctor  Charles  Elliott,  formerly 
president  of  the  Iowa  Wesleyan  University,  and  Professor  W.  J.  Spaulding,  at  present  the  presi- 
dent of  that  institution.  His  studies  have,  however,  never  been  discontinued.  Like  all  men  of 
mark,  he  has  never  graduated,  but  expects  to  remain  a  student  to  the  end  of  life.  The  greater 
part  of  his  knowledge  of  books  he  has  acquired  since  he  began  to  preach,  and  has  facilitated  his 
work  greatly,  and  fastened  his  acquirements  in  his  memory  by  making  immediate  use  of  them  as 
fast  as  acquired,  a  most  admirable  method. 

His  mother  was  a  devout  Methodist,  and  his  father  a  Quaker.  The  moral  tone  of  the  family 
was  exceptionally  high,  and  its  religion  both  practical  and  intensely  devotional.  At  the  age  of 
of  eighteen  Hiram  became  converted,  and  began  soon  after  to  preach.  Like  many  other  great 
preachers  he  had  the  conviction  from  childhood  that  he  must  one  day  preach,  and,  although  he 
fought  against  it  long  and  energetically,  yet  when  the  time  came  he  succumbed  and  entered  into 
the  work. 

He  at  first  joined  the  Pittsburgh  conference  of  the  Evangelical  association,  or  German  Meth- 
odists, with  whom  he  remained  till  in  1856  he  joined  the  Iowa  conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church. 

March  19,  1855,  he  married  Miss  Emmeline  C.  Merrick,  an  accomplished  young  lady  of  Demp- 
seytown,  Pennsylvania.  Her  people  were  Presbyterians,  and  Methodist  preachers,  though  pop- 
ular with  the  same  class  who  used  to  hear  Christ  "  gladly,"  were,  nevertheless,  at  that  period 
considered  rather  among  the  proletariat.  The  union  was,  however,  a  happy  one,  and  through  all 
the  extraordinary  trials  of  the  life  of  an  itinerant  Methodist  preacher  on  the  frontier,  they  have 
found  in  each  other  an  unfailing  source  of  strength  and  consolation. 

In  the  autumn  of  1854  his  parents  sold  out  their  Virginia  home,  removed  to  Washington 
county,  Iowa,  and  bought  a  tract  of  land.  Thither  Hiram  followed  them  the  following  spring 
with  his  young  wife  and  the  rest  of  the  family.  The  summer  was  spent  opening  a  new 
farm,  house  building,  etc.,  the  young  preacher  working  faithfully  seven  days  to  the  week,  six  on 
the  farm,  and  one  in  the  pulpit.  In  the  fall,  that  scourge  of  a  new  country,  congestive  chills  and 
fever,  brought  him  and  his  faithful  wife  to  the  verge  of  death,  but  as  he  firmly  believes,  his  life 
was  spared  in  answer  to  prayer;  whether  his  faithful  spouse  was  included  in  the  petition,  or  is 
indebted  to  the  efficacy  of  a  stronger  vital  organization  for  her  escape,  is  not  recorded,  but  it  is 
certain  that  she  too  was  spared  to  remark  that  there  was  little  left  of  Thomas  but  a  handful  of 
bones  and  a  tuft  of  red  hair. 

But  he  was  not  ordained  to  bury  himself  or  his  talents  in  Iowa  soil,  and  speedily  relinquished 
the  farm  entirely  for  the  pulpit,  and  entered  fully  upon  the  arduous  life  of  a  Methodist  itinerant. 
For  several  successive  years  he  managed  to  eke  out  a  subsistence  for  himself  and  family  on  $300 
a  year.  The  leading  charges  of  Marshall,  Fort  Madison,  Washington,  Mount  Pleasant  and  Burling- 
ton enjoyed  the  benefit  of  his  labors,  besides  two  years  spent  as  chaplain  of  the  state  penitentiary. 
In  1869  he  was  transferred  to  the  Rock  River  conference,  and  stationed  at  Park  avenue,  Chicago 
After  three  years  he  was  appointed  to  the  First  Church  (Methodist  Church  Block)  of  the  same 
city,  where,  likewise,  he  remained  three  years.  He  was  then  sent  to  the  First  Church  of  Aurora, 
for  two  years,  and  next  to  Centenary  Church,  Chicago,  where  his  term  expired  in  October  1880. 
His  early  preaching  gave  promise  of  all  his  later  fame.  He  always  drew  large  congregations,  and 
the  churches  flourished  under  his  care.  It  was  predicted  many  years  ago  by  astute  friends  that 
he  only  had  to  be  transferred  to  a  large  city  to  acquire  a  national  reputation.  He  has  captured 
14 


I  -12  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

\J 

every  place  in  which  he  has  preached,  and  his  success  in  Chicago  is  only  a  repetition  of  his  career 
on  a  smaller  scale  in  the  villages  and  towns  of  his  earlier  ministry.  There  have  usually  been 
many  demands  for  him,  and  a  spirited  rivalry  between  the  leading  churches  of  his  conference,  as 
there  is  now  between  cities  and  denominations. 

Doctor  Thomas  has  been  a  man  of  sorrows  as  well  as  of  privations  and  arduous  labors.  Of 
seven  children  born  to  his  home  but  one  survives,  now  a  young  man  of  promise,  attending  Rush 
Medical  College  in  Chicago.  His  large  personal  experience  in  the  school  of  grief  has  opened  a 
door  for  him  into  the  hearts  of  the  afflicted  and  desolate,  few  not  tempered  in  the  same  school  can 
enjoy.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  humble  life;  he  drew  his  first  breath  among  the  freedom- 
inspiring  mountains;  he  had  his  long  struggle  with  poverty,  and  is  familiar  with  its  trials  and 
temptations;  he  has  mingled  with  the  lowly,  and  become  familiar  with  their  wants  and  woes,  and 
no  fame,  honor,  or  pelf  of  his  later  years  can  lift  him  above  the  common  people  in  his  sympathies 
or  his  labors.  He  began  his  life  with  them,  he  has  spent  it  for  them,  he  will  close  it  among  them. 
This  is  the  secret  of  his  heresy,  it  is  the  secret  of  his  power.  And  had  not  Methodism  "  progressed  " 
out  of  its  primitive  simplicity  and  liberality  it  would  not  have  scandalized  and  wronged  itself  by 
expelling  him  from  among  them.  However,  it  gave  him  a  broader  field  and  probably  increased 
his  usefulness  by  breaking  down  for  him  the  wall  of  partition  which  the  church  unconsciously 
erected  between  her  ministers  and  the  people,  and  casting  him  with  her  ban  upon  him  into  the 
bosom  of  the  people  whom  he  loved.  At  the  funeral  of  John  W.  Coon,  the  famous  billiardist, 
long  before  the  infamous  heresy  trial  took  place,  he  expressed  himself  in  the  following  manner, 
which,  in  view  of  the  succeeding  events,  seems  almost  prophetic.  At  least  it  shows  the  drift  of 
his  sympathies,  and  proves  him  to  be  too  great  in  mind  and  heart  to  be  hedged  about  by  the  nar- 
row confines  of  any  church  or  formulated  creed:  "  Nothing  pains  me  more,"  he  said,  "or  gives  me 
more  anxious  thought  than  that  the  world's  great  need,  and  religion's  great  gift,  man's  want  and 
God's  fullness,  cannot  be  brought  together.  It  rests  upon  me  with  such  a  weight  that  I  have 
sometimes  almost  felt  that  God  calls  me  to  a  ministry  at  large  outside  of  the  church  that  I  might 
get  near  to  the  hearts  and  homes  of  the  people." 

The  expression  of  such  sentiments  could  not  but  make  him  very  popular  among  those  who  most 
need  human  sympathy  and  ministerial  counsel  and  assistance,  and  naturally  the  narrow  bigots  of 
his  own  class  would  look  with  increasing  disfavor  upon  him.  He  would  be  "regarded  by  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  with  jealousy,  anger  and  suspicion,  in  proportion  as  it  became  manifest 
that  "the  common  people  heard  him  gladly."  It  hence  became  early  manifest  that  a  separation 
must  sooner  or  later  come  —  the  drift  of  events  could  not  be  checked.  With  the  deepening  of 
his  sympathies  for  humanity  came  the  inevitable  broadening  of  his  religious,  or  rather  theologi- 
cal, views  of  truth  and  his  understanding  of  the  Scriptures.  He  who  is  a  lover  of  mankind,  and 
is  in  sympathy  with  the  gentle  inspiration  of  the  works  of  nature,  must  get  a  continually  expand- 
ing view  of  nature's  God,  and  must  interpret  his  Bible  in  harmony  therewith.  Hence,  Doctor 
Thomas  found  his  view  of  the  doctrines  of  inspiration,  atonement  and  future  punishment  under- 
going a  change,  and  before  he  was  himself  fully  aware  of  it  his  heart  and  brain  had  revolted 
against  the  absurdities  of  plenary  inspiration,  substitutionary  atonement  and  eternal  torment. 
With  him. to  study,  to  learn  and  to  preach  were  necessary  steps  in  a  process  continually  going  on. 
He  never  waits  to  inquire  how  truth  will  be  received,  what  will  be  its  effects  upon  himself.  He 
only  asks  if  it  be  truth;  his  duty  to  proclaim  it  he  never  questions. 

His  opposers  did  not  stop  to  inquire  if  his  views  were  truth,  nor  yet  whether  they  were  con- 
trary to  the  essentials  of  Methodism,  but  placed  the  issues  of  their  cause  against  him  upon  the 
standards  of  the  church,  and  themselves  determined  the  standards.  There  could  be  but  one  issue 
to  such  a  trial.  The  trial  itself  is  the  most  unimportant  portion  of  the  history  we  write,  yet 
faithfulness  to  the  record  demands  a  place  in  their  pages.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  date  of 
the  earliest  expression  of  heresy  by  the  doctor,  and  it  is  of  little  moment.  It  is  probable  that 
his  early  popularity  arose  from  his  human  and  rational  view  of  God,  the  Bible  and  its  teachings, 
which  came  to  him  unconsciously,  and  was  expressed  as  unconsciously  and  as  naturally  as  he 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


133 


breathed.  However,  rumors  of  his  unsoundness  were  heard  as  far  back  as  1865,  while  yet  in  Bur- 
lington, Iowa,  and  on  that  account  an  effort  was  made  to  prevent  his  transfer  to  Chicago. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church  that  his  liberal  views 
attracted  general  notice.  His  nearness  to  the  people  and  ( his  popularity  among  publicans 
and  sinners,  who  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  many  of  whem  he  reformed,  gave  offense.  Besides 
this  he  did  a  good  deal  of  undenominational  work.  He  originated  the  Philosophical  Soci- 
ety of  Chicago,  and  was  its  second  president.  This  society  was  organized  soon  after  the 
great  fire,  and  held  its  meetings  for  a  time  in  the  Methodist  Church  Block.  It  was  composed  of 
such  men  as  Judge  Booth,  Professor  Rodney  Welch,  Doctor  Samuel  Willard.  General  Buford, 
Doctor  Edmund  Andrews,  Rev.  Joseph  Haven,  E.  F.  Abbott,  J.  W.  Ela,  Professor  Austin  Beir- 
blower,  and  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  more  —  orthodox,  liberal,  skeptics,  spiritualists,  athe- 
ists, catholics  and  all  the  shades  between  these.  Its  discussions  were  not  always  orthodox,  as 
might  be  expected,  and  Doctor  Thomas  was  held  responsible  for  every  variation  therefrom. 

He  affiliated  with  liberal-minded  people  outside  of  his  own  church;  preached  a  rousing  ser- 
mon in  defense  of  Professor  Swing,  followed  it  with  one  on  Hell,  something  after  the  example  of 
Henry  Ward  Beecher;  sometimes  preached  for  the  Universalists  and  Unitarians;  organized  an 
undenominational  preachers'  meeting  called  the  Round  Table,  and  in  general  conducted  himself 
in  a  way  which  indicated  that  he  could  no  longer,  "after  the  straighter  sect  of  our  religion,  live  a 
Pharisee." 

When,  therefore,  in  the  fall  of  1875,  his  term  at  the  First  Church  in  Chicago  expired,  the  com- 
plaints had  grown  so  loud  in  certain  quarters  that  he  was  sent  out  of  the  city  to  Aurora.  There 
was  a  great  storm  of  indignation  raised  about  this.  His  own  church,  the  newspapers  and  the 
general  public  believed  it  was  designed  to  injure  and  ultimately  to  ruin  him.  Several  large  and 
wealthy  churches  of  other  denominations  offered  him  places.  Charges  in  other  conferences 
sought  his  services,  but  he  went  quietly  to  his  new  appointment,  and  soon  built  up  a  large  con- 
gregation in  Aurora.  Persistent  efforts  were,  however,  made  to  get  him  back  to  Chicago,  and 
with  final  success,  for  he  was  appointed  to  Centenary  Church  in  1877.  Immediately  this  society 
became  one  of  the  largest  in  the  Northwest,  and  other  clergymen  claimed  that  their  congrega- 
tions were  rushing  off  to  Centenary  Church  and  getting  Thomasized.  During  all  this  time  he 
was  lecturing  throughout  the  Northwest,  giving  during  the  lecture  season  one  or  two  lectures  a 
week  in  Iowa,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  occasionally  other  states.  This  spread  both  his 
fame  and  his  opinions,  and  multiplied  both  his  friends  and  his  enemies.  But  the  crisis  of  his 
religious  affairs  was  approaching. 

When  the  next  conference  met  at  Mount  Carroll,  in  October,  1878,  the  subject  of  Doctor  Thomas' 
recent  utterances  was  privately  discussed,  and  a  plan  carefully  matured  in  secret  to  bring  the 
matter  to  a  head.  With  characteristic  boldness,  and  rejoicing  in  his  own  freedom,  Doctor  Thomas 
preached  before  the  conference  a  sermon,  in  which  he  took  occasion  to  give  free  expression  to  his 
peculiar  views  and  criticise  the  narrowness  of  some  of  his  brethren. 

A  committee  on  conference  relations  was  appointed,  something  unusual  in  Methodism,  with 
special  reference  to  this  case.  This  was  a  sort  of  star  chamber  before  which  complaints  might 
be  secretly  brought  against  any  minister,  and  some  one,  unknown  to  anybody  except  the  commit- 
tee, made  charges  against  Doctor  Thomas,  and  an  adverse  case  was  worked  up.  The  committee 
reported  the  case  to  the  conference,  and  there  was  much  discussion  of  the  matter,  but  finally  the 
presiding  bishop,  Doctor  Foster,  cut  the  matter  short  by  asking  all  those  to  rise  to  their  feet  who 
felt  that  no  loyal  Methodist  could  preach  such  a  sermon,  an  unwarrantable  proceeding,  asking,  as 
it  did.  judgment  before  trial.  A  large  majority  nevertheless  of  the  conference  stood  up,  and  set 
themselves  right  on  the  question  of  heresy  before  the  world.  A  resolution  offered  by  W.  H.  Strout 
and  A.  Gurnay  was  then  adopted,  asking  Doctor  Thomas  either  to  abandon  his  objectionable 
teaching  or  withdraw  from  the  church;  in  other  words,  to  become  a  hypocrite  and  stay  in,  or 
remain  an  honest  man  and  go  out.  He  very  properly  refused  to  do  either,  thinking  probably 
that  the  church  was  in  need  of  honest  men. 


134  r. \rn-.D  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

A  committee  was  then  appointed  to  consult  with  the  doctor,  and  made  a  minority  and  a 
majority  report.  Rev.  S.  A.  W.  Jewett  thereupon  offered  a  series  of  resolutions  as  a  substitute 
for  both,  which  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  eighty-five  to  nineteen,  and  which  disposed  of  the  case 
for  that  year.  It  is  too  long  to  insert  here,  but  sums  up  the  matter  by  regretting  that  the  doctor 
won't  do  as  they  wish,  and  hoping  that  he  won't  preach  any  more  heresy,  and  declaring  that  they 
will  let  the  matter  rest  for  the  present.  Doctor  Thomas  was  returned  to  Centenary  Church, 
preached  in  about  the  same  vein  as  before,  but  when  conference  met  in  October,  1879,  in  Chicago, 
there  was  no  disposition  to  reopen  the  case,  and  he  was  returned  to  Centenary  Church  for  the 
third  year.  The  fires  of  opposition,  however,  continued  to  burn,  and  there  was  a  growing  deter- 
mination to  get  rid  of  him,  but  an  increasing  uncertainty  how  to  do  it.  They  were  anxious  to 
avoid  a  heresy  trial,  and  there  was  some  talk  of  sending  him  to  some  obscure  charge  in  the 
country,  where  he  would  have  no  alternative  beyond  accepting  obscurity  or  withdrawing  from  the 
church.  The  popular  outcry  raised  against  this  proposal,  however,  rendered  it  impossible  to  exe- 
cute it,  and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  either  to  restore  him  to  full  confidence  or  to  try  him  for 
heresy.  This  was  the  situation  when  the  conference  met  in  October.  1880,  at  Rockford,  Illinois. 

At  almost  the  very  opening  of  the  conference  this  case  was  taken  up  and  his'character  passed. 
It  was  hoped  that  this  action  would  end  the  matter,  but  it  was  equally  unsatisfactory  to  his  ene- 
mies and  to  his  friends.  His  friends  determined  he  should  be  relieved  entirely  from  censure,  and 
his  enemies  determined  he  should  be  expelled.  R.  D.  Sheperd  offered  a  resolution  nullifying  the 
action  of  censure  by  the  conference  of  1878.  This  was  laid  on  the  table  and  followed  by  a  series  of 
resolutions  offered  by  W.  H.  Tibbals,  requesting  him  to  immediately  withdraw  from  the  church. 
They  were  promptly  passed  by  a  vote  of  96  to  45,  seventy-five  members  being  absent  or  refusing  to 
vote.  The  next  day  Doctor  Thomas  read  his  reply  in  which  he  recited  his  faith  and  manner  of 
life,  and  refused  to  withdraw. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  his  reply.  This  they  did,  and  recommended  that  the 
whole  case  be  turned  over  to  the  presiding  elder  of  Doctor  Thomas'  charge,  Elder  W.  C.  Willing, 
of  the  Chicago  district.  This  recommendation  was  adopted,  and  Doctor  Willing  proceeded  after 
the  adjournment  of  the  conference  to  make  up  his  committee.  Meanwhile  Doctor  Thomas  asked 
and  received  a  supernumerary  relation  pending  the  action  of  the  committee.  At  Doctor  Thomas' 
request  Doctors  Jewett  and  Hatfield  were  appointed  his  prosecutors.  The  court  met  in  Septem- 
ber, 1881,  in  the  Methodist  Church  Block,  and  proceeded  to  give  him  a  preliminary  trial.  Rev. 
Doctors  Miller  and  Bennett,  of  Iowa,  and  Axtell  and  Sheperd,  of  Rock  River  conference,  were 
his  defenders,  but  the  case  went  against  him,  after  an  examination  of  several  days,  and  he  was 
suspended  from  the  ministry.  At  this  preliminary  examination  there  were  three  charges  of. 
heresy:  the  atonement,  inspiration  and  future  punishment,  and  the  doctor  was  found  guilty  upon 
all  three  counts.  According  to  Methodist  usage,  the  decision  of  this  lower  court  was  sent  up  to 
the  conference  which  met  in  October,  1881,  at  Sycamore,  Illinois,  for  final  adjudication. 

On  assembling,  Doctor  Willing  announced  the  decision  of  the  lower  court,  and  moved  a  com- 
mittee of  fifteen  to  try  the  case.  The  bishop  appointed  the  following  gentlemen  as  that  commit- 
tee: Doctor  Fowler,  chairman;  T.  P.  Marsh,  M.  H.  Plum,  Louis  Curts,  Henry  S.  Martin,  John 
Roods,  M.  McStokes,  F.  F.  Farmiloe,  George  W.  Winslow,  C.  W.  Croll,  Robert  Beatty,  Isaac 
Lineberger,  Rufus  Congdon,  J.  M.  Clendenring,  F.  A.  Harding  and  E.  M.  Boring.  Doctors  Park- 
hurst  and  Hatfield  were  the  prosecuting  counsel,  and  Miller  and  Bennett,  of  Iowa,  and  Axtell  and 
Sheperd,  of  the  Rock  River  conference,  were  on  the  defense. 

The  trial  began  at  the  opening  session,  October  5,  and  continued  at  intervals  till  October  10, 
when,  as  was  anticipated,  he  was  again  found  guilty  and  expelled  both  from  the  ministry  and  the 
church.  The  committee,  however,  did  not  sustain  the  charge  upon  the  question  of  the  verbal 
inspiration  of  the  Bible,  but  acquitted  him  on  that  count.  Upon  the  atonement  the  vote  stood  9 
to  6,  and  on  future  punishment  n  to  4. 

Shortly  before  the  meeting  of  the  conference  at  Rockford,  in  1880,  the  following  Chicago  gen- 
tlemen met  and  pledged  themselves  to  be  responsible  for  the  expenses  of  a  service  in  the  central 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  135 

part  of  the  city;  Judge  Samuel  Boyles,  John  R.  Floyd,  S.  F.  Requa,  A.  V.  Hartwell,  Ira  Brown, 
Gerard  Bassett,  L.  H.  Turner,  J.  A.  King,  A.  A.  Waterman,  B.  G.  Gill,  F.  Q.  Ball,  H.  C.  King,  E. 
A.  Blodgett,  Edgar  L.  Swain,  D.  H.  Daniels,  E.  B.  Holmes,  James  Grassie.  Accordingly  Hooley's 
Theater  was  engaged,  and  to  it  Doctor  Thomas  went  after  the  action  of  that  conference.  A  large 
congregation  greeted  him  at  once,  and  he  has  continued  to  hold  services  there  with  great  success 
till  the  present  time. 

Upon  this  expulsion  by  the  conference  at  Sycamore,  although  it  endangered  his  right  of  appeal 
to  the  judicial  conference,  yet  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  continue  his  work,  and  did  so.  As  he  feared, 
so  it  turned  out,  the  judicial  conference  which  met  at  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  December  6,  1881, 
refused  to  entertain  his  appeal  on  precisely  this  ground,  and  hence  the  decision  of  the  conference 
at  Sycamore  stands  final. 

To  his  new  relation  the  doctor  and  the  public  have  both  become  accustomed  and  are  well  sat- 
isfied. He  still  instructs  large  audiences  every  Sunday,  at  Hooley's  Theater,  and  multitudes  all 
over  the  country  read  the  printed  reports  of  his  utterances  in  the  Monday  papers,  with  profit.  His 
influence  and  popularity  are  unabated,  and  his  enemies  look  on  and  wonder  how  long  it  will  last. 


FRANCIS    H.    BLACKMAN,    M.D. 

GENEVA. 

FRANCIS  H.  BLACKMAN,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  a  son  of  Francis  Wilson  Blackman,  a 
farmer,  now  living  in  Jackson,  Crawford  county,  Iowa,  and  Clarissa  (Warne)  Blackman,  a 
native  of  New  Jersey,  and  he  was  born  at  Naperville,  Du  Page  county,  Illinois,  August  28,  1846. 
His  grandfather,  John  Blackman,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  his  grandmother  in 
Vermont.  His  ancestor  on  the  mother's  side,  Sir  Henry  Warne,  for^some  reason  came  to  this 
country,  and  settled  in  New  Jersey,  and  his  descendants  are  now  scattered  over  the  western  as 
well  as  eastern  states.  John  Warne,  maternal  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers  in  Naperville. 

Our  subject  was  educated  at  Clark  Seminary,  Aurora,  Warren's  Institute,  Warrensville,  and 
Lawrenceville  University,  Appleton,  Wisconsin,  which  latter  institution  he  left  in  the  freshman 
year,  on  account  of  ill  health.  His  attendance  at  Clark  Seminary  was  both  before  and  after 
going  to  the  university.  While  pursuing  his  studies,  he  worked  on  his  father's  farm  during  vaca- 
tions, and  taught  one  winter  term  at  Winfield,  in  his  native  county. 

Doctor  Blackman  began  his  medical  studies  with  Doctor  O.  D.  Howell,  of  Aurora;  at  the  end 
of  two  years  went  to  Chicago,  and  worked  two  months  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  Professor  C. 
Gilbert  Wheeler;  entered  the  Chicago  Medical  College  in  the  spring  of  1868,  and  was  graduated 
in  March,  1870,  as  first  prize  essayist,  he  having  the  best  inaugural  thesis.  During  the  last  half 
of  his  last  year  in  the  medical  college,  Doctor  Blackman  was  resident  physician  of  the  Mercy 
Hospital,  which  is  connected  with  that  institution. 

On  receiving  his  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  he  located  at  Geneva,  April,  1870,  where  he  soon 
built  up  a  remunerative  business.  His  practice  is  general,  yet  he  has  a  large  share  of  the  surgical 
cases  in  the  vicinity,  and  enjoys  an  excellent  reputation  for  skill  in  that  and  every  other  branch  of 
the  healing  art.  He  is  examining  surgeon  for  pensions  in  Kane  county;  a  member  and  at  one  time 
was  president  of  the  Fox  River  Medical  Society,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Med- 
ical Society,  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  One  of  his  most  important  operations 
reported  was  thafof  tracheotomy,  which  he  performed  twice  in  1877,  and  the  first,  we  believe,  of 
the  kind  performed  in  the  Fox  River  Valley. 

Doctor  Blackman  has  been  a  school  director  since  the  spring  of  1881,  the  only  office,  we 
believe,  that  he  has  held  in  Geneva,  he  attending  very  closely  to  professional  studies  and  practice. 
He  is  a  stanch  republican,  and  sometimes,  during  an  exciting  political  canvass,  is  quite  active. 

Doctor  Blackman  married,  June  i,  1871,  Miss  Julia  A.  Cole,  daughter  of  Samuel  R.  Cole,  then 


136  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

of  Riverside,  Cook  county,  Illinois,  now  of  Longmont,  Colorado.  She  was  a  member  of  the  first 
class  which  was  graduated  at  the  Women's  Medical  Hospital,  Chicago,  February,  1871,  and  prior 
to  graduating  spent  three  years  with  Doctor  Mary  H.  Thompson,  physician-in-chief  to  that  hos- 
pital. They  have  one  child,  a  daughter,  Julia  Mary,  nine  years  old.  Doctor  Blackmail  has,  we 
believe,  reported  a  few  cases  for  the  Chicago  "  Medical  Journal,"  but  only  such  as  were  deemed 
of  decided  interest  and  importance. 


HON.  JAMES  M.  CAMPBELL. 

MA  COMB. 

JAMES  MORRISON  CAMPBELL,  the  oldest  settler  in  Macomb  still  living  here,  is  a  native  of 
Frankfort,  Kentucky,  his  birth  being  dated  August  22,  1803.  His  parents  were  John  R.  and 
Margaret  F.  (Self)  Campbell.  His  grandfather,  Robert  Campbell,  came  to  this  country  with  his 
wife,  Nancy  Campbell,  from  Argyleshire,  Scotland,  in  1773,  and  when,  two  years  later,  war  with 
England  commenced,  he  took  up  arms  against  the  mother  country.  Robert  Campbell  settled  in 
Virginia,  where  both  parents  of  James  were  born.  They  moved  to  Kentucky  about  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century,  and  when  the  son  was  about  four  years  old  the  family  moved  from  Frank- 
fort to  Mechlenburgh  county,  where  they  remained  about  two  years. 

In  1809  John  R.  Campbell,  who  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  came  into  this  state  and  settled  at 
Shawneetown,  and  while  there,  in  1812-4,  ne  was  a  lieutenant  of  rangers,  fighting  against  the 
Indians,  whom  the  British  had  instigated  to  raise  the  war  whoop.  When  peace  was  declared 
Lieutenant  Campbell  did  not  return  immediately,  and  his  wife,  supposing  him  to  be  dead, 
returned  with  her  little  family  of  thre^children  to  her  old  home  in  Frankfort.  To  her  great  joy 
her  husband  soon  joined  her.  The  Frankfort  Seminary  was  then  a  popular  institution,  and  in  it 
James  was  kept  for  four  years,  under  a  first-class  disciplinarian,  Professor  Keene  O'Hara.  In 
1822,  when  only  nineteen  years  old,  Mr.  Campbell  was  appointed  deputy  postmaster  at  Frankfort, 
holding  that  post  between  five  and  six  years  under  James  W.  Hawkins,  one  of  nature's  noblemen. 
Resigning  his  position  in  the  postoffice,  our  subject  went  to  Lexington,  and  not  long  afterward 
received  a  mail  bag  with  a  suit  of  clothes  in  it  from  his  friend,  the  postmaster. 

Not  being  successful  in  finding  a  situation  in  Lexington,  Mr.  Campbell  returned  to  Frankfort, 
and  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year  (1828)  went  to  Shelby  county,  Kentucky.  The  next  winter  he 
started  for  Galena,  Jo  Daviess  county,  this  state,  but  spent  that  winter  at  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
reaching  the  lead  mines  in  August,  1829.  His  uncle,  William  Campbell,  was  then  the  general 
agent  of  the  government  as  receiver  of  the  rents  of  the  mines  at  Galena,  and  the  nephew  was 
with  him  a  few  months,  and  then  went  into  the  office  of  the  circuit  and  county  clerk,  remaining 
in  that  situation  until  the  spring  of  1831.  On  the  first  day  of  April  of  that  year  he  reached 
Macomb,  which  then  had  a  population  of  four  persons  —  Rev.  John  Baker,  a  Baptist  minister, 
wife  and  two  little  daughters  —  Mr.  Campbell  swelling  the  population  to  five.  Where  the  public 
square  now  stands  the  last  year's  grass  was  six  feet  tall,  and  besides  the  cabin  of  Mr.  Baker  there 
was  no  building  of  any  kind  within  nearly  a  mile  of  where  Macomb  now  stands.  In  1831  there 
were  not  more  than  fifty  voters  in  the  county. 

Mr.  Campbell  came  here  with  commissions  in  his  pocket  from  Judge  Richard  M.  Young,  for 
clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  and  was  appointed  by  Governor  John  Reynolds  to  the  offices  of  judge  of 
probate,  county  recorder,  and  notary  public,  and  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  county  criminal  court 
by  the  county  commissioners  in  1831,  but  there  was  not  much  county  business  just  then 
to  be  done,  and  he  built  a  log  house  on  what  is  now  Jefferson  street,  and  opened  the  first  store  in 
McDonough  county,  He  was  also  appointed  the  first  postmaster  in  Macomb.  He  was  also 
appointed  the  first  notary  public  and  the  first  judge  of  probate,  but  these  two  offices  he  refused  to 
accept.  The  offices  of  circuit  and  county  clerk,  recorder  and  postmaster  "he  held  for  eighteen 
years,  except  an  interim  of  three  months  in  the  postoffice.  Not  long  afterward  he  become  clerk 
of  the  county  commissioners'  court,  and  held  that  office  fifteen  years. 


UNITED   STATES  FSIOGKAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  137 

During  the  Black  Hawk  war  (1832)  Mr.  Campbell  was  in  Major  Bogart's  battalion,  and  served 
to  the  end,  the  pay  being  eighty-six  cents  a  day  for  himself  and  horse  for  eighty-six  days.  In 
1846  he  was  appointed  assistant  commissary,  and  assigned  to  the  3d  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  but 
he  did  only  three  months'  service  in  the  Mexican  war.  He  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional 
convention  in  1847;  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1852,  and  was  a  member  of  the  finance  com- 
mittee during  the  four  years  that  he  served  in  that  body. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  originally  a  whig,  but  took  exceptions  to  Mr.  Clay's  speech  (1832)  against 
the  preemption  of  lands  to  actual  settlers,  and  has  since  acted  with  the  democratic  party,  serving 
many  years  on  the  county  and  state  central  committees.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  con- 
vention in  1856  when  Mr.  Buchanan  was  nominated,  and  again  in  1860  when  Mr.  Douglas  was 
nominated,  was  a  member  of  the  national  democratic  convention  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  at  Baltimore,  Maryland.  Mr.  Campbell  has  done  a  good  deal  of  valuable  work  in  the  city 
council  and  in  the  board  of  supervisors,  and  in  many  ways,  as  is  here  seen,  he  has  served  his  con- 
stituents, always  with  faithfulness  and  marked  ability. 

A  few  months  after  coming  to  Macomb,  in  August,  1831,  Mr.  Campbell  was  married  at  Saint 
Charles,  Missouri,  to  Miss  Clarissa  Hempstead,  who  died  in  1842,  leaving  one  son  and  four  daugh- 
ters, three  (the  son  and  two  daughters)  of  them  still  living.  In  1843  he  was  married  to  Mrs. 
Louisa  F.  Berry,  a  daughter  of  John  Farwell  and  a  sister  of  L.  G.  Farwell,  of  Macomb,  he  having 
by  her  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  yet  living.  His  first,  Mary  Eliza,  was  the  first  female 
child  born  in  Macomb.  These  facts  and  many  others  we  gather  from  Clarke's  History  of 
McDonough  County. 

It  was  Mr.  Campbell's  pen  which  drew  the  original  plat  of  the  town,  which  was,  adopted  by 
the  commissioners,  and  he  named  every  street  in  the  city.  He  is  thoroughly  identified  with  the 
history  of  this  city  and  county.  •  He  built  the  first  store,  the  first  frame  house,  the  first  three 
school  houses  and  the  first  public  hall  in  Macomb;  was  the  first  postmaster  in  the  county,  the  first 
county  clerk,  recorder,  etc.,  and  has  been  the  first  and  foremost  man  in  many  important  enter- 
prises. He  owns  several  buildings  in  the  city,  and  their  rent  affords  him  ample  support  in  his 
old  age.  Although  in  his  eightieth  year,  his  mind  is  clear,  his  memory  good,  his  health  fair,  and 
he  seems  to  have  no  compunction  in  living  beyond  the  prescribed  age  of  man,  as  laid  down  in 
the  Scriptures.  i 

The  county  history  gives  him  credit  for  being  a  kind  and  affectionate  husband  and  father,  a 
public-spirited  citizen,  liberal  to  the  poor,  and  one  of  the  most  generous-hearted  men  who  ever 
lived  in  Macomb.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  in  McDonough  county  is  better  known  or  more 
generally  and  more  highly  respected. 

HON.    WILLIAM   H.  NEECE. 

MACOMB. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  NEECE,  member  of  congress  from  the  eleventh  district,  and  a  promi- 
nent lawyer  in  McDonough  county,  is  a  son  of  Jesse  and  Mary  D.  (Maupin)  Neece,  and 
was  born  in  Sangamon  county,  this  state,  February  26,  1831.  Two  months  later  the  family  moved 
into  this  county.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Kentucky;  his  mother  of  Virginia.  They  were 
worthy  members  of  the  agricultural  class;  reared  their  children  in  habits  of  industry,  their  farm 
being  two  miles  south  of  Colchester  and  nine  miles  from  Macomb,  the  county  seat.  Jesse  Neece 
died  in  1869;  his  wife  in  1837. 

Our  subject  was  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  most  of  the  time,  until  nearly  of  age,  receiv- 
ing meanwhile  an  ordinary  English  education,  such  as  a  country  school  could  furnish.  From 
1850  to  1852  he  had  some  experience  in  chopping  in  the  valley  of  the  Illinois;  in  pork  packing  at 
Frederic,  and  in  breaking  prairie  on  the  Tennessee  prairie,  in  this  county.  In  the  spring  of  1852 
Mr.  Neece  commenced  teaching,  and  wound  up  his  professional  career  in  this  line  in  the  spring 
of  1853,  never,  we  believe,  counting  himself  a  brilliant  success  as  a  pedagogue. 


138  L'XITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

At  the  date  just  mentioned  he  started  for  the  Pacific  coast  with  his  older  brother,  George  W. 
Neece  and  family,  crossing  the  plains  by  ox  team,  and  reaching  Portland,  Oregon,  early  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year.  The  next  month  Williamjwent  to  California,  and  failing  as  a  miner,  became 
a  cook  in  a  restaurant  at  Sacramento.  In  the  spring  of  1854  he  engaged  in  mining  with  his 
brother,  near  Grass  Valley,  moving  thence  to  Nevada  county,  and  there  remaining  until  the 
spring  of  1855,  when  he  returned  to  McDonough  county.  In  the  autumn  of  the  next  year  he 
became  purchasing  agent  for  the  firm  of  J.  H.  Baker  and  Company,  real  estate  dealers  in  Macomb, 
and  was  thus  employed  for  one  year. 

On  May  3,  1857,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Jeannette  Ingles,  of  McDonough  county,  and  the  same 
year  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Hon.  John  Simpson  Bailey,  since  judge  of  the  circuit 
court,  and  in  1858  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  still  applied  himself  very  closely  to  his  legal 
studies,  and  in  a  few  years  began  to  rise  in  his  profession.  Says  a  writer  in  Clarke's  History  of 
McDonough  County:  "In  criminal  practice  Mr.  Neece  has  secured  an  enviable  reputation,  and 
there  has  not  probably  been  an  important  trial  for  murder  in  this  county  for  a  number  of  years 
in  which  he  was  not  engaged."  This  writer  then  proceeds  to  cite  the  trial  of  the  Bonds,  of 
Thomas  Johnson  and  of  Tuttle,  criminal  causes  familiar  to  the  citizens  of  this  part  of  the  state, 
and  in  which  Mr.  Neece  won  much  applause  for  the  ability  which  he  displayed,  he  being  in  all 
cases  retained  for  the  defense.  In  civil  practice  Mr.  Neece  has  also  been  very  successful.  He  is 
a  rising  man  in  law  as  well  as  politics. 

In  1864  and  again  in  1870  Mr.  Neece  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature,  serving  one  term  each 
time.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  last  constitutional  convention,  being  elected  in  1868;  was 
the  democratic  nominee  for  congress  in  the  old  tenth  district;  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in 
1878,  serving  four  years,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1882  was  elected  to  congress  in  a  strong  republican 
district.  We  believe  Mr.  Neece  has  never  been  a  candidate  for  any  office  when  he  did  not  run 
ahead  of  his  ticket.  He  made  a  valuable  member  of  both  branches  of  the  legislature,  serving 
four  years  in  each  house,  and  his  legal  acumen,  plain  common  sense  and  great  industry  gave  him 
an  honorable  position  in  the  constitutional  convention.  His  experience  in  these  bodies  will  be  of 
service  to  him  in  his  new  sphere  of  legislative  work  in  the  national  house  of  representatives,  and 
his  friends  are  sanguine  that  he  will  make  not  only  an  honorable  but  brilliant  record  in  that  hon- 
orable body.  His  character  in  every  respect  stands  well. 


M 


HON.  MARK   BANGS. 

CHICAGO. 

ARK  BANGS  was  born  in  Hawley,  Franklin  county,  Massachusetts,  January  9,  1822,  his 
father  being  Zenas  Bangs.  'The  latter  originated  on  Cape  Cod  ;  settled  early  in  western 
Massachusetts  on  a  rough,  barren  mountain  farm,  where  he  raised  a  large  family,  of  which  Mark 
was  the  youngest  child.  By  farming  in  summer,  and  making  shoes  in  winter,  the  father,  with  the 
aid  of  his  older  boys,  managed  to  maintain  his  large  family  in  reasonable  comfort  and  respecta- 
bility. His  wife  died  in  the  fall  of  1827,  and  he  himself  in  the  spring  of  1828,  leaving  our  subject 
at  once  without  parents  and  patrimony.  Zenas  Bangs  was  an  orthodox  Congregationalist,  and 
his  taking  his  son  into  church  upon  one  arm,  and  a  big  Bible  under  the  other,  as  we  have  heard 
the  son  say,  is  among  his  earliest  recollections.  He  was  a  public-spirited  man,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  affairs  of  his  town  and  county,  and  for  several  years  was  the  chosen  representative  of 
his  town  in  the  general  court  at  Boston.  In  the  autumn  of  1828  Mark  emigrated  with  an  older 
brother  to  western  New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  seven  was  put  out  to  live  with  a  farmer  of  Mon- 
roe county,  near  Rochester. 

Here  he  soon  learned  to  milk  the  cows  and  saw  the  wood,  and  became  a  general  factotum  about 
the  premises,  going  to  school  several  months  in  each  year  until  he  was  ten,  at  which  time  he 
became  a  regular  farm  hand,  working  early  and  late,  except  about  four  months  in  the  winter, 


H.C  C.uplr^Yl  Cn 


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UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  141 

which  were  spent  in  the  district  school.  From  the  age  of  fourteen  to  that  of  eighteen  he  worked 
upon  a  farm  for  an  older  brother,  summer  and  winter,  about  three  years  of  which  were  occupied 
in  clearing  up  and  opening  a  farm  in  the  wilds  of  Michigan.  At  eighteen  he  returned  to  the 
state  of  New  York,  worked  one  summer  by  the  month  at  farming ;  taught  school  in  the  winter ; 
spent  a  year  at  school  in  Rochester,  and  thus  continued,  being  prepared  to  enter  college  in  the 
autumn  of  1844.  But  instead  of  doing  so  he  took  a  boyish  freak,  and  embarked  for  Illinois, 
thinking  to  make  his  fortune.  He  reached  Chicago  in  October,  1844,  remained  there  two  or 
three  months  ;  became  disgusted  with  its  location  and  general  appearance,  and  left  for  the  more 
central  portions  of  the  state,  where  he  spent  the  time  for  two  years  or  more  in  running  a  thresh- 
ing machine,  farming  and  teaching  a  singing  school  and  district  school.  In  the  spring  of  1847 
he  went  back  to  Massachusetts  ;  taught  a  few  classes  in  the  English  and  classical  school  of  his 
brother  in  Springfield,  while  he  read  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Henry  Morris.  In  the  autumn  of 
1849  he  returned  to  Illinois,  settled  at  Lacon,  Marshall  county,  and  spent  one  year  as  clerk  and 
bookkeeper  in  a  dry  goods  store,  meantime  pursuing  his  legal  studies.  At  the  end  of  that  year 
he  entered  the  law  office  of  Ira  I.  Fenn,  of  Lacon  ;  was  soon  admitted  to  practice,  and  became  a 
partner  of  Mr.  Fenn,  under  the  firm  name  of  Fenn  and  Bangs.  This  was  about  1851.  January 
i,  1852,  Mr.  Bangs  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  Cornelia  Pomeroy,  second  daughter  of  Deacon 
Samuel  Pomeroy,  who  was  a  brother  of  Rev.  Augustus  Pomeroy,  the  founder  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Lacon,  and  was  himself  a  member,  and  for  several  years  an  elder,  in  that 
church  ;  afterward  became  a  deacon  of  the  First  Congregational  Church. 

Mr.  Bangs  was  from  the  first  an  anti-slavery  whig.  From  the  time  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  he  took  a  more  or  less  active  part  in  local  and  state  politics,  and  was  one  of  the  very  first  to 
move  in  the  organization  of  the  republican  party,  being  a  delegate  to  a  state  convention  held  in 
Springfield,  Illinois,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  measures  for  the  organization,  from  both  of 
the  old  parties,  of  a  new  national  party,  that  should  unite  and  embody  the  entire  anti-slavery  ele- 
ment of  the  country.  Owen  Lovejoy  was  a  member  of  that  convention.  Many  persons  of  dis- 
tinction in  the  state,  who  have  since 'done  active  and  honorable  service  as  republicans,  stood  aloof 
from  that  convention,  fearing  its  strong  and  prominent  views  on  the  slavery  question.  From 
that  time  Mr.  Bangs  became  an  active,  radical  republican,  engaging  earnestly  in  every  political 
campaign,  either  local  or  general  from  1855  until  1875. 

In  March,  1859,  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  twenty-third  judicial  circuit  of  Illinois.  In 
August,  1862,  he  presided  at  the  republican  convention,  held  in  Galesburgh,  at  which  Hon.  Owen 
Lovejoy  received  his  last  nomination  for  congress,  and  that  fall  made  with  him  the  campaign, 
the  severity  of  which  doubtless  cost  Mr.  Lovejey  his  life.  In  the  fall  of  1862  Mr.  Bangs  formed  a 
partnership  with  Thomas  M.  Shaw,  now  state  senator  from  that  district,  which  continued  for  fif- 
teen years,  during  which  time  the  firm  of  Bangs  and  Shaw,  and  later  Bangs,  Shaw  and  Edwards, 
held  a  leading  position  at  the  bar  and  in  the  legal  business  of  Central  Illinois. 

In  June,  1862,  Mr.  Bangs,  with  four  other  citizens  of  the  state,  originated  and  set  in  operation 
the  celebrated  Union  League  of  America,  of  which  he  was  chosen  president,  and  he  spent  much 
of  the  year  following,  in  organizing  branches  and  granting  charters,  among  which  was  a  charter 
for  the  organization  of  the  National  League  at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia.  In  the  autumn 
of  1869  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate,  which  had  its  share  of  the  work  of  adopting  our  state 
legislation  to  the  new  constitution.  In  February,  1873,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Beveridge, 
judge  of  the  circuit  court  of  Putnam,  Marshall,  Woodford  and  Tazewell  counties,  to  fill  a  vacancy 
occasioned  by  the  death  of  Judge  Richmond. 

In  December,  1875,  he  was  called  without  previous  knowledge  or  solicitation  on  his  part  by  a 
unanimous  request  of  the  republican  delegation  in  congress,  to  the  position  of  United  States 
attorney  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  which  position  he  held  until  September  i,  1879,  at 
which  time  he  resigned.  Most  of  the  following  year  he  spent  looking  after  some  small  mining 
interest,  and  in  search  of  health  among  the  mountains  of  Colorado.  October  20,  1880,  Judge 


142  UNITED   STATES  flfOGRAPfflCAf.   DICTIONARY. 

Hangs  entered  upon  a  law  practice  in  Chicago  with  Major  Joseph  Kirkland,  a  well  known  citizen 
of  Chicago,  under  the  form  of  Bangs  and  Kirkland,  which  still  continues. 

During  the  two  short  periods  that  Judge  Bangs  presided  on  the  bench  as  circuit  judge  he  was 
happy  in  having  won  the  confidence  and  respect  of  both  the  members  of  the  legal  profession 
and  litigants  in  his  circuit,  not  only  by  his  urbanity,  but  by  the  knowledge  of  the  law  which  he 
evinced,  and  the  correctness  and'impartiality  in  his  rulings  and  decisions  in  all  cases  brought 
before  him  as  judge.  The  subject  of  our  sketch  brought  these  same  too  rare  qualities  with  him 
to  the  performance  of  his  professional  duties  as  attorney,  on  his  retirement  from  the  bench,  and 
consequently  his  professional  services  were  sought  in  almost  every  contested  case  in  his  county 
by  one  or  the  other  of  the  litigating  parties.  As  judge  or  attorney  Mr.  Bangs  was  industrious 
and  untiring  in  his  researches  and  efforts  to  find  the  law  and  the  facts  of  cases,  in  his  determina- 
tion to  know  the  very  right  of  the  matters  in  litigation,  and  by  such  means  he  was  rarely  unsuc- 
cessful in  cases  where  he  was  employed  as  attorney  or  counsel. 


MAJOR  FREDERICK  A.   BRAGG. 

CHICAGO. 

AUGUSTUS  BRAGG,  one  of  the  prominent  dealers  in  real  estate  in  Chicago, 
A  is  a  son  of  Joel  and  Margaretta  (Kohl)  Bragg,  and  dates  his  birth  at  Unadilla,  Otsego  county, 
New  York,  July  16,  1829.  His  grandfather  was  in  the  first  war  with  the  mother  country,  his 
father  in  the  second,  and  himself  and  his  elder  brother,  General  Edward  S.  Bragg,  member  of  con- 
gress from  Wisconsin,  were  in  the  late  civil  war,  the  whole  family  being  of  the  best  patriotic  stock. 
Joel  Bragg  was  a  farmer,  and  the  son  gave  his  youthful  energies  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
until  seventeen  years  old,  except  when  at  school.  He  received  an  academic  education  at  Franklin 
and  Gilbertsville  in  his  native  state,  and  then  went  into  the  navy  as  purser's  steward  on  the  United 
States  sloop  of  war,  Saint  Louis,  holding  that  position  for  tw6  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  his 
father  was  dangerously  ill,  and  consequently  Frederick  resigned  and  returned  to  New  York. 

In  1851  Mr.  Bragg  came  to  Chicago,  and  became  deputy  city  clerk,  under  his  brother-in-law, 
Henry  W.  Zimmerman,  retaining  that  situation  until  1853,  when  the  office  of  superintendent  of 
assessments  was  created,  and  he  was  elected  to  fill  it.  He  held  it  for  nine  years.  Just  before  the 
civil  war  broke  out,  and  while  still  holding  the  other  post,  he  was  elected  first  assistant  engineer 
of  the  fire  department  of  Chicago,  which  he  resigned  to  go  into  the  service. 

In  May,  1861,  with  the  rank  of  2nd  lieutenant,  he  raised  a  company  of  infantry  at  Chicago, 
and  the  Illinois  quota  being  full  he  went  into  the  6th  Missouri,  and  on  being  mustered  in  was 
promoted  to  ist  lieutenant,  company  I.  A  few  months  later  he  was  promoted  to  the  captaincy  of 
company  A.  About  three  years  later  he  was  again  promoted,  this  time  to  the  rank  of  major.  He) 
had  command  of  the  regiment  at  Chickasaw  Bayou,  and  was  wounded  in  the  face  by  the  acci- 
dental bursting  of  a  shell  on  the  Union  side. 

Major  Bragg  had  command  of  a  brigade  a  portion  of  the  time  in  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea; 
was  in  the  service  four  years  and  six  months,  and  was  mustered  out  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  in 
October,  1865.  He  never  missed  a  battle  or  a  march  of  his  regiment,  and  never  had  a  day's  sick- 
ness while  in  the  service.  His  regiment  was  attached  to  the  first  brigade,  second  division  of  the 
1 5th  army  corps  of  the  army  of  the  Tennessee,  during  the  entire  war,  and  he  was  with  Sherman 
from  the  battle  of  Shiloh  until  the  close  of  the  unpleasantness.  He  was  offered  further  promo- 
tion several  times  during  his  term  of  service,  but  declined  it. 

On  leaving  the  army  Major  Bragg  returned  to  Chicago,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in  the 
real  estate  business,  dealing  mainly  in  city  property,  and  making  a  successful  and  highly  credita- 
ble record.  His  sales  in  a  single  year  (1881)  amounted  to  more  than  $4,500,000.  He  has  the 
unlimited  confidence  of  parties  with  whom  he  has  business  transactions,  and  is  a  fair  and  strictly 
honorable  dealer, 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  143 

Major  Bragg  is  a  democrat,  and  years  ago  was  quite  active  in  the  party,  holding  the  office 
of  city  collector  before  the  war.  Latterly  business  has  had  the  precedence  over  everything  else, 
and  that  is  one  reason  why  he  has  made  it  so  brilliant  a  success.  He  is  a  Master  Mason. 

Major  Bragg  married  in  1867  Miss  Catherine  E.  Gallagher,  of  Ohio,  and  they  have  had  three 
children,  losing  two  of  them. 


F 


FRANCIS  W.   HANCE,  M.D. 

FREKPORT. 

RANCIS  WATERMAN  HANCE,  one  of  the  older  class  of  medical  men  in  Stephenson 
county,  Illinois,  first  saw  the  light  in  Belmont  county,  Ohio,  July  23,  1825.  His  father,  John 
Hance,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Maryland,  and  participated  in  the  second  war  with  England,  from 
which  country  the  family  immigrated  to  the  American  colonies.  The  mother  of  Francis  was 
Mary  Ann  Mackall,  who  was  of  Scotch  extraction.  He  was  educated  at  Franklin  College,  Athens, 
Ohio,  taking  a  full  course,  yet  substituting  extra  mathematical  studies  for  the  Greek  language; 
read  medicine  with  Doctor  W.  J.  Bates,  of  Wheeling,  Virginia  (now  West  Virginia);  attended  lec- 
tures at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  and  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
medicine  in  1849.  ^n  July  °f  tnat  year  he  married,  in  Ohio,  Mary  B.  Chamberlain,  who  was  from 
Elmira,  New  York.  She  died  in  1873.  Doctor  Hance  practiced  medicine  for  three  years  at 
Bridgeport,  in  his  native  county,  and  in  the  spring  of  1853  settled  in  Freeport,  where  he  did  a 
large  general  business,  including  a  liberal  share  of  surgery,  until  1875,  when  his  health  failed  and 
he  went  to  California,  spending  nearly  two  years  in  that  delightful  climate. 

The  doctor  returned  to  Freeport  on  the  last  day  of  1876,  with  his  health  nearly  reestablished, 
and  he  is  still  in  the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery,  having,  we  believe,  about  as  much  business 
as  he  could  desire.  During  most  of  his  life  his  professional  duties  have  been  exacting,  and  he 
has  had  little  time  to  attend  to  other  matters.  He  held  the  office  of  mayor  in  1861,  the  only  civil 
position  that  we  can  hear  of  his  having  accepted  since  he  became  a  resident  of  this  city.  He  has 
held  most  of  the  offices  in  the  Stephenson  County  Medical  Society,  and  stands  well  among  the 
medical  fraternity. 

While  the  civil  war  was  in  progress,  after  the  battles  immediately  preceding  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg,  the  doctor  received  a  telegram  from  the  adjutant-general  of  the  state  asking  for  his  ser- 
vices at  the  South.  He  obeyed  the  summons  on  a  two  hours'  notice,  and  spent  six  or  seven  weeks 
at  the  hospitals  in  the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg.  With  the  exception  of  this  short  absence  from 
home,  and  the  period  spent  in  California,  the  doctor  has  usually  been  found  at  his  post  in  Free- 
port,  ready  to  attend  to  the  calls  of  suffering  humanity.  His  long  residence  here,  and  his  skill 
in  his  profession,  have  secured  for  him  a  wide  circle  of  friends. 


V 


EMERY  S.  WALKER. 

CHICAGO. 

ERY  few  lawyers  as  young  as  Emery  Staniels  Walker,  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  will  be 
mentioned  in  this  volume;  nor  does  he  go  in  so  much  as  a  representative  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession as  a  sample  of  a  self-reliant,  self-educated,  studious  young  man,  ambitious  to  develop 
whatever  is  worth  developing  in  the  inner  man.  He  has  an  inquiring  mind  of  the  philosophic  cast; 
is  fond  of  scientific  as  well  as  legal  studies,  and  is  a  perfect  miser  of  time,  making  good  use  of  all 
his  waking  hours,  and  hence  is  steadily  growing  in  knowledge  and  in  intellectual  strength. 

Mr.  Walker  is  a  native  of  Whitefield,  Coos  county,  New  Hampshire,  and  was  born  September 
29,  1856,  his  parents  being  Franklin  P.  and  Betsey  (Wales)  Walker.  His  paternal  great-grand- 
mother was  Hannah  Dustin,  whose  remarkable  exploit  with  the  Indians  is  familiar  to  the  Ameri- 
can reader.  Franklin  Pierce  Walker,  who  was  named  for  the  only  President  of  the  United  States 
that  New  Hampshire  has  ever  had,  was  a  hotel  keeper  in  different  towns  in  the  northern  part  of 


i44 


UNITED   STATES   RIOGRA  TlflCAI.    DICTIONAkV. 


that  state;  and  up  to  thirteen  years  of  age  Emery  picked  up  what  knowledge  he  could  in  district 
schools;  then  went  to  Boston,  where  he  had  an  opportunity  of  slightly  replenishing  his  intellec- 
tual stores  in  a  private  school;  but  he  is  largely  self-taught,  and  still  allows  himself  no  vacation 
in  his  studies. 

In  1876  Mr.  Walker  came  to  the  West,  and  read  law  awhile,  with  himself  for  preceptor,  while 
engaged  in  other  pursuits,  in  order  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood,  and  he  was  finally  graduated  at 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Chicago  in  June,  1881.  Since  that  date  he  has  been  in 
practice  by  himself  in  this  city,  doing  a  moderate  and  increasing  business.  He  is  thoroughly 
trustworthy,  parties  having  transactions  with  him  giving  him  credit  for  the  strictest  integrity  and 
punctilious  regard  to  every  promise  and  engagement.  He  belongs  to  that  class  of  men  —  none 
too  common  in  the  world  —  who  are  equally  attentive  to  debtors  and  creditors,  and  are  prompt  to 
cancel  an  obligation,  even  to  a  borrowed  postage  stamp.  If  honesty  is  personified  in  any  member 
of  the  legal  fraternity  in  Chicago,  it  is  in  Mr.  Walker. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Chicago,  and  takes  much  interest  in  its  pro- 
ceedings, as  might  be  inferred  from  what  we  have  already  written;  but  with  his  legal  studies  and 
business  nothing  is  allowed  to  interfere,  and  he  is  rising  in  his  profession. 

Mr.  Walker  is  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  often  lecturing  in  public  on  that 
subject.  He  has  been  president  of  a  temperance  organization  and  is  a  member  of  one  or  more 
secret  orders  devoted  to  that  noble  cause. 


BENJAMIN  F.  CRUMMER,  M.D. 

WARREN. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  CRUMMER,  the  leading  physician  and  surgeon  at  Warren,  Jo 
Daviess  county,  is  a  native  of  this  county,  being  born  at  Elizabeth,  September  18,  1848.  His 
father  is  James  Crummer,  a  farmer,  born  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  and  son  of  Thomas  Crum- 
mer,  who  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland;  settled  at  first  in  the  state  of  Delaware,  and  came  to  Jo 
Daviess  county  about  1830.  His  remains  lie  in  the  old  burying  ground  at  Elixabeth. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Araminta  D.  Tart,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  Her  father,  Ben- 
jamin Tart,  came  to  the  Galena  lead  mines  as  early  as  1828;  was  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  in 
north-western  Illinois  (1832),  and  a  member  of  the  enterprising  firm  which  started  the  first  lead 
smelting  works  at  Elizabeth. 

Young  Crummer  supplemented  a  common-school  education  with  one  year's  attendance  at  the 
Mount  Carroll  Seminary  and  two  or  three  terms  at  a  commercial  college  in  Dubuque,  Iowa.  He 
studied  medicine  with  Doctor  Caldwell.at  Elizabeth;  attended  lectures  in  the  medical  department  of 
the  University  of  Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor;  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  April, 
1869,  and  practiced  his  profession  in  his  native  town  for  six  or  seven  years.  During  that  period, 
he  spent  the  winter  of  1874-5  in  attending  lectures  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  New  York,  from  which  institution  also  he  received  a  diploma.  He  also  took  private  lessons  in 
surgery  of  Frank  Hastings  Hamilton,  M.D.,  then  professor  of  surgery  in  Bellevue  Hospital  Medi- 
cal College. 

In  the  spring  of  1876  Doctor  Crummer  moved  to  Warren,  in  the  same  county,  where,  as  at 
Elizabeth,  he  has  an  extensive  ride,  but  over  a  less  hilly  and  a  more  comfortable  section  of  coun- 
try. Warren  is  only  half  a  mile  from  the  line  of  Wisconsin,  and  his  rides  extend  several  miles 
into  that  state.  His  business,  good  almost  from  the  start,  is  increasing  from  year  to  year,  and  the 
people  have  great  confidence  in  his  skill.  He  is  a  growing  man. 

The  doctor  has  the  best  medical  library  in  Jo  Daviess  county,  and  as  he  is  a  man  of  studious 
habits,  it  is  almost  superfluous  to  say  that  he  makes  good  use  of  his  books  during  the  brief  inter- 
vals of  leisure  at  his  command.  He  contributes  occasionally  to  medical  journals,  and  to  the  work 
of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  of  which  he  is  a  member.  He  holds  at  the  present  time  the 
office  of  secretary  of  the  Jo  Daviess  County  Medical  Society. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  145 

Doctor  Crummer  has  a  high  appreciation  of  the  value  of  education,  and  takes  much  interest 
in  the  cause,  being  at  this  time  a  member  of  the  Warren  school  board.  He  is  a  thirty-second 
degree  Mason  and  an  Odd-Fellow,  having  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  latter  order. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Crummer  is  Mary  L.,  daughter  of  Rev.  Richard  Donkersley,  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, and  formerly  of  the  Providence  (Rhode  Island)  Conference.  They  were  married  in  Febru- 
ary, 1871,  and  have  one  son,  Henry  Le  Roy,  aged  eleven  years. 


MORTIMER   D.  HATHAWAY. 

ROCIIELLE. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  is  attorney  for  the 
Chicago  and  Iowa  Railroad  Company,  and  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  Ogle  county.  He 
hails  from  Yates  county,  New  York,  being  born  in  the  town  of  Harrington,  April  28,  1832.  His 
father,  Gilbert  Hathaway,  Jr.,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  the  same  county,  and  his  grandfather,  Gil- 
bert Hathaway,  Sr.,  was  born  in  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  in  which  state  the  family  originally 
settled.  The  mother  of  Mortimer  was  Delia  Boardman,  a  native  of  Seneca  county,  New  York. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the  Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary,  Lima,  New  York, 
and  by  a  private  tutor  in  the  classics  at  Penn  Yan,  his  course  of  studies  being  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  a  college  curriculum.  He  taught  school  three  winter  terms  ;  commenced  reading  law  at 
Penn  Yan  with  Abram  V.  Harpending;  came  to  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  1854,  where  he  was  engaged 
awhile  in  mercantile  pursuits  ;  finished  his  legal  studies  with  Orrin  Miller,  of  Rockford,  where 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  December  1857.  He  practiced  four  years  in  that  city,  and  in  1861 
settled  in  Rochelle.  Here  he  has  been  eminentlv  successful,  and  has  made  an  honorable  record 
in  his  profession.  He  is  both  a  good  office  and  court  lawyer,  being  a  wise  counselor,  and  a  man 
of  much  influence  with  an  intelligent  jury.  He  has  had  a  varied  experience  in  business  matters, 
and  has  always  shown  himself,  not  only  capable,  but  perfectly  reliable  and  trustworthy.  Mr. 
Hathaway  has  been  attorney  for  the  Chicago  and  Iowa  Railroad  Company  for  ten  or  twelve 
years.  He  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  public  spirit  and  enterprise,  and  organized,  January  i, 
1872,  the  Rochelle  National  Bank,  of  which  he  has  been  the  president  since  the  end  of  the  first 
year.  It  is  a  solid,  well  managed  institution,  and  a  credit  to  the  county,  owing  its  good  reputa- 
tion in  no  inconsiderable  degree  to  the  oversight  of  our  subject. 

Mr.  Hathaway  is  of  the  democratic  school  of  politics,  and  in  1878  was  the  nominee  of  his 
party  for  congress,  running  in  a  district  of  which  every  county  was  strongly  republican.  He  was 
run  simply  to  keep  up  the  party  organization,  and  drew  the  full  democratic  vote.  He  has  done 
some  good  work  as  a  member  of  the  local  school  board,  and  takes  a  deep  interest  in  educational 
and  all  other  public  matters  calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  community.  He  joined  the 
Free  Masons  many  years  ago,  and  took  the  degrees,  including  the  Scottish  Rite,  while  a  resident 
of  Penn  Yan,  New  York.  Mr.  Hathaway  married,  in  1862,  Miss  Martha  Platt,  of  Franklin  county, 
Massachusetts,  and  they  have  four  children. 


T.   N.  HASSELQUIST,  D.D. 

ROCK  ISLAND. 

THE  president  of  Augustana  College  and  theological  seminary,  Rock  Island,  is  a  man  of  solid 
scientific  and  theological  attainments,  and  is  doing  a  good  work  in  educating  young  men, 
largely  Swedes,  for  the  gospel  ministry,  and  other  positions  of  usefulness  in  this  country.  He 
was  born  in  southern  Sweden,  March  2,  1816,  being  the  son  of  Nels  and  Cecelia  (Swanson)  Has- 
selquist.  His  parents  belonged  to  the  agricultural  class.  He  was  educated  in  the  University  of 
Lund,  southern  Sweden,  spending  three  years  in  preparatory  study  in  Christianstad,  four  in  the 
college,  and  two  in  the  theological  department,  graduating  from  the  last  named  school  in 


146 


!TNrrr.f)  STATJ-.S  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


1839,  and  was  ordained  the  same  year.  After  having  charge  of  a  Lutheran  congregation  in  his 
native  land  for  thirteen  years,  in  September,  1852,  Mr.  Hasselquist  came  to  this  country,  and  for 
thirty  years  has  been  laboring  here  zealously  for  the  advancement  of  the  church  and  of  higher 
education.  For  nearly  eleven  years  he  was  pastor  of  a  Swedish  Lutheran  congregation  at  Gales- 
burgh,  this  state.  From  1863  to  1875  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  Lutheran  college  and  seminary  at 
Paxton,  Ford  county,  a  Norwegian  as  well  as  Swedish  institution.  In  1870  the  Norwegian  pastors 
withdrew  from  the  Augustana  synod,  and  the  Norwegian  pupils  from  the  school. 

The  expectation  that  a  large  Swedish  population  would  settle  in  and  near  Ford  county,  was 
not  realized;  the  tide  tended  toward  Rock  Island  county,  and  in  March,  1873,  it  having  been 
determined  to  remove  the  school,  about  nineteen  acres  of  picturesque  bluff  land  in  eastern  Rock 
Island,  one  mile  from  Moline,  was  purchased;  and  in  the  autumn  of  1875  the  school  was  removed 
from  Paxton  and  opened  at  Rock  Island,  our  subject  remaining  its  president.  He  teaches  theol- 
ogy, New  Testament  exegesis,  homiletics,  etc.,  and  the  institution  is  thriving  under  his  .adminis- 
tration. He  has  twelve  assistants  in  the  several  departments;  teaching  is  done  in  the  English  as 
well  as  the  Swedish  language,  and  there  is  a  fair  representation  of  American  pupils,  whose 
parents  speak  in  strong  terms  of  praise  of  the  school. 

The  buildings  are  pleasantly  situated  on  the  side  of  the  bluff,  with  a  pleasant  campus  on  the 
north.  The  library  is  quite  large,  the  apparatus  sufficient  for  general  purposes,  and  the  college 
and  seminary  seem  to  have  a  hopeful  future. 

Seueral  years  ago  Muhlenburg  College,  Pennsylvania,  conferred  upon  president  Hasselquist, 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity,  an  honor  well  merited  and  accepted  in  meekness. 

In  1852  Dr.  Hasselquist  was  married  to  Miss  Eva  Helena  Cervine,  a  native  of  Sweden,  and  she 
died  in  April,  1881,  leaving  three  children,  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  one  daughter  having  pre- 
viously left  for  her  heavenly  home. 

LUKE  E.   HEMENWAY. 

MOLINE. 

T  UKE  EDGAR  HEMENWAY,  postmaster  at  Moline,  is  a  son  of  Francis  S.  and  Clara  (Tur- 
1 — j  rill)  Hemenway,  and  was  born  in  Shoreham,  Addison  county,  Vermont,  August  7,  1816. 
His  father  and  his  grandfather,  Samuel  Hemenway,  were  house  carpenters  in  early  life,  and  after- 
ward farmers.  His  mother  was  a  native  of  Shoreham.  The  progenitor  of  the  Hemenway  family 
in  this  country,  was  Ralph  Hemenway,  who  came  to  this  country  in  1634,  and  settled  in  Roxbury, 
now  a  part  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  prominent  man,  and  held  different  town  offices. 
The  head  of  this  immediate  branch  of  the  family  was  Daniel  Hemenway,  of  Shrewsbury,  Massa- 
chusetts. Samuel  Hemenway,  the  grandfather  of  Luke,  moved  to  Shoreham  near  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  and  his  remains  lie  in  the  old  burying  ground  in  that  town. 

The  school  days  of  our  subject  ended  in  his  fifteenth  year,  and  the  rest  of  his  education  he 
picked  up  afterward.  He  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  for  his  uncle,  Sidney  S.  Hemenway,  at  Rochester 
and  Barnard,  both  in  Windsor  county,  Vermont,  until  1838,  when  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  was  in 
mercantile  business  at  Grand  Detour,  Ogle  county,  until  1843,  when  his  health  failed,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  store,  and  seek  out-door  employment.  Prior  to  that  time  he  was  fora  few 
months  a  partner  of  John  Deere,  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  plows.  He  farmed  for  himself 
between  three  and  four  years,  and  then  was  engaged  in  selling  agricultural  implements. 

In  August,  1855,  Mr.  Hemenway  settled  in  Moline,  and  for  four  years  had  the  management  of 
John  Deere's  office.  In  1859  he  commenced  the  manufacture  of  chairs,  then  of  grain-cleaning 
machines,  and  out  of  that  small  beginning  has  since  grown  up  the  large  establishment  of  Barnard 
and  Leas  Manufacturing  Company. 

In  June,  1864,  Mr.  Hemenway  went  into  the  army  with  the  one  hundred  days  men,  having 
command  of  company  II,  i32d  Illinois  infantry,  which  was  engaged  in  doing  guard  duty  at 
Paducah  and  Smithland,  Kentucky.  He  was  in  business  for  the  Moline  Plow  Company  from 
1870  to  1875,  when  his  health  again  failed,  and  he  was  out  of  business  for  a  year  or  two. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

April  i,  1877,  he  took  charge  of  the  Moline  postoffice,  and  is  managing  it  with  great  satisfac- 
tion to  the  public.  Years  ago  he  was  a  township  trustee,  and  later  an  alderman,  school  director, 
etc.  His  interests  have  always  been  strongly  identified  with  Moline,  and  he  is  one  of  its  most 
respected  citizens.  He  has  always  been  a  republican,  and  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason. 

Mr.  Hemenway  was  married  June  23,  1842,  to  Miss  Jane  E.  Marsh,  of  Bethel,  Windsor  county, 
Vermont,  and  they  have  four  children,  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  Fred  C.,  the  eldest  son,  is 
superintendent  of  Christy's  cracker  factory,  Rock  Island;  Charles  F.  is  cashier  of  the  Moline 
National  Bank;  George  H.  is  a  house  carpenter,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  and  Ellen  M.,  the  second 
child,  is  the  wife  of  Joseph  M.  Christy,  cracker  manufacturer,  Rock  Island. 


ANDREW  J.  O'CONOR. 

LA    SALLE. 

A  NDREW  J.  O'CONOR,  lawyer,  is  a  son  of  Andrew  and  Bridget  (Doyle)  O'Conor,  and  was 
/X  born  in  La  Salle,  July  17,  1852.  Both  parents  were  from  Ireland,  and  his  father,  who 
was  a  school  teacher,  died  in  the  year  in  which  the  son  was  born.  The  mother  is  still  living. 
Andrew  received  a  collegiate  education  at  the  Seminary  of  Our  Lady  of  Angels,  a  Catholic  insti- 
tution near  Suspension  Bridge,  New  York  ;  read  law  in  La  Salle  with  his  present  partner,  James 
W.  Duncan,,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  autumn  of  1876.  The  firm  of  Duncan  and 
O'Conor  does  business  in  all  the  state  and  federal  courts,  and  that  business  is  second  in  extent, 
probably,  to  that  of  no  legal  firm  in  La  Salle  county.  In  1882  they  opened  an  office  in  Ottawa, 
the  county  seat,  where  Mr.  Duncan  now  resides.  Their  business  at  both  places  is  highly  pros- 
perous. Although  still  quite  young  in  his  profession,  as  well  as  in  years,  Mr.  O'Conor  has  few 
peers  as  an  advocate,  in  his  native  county.  He  is  a  rising  man. 

While  Mr.  O'Conor  was  studying  his  profession,  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  city  court,  and 
resigned  that  office  at  the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half  to  accept  his  present  office  of  city  attorney. 
The  duties  of  this  office  he  is  discharging  with  marked  ability,  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  of 
the  public.  He  is  also  school  treasurer  of  Peru  and  La  Salle,  which  are  in  one  congressional 
district.  Mr.  O'Conor  is  an  active  and  influential  politician  of  the  democratic  school,  and  is  a 
member  of  both  the  county  and  state  central  committees  of  his  party. 

Our  subject  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Union  Coal  Company,  and  in  the  City  National  Bank,  and 
one-third  owner  of  the  gas  works  both  at  La  Salle  and  Peru.  He  was  married,  October  22.  1876, 
to  Miss  Mary  I.  L.  Duncan,  sister  of  his  law  partner,  and  they  have  four  children,  two  sons  and 
two  daughters. 

MAJOR  WILLIAM   G.   BOND. 

MONMOUTH. 

WILLIAM  GRIMSLEY  BOND,  sheriff  of  Warren  county,  dates  his  birth  April  2.  1823,  in 
Jackson  county,  Alabama,  his  parents  being  John  and  Mary  (Grimsley)  Bond.  His  father 
was  a  farmer,  born  in  Tennessee;  his  grandfather,  Jesse  Walton  Bond,  was  also  a  farmer.  When 
William  was  very  young  the  family  came  into  Morgan  county,  this  state,  where  he  lost  his  mother. 
He  recollects  seeing  her  only  as  she  lay  dead.  His  father  was  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  1832,  and 
about  the  close  of  that  year  the  family  moved  to  Warren  county,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  what  is 
now  Greenbush  township,  where  both  father  and  grandfather  died.  William  was  very  small  when 
the  family  came  into  this  county,  but  he  assisted  in  opening  a  farm,  getting  very  little  schooling, 
most  of  it  in  the  summer  time  before  he  was  large  enough  to  be  of  much  service  as  a  farm  hand. 
He  never  went  to  school  where  the  house  had  a  floor,  consequently  it  could  not  be  made  comfort- 
able in  the  winter  time.  His  education  has  since  been  obtained  as  business  required  him  to  master 
certain  branches.  He  is  a  well  informed  man, 


148  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

In  the  spring  of  1845  Mr.  Bond  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Henry,  and  was  still  engaged  in  farm- 
ing when  the  war  broke  out.  He  went  into  the  army  in  AugusX,  1862,  as  captain,  company  H,  83d 
Illinois  infantry;  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  and  for  two 
years  had  command  of  the  regiment,  the  colonel  and  lieutenant-colonel  being  on  detached  duty. 
His  military  record  is  second  to  that  of  no  man  who  went  into  the  army  from  Warren  county. 
Major  Bond  received  two  slight  wounds  in  the  second  engagement  at  Fort  Donelson,  in  February, 
1863,  and  was  severely  wounded  in  the  left  thigh  by  a  minie  ball,  at  the  battle  of  Pulaski,  in 
October,  1864,  in  a  fight  with  General  Forrest.  He  was  mustered  out  with  his  regiment  at 
Nashville,  July,  1865,  and  for  three  years  was  in  the  quartermaster's  department,  engaged  most 
of  the  time  in  taking  up  the  federal  dead  and  moving  them  to  national  cemeteries.  Subsequently 
he  was  in  the  revenue  department  in  Tennessee,  having  much  of  the  time  charge  of  distilleries  as 
government  store  keeper. 

Returning  to  Illinois  he  became  deputy  sheriff  of  Warren  county  at  the  close  of  1874,  and  held 
that  position  two  years.  He  was  elected  sheriff  in  the  autumn  of  1876;  has  since  been  twice 
reSlected,  and  at  the  time  this  sketch  is  written  he  is  just  closing  up  his  sixth  year  in  that  office. 
He  is  regarded  as  the  most  vigilant  and  efficient  sheriff  that  the  county  has  ever  had,  and  is  well 
known  in  other  states,  as  well  as  in  Illinois.  When  he  once  gets  on  the  track  of  a  culprit,  there 
is  no  peace,  and  not  much  sleep  until  that  culprit  is  caught.  Before  the  war  Major  Bond  was  a 
Douglas  democrat;  he  has  since  been  a  republican.  He  was  a  member  of  the  county  board  of 
supervisors  for  some  years,  and  resigned  when  he  went  into  the  army. 

His  first  wife  died  in  1863,  while  he  was  in  the  tented  field,  leaving  four  children,  and  he  soon 
afterward  sold  his  farm.  January  i,  1868,  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Mary  E.  (Taylor)  Moore,  widow 
of  Lieutenant  Isaac  V.  D.  Moore,  of  the  7th  Illinois  cavalry,  who  was  killed  near  New  Madrid,  Mis- 
sissippi, April.  1862,  while  bravely  fighting  for  his  country. 


EDWIN    EVANS,   M.D. 

STKEA  TOR. 

EDWIN  EVANS,  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Streator,  dates  his  birth  at  New  Durham, 
Greene  county,  New^  York,  October  6,  1821,  being  a  son  .of  Rev.  William  Evans,  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  born  in  Brattleboro,  Vermont,  in  1790,  and  Harriet  (Linsley)  Evans,  a  native  of 
Durham,  New  York.  The  father  of  Rev.  William  Evans  moved  from  Brattleboro,  Vermont,  to 
Sidney,  Delaware  county,  New  York,  and  died  there  in  1841.  The  son  preached  many  years,  and 
when  too  infirm  to  occupy  the  pulpit,  in  1848  came  to  Illinois  with  a  son,  and  died  at  Pontiac  in 
1867.  His  widow  died  in  Streator  in  1882.  Edwin  received  an  academic  education,  and  pursued 
his  studies  two  years  in  the  college  course;  then  read  medicine  at  Owasco,  Cayuga  county; 
attended  lectures  at  Geneva,  and  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  New  York,  and 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  from  the  latter  institution  in  1846. 

Doctor  Evans  commenced  practice  at  Walden,  Orange  county,  where  he  married,  in  1849, 
Jessie  S.  Capron,  daughter  of  Seth  M.  Capron,  a  prominent  woolen  manufacturer,  and  in  1851 
left  his  native  state,  came  to  Livingston  county,  this  state,  and  for  four  years  was  engaged  in 
farming.  Returning  to  his  practice  in  Livingston  county,  he  continued  it  for  eight  years,  doing 
at  one  period  all  the  surgery  done  in  that  county;  then  dropped  medicine  once  more,  and  was 
engaged  if  speculation  and  general  business. 

In  1868  Doctor  Evans  settled  in  Streator;  practiced  medicine  four  years;  turned  his  attention 
to  the  real  estate  business,  and  has  made  it  a  marked  success,  dealing  exclusively  in  local 
property.  He  was  early  appointed  one  of  the  town  trustees,  and  was  for  some  time  president  of 
to  superintend  the  building  of  that  elegant  and  substantial  structure,  the  gift  of  Colonel  Ralph 
the  board.  He  is  also  president  of  the  high  school  board  of  trustees,  being  appointed  expressly 
Plumb,  and  costing  about  $3o,opp.  The  doctor  has  put  up  a  score  of  buildings  in  this  place. 


K.C. Cooper   Ji.  &  CD 


Of  l«t 

UNIVERSITY  ot  ILL 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  IJl 

more  than  a  dozen  of  them  large  stores,  and  he  was  just  the  man  to  supervise  the  erection  of  such 
a  public  edifice. 

He  has  devoted  much  time  to  developing  local  interests;  is  president  of  the  Streator  Glass 
Works,  built  for  the  manufacture  of  window  glass;  is  also  a  stock-holder  in  the  Streator  National 
Bank;  is  a  thorough-going  business  man,  full  of  public  spirit,  and  has  done  and  is  doing  a  liberal 
share  in  building  up  this  city.  He  has  given  a  great  deal  of  time  to  railroad  matters,  going  from 
town  to  town,  and  laying  the  matter  before  the  people.  Fifteen  years  ago  not  a  railroad  visited 
Streator;  now  no  less  than  five  companies  run  trains  into  this  city,  to  carry  away  its  coal,  bring 
in  merchandise,  etc.  The  doctor  did  good  service  in  aiding  Colonel  Plumb  to  get  the  first  roads 
here.  He  is  a  member  of  the  State  Natural  History  Society,  and  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  occasionally  reads  papers  before  these  societies.  He  has 
given  much  attention  to  geology,  particularly  the  subterranean  water  system;  has  collected  a 
list  of  all  the  deep  wells  in  the  state,  and  can  tell  from  what  formations  water  will  flow,  and 
determined  where  artesian  wells  are  practicable.  A  correspondent  of  the  Vineland,  New  Jersey, 
"  Independent,"  Professor  J.  W.  Pike,  thus  speaks  of  the  subject: 

"  I  visited  Streator,  and  discoursed  to  two  good  houses,  one  evening  on  Mazon  Creek  and 
another  on  California  Gold.  To  Doctor  E.  Evans  the  citizens  of  Streator  are  indebted  for  the 
four  courses  of  lectures  I  have  given  there.  He  is  a  man  of  remarkable  business  energy  and 
executive  ability,  and  when  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  lectures,  fourteen  years  ago,  their  success 
was  assured.  Now  geology  is  taught  in  the  city  schools.  *  *  *  Doctor  Evans  is  an  able  geolo- 
gist, and  has  made  artesian  wells  his  special  study.  No  other  man  has  massed  and  arranged  the 
facts  bearing  on  subterranean  water  circulation  of  the  geological  basin  west  and  south  of  Chicago 
at  all  to  compare  with  his  work." 

Doctor  Evans  is  not  only  thoroughly  posted  on  this  subject,  but  is  a  well  informed  man  gen- 
erally, and  an  interesting  converser.  A  stranger  visiting  Streator,  and  wishing  to  post  himself 
on  geology  and  other  scientific  topics,  will  do  well  to  spend  an  hour  or  two  with  Doctor  Evans. 
He  has  a  large  collection  of  fossils  and  minerals,  and  a  well  selected  and  choice  library,  especially 
rich  in  scientific  works.  The  doctor  is  very  cordial  and  communicative;  a  gentleman,  in  short, 
of  the  old  school,  and  of  the  best  type. 


JAMES    H.   WALLACE,   M.D. 

MONMOUTH. 

JAMES  HARVEY  WALLACE,  physician,  son  of  Robert  Wallace  and  Eleanor  Stewart  (Shaffer) 
Wallace,  was  born  in  the  township  of  Lack,  Juniata  county,  Pennsylvania,  November  16,  1834. 
Robert  Wallace  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  came  to  this  country  when  about  three  years  old.  His 
grandfather  was  a  Scotchman,  who  emigrated  to  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  persecution.  The 
great-grandfather  of  Eleanor  S.  Shaffer  was  from  Germany.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  a 
farmer,  but  the  son  did  not  manifest  any  partiality  for  agricultural  pursuits.  As  far  as  we  can 
ascertain,  he  was  of  a  studious  turn  of  mind,  and  early  inclined  to  the  medical  profession.  He 
received  a  good  academic  education  at  the  Vermilion  Institute,  Hayesville,  Ohio,  at  the  same 
period  teaching  school  during  the  winter  term,  in  all  seven  winters. 

He  read  medicine  at  Wooster,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  with  Doctor  T.  H.  Baker;  attended  one 
course  of  lectures  at  the  medical  department,  University  of  Buffalo,  and  one  course  in  the  Ohio 
Medical  College,  Cincinnati,  where  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  July  2,  1862.  In 
October  of  that  year  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  Jane  Troutman,  of  Wooster,  having  just 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Lakeville,  Holmes  county,  where  he  remained  be- 
tween one  and  two  years,  and  then  settled  in  Canaan,  Wayne  county. 

In  1873  Doctor  Wallace  took  a  post-graduate  course  of  lectures  at  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia,  devoting  special  attention  to  gynecology,  or  diseases  of  women,  a  branch  of  med- 
ical science  in  which  he  has  attained  marked  proficiency  and  skill.  He  then  (1873)  located  at 
r6 


tc2  UNITED  STATES  DtocRAPHiCAL  DICTIONARY. 

Smithville,  Wayne  county,  where  he  remained  three  years,  and  then  left  Ohio,  settling  in  Mon- 
mouth  in  April,  1876.  Here  he  has  been  in  general  practice,  but  devotes  a  good  deal  of  attention 
to  gynecology,  in  which  branch  he  has  a  fair  amount  of  business. 

The  doctor  gives  no  time  to  secret  societies;  seldom  fails  to  vote  the  republican  ticket;  never 
accepts  a  civil  or  political  office,  and  gives  his  time  to  his  medical  books  and  fresh  periodicals 
when  not  making  his  professional  visits.  He  is  a  progressive  man,  thoroughly  wedded  to  his 
profession,  and  constantly  growing  in  reputation.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ohio  State  Medical 
Society,  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  of  the  Military  Tract  Medical  Society,  Illinois, 
and  Monmouth  Medical  Club. 

The  doctor  and  Mrs.  Wallace  have  five  children  living,  and  have  buried  two,  Charles  Robert, 
the  second  child,  and  Clarence  Leroy,  the  youngest.  The  names  of  the  living  are  George  Elvin, 
Franklin  Emmett,  Carrie  Luella,  Anna  May  and  Lewis  Eugene.  The  doctor  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  the  latter  devotes  a  portion  of  her  leisure  time  to  Chris- 
tian labor  in  connection  with  home  and  foreign  missions  and  different  benevolent  societies. 


NATHANIEL   HALDERMAN. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  first  mayor  of  Mount  Carroll,  and  for  nearly  forty  years  a 
prominent  citizen  of  the  county,  was  born  in  Montgomery  county,  Pennsylvania,  May  i, 
1811,  his  father  being  Henry  and  his  mother  Tamer  (Johnson)  Halderman.  His  grandfather 
came  from  Germany.  Nathaniel  Halderman  had  limited  school  privileges  in  his  youth,  but  was 
self-disciplined,  and  gave  himself  a  fine  business  education,  taking  care  of  himself  after  he  was 
sixteen  years  old.  He  learned  the  milling  business  in  his  native  state,  where  he  lived  until  1841, 
in  the  spring  of  which  year  he  settled  in  Carroll  county,  this  state.  The  present  site  of  Mount 
Carroll  was  then  a  woods,  but  there  was  water  power  here  on  Carroll  Creek,  and  here  he  pitched 
his  tent  for  life,  and  made  a  splendid  record  as  a  business  man. 

In  April,  1842,  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  flouring  mill,  which  was  running  in  the  Novem- 
ber following,  and  with  the  exception  of  six  months  he  had  an  interest  in  that  mill  from  the  time 
it  was  started  until  his  death,  June  27,  1880. 

We  learn  from  the  Carroll  county  "Herald"  of  July  2,  1880,  that  Mr.  Halderman  was  one  of 
the  company  that  started  the  first  store  in  Mount  Carroll.  "  He  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Win. 
Patterson  and  Company,  lumber  merchants  in  this  place,  from  1865  to  January,  1880;  also  one  of 
the  firm  of  M.  E.  Harnish  and  Company,  lumber  and  coal  dealers  at  Lanark,  Illinois,  from  1868 
till  1878;  of  the  firm  of  N.  H.  Halderman  and  Company,  1872  to  1873,  and  a  partner  in  Graham, 
Halderman  and  Company,  commission  merchants  at  Milwaukee,  from  1873  to  1878.  Besides 
these  the  deceased  was  for  a  number  of  years  engaged  in  the  work  of  distilling,  and  also  con- 
ducted the  grain  and  stock  business  in  his  own  name  at  the  elevator,  near  the  depot,  in  Mount 
Carroll.  This  last  business  was  purchased  from  B.  P.  Shirk  in  1865,  and  Mr.  Halderman  con- 
tinued it  until  July,  1879.  From  that  period  up  to  the  hour  of  his  death  he  was  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  J.  M.  Shirk  and  Company,  millers.  He  held  the  office  of  county  treasurer  for  a 
period  of  twelve  years,  and  was  the  first  mayor  of  Mount  Carroll." 

The  milling  company  built  the  first  courthouse  and  presented  it  to  the  county,  the  county  seat 
being  at  first  at  Savanna.  The  original  town  was  plotted  and  laid  out  by  Mr.  Halderman,  three 
additions  being  made  afterward  by  him  and  his  partner,  John  Rinewalt.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  men  that  ever  lived  in  Mount  Carroll,  and  took  great  pride  in  pushing  forward  manu- 
facturing and  other  business  interests  calculated  to  build  up  the  town.  Although  fifty  years  old 
when  the  civil  war  broke  out,  he  kept  a  soldier  in  the  army  during  the  four  years,  thus  showing 
his  patriotism. 

A  few  years  after  coming  to  Mount  Carroll  he  joined  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  some  years 


UNITED   ST.-iTKS  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  \  53 

afterward  transferred  his  connection  to  the  Baptist  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  Gospel,  and  a  man  of  generous  impulses. 
He  gave  a  thousand  dollars  at  one  time  to  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  also  contributed  funds 
to  the  observatory  of  that  Baptist  institution,  and  to  other  literary  and  benevolent  institutions. 

Mr.  Halderman  was. twice  married,  first,  in  October,  1845,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  McCoy,  who  died 
in  November,  1873,  and  the  second  time,  in  August,  1875,  to  Miss  Mary  T.  McCoy,  a  sister  of  his 
first  wife.  He  had  five  children  by  the  first  wife,  losing  two  of  them.  Nathaniel  Herbert, 
the  eldest  son  living,  is  on  the  old  homestead  in  Mount  Carroll,  and  engaged  in  the  grain  and 
stock  and  milling  business;  Rebecca  T.  is  the  wife  of  Captain  J.  M.  Adair,  of  Springfield,  Illi- 
nois, and  Hattie  is  with  Mrs.  Halderman.  He  left  two  children  by  the  second  wife:  Edwin  M. 
and  Mary  Dell. 

E.   FLETCHER  INGALS,  A.M.,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

ONE  of  the  eminently  successful  medical  men  of  the  younger  class  in  this  city  is  Ephraim 
Fletcher  Ingals,  a  native  of  Lee  county,  this  state.     He  is  a  son  of  Charles  Francis  and  Sarah 
(Hawkins)  Ingals,  and  was  born  September  29,  1848.     His  father,  who  is  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Con- 
necticut.    His  mother  is  a  granddaughter  of  Captain  Hawkins,  of  the  revolutionary  army,  who 
served  not  only  through  the  war,  but  was  in  the  service  in  all  for  ten  years.     Our  subject  received 
a  first-class  academic  education  at  Amboy,  the  Normal  University,  and  Rock  River  Seminary,  at 
Mount  Morris;  studied  medicine  in  Chicago  with  his  uncle,  Doctor  Ephraim  Ingals;  attended  lec- 
•tures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  and  was  graduated  in  February  1871. 

For  eighteen  months  Doctor  Ingals  acted  as  interne  physician  to  the  Cook  county  hospital) 
since  which  time,  until  three  years  ago,  he  was  in  general  practice.  He  now  devotes  his  attention- 
almost  exclusively  to  diseases  of  the  throat  and  chest.  He  had  previously  made  these  branches 
of  the  healing  art  an  especial  study,  and  he  is  having  noteworthy  success  in  their  treatment.  In 
future  he  will  devote  his  time  wholly  to  the  specialties  mentioned,  in  the  treatment  of  which  he 
has  already  distinguished  himself. 

Doctor  Ingals  is  the  author  of  a  work  entitled,  "  Lectures  on  Diagnosis  and  Treatment  of  the 
Diseases  of  the  Throat  and  Chest  and  Nasal  Cavities,"  published  in  New  York  in  1881,  and  con- 
taining four  hundred  and  thirty  pages.  The  press  generally  commend  the  work  in  strong  terms. 
We  make  a  few  extracts: 

"The  author  has  performed  his  task  with  more  than  ordinary  success.  Unquestionably  his 
work  will  meet  the  needs  of  large  numbers  of  medical  men  and  medical  students.  We  trust  it 
may  stimulate  all  to  a  more  correct  appreciation  of  the  value  of  this  kind  of  study.  The  author's 
arrangement  of  facts  is  excellent.  Clearness  and  conciseness  add  not  a  little  to  the  attractiveness 
of  every  page." — Detroit  Lancet. 

"Professor  Ingals,  in  the  preparation  of  this  work,  has  availed  himself  of  every  source  of 
information  at  his  command,  and  has  overlooked  nothing  which  would  be  of  value  to  the  student 
or  practitioner.  It  will  be  found  a  complete  treatise  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats." — Cincin- 
nati Medical  News. 

"The  text  comprises  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  acquired  by  the  student,  and  will  be  of  use  to 
the  physician  in  practice  for  ready  reference." — Ohio  Medical  Journal. 

Doctor  Ingalls  is  a  member  of  the  local  medical  societies,  the  American  Medical  Association, 
and  the  American  Laryngological  Association,  and  is  vice-president  of  the  last  named  national 
society.  He  holds  the  position  of  professor  of  laryngology  in  Rush  Medical  College,  and  that  of 
professor  of  diseases  of  the  throat  and  chest  in  the  Woman's  Medical  College.  Very  few  young 
men  of  his  age  in  this  city  have  an  equally  high  standing  with  our  subject  in  the  medical  profes- 
sion. 

A  writer  in  one  of  our  Chicago  weeklies  thus  speaks  of  Doctor  Ingals: 


154 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


"One  of  the  distinguished  specialists  among  the  medical  fraternity  of  Chicago  is  Doctor 
E.  F.  Ingals.  There  is  perhaps  no  other  class  of  diseases  which  has  been  such  a  scourge  to  the 
human  race  af  those  which  attack  the  throat,  lungs  and  organs  of  the  chest,  and  it  is  only  of  late 
years  that  the  science  of  medicine  has  been  able  to  do  more  than  mitigate  them;  to  eradicate 
especially  diseases  of  the  throat  and  lungs  has  been  considered  beyond  human  skill.  Until  1857 
it  had  been  found  impracticable  to  directly  examine  the  larynx,  and  up  to  this  period  compara- 
tively little  was  known  to  medical  sciences  of  diseases  of  this  most  delicate  and  important  organ 
and  their  proper  treatment.  For  example,  up  to  the  period  mentioned  only  seventy  cases  of  tumors- 
of  the  larynx  had  been  reported.  Since  then,  under  recent  discoveries  and  advancement  in  the 
knowledge  of  this  heretofore  almost  unknown  region  of  the  human  system,  thousands  of  cases  of 
tumors  of  the  larynx  have  been  successfully  treated  and  cured  by  means  of  direct  practical  sur- 
gery. Consumption,  that  'great  scourge  of  the  human  race,'  has  carried  far  more  victims  to  the 
grave  than  all  the  epidemics  that  have  visited  and  devastated  the  world.  It  is  not  many  years 
since  consumption  was  a  disease  found  in  every  community  and  regarded  everywhere  as  hope- 
lessly fatal.  One  has  but  to  notice  the  immense  fortunes  made  by  inventors  of  patent  medicines 
for  the  cure  of  diseases  of  the  throat  and  lungs  to  understand  how  widespread  and  universal  is  the 
disease  that  seeks  alleviation  and  cure  from  the  use  of  such  nostrums.  It  is  therefore  a  hopeful 
omen  of  coming  relief  to  suffering  humanity  when  such  men  as  Doctor  Ingals  make  a  life-work 
of  .the  study  of  the  causes  and  cure  of  this  widespread  and  fatal  class  of  diseases.  Doctor  Ingals 
is  an  authority  all  over  the  country  on  this  subject,  and  his  book  on  '  Diseases  of  the  Chest,  Throat 
and  Nasal  Cavities"  is  pronounced  by  competent  critics  a  most  valuable  addition  to  medical, 
science.  Its  clearness  and  conciseness  make  it  interesting  even  to  the  non-professional  reader. 
Doctor  Ingals  spent  the  summer  of  1873  in  Europe,  where  he  went  for  the  benefit  of  both  mind 
and  body.  The  degree  of  master  of  arts  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  Chicago  University  in  1878. 
For  two  years  he  held  the  position  of  managing  editor  of  the  Chicago  'Medical  Journal  and 
Examiner,'  having  been  appointed  to  that  position  by  the  Chicago  Medical  Press  Association 
in  1877." 

Doctor  Ingals  was  married  in  1876  to  Miss  Lucy  Ingals,  of  Chicago,  and  they  have  one  son. 


HON.   ANDREW    HINDS. 

LENA. 

A  NDREW  HINDS,  lawyer,  and  an  old  resident  of  Stephenson  county,  dates  his  birth  at  Eden, 
/~\  Lamoille  county,  Vermont,  July  25,  1822,  his  parents  being  Eli  and  Sarah  (Willey)  Hinds, 
both  natives  of  the  Green  Mountain  State.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land, and  fought  at  Lundy's  Lane,  Ontario,  under  General  Scott.  The  Hindses  are  an  old  Massa- 
chusetts family,  and  Andrew's  grandfather,  Eli  Hinds,  Sr.;<  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  Ver- 
mont. Our  subject  finished  his  education  at  the  Johnson  Academy,  in  his  native  county,  where 
he  attended  several  terms,  taking  up  the  higher  mathematics,  Latin,  and  some  of  the  physical 
sciences.  He  began  teaching  school  at  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  continued  to  teach  for  eight 
consecutive  winters. 

He  read  law  at  Johnson  with  J.  J.  Beardsley;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Lamoille  county  in 
1847,  and  after  practicing  with  Mr.  Beardsley  for  a  few  months,  his  health  failed,  and  he  left 
Vermont  for  the  West,  halting  a  short  time  near  Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin.  In  January,  1848,  he 
settled  in  the  town  of  Oneco,  twelve  miles  northeast  of  Lena,  where  he  bought  land  and  began 
to  turn  the  sod,  hoping  by  that  means  to  get  his  physical  strength  restored.  In  this  endeavor  he 
succeeded. 

While  a  resident  of  Oneco,  Mr.  Hinds  served  his  constituents  in  a  great  variety  of  offices,  town 
and  county.  He  was  supervisor  of  the  town  for  a  score  of  years;  a  school  director,  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  notary  public;  county  treasurer  in  1856-57;  county  judge  from  1869  to  1873,  and  a 
member  of  the  legislature  in  1879-80, 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  155 

In  April,  1880,  Mr.  Hinds  left  his  farms,  consisting  in  all  of  between  five  and  six  hundred 
acres,  in  the  hands  of  sons  and  sons-in-law,  and  moved  into  the  village  of  Lena,  purposing,  we 
ht-licve,  to  take  the  world  easy.  This  he  is  now  trying  to  do,  and  is  succeeding  in  a  measure. 
But  he  has  in  this  part  of  Stephenson  county  many  friends,  who  have  a  great  deal  of  confidence 
in  his  judgment  as  a  lawyer,  and  his  wisdom  as  an  adviser,  and  the  result  is  that  he  has  all  the 
legal  business  that  he  requires  for  his  health. 

Mr.  Hinds  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  church,  and  a  man  not  only  versed  in  the  law,  but  in 
the  gospel.  He  is  a  very  earnest  temperance  man,  and  the  author  of  what  is  known  as  the 
"Hinds  Bill."  April  8,  1849,  he  was  joined  in  marriage,  in  Stephenson  county,  with  Miss  Sarah 
Gibler,  from  Ohio,  and  they  have  eleven  children,  seven  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  living  in 
Stephenson  county.  The  four  daughters  and  four  of  the  sons  are  married,  the  four  sons  being  on 
farms. 

Mr.  Hinds  came  into  this  county. thirty-four  years  ago,  with  less  than  $50,  and  not  a  very 
robust  constitution.  But  he  has  been  a  wise  investor  and  a  prudent  manager;  has  reared  a  fam- 
ily of  eleven  children  in  habits  of  industry,  and  has  placed  himself  in  comfortable  circumstances 
years  ago.  He  has  made  a  success  of  farming;  has  been  repeatedly  honored  by  his  fellow-citizens 
with  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility,  and  as  he  has  lived  an  upright  as  well  as  industrious  life, 
the  autumn  of  his  days  is  gliding  away  with  a  liberal  tinge  of  mellow  sunshine. 


JOHN   D.   CAMPBELL. 

POLO. 

JOHN  DANIEL  CAMPBELL,  lawyer,  is  a  native  of  Old  Paltz,  Ulster  county,  New  York,  and 
was  born  July  21,  1830.  His  father,  Henry  Campbell,  a  farmer,  was  also  born  in  that  state, 
and  died  in  Middletown,  Delaware  county,  New  York,  in  1840,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Rachel  Martin,  survived  her  husband  more  than  thirty  years,  dying  in  Buffalo  Township, 
Ogle  county,  Illinois,  in  1872.  The  family  moved  to  Middletown  the  year  after  John's  birth,  and, 
losing  his  father  nine  years  afterward,  our  subject  was  thrown  entirely  upon  his  own  resources  for 
his  support. 

Leaving  home,  he  worked  at  farming  in  the  summer  and  attended  school  during  the  winter 
terms  until  seventeen  years  old,  when  he  taught  the  public  school  at  Margarettville,  Delaware 
county,  during  the  winter  term  (1847-8).  The  next  spring  he  became  a  student  at  Hanford's 
Seminary,  in  the  same  county,  remaining  there  one  year.  He  then  became  principal  of  the  Hobart 
public  school,  and  was  teaching  there  when  he  was  appointed  to  represent  the  county  of  Dela- 
ware in  the  state  normal  school,  Albany,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in  the  spring 
of  1850. 

We  learn  from  the  history  of  Ogle  county  (Chicago,  1878)  that  on  leaving  the  normal  school 
Mr.  Campbell  became  principal  of  the  public  school  at  Verplanck,  Westchester  county,  New  York, 
and  two  years  later  superintendent  of  the  West  Farms  Union  School,  in  the  same  county,  which 
latter  position  he  also  held  two  years.  During  this  period  he  gave  the  leisure  time  at  his  com- 
mand to  Blackstone,  and  he  now  entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  Edward  Wells,  of  Peekskill, 
where- he  remained  until  the  summer  of  1855,  when  he  was  examined  before  the  supreme  court 
(Ju'y  3))  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  all  the  courts  of  New  York. 

Believing  that  the  West  presented  a  promising  field  for  a  young  attorney  and  counselor-at-law, 
in  the  autumn  of  1855  Mr.  Campbell  came  to  the  young  railroad  village  of  Polo,  where  he  has 
been  in  steady  practice  for  twenty-seven  years,  and  has  made  a  highly  creditable  record  in  the 
legal  profession.  His  standing  at  the  bar  and  in  the  community  is  high,  and  he  has  often  been 
called  upon  to  hold  offices  of  trust  and  honor,  such  as  mayor  of  the  city  and  city  attorney,  not 
to  mention  posts  held  by  him  in  the  town  before  Polo  was  incorporated  in  1869. 

From   1861  to   1865,  a  period  covering  the  civil  war,  he  was  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 


156  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Polo  "Press,"  and  made  it  a  fearless  exponent  of  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  Ogle  county.  His 
scholarly  attainments  were  shown  to  good  advantage  in  journalism.  For  nine  years  he  was  a 
member  of  the  board  of  education,  a  position  for  which  he  has  peculiar  fitness,  being  an  old 
teacher,  and  in  which  he  made  himself  especially  useful. 

In  1862  Governor  Yates  appointed  him  enrolling  commissioner.  In  1872  he  was  elected 
state's  attorney  of  Ogle  county;  was  reflected  in  1876,  both  times  without  a  dissenting  vote. 
For  eight  years  he  was  elected  by  the  board  of  supervisors  as  attorney  for  the  county,  when  he 
declined  to  serve  any  longer.  The  people  of  Polo  are  strong  prohibitionists.  Mr.  Campbell  has 
always  been  a  teetotaler,  and  hence  the  desire  of  his  neighbors  to  keep  him  in  the  office  of  state's 
attorney. 

Mr.  Campbell  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  subordinate  lodges  of  Odd-Fellowship,  and  also 
through  the  encampment.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Campbell  was  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  Cults,  daughter 
of  Captain  Hiram  Cults,  late  of  Ogle  county,  and  they  have  two  daughters,  Juniata  and  Mignon- 
elle,  both  receiving  an  excellenl  educallon.  The  elder  is  a  sludenl  al  Ihe  Induslrial  Universily, 
Champaign. 

CAPTAIN    D.    L.    HARRIS. 

GALENA. 

THE  oldesl  setller  in  Galena,  Illinois,  slill  living  here,  is  Daniel  Smith  Harris,  a  nalive  of 
Delaware  counly,  New  York.  His  birlh  is  daled  al  Courtright,  July  24,  1808.  His  falher 
was  James  Harris,  who  was  born  in  Connecticul  in  1777,  and  died  in  Galena  in  1829,  and  his 
molher  was  Abigail  Bathrick,  who  was  born  in  Delaware  county,  New  York,  in  1782,  and  died  at 
Galena  in  1844.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  our  subjecl  lived  lo  be  ninety-eight  years  old,  and 
the  maternal  lo  one  hundred  and  four.  James  Harris  moved  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  1816.  We 
learn  from  the  "  History  of  Jo  Daviess  County"  thai  James  Harris  and  his  son,  Daniel  Smith, 
left  Cincinnati,  April  20,  1823,  on  a  keel-boat,  the  Colonel  Bumford,  and  came  to  Galena,  with 
provisions  and  mining  outfils,  having  on  board  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  tons,  and  thai  they 
reached  Ihis  place  June  20,  being  jusl  two  months  in  making  the  trip,  now  a  twenty-five  or  thirty 
hours'  ride  by  rail. 

Captain  Harris,  by  which  lille  he  is  known  all  over  Ihe  country,  had  done,  in  Ohio,  a  little 
browsing  on  the  lower  branches  of  the  Iree  of  knowledge,  and  after  he  reached  here,  then  in  his 
sixleenlh  year,  he  became  almosl  immediately  interesled  in  mining;  yel  he  managed,  a  lillle 
laler,  lo  do  some  studying,  and  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  common  English  branches.  In 
August,  1823,  a  short  Iwo  monlhs  afler  reaching  Galena,  aided  by  an  Indian  of  Ihe  Sac  and  Fox 
Iribe,  he  dug  his  first  hole  for  lead,  and  was  successful  in  his  search.  Two  years  later,  in  June 
1825,  he  and  his  younger  brother,  Robert  Scribe,  slruck  a  very  rich  lead,  wilh  33,000  pounds  in 
one  piece.  Since  Ihen,  on  ten  acres  of  land  around  that  spot,  aboul  14,000,000  pounds  have  been 
laken  oul,  he  and  his  brolher  owning  al  leasl  6,000,000  pounds  of  il. 

Captain  Harris  made  his  first  money  in  mining,  and  thai  way  gol  a  good  start  in  life,  conlin- 
uing  in  the  mining  business  until  the  present  time.  He  is  best  known,  however,  all  over  the 
Mississippi  valley,  as  a  steamboat  owner  and  captain,  he  following  lhal  line  of  business,  in  Ihe 
season  of  navigalion,  belween  thirty  and  forty  years.  The  first  boat  which  he  commanded  was 
the  Jo  Daviess,  which  he  built,  and  which  was  brought  oul  in  1833,  being  owned  by  him  and  his 
brolher,  already  menlioned.  He  has  been  inleresled  in  nearly  a  hundred  steamboats,  small  and 
large,  the  brothers  building  many  of  Ihem  al  Cincinnali,  a  few  al  Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  buying 
olhers.  He  was  a  very  popular  sleamboal  caplain,  and  Ihousands  of  people  are  yel  living  who 
made  Irips  with  him  on  the  War  Eagle,  Nos.  i  and  2,  the  Gray  Eagle  and  other  boats,  twenty 
and  forty  years  ago.  He  once  ran  Ihe  Gray  Eagle  from  Dubuque  lo  Sainl  Paul  in  Iwenty-lwo 
hours  and  fifly-five  minules,  laking  with  him  Queen  Victoria's  dispatch  to  the  president,  the  first 
regular  dispatch  sent  across  the  Atlanlic  Ocean. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


157 


Captain  Harris  had  a  little  experience  with  "villainous  saltpeter"  in  1832,  when  he  held  the 
rank  of  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  army  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  commanded  a  company 
at  Wisconsin  Heights.  In  politics  Captain  Harris  was  originally  a  Jackson  democrat;  was  sub- 
sequently a  whig,  and  on  the  demise  of  that  party,  drifted  into  the  great  party  of  freedom,  with 
which  he  still  navigates.  Captain  Harris  first  married,  May  22,  1833,  at  Galena,  Miss  Sarah  Maria 
Langworthy,  daughter  of  Doctor  Stephen  Langworthy,  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  she  dying  in  the  island 
of  Cuba  in  January,  1850,  leaving  five  children,  all  yet  surviving;  and  the  second  time,  August  25, 
1851,  Miss  Sarah  Coates,  a  native  of  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Margaret  (Cherington)  Coates,  by  whom  he  has  had  seven  children,  only  five  of  them  now 
living,  the  other  two  dying  in  infancy.  The  children  by  the  first  are:  Lorinda  Maria,  widow  of 
Jonathan  Dodge,  of  Galena;  Amelia,  wife  of  Francis  O'Ferrall,  of  Chatfield,  Minnesota;  Mary 
Ann,  wife  of  Thomas  J.  Maupine,  of  Eureka,  Nevada;  Medora,  wife  of  Charles  T.  Trego,  of  Chi- 
cago, and  Daniel  Smith,  Jr.,  who  is  married  to  Kittie  Ott,  and  living  in  Eureka,  Nevada.  By  his 
present  wife  the  children  yet  living  are:  Wenona,  wife  of  John  V.  Hellman,  Galena;  Ernestine, 
wife  of  C.  F.  Taylor,  Warren,  Illinois;  Irene,  wife  of  John  A.  Gillett,  Buncombe,  Wisconsin,  and 
Anna  and  Paul  Cherington,  who  are  at  school. 


WEBSTER  W.  WYNN,  M.D. 

DIXON. 

WEBSTER  W.  WYNN,  one  of  the  older  class  of  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Lee  county, 
hails  from  Monroe  county,  New.York,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Chili,  August  22,  1829.  His 
father,  John  Wynn,  was  from  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Amanda 
Gruendike,  was  from  Holland.  The  Wynns  were  from  Wales,  and  came  to  this  country  some 
time  betore  the  American  revolution,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Webster  Wynn,  serving  four 
years  in  the  continental  army. 

Doctor  Wynn  spent  his  early  years  on  his  father's  farm,  commencing  to  teach  a  district  school 
at  sixteen  years  of  age.  John  Wynn,  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  England,  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary,  at  Lima,  Livingston  county,  and  when  Genesee 
College  was  organized  in  connection  with  the  seminary  Webster  entered  the  first  class,  but 
remained  only  through  the  sophomore  year.  During  the  last  year  he  taught  the  public  school  at 
Lima,  and  continued  to  teach  two  years  there  after  leaving  college.  At  the  same  time  he  also 
took  up  the  study  of  medicine,  with  Doctor  George  H.  Bennett  as  preceptor.  He  attended  three 
courses  of  lectures  at  the  Buffalo  Medical  College;  was  there  graduated  in  February,  1856;  spent  a 
year  or  two  with  his  preceptor  at  Lima,  and  in  December,  1858,  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Dixon.  Here  he  has  attended  very  diligently  to  his  profession,  and  has  made  a  highly  creditable  rec- 
ord. While  his  practice  is  general,  he  treats  lung  diseases  as  a  specialty,  and  with  eminent  success. 
His  skill  in  that  branch  of  the  healing  art  is  widely  known,  and  has  greatly  extended  his  profes- 
sional reputation.  He  was  post  surgeon  at  Dixon  a  short  time  during  the  civil  war.  He  owes  his 
excellent  standing  in  the  profession  to  his  love  of  it,  and  his  consequent  studiousness.  Such  men 
grow  in  their  calling.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  and  was  appointed 
a  delegate  to  the  American  Medical  Association,  held  in  California  a  few  years  ago,  but  did  not 
attend. 

The  doctor  has  reported  for  medical  periodicals  a  few  especially  interesting  cases  coming  under 
his  observation  in  his  large  practice,  but  we  believe  he  does  not  think  that  his  skill  lies  in  the  use 
of  the  pen  so  much  as  in  the  lancet,  and  he  rarely  takes  up  the  former.  He  is  a  democrat  in 
politics,  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason,  and  an  attendant  usually,  if  we  mistake  not,  at  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  but  he  is  quite  liberal  in  his  religious  views. 

July  21,  1859,  the  doctor  was  married  at  Dixon  to  Miss  Frances  E.  Latham,  daughter  of  George 
and  Hannah  E.  Latham,  formerly  of  Chenango  county,  New  York,  and  she  had  two  sons:  George 


UNITED   STATES  RIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Wesley  and  Frank,  both  of  whom  died  in  October,  1862,  and  were  followed  by  their  mother  two 
months  later.  The  doctor  was  once  more  lef.t  solitary  and  alone.  Four  years  afterward,  Septem- 
ber 25,  1866,  he  married  Miss  Georgiana  McKenney,  of  Dixon,  by  whom  he  has  had  three  chil- 
dren: Hobart  W.  (deceased),  Mary  Frances,  and  Harriet. 

Doctor  Wynn  is  a  little  above  the  average  height,  yet  well  proportioned,  with  dignified  deport- 
ment, and  an  easy  and  pleasant-address,  and  going  into  a  company  of  strangers  would  be  marked 
immediately  as  a  professional  man  and  a  thoroughbred  gentleman. 


PRESIDENT  JOHN    T.   LONG,   LL.D. 

QUINCY. 

JOHN  THOMPSON  LONG,  president  of  Chaddock  College,  Quincy,  is  a  native  of  the  state 
of  Maryland,  a  son  of  David  and  Sarah  {Wachtel)  Long,  and  was  born  in  Hagerstown,  Octo- 
ber 28,  1842.  He  comes  of  good  patriotic  blood,  his  grandfather,  Otho  Wachtel,  being  among  the 
Maryland  troops  who  fought  against  the  mother  country  in  1812-14,  and  his  great-grandfather, 
David  Long,  a  native  of  Holland,  fought  against  George  III  in  1775-82. 

When  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  year  old,  the  family  came  into  this  state^and  settled 
near  Mount  Morris,  Ogle  county,  David  Long  being  a  farmer.  John  was  engaged  in  farming 
during  the  seeding,  haying  and  harvest  seasons  until  sixteen  years  old,  working  out  two  or  three 
summers,  receiving  at  first  four  dollars  per  month.  He  was  educated  at  the  Rock  River  Semi- 
nary, Mount  Morris,  a  very  flourishing  Methodist  institution  twenty  and  thirty  years  ago,  he 
teaching  school  meanwhile  during  the  winters  in  Ogle  and  Stephenson  counties.  From  1861  to 
1864  Mr.  Long  was  principal  of  graded  schools,  first  at  Mount  Carroll  and  then  at  Rochelle,  and 
in  the  latter  year  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  D,  65th  Illinois  infantry,  consolidated  ;  was 
elected  second  lieutenant  of  the  company,  but  was  never  mustered  in,  he  being  put  on  detached 
service  in  depot  ordnance  department  assigned  to  23d  army  corps.  He  was  mustered  out  with  his 
company  in  August,  1865.  Not  long  afterward  he  was  appointed  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek 
in  the  Western  Union  Military  College,  at  Fulton,  Whiteside  county,  this  state,  occupying  that 
chair  for  two  years.  During  that  period  he  prepared  for  publication  his  popular  "Analytical  and 
Practical  Arithmetic,"  together. with  other  text  books  on  mathematics.  He  is  the  author  of  the 
"Long's  Graded  School  Curriculum,"  published  by  George  Sherwood  and  Company,  Chicago, 
which  work  is  largely  used  in  the  schools  of  the  country.  The  plates  of  all  his  works  were 
destroyed  in  the  great  Chicago  fire  of  1871. 

From  his  youth  Professor  Long  has  had  a  taste  for  legal  studies,  and  had  read  more  or  less, 
with  a  view  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  when,  in  1869,  he  went  to  Salem,  Marion  county,  and  read  with 
B.  B.  Smith,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February  1871.  He  practiced  at  Salem  two  years 
with  his  preceptor,  and  then,  almost  against  his  will,  was  persuaded  to  accept  the  superintendency 
of  the  Warsaw  public  schools,  which  post  he  held  for  four  years,  1872-6. 

On  the  completion  of  the  new  and  fine  school  house  at  Pittsfield,  Pike  county,  in  the  Centen- 
nial year,  he  was  urged  to  go  there  and  grade  and  organize  the  school,  which  he  did,  remaining 
one  year  and  refusing  to  teach  any  longer,  his  preference  being  for  the  legal  profession.  He 
entered  upon  its  practice  at  that  place,  intending  to  follow  it  the  rest  of  his  life. 

A  year  afterward,  the  Chaddock  College  at  Ouincy  being  run  down  very  low,  in  order  to 
resuscitate  and  save  it,  the  trustees  wrote  to  Professor  Long,  making  him  a  very  liberal  offer. 
He  accepted  it,  reopened  the  school  in  September,  1878,  with  seven  scholars,  and  it  now  numbers 
more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  in  attendance  each  year.  Its  growth  and  prosperity  are  simply 
astonishing,  and  largely  owing  to  President  Long.  Meantime  a  debt  of  $4,500  has  been  paid,  an 
$18,000  brick  building,  48  by  112  feet  and  four  stories  high,  has  been  erected  and  paid  for,  and  a 
farm  of  too  acies  near  the  city,  and  valued  at  $10,000,  has  been  given  to  the  college.  The  new 
building  is  used  mainly  for  dormitory  purposes,  for  which  it  is  admirably  arranged.  The  wonder 


^^   \ 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  l6l 

is  that  a  building  so  large  and  so  well  constructed  could  be  put  up  at  such  moderate  figures. 
The  main  college  edifice  cost  over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  built  by  ex.-Gov.  John 
Wood. 

There  are  over  forty  professors  and  instructors  in  the  various  departments  of  the  college. 
The  Garrett  Biblical  Institute  at  Evanston  is  the  theological  department,  having  become  a  part 
of  Chaddock  College  during  the  past  summer. 

President  Long  has  no  less  than  twelve  associate  teachers  in  the  preparatory,  commercial,  scien- 
tific and  classical  departments,  and  as  a  rule  they  feel  the  inspiration  of  their  leader,  and  are 
doing  a  grand  work.  The  school  has  also  law  and  medical  departments,  both  in  successful  oper- 
ation. In  1873  President  Long  was  taken  by  surprise  by  receiving  from  the  Canton  University, 
Missouri,  a  Disciple  or  Christian  institution,  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws. 

He  married,  March  5,  1872,  Miss  Mary  E.  Rudd,  a  daughter  of  James  M.  Rudd,  of  Salem,  Illi- 
nois, and  they  have  one  son,  Homer  Rudd,  aged  ten  years.  Mrs.  Long  is  a  woman  of  fine  culture, 
and  has  been  a  teacher  most  of  the  time  since  she  was  seventeen  years  old.  In  Chaddock  College 
she  occupies  the  chair  of  belles  lettres  and  history. 

President  Long  has  dark  hazel  eyes,  dark  auburn  hair  and  a  full,  open  face  ;  is  of  symmet- 
rical proportions,  being  six  feet  tall  and  weighing  two  hundred  pounds,  and  has  withal  a  some- 
what commanding  appearance.  He  has  a  cheerful,  cordial  and  friendly  disposition  ;  knows  how 
to  sympathize  with  and  encourage  the  young  in  their  struggles  for  knowledge,  and  with  his  own 
fine  attainments,  is  well  adapted  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  school  like  that  of  Chaddock  College. 


HON.    HALSTEAD    S.   TOWNSEND. 

WARREN. 

HALSTEAD  SAMUEL  TQJVNSEND,  son  of  Samuel  Townsend  and  Sarah  (Longwell) 
Townsend,  was  born  near  Bath,  Steuben  county,  New  York,  April  n,  1814.  His  father 
was  born  in  Dutchess  county,  New  York,  and  his  grandfather,  Eber  Townsend,  was  a  revolution- 
ary soldier,  and  wounded  by  the  British  at  the  capture  of  New  York  city,  and  kept  awhile  as  a 
prisoner.  The  Townsends  were  from  England,  and  the  Longwells  were  Scotch-Irish,  from  the 
north  of  Ireland. 

Halstead  received  a  good  business-  education,  largely  by  private  study,  and  in  1830  came  to 
Illinois,  sojourning  a  few  months  at  Springfield.  The  next  year  he  went  to  Mineral  Point,  Wis- 
consin. While  Mr.  Townsend  was  in  the  mining  regions  of  Wisconsin,  or  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  in 
1832,  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out,  and  he  enlisted  in  a  cavalry  squadron  under  Colonel  (after- 
ward General)  Henry  Dodge,  and  had  a  little  taste  of  backwoods  military  life,  coming  out  of  the 
war  with  his  scalp  on. 

In  1833  he  went  to  the  lead  mines  in  and  near  Galena,  where  lie  devoted  his  time  to  mining 
until  1837,  when  he  settled  on  land  in  the  town  of  Rush,  a  few  miles  southwest  of  where  Warren 
now  stands.  There  he  was  engaged  in  farming  on  a  somewhat  liberal  scale  until  1869,  when  he 
moved  into  the  village  of  Warren,  and  he  has  since  given  some  attention  to  money  loaning,  while 
supervising  his  farms  and  looking  after  his  other  interests.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Hanover 
Manufacturing  Company,  which  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen  cloth  and  flour,  a  well 
managed  and  prosperous  institution.  In  the  factory  1600  yards  of  cloth  are  run  off  daily. 

While  a  resident  of  Rush  he  held  various  local  offices,  such  as  supervisor  for  twelve  or  thir- 
teen years,  school  trustee  a  longer  period,  and  school  director  at  sundry  times.  He  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  legislature  in  1858,  and  again  in  1870,  each  time  serving  a  single  term.  He  was 
the  father  of  the  bill  to  increase  the  jurisdiction  of  justices  of  the  peace  from  $100  to  $200,  a  bill 
which  was  savagely  assailed  by  the  lawyers,  but  which  became  a  law,  and  is  still  in  force. 

Mr.  Townsend  is  a  republican,  of  whig  antecedents,  a  disciple,  forty  years  ago,  of  Henry  Clay 
and  Daniel  Webster.  He  attended  the  first  republican  state  convention,  held  at  Bloomington,  in 


1 62  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

1855,  and  had  previously  attended  a  district  convention  of  the  same  kind  at  Rockford,  one  of  the 
earliest  ever  held  after  the  demise  of  the  whig  party.  He  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason. 

In  1836  Mr.  Townsend  was  joined  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Hannah  Carver,  of  Fayette  county, 
Indiana,  and  they  have  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  all  yet  living  but  one  son,  and  all  but  one 
married  and  settled  in  life. 

Mr.  Townsend  is  a  man  of  success;  success  in  mining,  success  in  farming,  success  in  rearing  a 
respectable  family  of  children,  and  success  in  obtaining  the  confidence  of  his  neighbors  and  con- 
stituents, and  in  faithfully  discharging  the  duties  of  every  official  trust  confided  to  him. 


CHESTER    K.   WILLIAMS. 

POLO. 

/CHESTER  KEYES  WILLIAMS,  an  early  settler  and  successful  farmer  in  Buffalo  Grove 

V <  township,  Ogle  county,  and  latterly  a  prominent  citizen  of  Polo,  was  born  in  Brimfield, 

Hampden  county,  Massachusetts,  January  13,  1818.  He  is  a  descendant  of  Robert  Williams,  who 
came  from  England  in  1638  and  settled  at  Roxbury,  now  a  part  of  Boston.  That  was  only  eight 
years  after  Boston  was  settled,  and  eighteen  after  the  Plymouth  colony  made  a  landing  on  these 
shores.  Robert  Williams  had  two  wives,  and  died  at  Roxbury  in  1693.  He  had  four  sons  by  the 
first  wife,  three  of  whom  grew  up  and  had  families,  and  from  these  sons,  Samuel,  Isaac  and  Ste- 
phen Williams,  have  sprung  a  large  number  of  persons  of  that  name.  The  descendants  of  these 
sons  married  into  the  Hopkins,  the  Edwards,  the  Emersons,  and  other  prominent  families  of  New 
England,  and  some  of  the  best  blood  of  Puritan  stock  flows  in  the  veins  of  our  subject.  Many  of 
this  branch  of  the  Williams  family  have  been  brilliant  scholars,  and  prominent  clergymen  or 
civilians.  One  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  at  least  thirty  have  been  in  congress. 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Williams,  son  of  Samuel  Williams,  Jr.,  of  the  th^rd  generation  from  Robert,  born 
at  Pomfret,  Connecticut,  in  1690,  was  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  College,  now  Harvard  University, 
in  1709,  and  a  distinguished  divine,  and  nephew  of  Rev.  John  Williams,  of  Deerfield,  who  was 
carried  into  captivity  by  the  Indians.  He  died,  much  lamented,  in  1753.  He  was  the  great- 
grandfather of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  His  son,  Rev.  Chester  Williams,  also  a  graduate  of 
Harvard,  was  settled  at  Hadley,  and  died  when  only  thirty-six  years  old.  Nehemiah  Williams, 
son  of  Chester,  and  grandfather  of  our  Chester,  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  1769,  ordained  at 
Brimfield,  1775,  and  died  in  1800.  The  "American  Quarterly  Register"  states  that  he  was  one 
of  the  first  members  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  A  posthumous  volume  of 
his  sermons  was  published. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  Ebenezer  Williams,  born  at  Brimfield  in  1777,  and  was  a  farmer 
until  middle  life,  when  Jie  became  a  merchant.  He  married  Eliza  Whitwell,  of  Brimfield,  and 
they  had  eight  children,  of  whom  Chester  is  the  fifth  child.  Ebenezer  Williams  died  at  Elgin, 
Illinois,  in  1856,  and  his  wife  in  1826.  She  was  a  sister  of  Samuel  Whitwell,  of  Boston,  of  the 
old  firm  of  Whitwell,  Bond  and  Company.  Chester  supplemented  a  district  school  education 
with  two  terms  at  the  Munson  Academy,  and  was  purposing  to  continue  his  studies  still  further, 
but  owing  to  circumstances,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  school  and  become  a  clerk  in  his  father's 
store. 

In  1837,  when  in  his  twentieth  year,  he  came  to  Buffalo  Grove,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  Ogle 
county  since  that  date.  He  bought  a  claim  of  320  acres  in  1838,  he  and  his  brother-in-law,  Hora- 
tio Wales,  meanwhile  working  rented  land,  and  in  1839  he  commenced  opening  his  own  farm. 
He  continued  to  improve  it  until  1851,  when  he  rented  it,  and  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Buffalo 
Grove  for  four  years.  In  1855  he  opened  a  drug  store  with  Doctors  W.  W.  Burns  and  J.  H. 
More,  but  the  firm  of  Williams,  Burns  and  More  continued  only  a  few  months,  Mr.  Williams 
selling  out  his  interest  to  Burns  and  Warren,  and  in  the  spring  of  1857  he  returned  to  his  farm. 
He  continued  to  improve  it  for  several  years,  and  then  sold  out  (1866)  and  moved  into  Polo.  He 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  163 

gave  $500  for  the  original  claim,  and  $400  to  enter  it,  and  sold  the  farm,  well  fenced,  with  new 
house,  large  barn,  etc.,  for  $20,000.  He  has  stock  in  different  banks,  and  other  property,  and  is 
living  in  ease  and  independence.  He  came  to  Illinois  a  poor  young  man,  with  his  infirm  father 
and  four  sisters  to  look  after,  and  had  for  years  a  very  hard  struggle.  In  his  case  industry,  econ 
omy  and  perseverance  have  finally  been  well  rewarded,  he  having  accumulated  considerable 
property. 

Mr.  Williams  was  postmaster  three  years  at  Buffalo  Grove,  one  mile  from  Polo,  and  supervisor 
of  the  township  about  the  same  space  of  time,  and  since  becoming  a  resident  of  the  city  of  Polo, 
he  has  been  alderman  and  mayor.  He  is  public  spirited  and  enterprising,  and  interests  himself 
in  all  movements  likely  to  result  in  the  welfare  of  the  people.  The  cause  of  education  lies  near 
his  heart,  and  he  has  served  three  years  on  the  school  board.  He  also  takes  and  has  always  taken 
deep  interest  in  politics,  being  originally  a  whig,  and  working  zealously  for  that  party  until  it 
became  extinct,  or  merged  in  the  republican  party.  He  was  a  leader  in  the  great  contest  for 
Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne  in  1859,  and  stood  by  him  through  thick  and  thin  during  all  the  years 
that  he  was  in  congress.  Mr.  Williams  has  often  been  a  delegate  to  republican  county  and  con- 
gressional conventions,  and  has  cheerfully  given  his  time  and  influence  to  further  the  interests  of 
that  party. 

Mr.  Williams  is  a  third  degree  Mason,  and  aTtrustee  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  a  man  of 
excellent  habits,  positive  views  and  good  impulses,  and  never  abandons  a  cause  or  a  party  which 
he  believes  to  be.  right.  He  married,  January  12,  1865,  Miss  Maria  P.  Anthony,  of  Avoca,  New 
York,  and  they  have  had  four  children,  all  daughters,  only  two  of  them,  Lucy  and  Anna,  twins, 
now  living.  The  oldest,  Maria  Louise,  died  at  the  age  of  four  years,  and  Kate  Anthony  at 
thirteen. 

EDWIN   C.   HEWETT,  LL.D. 

NORMAL. 

EDWIN  CRAWFORD  HEWETT,  president  of  the  Normal  University,  and  a  teacher  in  that 
institution  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  is  a  native  of  Worcester  county,  Massachusetts,  having 
been  born  in  Sutton,  November  i,  1828.  His  father,  Timothy  Hewett,  a  farmer  most  of  his  life, 
was  born  in  the  same  place,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Levina  Leonard,  also 
belonged  to  a  Massachusetts  family.  Edwin  received  his  education  at  country  common  and  high 
schools,  the  Worcester  Academy  and  the  State  Normal  School  at  Bridgewater,  teaching  a  district 
school  two  terms  in  his  native  town  before  going  to  Bridgewater.  He  had  also  learned  the  shoe- 
maker's trade  in  his  youth,  and  worked  at  it  during  vacations,  being  entirely  dependent  upon 
his  own  hands  and  head  for  support  since  the  time  that  he  entered  upon  his  teens. 

In  the  spring  of  1852,  on  leaving  the  Normal  School  at  Bridgewater,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
country,  Professor  Hewett  taught  a  little  less  than  a  year  at  Pittsfield,  as  assistant  in  the  high 
school,  then  returned  to  Bridgewater  to  accept  a  similar  position  in  the  normal  school,  where  he 
taught  from  January,  1853,  to  November,  1856.  He  then  took  charge  of  the  Thomas  Grammar 
School  at  Worcester,  where  he  remained  until  the  autumn  of  1858,  when  he  came  to  Bloomington 
to  accept  a  chair  in  the  Normal  University.  Here  his  specialty  for  years  was  history  and  geog- 
raphy, though  he  was  called  upon  to  fill  up  gaps  which  occurred  from  time  to  time,  and  taught 
almost  every' branch  mentioned  in  the  curriculum  of  such  a  school. 

When  President  Edwards  resigned  in  January,  1876,  Professor  Hewett  was  appointed  presi- 
dent pro  tern,  for  six  months,  at  the  end  of  which  period  he  was  appointed  president.  His  special 
work  is  pedagogics  and  mental  philosophy.  His  most  striking  characteristics  as  a  teacher  are 
his  clearness  and  thoroughness.  The  institution  over  which  he  presides  has  gained  a  reputation 
for  careful  and  accurate  work,  and  no  other  man  has  contributed  so  much  to  that  reputation 
as  he.  His  work  bristles  with  points.  Fogginess  and  inaccuracy  find  no  toleration  in  his  class- 
room. In  addition  to  these  qualities  he  possesses  tireless  industry  and  patient  persistence.  No 


,64  UNITED    STATKS   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

details  are  ever  slighted.  "Anything  that  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well "  is  an  expres- 
sion that  often  falls  from  his  lips.  With  an  abhorrence  of  shams  that  no  words  can  express,  and 
an  enthusiasm  for  genuineness  that  the  years  do  not  lessen,  he  is  giving  an  impulse  to  accurate 
scholarship  that  cannot  be  measured. 

President  Hewett  has  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  state  board  of  examiners  two  or  three 
times,  and  served  one  term  in  the  office  of  president  of  the  State  Teacher's  Association.  Some 
years  ago  he  prepared  a  Key  to  Guyot's  Wall  Maps,  and  has  done  some  other  literary  work, 
largely  revisionary  and  the  writing  of  pamphlets.  A  few  years  ago  he  had  editorial  charge  in 
part  of  "The  Schoolmaster,"  a  worthy  magazine. 

About  twenty  years  ago  President  Hewett  received  the  honorary  title  of  master  of  arts  from 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  in  1877  the  honorary  title  of  doctor  of  laws  from  Shurtleff  College, 
Upper  Alton,  Illinois.  He  is  a  licensed  Baptist  preacher,  and  a  fine  type  of  the  quiet,  unassum- 
ing, pure-minded  Christian  gentleman.  Doctor  Hewett  was  married  in  August,  1857,  to  Miss 
Angeline  N.  Benton,  daughter  of  Horace  Benton,  of  Sublette,  Lee  county,  Illinois,  and  they  have 
had  two  children,  burying  one  of  them.  May  is  a  graduate  of  the  Normal  University,  and  taught 
at  Oak  Park,  near  Chicago,  in  1881-2.  She  was  married  to  Rudolph  R.  Ruder,  June  20,  1882. 
Mr.  Ruder  is  a  graduate  of  the  Normal' University,  and  has  just  been  appointed  assistant  training 
teacher  in  the  institution.  

CALVIN  DE  WOLF. 

CHICAGO. 

AMONG  the  early  settlers  of  Chicago,  who  have  persevered  in  the  face  of  stern  adversity  and 
won  for  themselves  a  name  long  to  be  remembered,  none  deserve  more  honorable  mention 
than  he  whose  name  heads  this  article.  Calvin  De  Wolf,  one  of  thirteen  children,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1815,  at  Braintrim,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  is  the  oldest  son  now  living. 
His  father,  Giles  M.  De  Wolf,  was  born  at  Pomfret,  New  London  county,  Connecticut,  November 
7,  1782,  and  his  mother,  Anna  Spaulding,  of  Cavendish,  Windsor  county,  Vermont,  was  born  April 
22,  1786.  The  former  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-three,  and  the  latter  to  eighty-seven  years,  and 
their  remains  rest  at  Elkhorn  Grove,  Carroll  county,  Illinois. 

Soon  after  his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  Cavendish,  Vermont,  his  mother's  native  town,  where 
he  received  his  first  schooling  and  religious  instructions.  In  1820,  when  he  was  five  years  old,  his 
parents  returned  to  Braintrim,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1824  his  father  purchased  a 
farm  at  Pike,  in  the  beech  forests  of  Bradford  county,  Pennsylvania.  Here  young  De  Wolf 
assisted  in  clearing  and  cultivating  his  father's  farm,  attending  the  district  school  during  the  win- 
ters, until  he  reached  his  twenty-first  birthday. 

Being  of  an  ambitious  and  aspiring  disposition  the  advantages  offered  by  a  district  school  did 
not  satisfy  him,  and  there  being  in  the  neighborhood  a  gentleman  of  liberal  education,  young  De 
Wolf  procured  a  Latin  grammar  and  dictionary  and  a  copy  of  Virgil,  and  so  economized  his  time 
that,  with  the  help  of  his  instructor,  Mr.  Woodruff,  he  gained  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage and  read  six  books  of  the  ./Eneid.  He  also  studied  arithmetic,  algebra  and  surveying 
under  his  father,  who  was  a  fine  mathematician.  When  nineteen  years  of  age  he  taught  school 
in  his  own  town,  at  a  salary  of  ten  dollars  per  month,  and  when  he  was  twenty  he  took  a  school 
in  the  adjoining  town  of  Orwell  at  twenty-five  dollars  per  month.  He  left  home  in  1836,  and 
entered  the  Grand  River  Institute,  a  manual  labor  school,  of  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  where  he 
remained  till  the  fall  of  1837,  when  he  left  for  Chicago,  then  containing  about  four  thousand 
inhabitants,  arriving  on  October  31  with  but  a  few  dollars  in  his  pocket  and  poorly  clad.  Here 
he  applied  fora  situation  in  the  public  schools  as  a  teacher,  passed  the  requisite  examination,  but 
being  unsuccessful,  he  started  on  foot  across  the  prairies  to  Saint  Charles,  to  Elgin,  and  the  dif- 
ferent settlements  along  Fox  River,  and  finally  obtained  a  situation  as  teacher  at  Hadley,  Will 
county,  Illinois.  » 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  ^5 

In  the  spring  of  1838  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  engaged  in  teaching  till  the  autumn  of  that 
year,  receiving  as  pay  only  certificates,  when  he  was  forced  to  seek  other  employment,  and  secured 
a  situation  as  collector  in  the  meat  market  of  Funk  and  Doyle,  which  he  held  until  the  summer 
of  1839.  He  then  began  the  study  of  law  with  Spring  and  Goodrich.  He  again  engaged  in 
teaching  in  1841,  and  continued  for  two  years,  till  May,  1843,  when  he  was  examined  by  Hon. 
Richard  M.  Young,  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  assisted  by  J.  Y.  Scammon  and  Buckner  S.  Mor- 
ris, and  being  found  qualified  was  duly  licensed  to  practice  law  in  all  the  courts  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  De  Wolf  followed  the  practice  of  his  profession  till  1854,  when  he  was  elected  justice  of 
the  peace,  an  office  which  he  has  held  six  successive  terms,  four  by  popular  election  and  two  by 
appointment,  in  all  over  twenty-five  years.  During  that  time  he  heard  and  disposed  of  over 
90,000  cases,  a  greater  number  probably  than  any  other  judicial  officer  in  Illinois. 

He  held  the  office  of  alderman  four  years,  from  1856  to  1858  and  from  1866  to  1868.  During 
the  first  period  the  ordinances  of  the  city  were  revised,  and  Mr.  De  Wolf  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  of  revision  and  publication.  Many  of  the  most  useful  provisions  of  the  present  ordi- 
nances were  originally  framed  by  him  or  under  his  direction. 

From  his  boyhood  he  has  possessed  positive  qualities  and  strong  convictions.  In  the  earlv 
days  of  the  anti-slavery  crusade,  when  all  political  parties  denounced  the  abolitionists,  when  most 
of  the  churches,  though  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract,  were  opposed  to  disturbing  the  peace 
and  harmony  of  our  southern  brethren,  Mr.  De  Wolf  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  persistent 
advocates  of  the  anti-slavery  cause.  He  was  secretary  of  the  first  abolition  society,  formed  in 
Chicago  in  1839,  of  which  Rev.  Flavel  Bascom  was  president  and  George  Manierre  was  treasurer. 
In  1842,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Illinois  State  Anti-Slavery  Society,  an  organization  was  effected  to 
raise  funds  for  the  establishing  of  an  anti-slavery  newspaper  in  Chicago.  Mr.  De  Wolf  was 
elected  treasurer,  and  the  "Western  Citizen"  was  established,  with  Z.  Eastman  as  editor  and 
publisher. 

Mr.  De  Wolf  was  prosecuted.     The  following  is  a  copy  of  one  count  in  the  indictment: 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  NORTHERN  DISTRICT  OF  ILLINOIS,  ss.: 

OCTOBER  TF.RM,  A.D.  1860. 

The  grand  jurors  of  the  United  States  of  America,  chosen,  selected  and  sworn,  and  charged  to  inquire  of  crimes 
and  offenses  within  and  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  upon  their  oaths  present: 

That  heretofore,  to  wit,  on  the  first  day  of  December,  A.D.  1858,  a  certain  negro  female  slave  called  Eliza,  a  person 
lawfully  held  to  service  or  labor  in  the  territory  of  Nebraska,  being  the  property  of  one  Stephen  F.  Nuckolls,  of  the 
territory  of  Nebraska,  the  person  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  was  then  due;  and  that  the  said  negro  slave  called 
Eliza,  to  wit,  on  the  day  and  year  aforesaid,  did  escape  to  the  state  of  Illinois  from  the  said  territory  of  Nebraska,  and 
afterwards,  to  wit,  on  the  I2th  day  of  November,  A.D.  1860,  the  said  Stephen  F.  Nuckolls,  being  the  owner  of  said 
slave,  did  pursue  and  reclaim  the  said  negro  slave  into  the  said  state  of  Illinois  by  seizing  and  arresting  her  as  a  fugi- 
tive person  from  service  or  labor  from  said  territory  of  Nebraska,  and  said  slave  was  lawfully  under  the  control  of  said 
Stephen  F.  Nuckolls  at  the  district  aforesaid  and  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  court,  pursuant  to  the  statute  in  such 
case  made  and  provided,  and  that  one  Calvin  De  Wolf,  late  of  said  district,  together  with  divers,  to  wit,  one  hundred 
other  persons,  to  the  jurors  aforesaid  as  yet  unknown,  heretofore,  to  wit,  on  .the  I2th  day  of  November,  1860,  at  the  dis- 
trict aforesaid,  and  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  court,  with  force  and  arms,  unlawfully,  knowingly  and  willingly,  did 
rescue  the  said  negro  slave  Eliza  from  the  said  custody  and  control  of  the  said  Stephen  F.  Nuckolls,  he  the  said  Calvin 
De  Wolf,  then  and  there  well  knowing  that  the  said  negro  slave  called  Eliza  was  then  and  there  a  fugitive  person  held 
to  service  or  labor  as  aforesaid,  and  pursued  and  reclaimed,  seized  and  arrested  and  held  in  custody  as  aforesaid,  to  the 
great  damage  of  the  said  Stephen  F.  Nuckolls,  contrary  to  the  form  of  the  act  of  congress  in  such  case  made  and  pro: 
vided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  of  the  people  thereof. 

H.   S.   FITCH,  District  Attorney. 
Endorsed  a  true  bill:     W.  L.  NEWBERRY,  Foreman. 
Filed  November  19,  1860.  W.  H.  BRADLEY,  Clerk. 

Mr.  De  Wolf,  together  with  George  Anderson,  A.  D.  Hay  ward  and  C.  L.  Jenks,  who  were 
indicted  at  the  same  time,  was  arrested,  and  gave  bail  in  $2,500  to  answer. 

Under  advice  of  counsel  a  motion  was  made  to  quash  the  indictments,  because  slavery  did  not 
exist  by  law  in  Nebraska;  consequently  a  slave  could  neither  bejieldin  nor  escape  from  that  territory. 


I  66  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Judge  Drummond  never  decided  the  point,  and  under  the  advice  of  Hon.  E.  C.  Larned,  United 
States  district  attorney,  dismissed  the  causes  December  3,  1861. 

In  June,  1841,  Mr.  De  Wolf  was  married  to  Miss  Frances  Kimball,  who  is  still  (1883)  living. 
They  have  had  five  children:  Ellen  L.,  now  wife  of  Robert  B.  Bell,  of  Normalville,  Cook  county, 
Illinois;  Anna  Spaulding,  who  went  to  New  Orleans  in  1877  as  a  teacher  of  the  children  of  the 
freedmen,  and  died  in  September,  1878;  Mary  Frances,  wife  of  Milo  G.  Kellogg,  of  Chicago;  Wal- 
lace L.,  attorney-at-law,  Chicago,  and  Alice,  wife  of  L.  D.  Kneeland,  who  died  at  Kokomo,  Colo- 
rado, March,  1882. 

Since  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  as  justice  of  the  peace  Mr.  De  Wolf  has  devoted  his 
attention  mainly  to  the  practice  of  his  profession. 


E 


HON.  LORENZO  D.  WHITING. 

TISKILWA. 

ORENZO  DOW  WHITING,  farmer  and  member  of  the  state  senate,  is  a  native  of  Wayne 


county,  New  York,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Arcadia,  November  17,  1819.  His  father, 
Samuel  Whiting,  was  a  farmer  and  contractor  on  the  Erie  canal,  and  did  at  one  time  a 
lumber  business  on  the  Genesee  River,  was  born  in  Connecticut,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Zilpha  Mather,  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Cotton  Mather,  and  a  native  of  Connecticut. 
Samuel  Whiting,  senior,  the  grandfather  of  Lorenzo,  was  a  New  Englander,  and  a  young  soldier 
in  the  continental  army.  The  Whitings  are  of  English  descent. 

Our  subject  received  an  academic  education,  and  was  a  merchant's  clerk  at  Olcott,  Niagara 
county,  until  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  came  to  the  West  in  1838,  and  was  engaged  in  the  patent 
right  business  in  Illinois  four  years,  and  then  returned  to  New  York  state.  For  the  next  seven 
years  he  was  engaged  in  teaching  and  acting  as  town  superintendent  of  schools  in  Newfane, 
Niagara  county,  filling  also  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  most  of  the  time. 

In  1849  Mr  Whiting  returned  to  Illinois,  made  a  purchase  of  a  quarter  section  of  land  near 
Tiskilwa,  and  for  the  first  three  seasons  was  engaged  in  farming  and  teaching.  Since  he  ceased 
teaching  "the  young  ideas  how  to  shoot,"  he  has  given  his  whole  time  to  agricultural  pursuits, 
adding  to  his  land  from  time  to  time,  until  he  now  has  nearly  600  acres,  largely  under  excellent 
improvement. 

Mr.  Whiting  served  as  supervisor  of  Indiantown  for  five  or  six  years,  and  may  have  held  other 
local  offices  which  we  do  not  recall.  He  was  elected  to  the  Illinois  house  of  representatives  in 
1868,  to  the  constitutional  convention  in  1869,  to  the  state  senate  in  1870,  and  still  holds  the  latter 
office,  having  been  a  member  of  the  upper  house  for  twelve  consecutive  years,  and  of  the  legisla- 
ture fourteen  consecutive  years. 

In  the  constitutional  convention  Mr.  Whiting  was  first  to  propose  to  insert  a  provision  in  the 
constitution  requiring  the  general  assembly  to  pass  laws  regulating  railroad  charges,  and  as  sen- 
ator was  active  in  carrying  through  the  bill  which  embodied  a  law  against  unjust  discrimination 
and  extortionate  charges,  known  as  the  granger  laws. 

He  was  the  projector  of  the  Hennepin  canal  scheme,  and  the  originator  of  other  bills,  looking 
to  the  internal  improvement  of  the  state.  He  was  the  author  of  several  important  laws  relating 
to  agriculture,  roads  and  drainage,  and  of  the  bill  which  passed,  and  became  a  law,  ceding  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  to  the  United  States  on  certain  conditions. 

For  the  last  four  or  five  years  he  has  labored  in  the  senate  very  earnestly  to  secure  a  more 
equal  and  just  revenue  law,  whereby  all  property  shall  be  taxed  once,  and  no  property  doubly 
taxed.  Cheap  transportation  and  equal  taxation  are  leading  objects  with  him.  No  man  in  the 
senate  has  a  clearer  head  than  Mr.  Whiting,  or  labors  more  zealously  to  secure  equal  rights  and 
exact  justice  to  all  classes  of  his  constituents,  and  of  the  citizens  of  Illinois.  In  1869  he  was 
among  the  most  active  in  opposing  the  lake  front  scheme,  whereby  three  railroad  corporations 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


I67 


sought  to  possess  themselves  of 'the  shore  line  of  the  outer  and  future  harbor  of  Chicago.  In 
1878  he  led  the  opposition  in  the  defeat  of  senate  bill  114,  which  was  to  effect  the  release  of 
a  combination  of  railroads  from  a  large  amount  of  taxes  adjudged  by  the  courts  to  be  due 
to  the  public.  His  championship  of  measures  relating  to  the  producers,  and  his  watchfulness 
of  the  public  interest  when  assailed  by  special  interests  and  corporate  greed,  have  made  him 
known  as  the  "farmer  statesman."  These  powerful  interests  which  he  has  so  often  foiled, 
generally  stir  up  a  lively  opposition  to  his  repeated  reelections,  but  the  people  whom  he  has 
so  faithfully  served  have  so  far  successfully  rallied  to  his  support,  having  elected  him  six  times 
in  succession,  to  serve  at  the  state  capital,  and  again  placed  him  in  nomination.  The  oppo- 
sition is  now  seemingly  more  determined  than  ever  to  secure  his  defeat,  but  it  is  thought  will 
be  overcome  as  before. 

Senator  Whiting  is  a  republican  of  democratic  antecedents,  a  man  of  firm  principles,  fixed  as 
the  stars,  perfectly  upright,  and  nothing  but  a  prairie  cyclone  could  upset  him. 

Senator  Whiting  was  first  married  in  1846,  to  Miss  Lucretia  C.  Clement,  of  Oneida  county, 
New  York,  she  dying  in  1872,  leaving  three  children,  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  and  the  second 
time  in  1874  to  Miss  Eriphyle  Robinson,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  whose  penmanship  and  drawings 
are  models  of  beauty.  She  is  the  daughter  of  the  late  Doctor  Daniel  Robinson,  of  New  York,  a 
thorough  scholar,  with  great  taste  for  mathematics,  horticulture,  and  mechanics,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  New  York  historical  society.  Eriphyle's  mother's  name  was  Caroline  M.  Cropsy,  an  accom- 
plished lady  of  French  descent,  and  her  mother's  name  was  Helen  Ackerman,  who  was  connected 
with  some  of  the  most  noted  early  Dutch  settlers  on  the  Hudson. 

Clement  A.,  the  elder  son,  is  married,  and  he  and  Herbert  are  tilling  their  father's  lands,  and 
Lilian,  the  daughter,  is  connected  with  the  editorial  staff  of  the  "Boston  Traveller,"  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Chicago  Daily  "  Inter  Ocean,"  the  "Cincinnati  Commercial,"  and  the  "Globe- 
Democrat,"  St.  Louis,  and  an  occasional  contributor  to  the  monthly  magazines.  She  is  a  natural 
journalist,  with  almost  unbounded  enthusiasm  for  her  chosen  labor.  If  life  and  health  are 
spared  her,  success  will  probably  crown  her  active  labors. 


MALACHI  CHURCH. 

WOODSTOCK. 

THE  sheriff  of  McHenry  county,  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  is 
descended  from  an  old  Vermont  family,  his  grandfather,  Malachi  Church,  for  whom  he  was 
named,  moving  from  Brattleboro,  in  that  state,  to  Cortland  county,  New  York,  by  ox  team  in 
1805.  That  part  of  the  Empire  State  seventy-five  years  ago  was  almost  an  unbroken  wilderness. 
There  the  family. cleared  the  land  and  opened  a  farm.  James  B.  Church,  the  father  of  Malachi, 
born  in  Brattleboro  in  1797,  was  reared  on  that  farm,  and  helped  to  make  it.  He  was  a  prominent 
man  in  Cortland  county  forty  and  fifty  years  ago,  and  is  still  living,  being  in  his  eighty-fifth  year, 
He  holds  the  commission  of  major  and  colonel  of  New  York  artillery,  appointed  while  De  Witt 
Clinton  was  governor,  his  name  being  attached  to  both  commissions.  He  also  holds  the  same 
governor's  letter  accepting,  in  a  complimentary  tone,  the  resignation  of  Colonel  Church.  Three 
brothers  of  the  colonel  held  also  the  same  military  rank. 

Malachi  Church  was  born  at  Marathon,  Cortland  county,  August  4,  1828,  his  rribther  being 
Sarah  Matthews,  a  native  of  Granville,  New  York.  He  received  a  common-school  education,  all 
his  father  could  afford  to  give  him;  farmed  in  his  native  town  until  1851,  when  the  whole  family 
came  to  the  West  and  settled  on  a  farm  three  miles  west  of  Woodstock. 

Our  subject  continued  to  cultivate  the  soil  until  1856,  when  he  sold  his  property  and  moved 
into  town,  and  for  nine  years  was  engaged  in  the  livery  business.  Subsequently  he  was  agent  for 
the  Merchants'  Express  Company  until  the  route  was  divided,  and  Woodstock  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  American  Express  Company.  About  that  time  he  served  one  or  two  terms  in  the  board  of 
aldermen. 


1 68  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

When,  in  June,  1869,  Austin  Badger,  sheriff  of  the  county,  was  disabled,  Mr.  Church,  then  act- 
ing as  city  marshal,  was  appointed  his  deputy,  and  attended  to  the  business,  and  at  the  end  of 
that  term  Mr.  Church  was  elected  to  the  office,  and  served  two  terms.  In  1876  Daniel  A.  Sted- 
man  was  elected  sheriff,  and  served  his  four  years,  Mr.  Church  acting  as  his  deputy  half  the  time, 
and  being  elected  to  take  his  place  in  the  autumn  of  1880.  Mr.  Church  is  very  assiduous  in 
attending  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  is  a  popular  county  official  among  all  parties,  always  poll- 
ing a  very  heavy  vote.  His  politics  are  republican. 

Mr.  Church  is  high  up  in  Masonry,  being  a  Knight  Templar.  He  has  held  various  offices  in 
the  order,  such  as  warden  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  high  priest  in  the  Chapter,  etc.  He  married  first  in 
1854,  at  Auburn,  New  York,  Celinda  Wheaton,  she  dying  in  August,  1862,  and  the  second  time  in 
1865  to  Lorain  E.  Harper,  of  Woodstock.  He  had  one  son  (Henry)  by  the  first  wife,  and  buried 
him  in  1871,  at  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  was  a  youth  of  great  promise.  At  fourteen  years  of  age 
he  was  a  clerk  in  the  county  treasurer's  office,  and  showed  remarkable  precocity  of  intellect. 
His  death  was  a  heavy  blow  to  his  father. 


COLONEL    RALPH   PLUMB. 

STREA  TOR. 

RALPH  PLUMB,  banker  and  mayor  of  Streator,  and  founder  of  the  town,  is  a  native  of 
Chautauqua  county,  New  York,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Busti,  March  29,  1816.  His 
father,  Theron  Plumb,  a  mechanic,  was  a  native  of  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  and  his 
grandfather,  Ebenezer  Plumb,  was  born  in  the  same  county,  the  family  being  early  settlers  in 
Stockbridge,  the  home  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  Sedgwicks,  the  Fields,  and  other  prominent 
families.  The  mother  of  our  subject,  before  her  marriage,  was  Harriet  Merry,  a  native  of  Herki- 
mer  county,  New  York,  her  father  being  Judge  Samuel  Merry,  in  his  day  a  prominent  man  in  that 
county.  The  family  moved  to  Trumbull  count)',  Ohio,  when  Ralph  was  four  years  old.  He 
attended  school  until  fourteen  years  old,  receiving  as  good  an  education  as  could  be  had  at  that 
age  in  a  rural  town,  then  went  into  a  store  in  Hartford,  Trumbull  county,  where  he  held  the  post 
of  clerk  till  he  reached  his  majority,  when  he  became  a  partner  of  his  employer,  Seth  Hayes.  Mr. 
Plumb  was  engaged  in  general  merchandise  until  1855,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
and  served  in  that  body  for  two  sessions,  being  engaged  also,  during  that  period  in  the  study  of 
law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Columbus,  in  1857,  opened  an  office  in  Oberlin,  and  was 
there  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  until  the  civil  war  broke  out.  During  that  period, 
two  years  before  the  war,  a  little  episode  occurred  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Plumb,  of  which  we  presume 
he  is  not  ashamed  to  have  mention  made  in  a  work  like  this.  In  1859  he,  with  other  Oberlin  men, 
was  arrested,  charged  with  resisting  the  fugitive  slave  law.  He  was  not  guilty  of  the  particular 
act  for  which  he  was  arrested,  but  he  had  previously  acted  as  an  "underground  railroad  conduc- 
tor," and  had  aided  scores  of  fugitives  in  escaping  from  bondage.  He  was  never  tried,  but,  with 
thirty-six  others,  lay  for  eighty-four  days  in  the  Cleveland  jail.  The  trial  has  not  come  off  yet. 

In  1861  Mr.  Plumb  went  into  the  service,  under  appointment  of  President  Lincoln,  as  quarter- 
master, and  assigned  to  duty  on  General  Garfield's  staff,  filling  that  position  until  the  general 
was  made  chief  of  the  staff  of  General  Rosecranz.  After  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  January  i, 
1863,  our  subject  was  obliged  to  leave  the  field  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  was  placed  in  charge 
of  Camp  Dennison,  near  Cincinnati,  where  he  remained  until  after  the  rebellion  had  collapsed,  he 
having  meantime  been  brevetted  colonel. 

At  the  opening  of  the  year  1866,  Colonel  Plumb  left  Ohio,  and  came  to  this  state,  reaching 
Streator  January  24,  the  site  of  this  city  then  being  a  thicket.  Acting  as  secretary,  treasurer  and 
resident  manager  of  a  company,  most  of  whose  members  lived  at  the  East,  he  here  purchased 
4000  acres  of  land  for  these  capitalists,  and  engaged  first  in  developing  the  coal  fields  by  sinking 
shafts,  etc.,  and  then  in  developing  the  town,  which  was  named  Streator  for  Doctor  Worthy  S. 


LIBRARY 

OF  me 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINCiS 


UNITED    STATES  BrOGKArillCAL    DICTIONARY.  \*j\ 

Strcator,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  The  first  plat  of  ground  was  recorded  February  22,  1868,  when 
there  were  a  few  hundred  people  here,  mostly  miners,  and  fourteen  years  later  the  population  was 
between  9,000  and  10,000. 

In  order  to  develop  the  coal  market  and  encourage  the  growth  of  the  town,  Colonel  Plumb 
engaged  in  the  building  of  railroads,  and  in  a  few  years  the  place  was  connected  with  the  outside 
world  by  the  Fox  River  Valley,  the  Chicago,  Pekin  and  South  Western,  the  Chicago  and  Padu- 
cah,  and  the  Chicago  division  of  the  Wabash  and  Saint  Louis  railroads,  an  aggregate  of  over  four 
hundred  miles  of  road  built  by  him. 

Since  closing  his  connection  with  railroads,  Colonel  Plumb  has  given  his  attention  largely  to 
manufacturing  and  banking,  he  being  interested  in  the  works  for  the  manufacture  of  window 
glass,  and  president  of  the  Streator  National  Bank,  an  institution  started  in  May,  1882,  with  a 
capital  of  $80,000.  He  has  also  stock  in  other  local  manufactories,  and  is  still  largely  interested 
in  coal  mining,  being  one  of  the  most  public-spirited  and  enterprising  men  in  La  Salle  county. 

One  of  the  noblest  deeds  he  has  done  in  Streator  is  the  putting  up  a  $30,000  house  for  a  high 
school,  and  making  a  present  of  it  to  the  municipality.  He  has  a  large  heart,  and  his  gifts  are 
many  and  usually  munificent. 

Streator  was  organized  into  a  city  by  an  election  held  June,  1882,  and  our  subject  was  elected 
mayor  without  a  dissenting  vote,  a  well  merited  compliment  to  the  originator  and  "nursing 
father"  of  this  town. 

The  Colonel  married  at  Hartford,  Ohio,  in  1838,  Miss  Marilla  E.  Borden,  and  they  have  had 
three  children,  losing  all  of  them. 

WILLIAM  McKINDLEY. 

CHICAGO. 

A1ONG  the  members  of  the  legal  profession  of  Chicago,  none,  perhaps,  deserves  a  more  honor- 
able mention  than  the  subject  of  this  biography.  A  native  of  West  Charleston,  Saratoga 
county,  New  York,  he  was  born  in  1821,  the  son  of  John  McKindley,  whose  father  was  a  native 
Scotchman,  and  Sarah  (Mairs)  McKindley,  of  Argyle,  Washington  county,  New  York. 

William  was  a  strong  and  robust  youth,  and  until  his  eighteenth  year  worked  on  his  father's 
farm,  receiving  such  education  as  the  district  school  afforded.  Desiring,  however,  to  fit  himself 
for  a  more  active  life,  he  left  the  farm  about  the  year  1840,  and  during  the  next  four  years  applied 
himself  closely  to  study,  at  Galway  Academy,  near  his  home.  While  here  he  developed  great  pro- 
ficiency in  mathematics  and  other  scientific  subjects,  and  also  displayed  marked  talent  as  a  deba- 
ter and  public  speaker.  He  loved  debate,  and  in  his  earnestness  appealed  to  the  judgments  of 
men  rather  than  to  their  feelings  and  passions.  At  the  close  of  his  academical  course  he  entered 
Union  College,  at  Schenectady,  New  York,  then  under  the  charge  of  the  celebrated  Doctor  Nott. 
In  college,  he  ranked  among  the  first  in  his  class,  and  graduated  from  the  regular  classical  course 
of  study  with  the  most  exalted  honors. 

Among  his  classmates  was  the  renowned  Bishop  Littlejohn,  of  New  York  city.  The  following 
incident  fairly  illustrates  his  popularity  and  standing  among  his  fellow  students:  It  being  the 
custom  to  choose  a  marshal  for  commencement  day,- McKindley  was  chosen  the  candidate  of  the 
anti-secret  society  element,  while  Littlejohn  was  put  forward  by  the  society  men.  As  is  always 
the  case  at  such  elections,  partisan  spirit  ran  high,  and  the  contest  was  a  most  strong  and  earnest 
one.  The  society  men,  however,  carried  the  day,  and  Littlejohn  was  elected,  receiving,  however, 
a  majority  of  only  one  vote. 

After  completing  his  college  course,  in  1848,  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Judge 
Belding  at  Amsterdam,  New  York,  and  so  applied  himself  that  at  the  end  of  two  years  he  was 
admitted  to  practice  by  the  supreme  court  of  his  state.  Removing  now  to  Saratoga  Springs,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Avery  and  Hoag,  two  eminent  lawyers  of  that  place,  and  under  the 
firm  name  of  Avery,  Hoag  and  McKindley,  built  up  during  the  next  few  years  an  extensive  and 
18 


172  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

lucrative  business.  During  this  time  he  became  widely  known  for  his  genial,  social  and  compan- 
ionable qualities,  and  numbered  among  his  warmest  friends  the  noted  Chancellor  Walworth,  then 
in  his  palmiest  days. 

In  1856  Mr.  McKindley  settled  in  Chicago,  and  established  himself  in  a  general  law  and  real 
estate  business,  in  partnership  with  his  former  classmates,  D.  J.  and  D.  C.  Nicholes  and  John  T. 
Wentworth,  also  a  graduate  of  Union  College,  and  who  was  afterward  judge  of  the  circuit  court, 
at  Racine,  Wisconsin.  The  business  of  this  firm  was  eminently  successful,  and  continued  until 
the  opening  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  in  1861. 

By  reason  of  impaired  health,  Mr.  McKindley  found  a  change  of  business  necessary,  and  asso- 
ciating himself  with  his  brother,  James  McKindley,  in  the  wholesale  grocery  trade,  continued  it 
with  marked  success  for  three  years.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  withdrawing  from  his  mer- 
cantile pursuits,  he  again  associated  himself  with  his  former  partners,  Messrs.  Nicholes,  and  con- 
tinued in  business  with  them  until  1871.  During  this  year,  by  the  admission  into  the  business  of 
Mr.  James  Morrison,  the  name  of  the  firm  was  changed  to  Nicholes,  McKindley  and  Morrison, 
and  so  continued  until  1878,  when  Messrs.  Nicholes  retired  from  the  firm.  From  that  time  until 
Mr.  McKindley's  death,  he  and  Mr.  Morrison  continued  in  business  together. 

As  a  business  man  Mr.  McKindley  was  known  for  his  sterling  integrity  and  his  firm  fidelity  to 
upright  principle  and  manly  dealing.  He  was  an  able  advocate,  and  as  a  lawyer  honored  his  pro- 
fession. He  made  his  way  in  the  face  of  many  obstacles,  and  by  his  untiring  energy  and  indomi- 
table will,  rose  from  comparative  obscurity  to  an  honorable  position  in  his  profession.  He 
possessed  a  versatility  of  talents,  and  aside  from  his  law  and  real  estate  business  was  engaged  in 
other  enterprises.  With  other  prominent  business  men  of  Chicago  he  organized  the  Merchants' 
Fire  Insurance  Company,  of  Chicago,  which  gave  every  promise  of  becoming  one  of  the  strongest 
assurance  associations  of  the  Northwest,  but  with  all  local  fire  companies,  was  ruined  by  the  great 
fire  of  October  9,  1871, 

Mr.  McKindley's  death,  which  occurred  March  29,  1880,  was  an  unexpected  blow  to  his  many 
friends  and  acquaintances,  he  having  been  suddenly  stricken  with  apoplexy  in  the  court  room 
during  a  session  of  the  appellate  court,  at  Chicago. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Chicago  bar,  held  May  17,  1880,  the  following  resolution,  passed  at  a 
meeting  of  Mr.  McKindley's  professional  associates,  was,  upon  the  motion  of  R.  W.  Smith,  spread 
upon  the  records  of  the  appellate  court: 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  late  brother  William  McKindley,  the  Chicago  bar  and  legal  profession  have  lost  a 
gentleman  and  scholar,  a  good  lawyer,  and  a  thoroughly  honest  and  conscientious  man. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  bereaved  widow  and  family  of  our  deceased  brother  our  sympathy  and  condolence 


HON.   FRANCIS   E.   CLARKE. 

WA  UKEGAN. 

FRANCIS  ERASMUS  CLARKE,  judge  of  Lake  county,  and  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in 
that  county  is  a  son  of  Elam  and  Cynthia  (Lewis)  Clarke,  both  descendants  of  Massachu- 
setts families,  and  was  born  at  Williamstown,  Orange  county,  Vermont,  March  4,  1828.  His 
father  was  a  farmer  and  mechanic,  and  took  a  part  in  the  second  war  with  England,  being  at  the 
battle  of  Plattsburgh.  Francis  fitted  for  college  at  academies  in  Ludlow  and  Townsend,  Vermont, 
and  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  in  1851,  teaching  school 
now  and  then  a  term,  both  before  and  after  entering  that  institution.  On  leaving  college  he 
came  to  the  West,  and  for  three  years  was  principal  of  the  Waukegan  Academy.  He  read  law 
with  Ferry  and  Clarke,  the  latter  being  his  elder  brother,  Isaac  L.  Clarke  ;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1855,  and  has  been  in  general  practice  at  Waukegan  since  1856.  He  is  a  sound  and 
reliable  lawyer,  whose  opinion  is  much  sought  after,  and  he  stands  at  the  front  of  the  Wauke- 
gan bar. 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  173 

In  1852  Mr.  Clarke  was  elected  county  superintendent  of  schools,  and  that  office  he  held  till 
1860.  He  has  also  been  city  superintendent  of  schools,  supervisor,  etc.  For  most  of  the  time 
during  the  last  fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  he  has  held  the  post  of  master  in  chancery  for  the  circuit 
court  of  Lake  county,  and  he  makes  an  able  chancery  lawyer,  steadily  growing  in  popularity. 
Our  subject  was  elected  county  judge  in  the  spring  of  1879,  and  that  office  he  is  filling  with 
decided  credit  to  himself  as  well  as  satisfaction  to  the  people. 

Judge  Clarke  has  been  a  republican  since  the  organization  of  that  party,  and  is  very  decided 
and  pronounced  in  his  political  tenets,  and  capable  of  giving  on  the  platform,  a  plain  and  cogent 
reason  for  his  affiliation  with  the  members  of  that  party.  He  married,  at  North  Hadley,  Massa- 
chusetts, January  13,  1858,  Miss  Hannah  C.  Scott,  and  they  have  three  children.  The  family 
attend  the  Presbyterian  church,  of  which  Mrs.  Clarke  is  a  member. 


w 


WARREN    D.    WHAPLES. 

NEPONSET. 

ARREN  DAY  WHAPLES,  merchant  and  banker,  is  a  native  of  Connecticut,  a  son  of 
Elisha  and  Amanda  A.  (Hart)  Whaples,  and  was  born  in  Newington,  July  3,  1832.  Both 
parents  were  also  born  in  that  state.  Warren  received  an  academic  education  at  Newington  and 
Berlin;  farmed  in  his  younger  years  with  his  father,  who  was  also  a  carpenter  and  joiner;  taught 
school  two  winters,  and  in  the  spring  of  1856  came  to  the  West.  He  went  as  far  as  Illinois, 
and  in  June  of  that  year  settled  in  Neponset,  his  present  home,  buying  a  fourth  interest  in  the 
town.  Here  Mr.  Whaples  was  a  clerk  one  season;  then  formed  a  partnership  with  Joseph  Lyford, 
with  whom  he  was  in  mercantile  trade  for  two  years,  when  his  brother,  Shubad  H.  Whaples, 
became  his  partner,  and  they  were  together  until  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  in  1865.  Since  that 
date  our  subject  has  been  alone  in  trade.  He  keeps  a  general  and  large  assortment  of  goods, 
and  has  always  maintained  a  sound  .financial  standing,  as  well  as  a  high  character  for  honesty 
and  fair  dealing.  In  1874  he  started  the  Exchange  Bank,  a  private  institution,  doing  a  general 
and  successful  banking  business. 

Mr.  Whaples  has  held  different  local  offices,  such  as  school  trustee,  a  member  and  president  of 
the  town  board  of  trustees,  etc.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  but  not  an  active  partisan.  His 
Christian  connection  is  with  the  Congregational  church,  of  which  he  is  a  deacon.  No  man  who 
knows  him  doubts  the  sincerity  of  his  faith  or  the  purity  of  his  life. 

November  29,  1859,  Mr.  Whaples  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E:  Lawrence,  of  East  Canaan, 
Connecticut,  and  they  have  two  sons:  William  Elisha,  cashier  in  his  father's  store  and  bank,  and 
Walter  Lawrence,  a  student  in  Knox  College. 


HON.  CHARLES    E.   FULLER. 

BEL  VIDERE. 

/~*HARLES  EUGENE  FULLER,  lawyer  and  member  of  the  state  senate,  is  a  native  of  Boone 
V_^  county,  Illinois,  being  born  in  the  town  of  Flora,  March  31,  1849.  His  father,  Seymour 
Fuller,  a  farmer,  was  from  Shaftsbury,  Vermont,  and  his  grandfather,  Solomon  Fuller,  was  a  rev- 
olutionary soldier,  and  a  relative  of  the  Fuller  who  was  with  General  Francis  Marion,  the  Swamp 
Fox  of  South  Carolina.  This  branch  of  the  Fuller  family  first  settled  in  New  England.  The 
mother  of  Charles  was  Eliza  A.  (Mordoff)  Fuller,  a  native  of  New  York. 

He  received  most  of  his  education  in  the  Belvidere  High  School,  supplementing  his  attend- 
ance there  with  one  year's  drill  in  Wheaton  College  ;  spent  some  time  in  his  youth  in  a  general 
store  at  Belvidere  ;  was  subsequently,  1866-7,  >n  a  book  store  at  Waverly,  Bremer  county,  Iowa  ; 
returned  to  Belvidere  and  read  law  with  Hon.  Jesse  S.  Hildrup,  late  United  States  marshal  for 


UNITED   STATJSS  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

the  northern  district  of  Illinois;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  August,  1870,  and  has  since  been  in 
steady  and  successful  practice  at  Belvidere,  doing  a  good  business  in  all  the  courts  in  his,  the 
twelfth  circuit,  and  in  the  United  States  courts  in  Chicago.  Intimate  acquaintances  of  Mr.  Fuller, 
and  competent  judges,  give  him  credit  for  being  remarkably  well  read  in  his  profession  for  a  man 
of  his  age,  very  clear,  logical  and  persuasive  in  a  plea  before  a  jury,  and  eminently  successful. 
He  has  had  several  important  criminal  cases,  in  which  class  he  shines,  perhaps,  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. He  is  one  of  the  rising  and  highly  promising  young  laAvyers  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Fuller  was  city  attorney  in  1875-6,  and  state's  attorney  from  December,  1876,  until  elected 
to  the  state  senate  in  November,  1878,  when  he  resigned.  In  the  session  of  the  legislature  held 
in  1881,  he  was  chairman  of  the  railroad  committee,  and  was  on  the  committees  on  judiciary, 
judicial  department,  revenue,  county  and  township  organizations  and  municipalities.  In  1882  he 
was  elected  to  the  lower  house,  and  is  chairman  of  the  insurance  committee.  In  politics  Mr. 
Fuller  has  always  affiliated  with  the  republicans,  and  has  been  chairman  of  their  county  central 
committee.  He  is  past  grand  in  Odd-Fellowship,  and  a  member  of  the  Encampment,  and  also 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  The  wife  of  Senator  Fuller  was  Sarah  A.  Mackey,  daughter  of  Hugh 
Mackey,  of  Cherry  Valley,  Winhebago  county,  Illinois,  their  marriage  taking  place  in  April,  1873. 
We  believe  they  have  no  children. 


ALMON   W.   BULKLEY. 

CHICAGO. 

A^MON  WHEELER  BULKLEY,  the  youngest  lawyer,  probably,  whose  name  appears  in 
this  work,  and  a  fine  example  of  what  pluck  and  perseverance  can  do  for  a  young  man  of 
laudable  purposes,  early  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  was  born  in  Groton,  Tompkins  county, 
New  York,  April  13,  1852.  His  parents,  Lorenzo  and  Juliette  A.  (Coonley)  Bulkley,  were  also 
natives  of  that  state,  his  father  of  Cayuga,  and  his  mother  of  Greene  county.  His  grandfather, 
Hill  Bulkley,  who  was  a  participant  in  the  second  war  with  England,  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Fair- 
field  county,  Connecticut. 

Lorenzo  Bulkley  was  a  farmer,  and  the  son  had  a  good  opportunity  to  acquire  a  knowledge 
of  that  honorable  calling,  but  his  heart  was  not  in  it.  He  left  home  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  and 
continued  to  cultivate  the  soil  four  years  longer,  the  last  year  taking  a  farm  and  tilling  it  on 
shares.  From  early  youth  Mr.  Bulkley  had  a  strong  desire  for  knowledge,  and  kept  constantly 
in  mind  the  purpose  to  secure  a  liberal  education  ;  and  while  engaged  in  farming  he  carefully 
husbanded  his  income,  scanty  enough  at  best,  devoted  every  hour  of  leisure  to  studies  prepara- 
tory for  college,  and  at  nineteen  years  of  age  went  straight  from  a  farm  to  attend  to  his  matricu- 
lation at  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  New  York,  where  he  took  an  architectural  course,  and  whence 
he  was  graduated  in  June,  1875.  While  in  college  he  taught  the  high  school  one  term  at  Boyls- 
ton,  Massachusetts,  and  likewise  taught  two  years  after  his  graduation,  first  in  a  public  school  at 
Yonkers,  New  York,  and  then  in  the  Morris  (Illinois)  Classical  Institute,  now  the  Normal  Scien- 
tific School.  He  had  a  hard  struggle  to  secure  his  education,  but  we  cannot  learn  that  he  has 
ever  assigned  himself  any  task,  however  difficult,  without  fully  and  faithfully  accomplishing  it. 
He  studied  law  with  Jordon  and  Stough,  of  Morris,  and  while  so  doing,  in  order  to  keep  square 
with  the  world,  he  filled,  for  a  short  time,  the  office  of  deputy  circuit  clerk  of  Grundy  county. 

Mr.  Bulkley  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  June,  1879,  and  for  a  short  time  was  in  practice  at 
Ottawa,  acting  at  the  same  time  as  deputy  clerk  of  the  appellate  court  of  the  second  district.  In 
the  autumn  of  1880  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  is  building  up  a  good  business.  A  gentle- 
man who  has  known  Mr.  Bulkley  from  his  youth,  thus  speaks  of  him  as  a  scholar  and  a  lawyer: 
"Throughout  his  entire  course  at -Cornell,  he  occupied  an  enviable  position  in  his  class.  His 
moral  character  is  irreproachable,  and  as  a  friend  he  has  many  commendable  traits.  He  is  a 
lawyer  of  excellent  judgment,  and  fully  trustworthy  in  all  the  relations  of  life  ;  is  a  successful 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  175 

practitioner,  and  as  a  counselor  far  more  reliable  than  many  who  have  a  national  reputation. 
His  judgment  upon  questions  of  law  is  testified  to  by  several  important  decisions  recently  pro- 
duced in  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Bulkley  is  a  member  of  Garden  City  Lodge,  No.  141,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  of  the  order  of 
the  Red  Cross,  Lincoln  Commandery,  No.  8,  Chicago,  and  in  politics  a  republican.  He, 
however,  lets  no  secret  or  political  society  interfere  with  his  legal  studies  and  practice,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  he  will  be  a  life  student  of  his  profession,  nor  cease  to  be  a  growing  man  while 
his  health  continues  unimpaired. 


HON.    JOHN    J.    GLENN. 

MONMOUTH. 

JOHN  J.  GLENN,  judge  of  the  tenth  judicial  circuit,  is  a  native  of  Ashland  county,  Ohio,  a  son 
of  John  and  Anna  (Johnson)  Glenn,  and  dates  his  birth  March  2,  1831.  His  father,  who  was 
born  near  Baltimore,  Maryland,  was  a  farmer,  and  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  England. 
His  great-grandfather  came  to  this  country  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  being  of  Scotch-Irish 
lineage.  Our  subject  was  educated  at  Miami  University,  Oxford,  Butler  county,  Ohio,  being 
graduated  in  June,  1856,  Whitelaw  Reid  being  in  the  same  class;  read  law  at  Logansport,  Indi- 
ana, with  Hon.  D.  D.  Pratt,  teaching  an  academy  at  the  same  time,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  Fort  Wayne  in  1858.  In  1860  he  came  to  this  state,  practiced  one  year  at  Aledo,  Mercer 
county,  and  then  settled  in  Monmouth.  Here  he  opened  a  law  office,  and  was  in  steady  and  suc- 
cessful practice  for  sixteen  years,  making  an  honorable  record  at  the  bar  of- Warren  county,  and 
showing  that  he  had  qualifications  admirably  fitting  him  for  the  bench. 

In  1877  our  subject  was  elected  to  the  bench,  and  was  reflected  in  1879  for  a  term  of  six  years. 
Although  young  in  the  office  of  judge,  his  decisions  have  been  marked  by  sound  judgment,  and 
have  usually  been  sustained  by  the  higher  courts.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  thoroughly  read,  and  while 
at  the  bar  distinguished  himself  as  an  advocate,  having  great  influence  with  a  jury. 

The  judge  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  was  somewhat  active  until  he  went  on  the  bench. 
He  was  for  sixteen  years  a  member  and  secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Monmouth  College, 
resigning  in  1880;  is  an  elder  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  is  a  consistent  Christian,  as  well  as 
upright  judge. 

Two  months  after  receiving  his  degree  of  -bachelor  of  arts,  he  was  married,  August,  1856,  to 
Miss  Mary  Jane  McGaw,  daughter  of  William  McGaw,  of  Preble  county,  Ohio,  and  they  have 
five  children,  three  daughters  and  two  sons.  Anna  R.  and  McGaw  are  graduates  of  Monmouth 
College;  William  M.  is  a  medical  student;  Minnie  is  in  college,  and  Addie  M.  in  a  ward  school. 
Judge  and  Mrs.  Glenn  are  warm  friends  of  education,  and  take  good  care  that  their  own 
children  have  a  fair  share  of  it.  They  are  also  important  factors  in  the  refined  circles  of  Mon- 
mouth society.  \ 


w 


WILLIAM   H.   HULL. 

OTTAWA. 

ILLIAM  HUNTINGTON  HULL,  one  of  the  leading  merchants  in  Ottawa,  is  a  native  of 
Oneida  county,  New  York,  having  been  born  in  the  town  of  Sauquoit,  near  Utica,  October 
ri,  1832.  His  father,  Horace  Hull,  a  drummer  at  Sackett's  Harbor  in  the  war  of  1812-14,  an<3  a 
farmer,  was  born  in  the  same  place,  and  his  grandfather,  John  Hull,  a  soldier  in  the  preceding 
war  with  England,  was  born  in  Durham,  Connecticut,  in  which  part  of  New  England  the  family 
settled  some  time  before  the  revolution.  Horace  Hull  married  Sabrina  Lamphear.  He  died  in 
Oswego  county,  New  York,  in  1867,  and  his  widow  still  draws  his  pension.  Her  age  is  eighty- 
five  years. 

William  finished  his  studies  at  the  Falley  Seminary,  a  Methodist  institution  at  Fulton,  New 


I  76  UNITED   STA  7'£S  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAR  Y. 

York,  remaining  on  the  farm  till  twenty-one  years  old,  and  teaching  school  the  last  three  winters. 
In  1853  he  started  for  the  West;  went  to  Appleton,  Wisconsin,  ready  for  any  kind  of  respectable 
work  that  turned  up,  commencing  as  a  teamster,  having  served  an  apprenticeship  at  that  business 
on  his  father's  farm.  Soon  afterward  he  changed  to  a  clerkship,  which  he  held  about  two  years, 
and  then  returned  to  Fulton.  There  he  kept  books  for  a  mercantile  house;  married  Miss  Char- 
lotte M.  Kendall,  of  Volney,  Oswego  county,  late  in  September,  1856,  and  the  next  week  started 
for  Ottawa,  his  present  home.  Here  he  commenced  business  by  keeping  books  for  J.  G.  Nattin- 
ger,  one  of  the  oldest  merchants  in  Ottawa,  and.  in  1859  went  into  business  for  himself  as  a  gen- 
eral merchant,  starting  off  on  a  moderate  scale,  and  expanding  his  stock  as  his  means  increased. 
He  attended  faithfully  to  his  business,  having  an  oversight  of  everything  from  the  start,  and 
prosperity  rewarded  his  industry.  He  continued  to  keep  a  general  stock  of  merchandise  about 
ten  years,  and  then  changed  to  dry  goods  exclusively;  usually  carries  from  $25,000  to  $35,000,  and 
does  from  $75,000  to  $100,000  per  annum.  He  has  a  double  store  forty  by  eighty  feet,  and  an 
adjoining  building  twenty  by  forty  feet;  keeps  well  stocked  the  year  round,  and  nine  or  ten  sales- 
men, saleswomen,  bookkeepers,  etc.  He  manages  his  business  with  unrelaxing  care  and  vigilance, 
and  on  the  strictest,  most  upright  business  principles,  and  no  dealer  in  Ottawa  has  a  fairer  record. 

At  the  time  this  sketch  is  written  Mr.  Hull  is  serving  his-  second  term  and  third  year  as  alder- 
man of  the  fifth  ward,  all  the  municipal  office  he  has  ever  accepted.  He  has  done  and  is  doing  a 
great  deal  to  build  up  manufacturing  and  other  interests,  and  is  president  of  the  Ottawa  Bottle 
and  Flint  Glass  Company,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Ottawa  Fire  Clay  and  Brick  Company, 
and  treasurer  of  the  gas  company  and  of  the  business  men's  association.  He  may  also  have  stock 
in  other  local  institutions  which  we  do  not  call  to  mind..  His  public  spirit  and  enterprise  are 
worthy  of  strong  commendation. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hull  have  two  children,  a  daughter  and  a  son:  Fannie  Kendall,  married  to 
Charles  A.  Caton,  nephew  of  Judge  Caton,  Ottawa,  and  Horace,  a  graduate  of  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  in  practice  with  Judge  Eldridge,  of  Ottawa.  The  parents 
attend  the  Congregational  Church. 

DAVID  HAWES. 

ROCK  ISLAND. 

ONE  of  the  very  few  citizens  of  Rock  Island  who  were  living  here  in  1837  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  a  native  of  Belchertown,  Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts, 
born  October  19,  1809.  His  father,  Harvey  Hawes,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Wrentham,  same  state. 
His  grandfather,  John  Hawes,  fought  for  independence,  and  carried  in  the  calf  of  one  of  his  legs 
a  ball  which  he  received  at  Ticonderoga.  This  branch  of  the  Hawes  family  is  of  English  pedi- 
gree. Harvey  Hawes  married  Ruth  Pesoe,  who  was  of  French  descent,  and  by  whom  he  had  five 
children,  David  being  the  first-born. 

Mr.  Hawes  finished  his  school  training  by  six  months'  attendance  at  the  seminary  in  his  native 
town,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming  until  twenty  years  of  age.  Subsequently  he  farmed  one 
year  at  Ware,  Massachusetts,  where  he  also  kept  a  hotel.  He  also  farmed  one  year  at  Enfield,  in 
the  same  state.  In  1832  he  married  Miss  Julia  M.  Babcock,  of  Ware. 

Hearing  a  great  deal  about  the  West,  and  thinking  that  perhaps  here  was  a  better  opening  for 
a  young  man,  in  1835  Mr.  Hawes  started  on  a  tour  of  observation,  coming  by  the  lakes  to  Chi- 
cago, and  thence  into  Tazewell  county,  where  he  spent  six  months.  Returning  east  the  next 
spring  for  his  family,  he  took  them  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  obtained  a  clerkship  in  a  store.  In  the 
spring  of  1837  he  went  to  Naples,  Illinois;  kept  a  hotel  for  six  months,  when  the  sickness  of  his 
family  and  the  general  unhealthiness  of  the  country  caused  him  to  leave.  He  brought  his  family 
to  Rock  Island  in  September,  1837.  For  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  after  settling  here  he  was  in 
the  lime  and  stone  business;  was  sheriff  of  the  county  in  1861-2;  a  grocery  merchant  for  six  or 
eight  years,  and  since  1877  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace,  being  very  attentive  to  his  business. 


UNITED    STATES   fiWGKAP/ffCAL   DICTIONARY. 


177 


Mr.  Hawes  was  originally  a  whig,— a  disciple  of  Henry  Clay, —  and  in  his  younger  years  quite 
active  in  politics.  On  the  demise  of  his  old  party  he  joined  the  republican,  with  which  he 
heartily  affiliates.  He  is  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  has  been  a  representative  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
the  state. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  of  which  he  is  also 
deacon.  After  living  with  his  wife  nearly  forty  years,  she  died  in  1871,  going  like  a  shock  of  corn 
fully  ripe  and  ready  for  the  harvest. 

Mr.  Hawes  has  two  sons:  Charles.  W.,  deputy  postmaster,  Rock  Island,  and  Frank  B.,  keeper 
of  a  summer  hotel  at  Delavan  Lake,  Wisconsin,  a  popular  watering  place. 

Although  past  the  allotted  age  of  man,  Mr.  Hawes  is  clear-headed,  active,  and  efficient  in  his 
business,  all  of  which  is  owing  to  his  good  habits,  and  the  excellent  care  which  he  has  taken  of 
himself.  He  is  well  known  to  the  people  of  Rock  Island,  and  is  warmly  esteemed  by  the  inhab- 
itants generally,  excepting  evil-doers,  to  whom  he  is  a  terror. 


THOMAS  S.   HUNTLEY. 

HUNTLEY. 

'"pIIOMAS  STILLWELL  HUNTLEY,  for  whom  the  village  of  Huntley,  McHenry  county, 
J_  Illinois,  was  named,  was  born  in  Cortland  county,  New  York,  March  27,  1807.  His  father, 
Daniel  Huntley,  in  his  day  a  farmer  and  inn-keeper,  was  among  the  early  settlers  in  that  part  of 
the  Empire  State,  and  his  grandfather,  Williams  Huntley,  was  a  teamster  in  the  war  for  independ- 
ence; and  afterward,  being  able  to  take  care  of  himself,  he  refused  the  proffered  pension. 

The  mother  of  Thomas  was  Catherine  Stillwell,  also  a  native  of  New  York.  Her  uncle,  Sam- 
uel Stillwell,  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  city  of  New  York,  being  a  capitalist,  and  holding  at  one 
period  high  municipal  positions.  When  our  subject  was  ten  years  old,  the  family  moved  into 
Cattaraugus  county,  and  settled  near  Ellicottsville,  the  county  seat,  three  miles  from  a  school 
house.  Thomas  was  agile  in  those  days,  and  thought  little  of  a  six  miles'  walk  daily,  and,  being 
rather  fond  of  his  books,  and  making  good  use  of  his  time,  he  secured  a  fair  English  education, 
which  he  has  since  found  of  great  service  to  him. 

Mr.  Huntley  gave  his  strength  to  tilling  the  soil  until  about  twenty  years  of  age,  when  becom- 
ing lame  from  a  fever  sore,  he  entered  a  store  at  Ellicottsville,  and  was  engaged  as  a  salesman 
for  a  few  years.  Having  acquired  a  knowledge  of  mercantile  pursuits,  he  opened  a  store  for  him- 
self in  the  same  place,  and  after  trading  for  a  few  years,  removed  to  Chautauqua  county,  on  a  farm 
of  his  own  near  Fredonia,  having  also  at  the  same  time  a  farm  near  Ellicottsville. 

In  1846,  having  disposed  of  his  property  in  western  New  York,  Mr.  Huntley  immigrated  to  Illi- 
nois, and  settled  in  the  township  of  Grafton,  which  now  includes  the  village  of  Huntley.  Here 
he  purchased  a  section  of  land  of  excellent  quality,  and  commenced  breaking  and  improving  it. 
Subsequently  he  also  bought  land  in  Michigan. 

In  1851,  when  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  railroad  reached  his  place,  and  Huntley  station 
was  established,  he  opened  a  small  store,  and  was  engaged  in  trading  for  six  or  seven  years,  never, 
however,  relinquishing  agricultural  pursuits.  Farming  has  been  his  favorite  and  chief  business, 
since  early  manhood,  and  he  has  been  quite  liberal  in  the  number  of  acres  of  prairie  and  other  sod 
which  he  has  turned  with  his  own  hand  or  by  proxy. 

Mr.  Huntley  held  both  township  and  county  offices  before  leaving  New  York  state,  and  was 
the  first  supervisor  of  Grafton,  about  the  only  civil  office  which  he  has  held  in  McHenry  county. 
Although  quite  active  and  public  spirited,  he  has  left  the  offices  for  persons  more  ambitious  in 
that  direction. 

Mr.  Huntley  has  been  quite  a  traveler,  though  always  in  his  own  country,  has  been  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  with  his  own  team,  and  has  made  extensive  tours  by  rail  in  all  direc- 
tions. He  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  politics,  he  being  originally  a  whig,  with  anti- 


I  78  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

slavery  proclivities,  and  a  great  admirer  as  well  as  follower  of  Hon.  William  H.  Seward.  Mr. 
Huritley  has  been  a  republican  since  there  was  such  a  party,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention 
which  first  nominated  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne  for  congress,  being  one  of  the  leading  men  in  secur- 
ing that  nomination.  He  has  never,  we  believe,  regretted  the  exertions  which  he  made  in  bring- 
ing out  the  watch-dog  of  the  United  States  Treasury. 

Mr.  Huntley  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  has  lived  a  consistent  Christian 
life,  testing,  hundreds  of  times,  the  truth  of  the  Scriptural  adage  that  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive."  His  parents  were  models  in  hospitality  and  generosity,  and  the  moral  lessons 
which  he  learned  from  them,  who  were  worthy  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  he  has  never  for- 
gotten or  failed  to  carry  out  in  life.  The  needy  have  always  found  a  true  friend  in  him. 

Mr.  Huntley  was  married  the  first  time  in  1830,  to  Miss  Eliza  Fox,  sister  of  Hon.  Chauncey  J. 
Fox,  formerly  state  senator  from  Cattaraugus  county,  New  York,  and  she  died  in  1873,  leaving  a 
daughter  and  son,  the  former  having  since  died.  The  son,  Charles  C.  Huntley,  was  pursuing  a 
college  course  of  studies  in  the  University  of  Chicago  when  the  civil  war  broke  out,  and  promptly 
closed  his  books,  went  into  the  army  as  lieutenant,  and  had  command  of  a  company  most  of  the 
time  that  he  was  in  the  service.  He  was  a  prisoner  for  eleven  months  in  Libbey  Prison,  Danville, 
Macon,  Savannah,  etc.  On  being  mustered  out  he  found  that  his  mind  was  too  unsettled  to  renew 
his  studies,  so  he  went  west  of  the  Missouri,  and  in  a  few  years  became  one  of  the  leading  stage 
proprietors  in  the  country.  He  ran  the  first  line  of  coaches  from  Fort  Benton  to  Helena,  Mon- 
tana Territorv,  and  extended  his  lines  into  Idaho,  Utah,  California,  Washington  Territory,  etc. 
For  years  he  was  a  man  of  wonderful  energy  and  push,  but,  overdoing  himself,  broke  down  with 
paralysis,  and  is  now  living  a  quiet  life  at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 

In  1878  Mr.  Huntley  married  Emma  E.  Brimkerhoff,  by  whom  he  has  one  son,  Thomas  Still- 
well.  Our  subject  has  lived  a  very  temperate  life,  eschewing  liquors  of  all  kinds,  and  of  late  years 
even  tobacco,  and  at  seventy-five  years  of  age  is  free  from  aches  and  pains,  and  the  chills  too 
common  in  the  winter  of  life.  The  young  will  do  well  to  ponder  the  lessons  of  this  sketch. 


w 


WILLIAM   HANNA. 

MONMOUTH. 

ILLIAM  HANNA,  manufacturer,  banker  and  railroad  builder,  and  one  of  the  most  ener- 
getic, public-spirited  citizens  of  Warren  county,  is  a  native  of  Fayette  county,  Indiana, 
and  was  born  June  19,  1827.  His  father,  John  Hanna,  was  born  in  North  Carolina;  his  mother, 
Sarah  Crawford,  in  Virginia.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  from  Ireland,  and  was  of  Scotch- 
Irish  blood.  In  1835,  when  William  was  eight  years  old,  the  family  came  into  Warren  county, 
and  settled  on  a  farm  twelve  miles  northwest  of  Monmouth,  our  subject  receiving  such  an  educa- 
tion as  a  country  school  could  furnish  during  the  winters.  In  1849  he  drove  an  ox-team  to 
California,  collected  a  few  thousand  dollars  in  gold,  and  returned  in  1851  by  water.  In  1851, 
Mr.  Hanna  went  on  a  farm  of  his  own,  just  over  the  line  of  Warren  in  Henderson  county,  and 
was  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  until  1867,  when  he  became  a  member  of  the  Wier  Plow 
Company,  of  which  he  holds  the  office  of  cashier.  A  brief  history  of  this  company,  with  the 
amount  of  material  it  uses  and  of  work  it  turns  out  annually,  may  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  William 
S.  Wier,  the  president  of  this  company,  on  other  pages  of  this  work.  The  company  employs 
nearly  600  workmen,  and  is  one  of  the  important  agencies  in  building  up  the  city  of  Monmouth. 
Mr.  Hanna  is  president  of  the  Monmouth  Mining  and  Manufacturing  Company,  which  makes 
sewer  pipe,  drain  tile,  fire  brick,  etc.,  and  employs  about  sixty  men.  He  was  one  of  the  origina- 
tors of  the  Monmouth  National  Bank,  established  in  1871,  and  is  its  president.  He  is  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Peoria  and  Farmington  railroad,  which  is  partially  built,  and  will  be  finished  from 
Peoria,  through  Monmouth,  to  Keithsburgh,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  before  this  volume  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  binder. 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  igl 

Mr.  Hanna  puts  his  hand  to  no  plow,  including  the  "VVier,"  and  "looks  back;"  he  starts  no 
enterprise  which  does  not  go  through,  and  has.  probably  done  as  much  to  push  forward  the  inter- 
ests of  Monmouth  and  of  Warren  county,  as  any  one  of  its  citizens.  He  has  been  mayor  of  the 
city  two  terms,  and  that  is  all  the  civil  office  of  any  importance,  we  believe,  that  he  has  held. 
His  politics  are  democratic.  He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Warren  county  library,  and  also  of  Lombard 
University,  at  Galesburgh,  111.,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  any  public  enterprise  calculated  to 
benefit  the  people. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Hanna  was  Miss  Sarah  Finnley,  of  Warren  county,  their  marriage  occurring 
in  1851.  They  buried  one  daughter  in  youth,  and  have  a  son  and  daughter  living:  James  Ross, 
secretary  of  the  Wier  Plow  Company,  and  Mary  J.  E.,  who  is  at  home. 


ROBERT    E.  JENKINS. 

CHICAGO. 

ROBERT  EDWIN  JENKINS,  one  of  the  leading  bankruptcy  lawyers  of  Chicago,  is  a  direct 
descendant  of  the  original  ancestor  of  the  family  in  this  country,  David  Jenkins,  who  left 
Wales  about  1700,  and  settled  near  Great  Valley  Church,  Pennsylvania.  The  family  soon  became 
identified  with  Pennsylvania's  great  industry.  John,  the  son  of  David  Jenkins,  purchased  in  1773 
from  the  heirs  of  William  Penn  a  tract  of  land  near  Churchtown,  upon  which  the  Winsor  Iron 
Works  were  erected,  a  great  enterprise  in  those  days.  These  works  afterward  passed  into  the 
sole  ownership  of  his  descendants.  Robert  Jenkins,  the  father  of  Robert  E.,  was  born  in  Lancas- 
ter county,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother,  Elizabeth  (Rambo)  Jenkins,  was  also  a  native  of  that 
state.  In  1837  his  parents  went  to  Clark  county,  Missouri,  where  our  subject  was  born,  February 
6,  1846.  Clark  county  is  the  northeastern  county  of  the  state,  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  River 
and  what  is  now  the  state  of  Iowa,  Keokuk,  thirty  miles  -away,  being  the  nearest  market  town 
forty  years  ago.  Mrs.  Jenkins  was  the  mother  of  five  children,  of  whom  Robert  E.  was  the 
youngest,  his  mother  dying  when  he  was  only  eight  or  nine  months  old.  That  misfortune  over- 
taking him,  he  was  placed  in  the  care  of  an  aunt,  Mrs.  Margaret  Hendricks,  residing  at  Fair- 
field,  Iowa,  and  whose  love  and  care  he  fondly  remembers.  Here  he  remained  for  ten  years.  He 
then  returned  to  Clark  county,  and  to  the  Jenkins  homestead. 

In  those  days  there  were  no  school  houses  in  that  vicinity.  Mr.  Jenkins  keenly  appreciated 
the  importance  of  education,  and  spared  no  effort  to  give  his  children  school  advantages.  He 
was  accustomed,  as  also  were  the  family  after  his  decease,  to  hire  a  teacher  for  the  winter  season, 
and  give  him  a  room  for  a  school  in  the  family  home.  The  neighbors  round  about  were  allowed 
the  privilege  of  sending  their  children  to  the  teacher.  The  result  was  that  the  rudiments  of 
knowledge  were  mastered  by  Robert  early  in  his  teens.  His  early  advantages  were  not  confined 
to  text  books.  He  was  so  fortunate  as  to  have  access  to  a  select  library  of  history,  biography 
and  the  standard  English  poets.  He  improved  the  opportunities  thus  given  him  to  hold  converse 
with  the  best  minds,  and  in  thought  took  part  in  the  great  events  of  the  past. 

Robert  Jenkins  died  in  January,  1858,  when  the  children,  left  parentless,  took  the  entire  charge 
of  outdoor  and  indoor  matters  of  the  farm,  which  they  managed  successfully.  There  our  subject 
remained  until  nineteen  years  of  age,  but  while  having  great  love  for  the  quiet  independence  of 
farm  life,  yet  he  felt  a  stronger  desire  for  a  wider  and  more  active  field  of  usefulness.  In  1865 
we  find  him  at  the  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  for  entering  which  institution  he  had  prepared 
himself  by  great  mental  industry  and  the  most  vigilant  use  of  time.  Not  waiting  to  take  a 
full  course,  he  came  to  Chicago,  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  law  department,  in  the  class  of  1867.  While  pursuing  his  legal  studies,  he 
was  in  the  office  of  Haines  and  Story,  in  which  he  remained  awhile  after  being  admitted  to  the 
bar.  He  then  became  connected  with  the  office  of  Hon.  Lincoln  Clark,  then  register  in  bank- 


]g2  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

ruptcy,  and  from  the  start  had  almost  entire  charge  of  the  business  of  the  office.  Mr.  Jenkins 
soon  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  people  doing  business  with  Mr.  Clark,  and  familiarized  him- 
self with  the  routine  of  bankruptcy  matters,  a  circumstance  which  was  of  great  benefit  to  him 
when  he  began  practice  for  himself  in  the  spring  of  1869. 

"It  was  the  intention  of  Mr.  Jenkins,"  says  the  writer  already  quoted,  "to  give  all  .branches  of 
the  law  an  equal  share  of  his  attention.  But  the  friends  made  while  in  the  office  of  Judge  Clark, 
having  recognized  his  experience  and  familiarity  with  bankruptcy  matters,  this  branch  of  practice 
was  opened  to  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  resolved  to  make  it  a  specialty.  Creditors  recog- 
nized his  ability  to  manage  the  details  and  disentangle  the  complications  attending  the  affairs  of 
his  clients,  and  he  was  repeatedly  called  to  act  as  assignee  of  estates  in  bankruptcy.  In  this 
capacity  he  has  had,  and  still  has,  the  management  of  large  and  important  interests,  and  has 
become  well  known  to  our  citizens  and  to  eastern  merchants.  His  rule  has  been  to  help  the  hon- 
est debtor  to  regain  his  business  and  his  credit,  and  many  who  have  been  overtaken  by  financial 
disaster  have  been  assisted  by  him  to  make  settlements  satisfactory  to  their  creditors,  and  have 
thus  been  saved  from  ruin." 

In  the  course  of  his  business  millions  of  dollars  have  passed  through  his  hands.  It  has  all 
been  honestly  accounted  for,  and  no  one  has  ever  questioned  his  integrity.  Mr.  Jenkins  is  a  firm 
believer  in  the  Christian  religion.  He  is  a  deacon  of  the  Union  Park  Congregational  Church, 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  an  active  Christian  worker.  He  married,  in  Chicago, 
September  2,  1869,  Marcia,  daughter  of  Edward  Raymond,  formerly  of  Cambridge  City,  Indiana. 
Five  children. have  been  born  to  them,  three  of  whom,  George  Raymond,  Helen  Mary,  and  Edith 
Daisy  are  now  living, 

HENRY  S.  COMSTOCK 

COLONA. 

HENRY  SMITH  COMSTOCK,  a  prominent  educator  in  Henry  county,  and  a  member  of 
the  State  Board  of  Education,  is  a  son  of  John  Beardsley  and  Evaline  (Smith)  Comstock, 
and  was  born  at  New  Haven,  Oswego  county,  New  York,  December  29,  1831.  Both  parents  were 
also  natives  of  that  state.  His  grandfather,  Saragah  Comstock,  fought  for  the  independence  of 
the  American  colonies.  John  B.  Comstock  was  a  wool  carder  and  cloth  dresser,  and  in  1837  he 
moved  with  his  family  to  Franklin,  Oakland  county,  Michigan,  where  he  resumed  his  business, 
and  where  he  died  in  1852.  His  widow  survived  him  for  ten  or  eleven  years. 

Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Michigan,  and  in  an  academy  at  Birming- 
ham, that  state,  and  has  been  a  teacher  for  twenty-seven  years,  nearly  all  the  time  in  Henry 
county,  being  one  of  the  most  popular  and  successful  educators  in  this  part  of  Illinois.  He  was 
county  superintendent  of  schools  from  1869  to  1873,  and  made  an  efficient  officer  in  that  capacity. 

In  June,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  was  mustered  in  the  following  Sep- 
tember as  second  lieutenant,  company  I,  ii2th  regiment,  Illinois  infantry:  Colonel  T.  J.  Hender 
son,  now  member  of  congress,  commander.  The  regiment  went  into  Camp  Ella  Bishop,  Covington, 
Kentucky;  was  subsequently  engaged  in  skirmishing  with  General  Morgan  and  other  guerillas, 
and  then  joined  General  Burnside's  division.  In  July,  1863,  our  subject  lost  a  daughter,  and  on 
that  account  resigned,  and  returned  to  Henry  county. 

Mr.  Comstock  has  been  a  school  trustee  of  the  township  of  Munson  for  six  years,  and  town 
clerk  five  years.  In  December,  1881,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Cullom  a  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education,  and  that  position  he  still  holds.  His  great  experience  as  a  teacher,  and 
the  careful  study  which  he  has  given  to  the  subject,  makes  him  a  valuable  member  of  that  board. 

Mr.  Comstock  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  Colona,  and  at  times  has 
been  very  active  in  Sunday-school  work.  He  is  a  Master  Mason. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Comstock  was  Miss  Emma  G.  Terpening,  daughter  of  J.  R.  Terpening,  of 
Geneseo,  Illinois;  their  marriage  being  dated  July  29,  1859.  They  have  buried  two  children  and 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  183 

have  three  living.  John  Josiah,  their  eldest  child  and  only  son,  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  classical  department,  and  Minnie  Fried  and  Mary  Elizabeth  are  pursuing  their  studies 
at  home.  Mrs.  Comstock  is  also  a  successful  teacher,  and  is  assisting  her  husband  at  Colona, 
where  he  has  been  principal  of  the  school  for  the  last  ten  years.  Mr.  Comstock  is  a  very  indus- 
trious man,  and  during  his  vacations  busied  himself  in  selling  western  lands,  .for  which  he  has 
the  agency. 

• 

ARBA    BROOKINS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  notice  is  a  native  of  Erie  county,  Pennsylvania,  his  birth  being  dated 
December  29,  1837,  at  Northeast,  where  his  father  was  engaged  for  years  in  the  manufacture 
of  paper.  The  Brookins  family  were  originally  from  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts.  The 
mother  of  Arba  was  Catharine  Van  Wormer,  a  native  of  the  Keystone  State.  Both  parents  died 
at  Northeast. 

Our  subject  prepared  for  college  at  Vernon,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  under  Professor  S.  S. 
Norton,  and  is  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  New  York,  class  of  1860,  which  included 
George  M.  Weaver,  now  the  law  partner  of  George  Seymour,  Milton  H.  Northrup,  now  editor  of 
the  Syracuse  "  Courier,"  Samuel  D.  Westfall,  of  Galena,  Illinois,  and  others  now  prominent  in 
some  profession  or  calling  in  life. 

Mr.  Brookins  pursued  his  legal  studies  in  the  law  department  of  Columbia  College,  New  York 
city,  finishing  in  the  spring  of  1862;  went  immediately  in  the  war,  enlisting  in  the  24th  New  York 
cavalry,  in  which  regiment  he  held  a  lieutenant's  commission;  was  in  the  war  until  its  close,  in 
1865,  and  although  in  no  less  than  thirty-six  engagements,  including  such  severe  ones  as  Chan- 
cellorsville,  Petersburgh  and  the  Wilderness,  he  came  out  unscathed.  We  once  heard  an  officer, 
under  whom  Mr.  Brookins  served,  declare  that  he,  Mr.  Brookins,  was  one  of  the  best  fighting 
men  he  ever  saw. 

Mr.  Brookins  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Coldwater,  Michigan,  remaining 
there  until  June,  1870,  when  he  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  is  attending  very  closely  to  his  busi- 
ness, and  doing  a  good  deal  of  faithful  work.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  studious,  well  posted,  painstak- 
ing and  true  to  his  client,  and  makes  an  excellent  counselor. 

Mr.  Brookins  is  a  democrat,  and  since  entering  upon  legal  practice  has  lived  in  republican 
states  and  municipalities,  and  that  may  possibly  be  the  reason  why  he  has  held  no  civil  offices. 
We  cannot  learn,  however,  that  he  has  ever  been  afflicted  with  the  mania  for  office  holding.  He 
has  evidently  aspired  to  be  a  first-class  lawyer,  and  if  that  is  the  case,  he  may  well  be  satisfied 
with  his  present  status.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Brookins  was  Fannie  Patterson,  a  native  of  Manchester, 
Oneida  county,  New  York.  They  were  married  at  Coldwater,  Michigan,  in  November,  1868,  and 
have  one  son,  Samuel  Patterson,  who  is  pursuing  his  studies  at  Coldwater. 


JOHN    S.    CUMMINGS. 

IIUNTLEY. 

JOHN  SHERMAN  CUMMINGS,  merchant,  and  one  of  the  earliest  and  leading  citizens  of 
J  Huntley,  is  a  native  of  Cortland  county,  New  York,  being  born  in  the  town  of  Truxton,  Janu- 
ary 22,  1830.  His  father,  Guy  C.  Cummings,  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-4,  was  born  in  the  same 
county,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Eleanor  Wheeler,  was  also  a  native  of  New  York 
state,  her  family  being  from  Connecticut.  The  Cummings  are  an  old  New  York  family,  the  pro- 
genitor in  this  country  being  from  Scotland.  Both  grandparents  of  our  subject  were  in  the  con- 
tinental army,  and  the  maternal  grandsire  was  an  intimate  friend  of  General  Washington. 

In  1838,  when  John  was  eight  years  old,  the  family  came  to  this  state,  and  settled  on  a  farm 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

in  Grafton,  McHenry  county,  near  where  the  village  of  Huntley  now  stands.  Here  the  son  was 
reared,  and  developed  his  muscles  by  cultivating  the  soil,  and  here  he  mastered  the  elementary 
branches  of  knowledge,  subsequently  attending  an  academy  at  Elgin  for  several  terms.  He  was 
farming  here  when  the  civil  war  commenced,  and  enlisted  (1861)  in  the  yth  Illinois  regimental 
band,  serving  until  such  bands  were  ordered  to  be  disbanded.  Since  leaving  the  army  Mr.  Cum- 
mings  has  been  engaged  in  merchandising,  adding  insurance  a  few  years  ago,  and  now  making  a 
specialty  of  furniture  and  agricultural  implements.  He  is  a  stirring,  enterprising  man,  and  makes 
a  success  of  almost  everything  to  which  he  puts  his  hands.  He  has  two  farms,  one  near  Hunt- 
ley,  of  which  he  has  the  oversight,  and  one  in  Sac  county,  Iowa,  which  he  cultivates  by  proxy. 

Mr.  Cummings  was  appointed  constable  just  before  reaching  his  majority,  and  after  serving 
in  that  post  one  year  resigned  (1852)  to  go  to  California,  where  he  spent  five  years  in  mining  and 
teaming,  doing  well  and  returning  in  1857. 

He  served  as  supervisor  of  the  town  of  Grafton  before  going  into  the  war,  and  has  held  the 
same  office  at  sundry  times  since,  the  last  time  in  1880.  He  has  also  been  county  coroner  and 
town  commissioner,  and  is  not  only  a  competent  but  efficient  and  perfectly  reliable  business  man, 
serving  in  every  office  assigned  him  with  the  utmost  faithfulness,  and  under  the  guidance  of  a 
sound  judgment. 

Mr.  Cummings  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  quite  active  when  important  elections  are  pend- 
ing and  great  issues  are  at  stake.  He  is  past  master  in  the  Masonic  order.  July  4,  1859,  he  mar- 
ried Mary  Elizabeth  Baldwin,  of  Huntley,  formerly  of  Clinton'  county,  New  York,  and  they  have 
one  son,  Fred.  S.,  who  is  with  his  father  in  the  furniture  business. 


JOHN   LAWRENCE  HAMILTON. 

WA  TSEKA. 

subject  of  this  sketch,  a  native  of  Newry,  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  was  born  November  9, 
1829,  the  son  of  Thomas  L.  Hamilton  and  Mary  Ann  (McCamley)  Hamilton.  His  father,  who 
was  born  in  Scotland  about  1790,  during  his  early  life  followed  the  sea,  and  after  successive  pro- 
motions became  captain  of  a  merchantman.  After  his  marriage  in  1826,  he  opened  an  extensive 
farm  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  there  reared  a  family  of  seven  children.  In  1855,  during  the 
excitement  consequent  upon  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Australia,  he  sold  his  farm,  and  with  his 
wife  and  those  of  his  children  who  were  living  at  home,  went  thither,  and  there  died  in  1877.  The 
mother  of  our  subject,  a  native  of  Liverpool,  England,  was  a  daughter  of  James  and  Ann  Mary 
McCamley,  the  latter  of  whom  died  in  1876,  at  the  advanced  age  of  one  hundred  and  seven  years. 

John  received  a  fair  English  education  in  the  high  school  of  his  native  town,  prior  to  his 
fifteenth  year,  and  during  the  following  five  years  was  employed  on  his  father's  farm.  In  1850, 
he  set  out  in  life  for  himself,  and  joining  the  tide  of  emigration,  sailed  for  the  United  States, 
bearing  with  him  little  means,  other  than  a  brave  heart,  willing  hands,  and  a  determined  purpose 
to  make  his  way  in  the  world.  Arriving  at  New  Orleans  during  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1850,  he 
took  passage  up  the  Mississippi  to  Saint  Louis,  and  there  finding  that  his  little  supply  of  money 
was  nearly  exhausted,  engaged  to  work  on  a  farm  in  Jersey  county,  Illinois,  for  two  years,  at  one 
hundred  dollars  per  year.  In  1851  he  obtained  a  government  patent  for  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land  in  Mason  county,  Illinois,  and  at  the  end  of  his  two  years'  service  had  sufficient 
means  to  purchase  a  team,  and,  leasing  land,  he  began  farming  on  his  own  account.  From  this 
modest  beginning  Mr.  Hamilton  has  worked  his  way  to  a  position  of  honor  and  affluence. 

Possessed  of  clear  foresight,  and  good  executive  ability,  he  turned  his  opportunities  to  the  best 
account,  and  in  a  few  years  found  himself  independent  of  circumstances.  In  1864  he  settled  in 
Iroquois  county,  on  a  farm  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  made  a  permanent  home.  To 
this  he  has  added  from  year  to  year,  as  necessity  has  demanded  and  to-day  (1883)  is  counted 
among  the  most  influential  farmers  and  stock  raisers  of  southern  Illinois,  possessing  in  all  about 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  185 

two  thousand  acres  of  land.  Mr.  Hamilton's  attention,  however,  has  not  been  wholly  devoted  to 
his  own  personal  affairs,  but  his  fellow  citizens,  in  recognition  of  his  fitness  and  abilities,  have 
honored  him  with  many  positions  and  offices  of  trust.  Since  taking  out  his  naturalization  papers 
in  1856,  when  he  cast  his  first  ballot  for  John  C.  Fremont,  for  president,  he  has  been  an  active 
and  enthusiastic  worker  in  the  republican  party.  In  1871  he  was  elected  supervisor  of  the  town 
of  Lovejoy,  and  held  that  office  until  1875,  when  he  was  elected  county  treasurer  of  Iroquois 
county;  and  as  showing  his  popularity  and  the  high  esteem  in  which-he  is  universally  held,  it  may 
be  stated  that  his  county  is  overwhelmingly  democratic  and  greenback,  and  that  he  was 
the  only  prominent  republican  candidate  elected,  his  majority  being  over  three  hundred.  At  each 
succeeding  election  this  majority  has  been  increased,  some  towns  making  his  election  unanimous, 
and  such  has  been  the  universal  satisfaction  with  which  he  has  discharged  his  duties,  that  it  is 
safe  to  predict  that  as  long  as  he  will  consent  to  hold  the  office,  no  one  can  oppose  him  with  suc- 
cess. Like  his  private,  his  official  character  is  above  reproach.  He  is  a  man  firm  in  his  convic- 
tions, determined  in  his  pursuance  of  the  right,  a  true  friend  and  a  genial  companion.  Having 
traveled  extensively  throughout  the  United  States,  and  being  a  careful  observer  of  men  and 
events,  he  has  gathered  an  abundant  fund  of  varied  information,  and  with  his  ready  wit  and  fine 
descriptive  powers,  is  a  most  pleasing  and  interesting  conversationalist. 

In  religious  matters,  Mr.  Hamilton  was  reared  an  Episcopalian;  but  there  being  near  him  no 
church  of  that  denomination,  he  attends  the  services  of  the  Presbyterian  or  Methodist  Church 
being  especially  active  in  Sunday-school  work. 

He  was  married  February  24,  1857,  to  Miss  Ann  Eliza  Leemon,  who  was  born  in  County 
Armagh,  North  of  Ireland,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Leemon,  of  Scotch  descent. 
Of  nine  children  that  have  been  born  to  them  seven  are  now  living. 


RUBEN    C.   EDGERTON,  M.D. 

ALTON  A. 

RUBEN  CURTIS  EDGERTON,  one  of  the  older  class  of  medical  practitioners  in  Knox 
county,  is  the  fifth  and  youngest  child,  all  sons,  of  Jacob  and.  Mary  (Stoddard)  Edgerton, 
and  dates  his  birth  in  Essex  county,  New  York,  September  10,  1822.  His  father,  who  was  a 
mechanic,  was  born  in  Paulet,  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  son  of  Jedediah  Edgerton,  a  revolution- 
ary pensioner,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Edgerton,  an  emigrant  from  England.  Jonathan  Stod- 
dard, the  father  of  Mary,  was  also  a  revolutionary  pensioner.  Both  families  were  originally  from 
Connecticut,  the  Edgertons  being  early  settlers  at  Norwich.  Jacob  Edgerton  came  as  far  west  as 
Ohio  in  1836,  and  located  near  Unionville,  and  while  there  Curtis  attended  the  Western  Reserve 
Institute  at  Kirtland,  the  school  being  in  what  was  once  a  Mormon  temple,  and  commenced 
teaching  when  sixteen  years  old.  Three  years  afterward,  1839,  the  family  came  into  this  state, 
and  settled  at  Galesburgh,  and  our  subject  completed  an  academic  education  in  that  city,  continu- 
ing to  teach  part  of  each  year,  in  all  for  ten  years.  His  father  died  at  Galesburgh  in  1842,  and  his 
mother  in  1856.  He  studied  medicine  with  Doctor  Hanaford  of  Trivoli,  Peoria  county,  and  Doc- 
tor Bunce,  of  Galesburgh  ;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  studying  at  the 
same  time  with  Doctor  Brainard,  president  of  that  institution,  until  March,  1848.  The  next 
August  he  was  married  to  Miss  Annette  Hamlin,  who  was  from  Maine,  and  a  relative  of  Hon. 
Hannibal  Hamlin. 

Doctor  Edgerton  practiced  one  year  in  Peoria  county  with  his  preceptor,  one  year  at  North 
Henderson,  on  the  line  of  Knox  and  Warren  counties,  two  years  at  Lancaster,  Peoria  county,  and 
in  the  autumn  of  1852  came  into  Knox  county,  and  practiced  at  Victoria  until  the  civil  war  began. 
In  August,  1861,  he  went  into  the  army  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  26th  Illinois  infantry,  and 
remained  about  a  year,  when  sickness  compelled  him  to  resign.  He  came  to  Altona,  where  his 
family  had  been  living  during  his  absence,  but  for  ten  years  he  was  unable  to  do  much  profes- 


1 86  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

sional  work,  and  he  is  still  suffering  from  disease  contracted  in  the  army.  He  draws  a  pension. 
The  doctor's  practice  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  office  and  village,  he  going  into  the 
country  in  extreme  cases  only,  and  when  friends  come  for  him  with  their  own  carriage.  He  is  a 
skillful  physician  and  surgeon.  The  people  have  great  confidence  in  him,  and  with  good  health 
he  would  have  a  large  practice. 

Before  going  into. the  service  he  used  to  write  more  or  less  for  medical  periodicals,  but  for  a 
score  of  years  has  done  nothing  in  that  line.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Military  Tract  Medical 
Society,  and  years  ago  was  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  He  is  a  good  deal 
interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  has  done  good  service  as  a  member  of  the  local  school 
board.  He  is  a  republican,  and  a  man  of  very  decided  views  on  political  questions  ;  is  also  a 
Master  Mason. 

The  first  wife  of  Doctor  Edgerton  died  in  February,  1858,  leaving  three  children,  one  son  and 
two  daughters.  Charles  is  a  cattle  dealer  in  Waco,  Texas.  Ellen  A.  is  the  wife  of  Joseph  Gra- 
ham of  Quincy,  this  state,  and  Mary  Winona  is  a  teacher,  making  her  home  with  her  father. 
Doctor  Edgerton  was  married  the  second  time  in  October,  1860,  to  Miss  Lydia  Tiffany,  from 
Otsego  county,  New  York,  and  they  have  one  son,  Hubert  Curtis  Edgerton,  aged  eleven  years. 
The  doctor  is  a  man  of  good  social  qualities,  of  a  kindly  disposition,  and  a  good  neighbor,  and 
is  much  respected  by  his  circle  of  acquaintances. 


REV.   RICHARD    K.   TODD,  A.M. 

WOODSTOCK. 

AT  Woodstock,  in  this  state,  is  an  institution  of  learning  which,  under  different  names,  yet 
under  the  same  management,  has  been  in  existence  for  thirty  years,  and  all  this  time  quietly, 
like  leaven,  doing  its  blessed  work  among  the  young.  During  these  thirty  years,  it  is  no  exag- 
geration to  say  that  thousands  of  young  men  and  young  women  have  been,  a  longer  or  shorter 
period,  under  the  instruction,  moral  as  well  as  mental,  of  the  founder  of  this  school,  who  is 
still  its  principal.  We  refer  to  what  is  now  known  as  Todd  Seminary  for  Boys,  which  latterly 
among  its  pupils  has  included  several  who  are  sons  of  his  pupils  twenty-five  and  thirty  years  ago. 

Richard  Kimball  Todd,  the  originator  of  this  institution,  was  born  at  Rowley,  Essex  county, 
Massachusetts,  October  14,  1816,  his  father,  Wallingford  Todd,  a  seafaring  man  for  twenty-one 
years,  being 'born  in  the  same  place.  The  latter  was  a  soldier  in  the  second  war  with  England, 
and  his  father  in  the  first.  The  mother  of  Richard,  before  her  marriage,  was  Hannah  Todd,  very 
remotely,  if  at  all,  related  to  her  husband. 

Our  subject  received  his  preparatory  education  at  Burr  Seminary,  Manchester,  Rutland  county, 
Vermont,  but  before  entering  college  taught  three  years  in  Perth,  Amboy,  New  Jersey,  the  latter 
part  of  that  period,  occupying  the  Latin  chair  in  Woodbridge  Seminary.  He  entered  the  sopho- 
more class  of  Princeton  College  in  1839;  was  graduated  in  1842  ;  took  his  theological  course  in 
the  same  institution,  after  teaching  in  private  two  or  three  years  ;  was  licensed  to  preach  at 
Princeton  in  February,  1847,  and  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Woodstock  in  the  spring  of  1848.  He  held  the  pastorate  steadily  for  eighteen  years,  when  his 
throat  beginning  to  trouble  him  it  was  deemed  advisable  that  he  should  discontinue  public 
speaking,  and  he  resigned  his  charge.  During  five  years  of  his  pastorate  Mr.  Todd  filled  the 
office  of  county  superintendent  of  schools,  and  as  early  as  1851  he  established  the  Parsonage 
Institute,  in  which  he  taught  the  classics,  and  by  the  aid  of  other  teachers,  fitted  young  men  for 
college.  The  Institute  continued  to  grow,  and  about  eighteen  or  twenty  years  ago  was  incorpor- 
ated by  act  of  the  legislature,  taking  the  name  of  the  Woodstock  University,  and  having,  for 
some  years,  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  scholars,  male  and  female,  our  subject 
soon  giving  to  the  school  his  whole  time  and  energies.  Pupils  came  in  from  the  neighboring 
state  of  Wisconsin,  and  from  Iowa,  Indiana,  Missouri  and  other  states,  and  it  was  an  era  of  great 
prosperity. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  jg; 

Five  or  six  years  ago  Mr.  Todd  concluded  to  change  the  character  of  the  school,  to  admit 
boys  only,  to  have  a  limited  number,  never  more  than  twenty  at  a  time,  all  between  the  ages  of 
eight  and  fifteen  years,  and  .all  boarding  in  the  principal's  family.  This  plan  is  strictly  adhered 
to,  and  the  full  number  is  usually  kept  up.  The  principal  has  never  been  outside  his  gate  to 
obtain  a  pupil.  He  concentrates  his  entire  efforts  on  a  few  boys,  who,  in  addition  to  the  best  of 
mental  drill,  enjoy  all  the  favorable  influences  of  the  home  circle.  They  are  constantly  under  the 
control  and  watch-care  of  the  principal  and  his  assistants,  all  teachers  and  scholars  eating  at  the 
same  table.  It  seems  a  pity  that  only  twenty  boys  can,  at  any  one  time,  be  under  such  helpful 
influence,  and  such  admirable  mental  discipline.  The  principal  has  the  happy  faculty  of  winning 
the  affections  of  his  pupils,  and  rendering  himself  an  object  of  grateful  and  endeared  remem- 
brances. 

Mr.  Todd  married,  in  June,  1847,  Miss  Martha  J.  Clover,  of  New  York  city,  a  sister  of  Judge 
H.  A.  Clover,  LL.D.,  of  St.  Louis,  and  of  Rev.  L.  P.  Clover,  D.D.,  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  now 
living  near  New  York  city,  and  they  have  had  three  children,  only  one  of  them,  Henry  Alfred 
Todd,  now  living.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College,  in  which  he  became  professor  of 
modern  languages  at  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  where  he  has  taught  three  or  four  years.  He 
is  the  author  of  a  French  work  used  at  Princeton,  and  has  recently  made  his  fourth  trip  to 
Europe.  No  more  promising  young  man  was  ever  born  in  Woodstock. 


WILLIAM  S.  WIER. 

MONMOUTH. 

WILLIAM  S.  WIER,  president  of  the  Wier  Plow  Company,  Monmouth,  and  an  inventor  as 
well  as  manufacturer,  is  a  son  of  William  S.  and  Frances  (Brown)  Wier,  and  was  born  near 
Xenia,  Greene  county,  Ohio,  July  2,  1835.  His  father,  a  woolen  cloth  manufacturer,  was  a 
native  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania;  his  mother  of  Kentucky.  Some  of  his  great  uncles  or 
other  relatives  took  a  part  in  the  successful  struggle  of  the  colonies  to  free  themselves  from  the 
British  yoke.  The  education  -of  young  Wier  was  obtained  in  Illinois,  the  family  coming  to 
Warren  county  in  1839,  when  William  was  four  years  old.  His  school  training  was  limited  to 
the  rudimentary  branches,  but  he  has  since  been  a  close  student,  a  deep  thinker,  and  on  all  impor- 
tant subjects  is  a  thoroughly  informed  man. 

Our  subject  was  engaged  in  farming  until  he  was  twenty-seven  years  old,  when  he  abandoned 
that  calling  and  made  preparations  for  the  manufacturing  of  a  cultivator,  known  as  the  Wier  cul- 
tivator. Such  he  had  invented  two  or  three  years  before.  He  commenced  operations  on  a  mod- 
erate scale  in  1863,  and  expanded  his  premises  as  the  demand  for  his  excellent  cultivator 
increased,  adding  also  in  a  short  time  the  manufacture  of  plows  of  every  variety. 

In  1867  the  Wier  Plow  Company  was  formed,  with  Mr.  Wier  as  president,  a  position  which  he 
still  holds.  The  other  members  were  William  Hanna,  Doctor  W.  B.  Boyd  and  Joseph  Stevenson. 
There  have  since  been  some  changes,  the  present  members  being  W.  S.  Wier,  W.  Hanna,  his  son, 
J.  R.  Hanna,  and  Delos  P.  Phelps.  Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  these  plow  works  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  they  require  annually  about  four  thousand  tons  of  iron  and  steel,  three 
hundred  of  grindstones,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  of  coke,  and  three  hundred  car  loads  of 
coal.  The  whole  number  of  cars  of  material  and  fuel  shipped  per  year  exceeds  one  thousand. 
The  amount  of  lumber  consumed  is  about  1,500,000  feet.  The  company  pays  for  freight  to  rail- 
road companies  about  $560,000  annually.  The  number  of  plows  turned  out  yearly  is  in  round 
numbers  upwards  of  70,000. 

This  great  institution  gives  employment  to  from  five  hundred  and  fifty  to  six  hundred  work- 
men. The  works  are  large,  well  ventilated  and  systematically  lighted.  The  aggregate  floor  area 
is  about  four  and  a  half  acres.  The  growth  of  the  trade  is  constant  and  rapid,  necessitating  the 
additions  of  buildings  and  machinery  each  year.  It  is  enterprises  like  this  that  are  building  up 
flourishing  towns  all  over  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley. 


1 88  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Wier  has  done  a  great  deal  of  solid  work,  as  well  as  careful  study,  in  inventing  and  improv- 
ing his  implements,  and  his  industry  and  inventive  talent  are  well  rewarded.  He  still  has  the 
oversight  of  his  shops,  and  is  on  duty  early  and  late.  He  is  a  trustee  of  Monmouth  College,  an  elder 
of  the  First  United  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  man  the  solidity  of  whose  Christian  character  is 
unquestioned. 

Mr.  Wier  married  in  1859  Miss  Fidelia  Boyd,  of  Monmouth,  and  they  have  four  children  liv- 
ing and  have  buried  five.  The  names  of  the  surviving  are  Ella,  Jessie  O.,  William  B.  and  Amy  J. 


H 


HON.   HENRY  WALLER. 

CHICAGO. 

ENRY  WALLER,  the  eldest  son  of  William  S.  Waller,  was  born  in  Frankfort,  Kentucky, 
November  9,  1810.  Great  pains  was  taken  with  his  early  education,  no  expense  being 
spared  to  make  it  thorough.  In  his  youth  he  was  a  pupil  of  Doctor  Louis  Marshall,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  educators  of  his  day,  a  brother  of  Chief-Justice  John  Marshall,  and  father  of 
Kentucky's  distinguished  scholar  and  orator,  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Marshall.  In  1829  he  received  an 
appointment  as  cadet  at  West  Point  Military  Academy,  that  celebrated  alma  mater  of  great  men, 
from  which,  after  taking  the  regular  course  of  four  years,  he  graduated  in  1833.  Among  his 
classmates  at  West  Point,  who  have  since  become  distinguished,  were  Major-General  J.  G.  Bar- 
nard, chief  of  engineers  during  the  war;  Major-General  E.  Schriver,  late  inspector  general  of  the 
United  States  army;  Major-General  George  W.  Cullum,  chief  of  staff  of  General  Halleck  during 
the  war;  Colonel  W.  W.  S.  Bliss,  chief  of  staff  of  General  Taylor  during  the  Mexican  war;  Gen- 
eral B.  Alvord,  late  paymaster  general,  and  General  A.  E.  Shiras,  late  commissary  general  of  the 
United  States  army;  General  Francis  H.  Smith,  superintendent  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute, 
and  General  A.  C.  Myers,  quartermaster  general  of  the  Confedwate  army.  Of  this  class  Colonel 
Thayer  said  that,  during  the  thirty  years  he  was  superintendent  of  West  Point  Academy,  it  was 
the  ablest  of  all  the  classes. 

Having  little  fancy  for  the  profession  of  arms  in  time  of  peace,  Mr.  Waller,  after  being 
appointed  brevet  second  lieutenant  of  artillery,  there  being  no  prospect  of  hostilities  occurring, 
resigned  his  commission  to  embrace  his  chosen  profession,  the  law.  To  the  study  of  this  labo- 
rious, life-work  he  immediately  and  assiduously  applied  himself,  commencing  his  studies  in  Frank- 
fort, in  the  office  of  Hon.  Charles  S.  Morehead,  who  afterward  became  governor  of  the  state  and 
United  States  senator,  and  completing  them  in  Transylvania  University,  Lexington,  Kentucky. 

In  1835  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  entered  at  once  upon  his  professional  career  as  a 
practitioner  in  Maysville,  Kentucky,  where  he  rapidly  rose  to  a  leading  position.  He  formed  a 
partnership  with  Hon.  Thomas  Y.  Payne,  one  one  of  the  brightest  members  of  a  bar  widely  noted 
for  ability.  The  firm  stood  very  high,  and  enjoyed  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  In  his  profes- 
sion, few  men  have  a  superior  order  of  capacity  to  Henry  Waller.  He  has  an  eminently  analyti- 
cal and  logical  mind,  and  the  rapidity  and  comprehensiveness  with  which  he  grasps  a  case  at 
law,  however  complicated,  the  clearness  with  which  he  presents  the  true  issues  involved,  and 
from  them  demonstrates,  with  a  logic  compact  and  well-nigh  irresistible,  what  truth  and  justice 
demand,  is  indeed  remarkable.  He  is  a  fluent,  easy  and  rapid  speaker,  earnest,  eloquent  and 
effective,  and  never,  even  while  dealing  with  refined  technicalities  or  abstruse  questions  of  law, 
tedious  or  monotonous.  He  studied  his  cases  thoroughly,  and  before  appearing  in  court  was 
fully  conversant  with  all  the  questions  of  law  involved.  Few  lawyers  were  more  successful  before 
judge  or  jury.  Some  of  the  cases  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  have  involved  questions  of  gen- 
eral public  interest,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  Methodist  church  controversy  in  Ken- 
tucky, resulting  from  the  action  of  the  general  conference  of  1844,  and  the  consequent  withdrawal 
of  the  Southern  church  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  old  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of  the  United 
States.  It  involved  a  large  amount  of  church  property  in  the  state,  and  after  passing  through 


1,  C  CWilli.m,  S  Br,H.f. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

the  lower  courts,  was  taken  to  the  court  of  appeals,  the  tribunal  of  last  resort.  From  Mr.  Waller's 
elaborate  argument  in  that  case,  against  the  claim  of  the  church  south,  a  few  brief  extracts  are 
taken.  In  opening  his  argument  he  said: 

"In  1796  the  general  conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States 
framed  and  established  a  'deed  of  settlement,'  to  be  used  throughout  the  states  as  the  form  of 
conveyance  by  which  the  '  preaching  houses  and  premises  '  were  to  be  '  secured  firmly  and  per- 
manently to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.'  In  the  language  of  Bishops  Coke  and  Asbury,  in 
their  authoritative  commentaries  upon  the  discipline, '  the  union  of  the  Methodist  society,  through 
the  states,  required  one  general  deed,  for  the  settlement  of  our  preaching  houses  and  the  premises 
belonging  thereto.'  ('  History  of  Discipline,'  pages  234-238.)  The  premises  were  either  pur- 
chased by  the  local  societies  or  granted  to  them,  and  the  '  preaching  houses  '  erected  by  the  vol- 
untary contributions  of  the  members,  all  upon  the  faith  and  under  the  conditions  of  this  model 
deed.  And  by  its  terms  and  under  its  sanctions  is  the  property  in  contest  in  this  case  held. 

The  language  of  this  deed  is  plain,  precise  and  comprehensive;  its  purposes  most  explicitly 
stated.  The  conveyance  is  made  to  trustees  'for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  according  to  the  rules  and  discipline  which  from 
time  to  time  may  be  agreed  upon  and  adopted  by  the  ministers  and  preachers  of  the  said  church 
at  their  general  conferences  in  the  United  States  of  America;  and  in  further  trust  and  confidence 
that  they  shall  at  all  times,  forever  hereafter,  permit  such  ministers  and  preachers  belonging  to 
the  said  church,  as  shall  from  time  to  time  be  duly  authorized  by  the  general  conferences  of  the 
ministers  and  preachers  of  the  said  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  or  by  the  yearly  conferences 
authorized  by  the  said  general  conference,  to  preach  and  expound  God's  holy  word  therein.' 
************ 

The  words  used  in  the  deed,  'for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
in  the  United  States  of  America '  and  the  'ministers  and  preachers  belonging  to  said  church,' 
would  seem  to  settle  directly  what  were  its  purposes  and  who  its  beneficiaries.  Every  member  and 
minister  of  that  church  within  the  limits  ef  the  United  States  beyond  question  must  have  a  beneficial  interest 
in  the  property  conveyed  by  the  deed. 

************ 

This  view,  drawn  from  the  instrument  itself,  is  strengthened  by  the  declaration  of  the  disci- 
pline, already  quoted,  that  the  deed  of  settlement  was  so  framed  as  to  secure  the  'preaching 
houses  and  premises  firmly  and  permanently  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.'  Had  each  local 
society  been  permitted  to  acquire  property  in  its  own  name,  for  its  special  use,  and  in  terms  dic- 
tated by  itself,  there  would  have  been  no  security  that  the  property  thus  held  would  remain  per- 
manently as  the  property  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  for  each  local  society  might,  under 
such  a  title,  have  held  its  place  of  worship  whether  it  remained  in  the  church  or  seceded  from  it. 
Thus  the  strong  bond  created  by  the  deed  of  settlement,  and  based  upon  the  common  property 
of  the  church,  and  which  for  so  long  a  time  has  contributed  to  hold  together  the  great  fabric  of 
American  Methodism,  would  never  have  existed.  The  fathers  of  the  church  knew  well  the  power 
of  property  in  binding  permanently  together  large  bodies  of  men,  whether  associated  for  social, 
civil  or  religious  purposes;  and  hence  the  venerable  pioneers,  Coke  and  Asbury,  in  expounding 
the  nature  and  purposes  of  the  deed  of  settlement,  declared  that  '  the  union  of  the  Methodist 
society  through  the  states  required  one  general  deed.' 

************ 

The  trustees,  the  members  and  the  ministers,  are  all  subject  to  the  two  controlling  conditions  of 
the  deed:  they  must  belong  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  they  must  use  the  property  under  the  rules  and  discipline,  as  from  time  to  time  agreed  upon 
and  adopted,  and  the  authority,  as  from  time  to  time  exerted,  of  the  general  conference  of  the 
same  church.  The  membership  and  the  jurisdiction  must  be  that  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  These  are  the  solemn,  irrevocable  conditions  of  the  trust.  These  are  the  ramparts  which 


I  92  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

the  caution  and  the  wisdom  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  church  reared  around  the  heritage  of  their 
beloved  Zion,  to  protect  it  from  dissension  within  and  invasion  from  without.  Whether  they  are 
impregnable,  the  result  of  this  controversy  will  decide. 

These  conditions,  it  will  be  perceived,  relate  not  simply  to  faith  and  doctrine,  but  to  organiza- 
tion, to  connection,  to  jurisdiction.  An  isolated  individual  may  have  in  his  heart  the  hope,  the 
faith,  and  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  Methodist  church;  but  he  can  have  no  interest  in  the  deed 
unless  he  be  actually  a  member.  A  society  of  Christians  may  hold  to  the  same  faith  and  forms 
as  the  Methodist  church,  and  indeed  may  assume  the  same  name;  yet  unless  that  society  is  con- 
nected with  and  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  general  conference,  no  right  can  accrue  to  it  by  vir- 
tue of  the  Methodist  deed  of  settlement." 

He  then  refers  to  a  case  decided  by  the  court  of  appeals  of  Kentucky,  settling  the  principles 
he  is  contending  for,  and  after  quoting  continues: 

"Thus  has  the  court,  with  all  the  weight  of  its  authority,  sanctioned  the  view  I  now  take,  and 
placed  the  right  to  a  beneficial  interest  in  the  property  held,  as  in  this  deed  of  trust,  upon  the  fact 
of  a  subsisting  connection  by  membership  with  the  old  church,  as  organized  at  the  date  of  the 
conveyance." 

After  analyzing  the  deed,  and  showing  its  conformity  to  the  constitution  of  the  church,  he 
continues- 

"From  this  analysis  of  the  deed,  I  am  authorized  to  conclude  that  its  great  object  was  to 
secure  the  integrity  and  union  of  the  church  through  the  strong  bond  of  common  property,  and 
to  assure  to  its  individual  members  and  ministers  throughout  the  republic  the  exclusive  use  of 
that  property  for  all  time  to  come,  under  the  constant  and  constitutional  control  of  its  great  legis- 
lative and  judicial  head,  the  general  conference  of  the  United  States.  The  property  itself  was 
vested  in  trustees;  its  uses  in  the  members  and  ministers;  while  the  mode  and  administration  of 
those  uses,  by  force  of  the  constitution  itself  and  under  restrictions,  resided  permanently  in  the 
conference.  To  guard  against  the  secession  of  local  congregations,  neither  the  terms  nor  spirit 
of  the  deed  recognized  any  peculiar  local  society  as  the  special  usufructuary  of  the  property,  but 
they  equally  embraced  all  the  members  and  ministers  of  the  whole  church  in  one  common  trust. 
To  specify  more  distinctly,  and  to  anticipate  and  prevent  difficulty  and  doubt,  it  requires  and  repeats 
that  the  trustees,  the  beneficiaries  and  the  supervisor  of  the  trust,  must  all  belong  to  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church;  so  that  membership  in  that  church,  and  subjection  to  the  jurisdiction  of  its 
constitutional  head,  are  the  unerring  and  unfailing  evidences  of  a  legal  interest  in  the  deed." 

After  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  action  of  the  general  conference  and  of  its  powers,  he 
says:  "It  was  made  the  great  supervising  council  of  the  church  to  watch  over,  protect  and  extend 
its  interests  and  its  influence  throughout  all  the  wide  territories  of  the  republic.  It  was  the 
grand  central  luminary,  radiating  its  beams  into  the  farthest  and  darkest  recesses,  cheering  and 
strengthening  with  its  light  and  warmth  every  conference  and  station,  society  and  heart,  within 
the  wide  circle  of  American  Methodism,  attracting  and  holding  all  the  vast  interests  and  depen- 
dencies of  the  church  revolving  around  it  in  one  entire  and  harmonious  system  of  order,  frater- 
nity and  union.  That  was  its  great  and  peculiar  province,  to  preserve  the  Union  of  the  church." 
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

After  showing  that  the  church  south  was  a  new  church,  he  says:  "A  party  belonging  to  a  new 
church,  although  organized  as  the  old  one  was  at  the  date  of  the  conveyance,  can  have  no  right 
to  the  property.  And  the  reason  is  most  obvious.  A  church  as  the  owner  of  property  is,  in  the 
eye  of  the  law,  and  in  fact,  individual  ;  a  thing  artificial,  specific,  and  capable  of  being  identified 
from  all  the  other  churches  of  the  earth.  If  it  were  not  so,  there  could  be  no  validity  or  force  in 
conveyances  to  churches>  for  there  would  be  no  assurance,  in  the  beautiful  language  of  Chief 
Justice  Marshall,  'that  the  chanty  would  flow  forever  in  the  channel  which  the  givers  had  marked 
out  for  it,'  and  they  would  no  longer  be  made,  because,  as  he  remarks,  'one  great  inducement  to 
these  gifts  is  the  conviction  felt  by  the  giver,  that  the  disposition  he  makes  of  them  is  immuta- 
ble.' They  cannot  be  immutable,  unless  the  objects  of  them  are  capable  of  being  defined  and 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  193 

identified  throughout  all  time.  No  substitution  will  answer;  it  must  he  'the  old  church  as 
organized  at  the  date  of  the  conveyance,  and  still  subsisting.'  It  is  with  churches  as  it  is  with 
men.  He  to  whom  property  is  conveyed  is  the  sole  owner,  and  no  similarity  or  correspondence 
of  lineage,  mind,  form  or  feature,  in  the  person  of  another,  can  affect  his  title.  The  conveyance 
assures  it  to  the  one  identified  individual.  So  with  the  church." 

Again,  "Thus  the  church,  its  government  and  its  jurisdiction,  are  coexistent,  coequal  and 
identical.  Without  the  jurisdiction,  there  is  no  government ;  without  the  government,  there  is 
no  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  The  terms  are  dependent  and  reciprocal  ;  the  one  implies  the 
other.  Anything,  therefore,  without  the  jurisdiction,  does  not  belong  to  the  government,  and  is 
not  within  the  church.  So  it  is  in  our  civil  government.  Congress  is  the  legislative  head  of  the 
federal  government  ;  Kentucky  is  a  part  of  the  Union,  and  therefore  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
congress.  Then  the  Union,  the  government  represented  by  congress,  and  its  jurisdiction,  are 
coexistent.  But  can  Kentucky  withdraw  herself  from  that  jurisdiction,  and  continue  to  be  a  part 
of  that  Union?  The  act  of  withdrawal  would  be  secession,  and  secession  is  disunion.  Kentucky 
would  thereby  erect  herself  into  an  independent  state,  and  would  cease  forever  to  be  within  that 
glorious  circle  of  freedom.  So  it  is  with- the  annual  conferences  of  the  slaveholding  states  ;  they 
seceded,  and  by  the  resolutions  of  the  Louisville  convention  declared  their  independence,  dis- 
solved entirely  their  connection  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  erected  themselves  into  a 
distinct  organization  and  styled  the  new  creation  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South.  What 

was  this  but  a  new  church?" 

************ 

"  Yet  the  old  church,  the  church  of  Coke  and  of  Asbury,  the  Missionary  church,  in  all  the 
purity  and  strength  of  its  original  integrity,  with  all  its  sweet  and  glorious  memories  clustering 
close  and  thick  around  it,  still  survived.  Who  is  there  so  bold  as  to  say,  that  the  old  church,  des- 
ignated in  the  deed,  does  not  exist?  How  has  it  been  destroyed?  Did  the  secession  of  the  Primi- 
tive, the  Protestant,  the  African,  or  the  Scottite,  or  the  Southern  Methodists  destroy  it?  As  well 
might  you  say  that  the  excision  of  a  single  branch  destroys  the  tree.  So  long  as  the  root  and 
the  trunk  remain,  and  the  circulating  juices  flow  in  their  original  organization,  so  long  as  the  tree 
is  identical  and  lives,  you  may  cut  off  any  of  its  branches,  however  sound,  you  may  plant  and 
grow  those  branches  into  trees;  yet  the  parent  tree  retains  its  life  and  its  individuality. 

A  moral  earthquake,  it  is  said,  has  sundered  the  southern  conferences  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church.  Suppose  a  natural  earthquake  had  engulfed  the  whole  territory  and  popula- 
tion of  the  southern  states;  will  it  be  seriously  contended  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
would  thereby  have  been  destroyed  ?  Suppose  a  malignant  pestilence  had  swept  from  the  earth 
every  member  of  the  southern  conferences,  would  the  church  have  perished  ?  Would  it  have  lost 
a  single  element  of  its  life  or  identity?  The  proposition  is  preposterous,  and  yet  no  stretch  of 
ingenuity  can  discriminate  in  principle,  between  the  actual  effects  produced  by  the  natural  and 
the  moral  calamity  upon  the  existence  of  the  church. 

************ 

How  shall  I  speak  of  the  last  refuge  of  the  defense,  the  plea  of  necessity?  I  cannot  argue  it 
as  a  legal  proposition,  for  it  is  the  doctrine  of  revolution  and  violence.  Necessity  it  is  said,  knows 
no  law;  for  when  the  strong  hand  prevails,  the  barriers  of  the  law  are  broken  and  fall  before  it;  and 
deeds  and  constitutions  are  but  idle  words.  But  I  will  nevertheless  look  into  the  fact,  and  ask 
what  was  the  necessity  ? 

A  church,  planted  in  the  wilderness,  twined  itself  as  a  vine  around  the  sturdy  trunk  of  repub- 
lican institutions.  The  same  heaven  that  smiled  upon  the  vigorous  development  of  the  one,  shed 
the  refreshing  dews  of  its  grace  upon  the  other.  And  the  storm  which  burst  in  portentous  power, 
and  well  nigh  bowed  to  the  earth  the  young  tree  of  liberty,  spent  its  rude  breath  upon  the  vine, 
but  served  only  to  invigorate  them  both;  and  the  tendrils  were  twined  still  more  firmly  around 
the  trunk.  And  when  the  storm  had  passed  by,  the  tree  and  vine  grew  in  the  genial  light  of  a- 
glorious  liberty,  and  spreading  out  their  generous  branches  together,  mingled  their  foliage  and 


194  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

their  shadows  over  a  virgin  land.  Blessed  emblem  of  affinity,  brotherhood  and  peace  !  That 
church,  in  its  infancy  so  beautifully  adapted  to  our  political  state,  so  free  and  unencumbered  by 
any  law  of  establishment,  yielding  only  to  the  impulses  and  the  law  of  love,  expanded  with  the 
expanding  territories  of  the  republic.  Held  together  by  a  great  federative  head,  its  grand  system 
of  ministerial  and  missionary  circulation  carried  its  faith  and  the  simple  forms  of  its  worship  into 
every  hamlet  upon  the  plain,  into  every  hovel  upon  the  mountains.  Allied  by  no  law,  yet  assim- 
ilating in  form  to  the  civil  government,  it  became  a  grand  confederacy;  and  like  the  republic  in 
which  it  so  flourished,  the  source  of  its  power,  its  glory  and  its  strength,  was  its  union.  Our  polit- 
ical union,  thank  heaven,  still  endures;  and  our  republic,  though  threatened  by  many  dangers, 
still  lives.  Admidst  all  the  selfish  strife  of  politicians,  and  the  jar  of  conflicting  interests,  personal, 
political,  social  and  sectional;  amidst  all  the  violence  of  partisan  warfare,  and  the  bitterness  of 
political  rivalry;  no  necessity  has  yet  demanded  its  dissolution.  It  has  covered  our  country  with 
benefits  and  blessings,  and  every  patriot  heart  prays  for  its  perpetuity.  The  peculiar  institution 
of  the  South,  although  guarded  by  the  guarantees  of  the  federal  constitution,  has  yet  been  the 
subject  of  free  discussion,  throughout  the  states,  in  assemblages  of  the  people,  and  in  the  congress 
of  the  United  States.  It  still  agitates  the  nation,  and  has  arranged  our  politicians  into  sectional 
lines;  and  yet  there  is  no  necessity  for  a  _dissolution  of  the  union.  Not  so  it  seems,  however, 
with  the  church.  Southern  members  and  ministers  have  become  upon  this  subject  so  sensitive,  so 
excited  and  so  hostile,  that  although  brothers  in  the  bonds  of  an  immortal  love,  and  pledged  in 
the  tenderest  and  closest  covenants  of  fellowship,  they  can  no  longer  meet  around  the  same  altar, 
and  worship  within  the  same  walls  the  God  of  peace.  And  now,  the  most  startling  augury  of  the 
times  is  the  fearful  fact  that  the  church  of  God,  whose  sign  and  system  was  union,  is  suddenly 
severed  into  fragments  by  a  'moral  convulsion.'  And  when  the  inquiry  is  made  as  to  the  cause  of 
such  a  calamity,  we  are  pointed  to  a  social  and  political  institution  which  was  a  subject  of  dis- 
cussion in  the  first  conference  ever  convened  in  the  United  States,  and  which  has  assumed  no  new 
form,  but  which  is  the  same  in  its  influences,  and  in  its  relations  to  the  church  and  the  state. 
From  this,  it  is  said,  springs  the  uncontrollable  necessity.  Now,  can  this  thing  be  ?  Was  there  in 
reality  the  necessity  pretended  ?  If  there  is  no  necessity  in  the  state,  arising  from  the  institution 
of  slavery,  how  could  there  be  in  the  church  ?  If  no  such  necessity  in  other  Christian  churches, 
why  in  the  Methodist  church?  That  church  had  discountenanced  slavery  in  former  years  more 
than  any  other  church,  and  its  action  in  1844  was  far  more  moderate  and  conciliatory  than  it  had 
been  in  times  past.  Where  then  was  the  necessity?  If  citizens  of  the  republic,  who  are  not  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  but  some  some  of  whom  are  abolitionists  and  some  slave-holders,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  extreme  opinions,  can  yet  dwell  together  in  harmony  as  a  united  people;  how  comes 
it  that  professing  Christians,  men  of  charity,  peace  and  love,  men  whose  church  has  always  in  the 
very  language  of  its  discipline,  taught  and  enjoined  them  to  discountenance  slavery  in  every 
legitimate  manner,  can  become  so  heated  and  hostile,  as  to  demand  a  dissolution  of  their  once 
happy,  peaceful  and  glorious  church  ?  Be  assured  this  spirit  came  not  from  heaven;  it  was  born 
of  earth,  and  reeks  with  the  carnal  appetites  and  passions  of  men.  Ambition  reared  her  Gorgon 
head  in  the  church,  and  turned  the  hearts  of  its  ministers  to  stone.  Aspiring  preachers  of  the 
South  could  not  hold  slaves  and  become  bishops;  they  stumbled  over  that  stumbling  stone;  and 
to  achieve  the  object  of  their  aspirations,  they  rent  the  church,  in  the  language  of  their  eloquent 
leader,  '  by  the  throes  of  an  earthquake.' 

My  client,  and  the  humble  members  whose  rights  he  asserts,  have  been  drawn  into  this  con- 
troversy most  unwillingly.  They  have  prosecuted  it  with  no  unbecoming  spirit  of  litigation. 
Standing  upon  the  line  of  strife  traced  in  the  resolutions  of  the  general  conference,  they  felt  their 
position  to  be  perilous;  they  knew  their  responsibilities  to  be  heavy.  They  would  have  been 
recreant  to  every  conviction  of  duty  had  they  faltered  before  the  storm  of  denunciation,  or  fled 
before  the  terrors  of  persecution.  They  loved  the  old  Methodist  church,  the  church  of  their  early 
adoption,  and  clung  to  it,  as  the  true  church,  with  steadfast  and  enduring  devotion.  To  with- 
draw from  its  guardianship,  and  desert  its  fellowship,  was  repulsive  to  every  sentiment  of  their 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


195 


hearts.  The  traveler,  who  has  traversed  the  oceans  and  wandered  over  the  far  regions  of  the 
earth,  when  he  wearies  of  his  wanderings,  turns  a  wistful  eye  to  the  land  of  his  birth;  and  when 
gray  hairs  come  upon  him,  and  the  tide  of  life  begins  to  ebb,  longs  to  revisit  the  sweet  home  of 
his  youth,  and  to  breathe  out  his  last  sigh  upon  the  very  spot  where  the  first  breath  of  his  infancy 
was  drawn.  The  members  of  the  old  church  are  moved  by  the  same  touching  sentiment  of  rev- 
erence and  love.  Within  that  church  their  spiritual  lives  may  be  said  to  have  commenced.  They 
have  journeyed  on  through  life,  and  in  the  midst  of  its  conflicts  and  its  calamities  have  drawn 
from  the  bosom  of  that  church  the  consolations  of  an  immortal  hope.  In  their  age,  as  time 
presses  his  heavy  hand  upon  them,  they  cling  more  closely  around  it,  and  feel  more  powerfully 
the  last  strong  instinct  of  the  heart,  to  seek  its  last  repose  within  the  home  of  its  spiritual  nativ- 
ity. To  part  with  it  now  in  life  is  impossible.  To  adhere  to  it,  in  the  midst  of  danger,  and  dis- 
cord, and  disaster,  was  an  irresistible  impulse;  to  defend  it  and  its  rights,  a  sacred  duty." 

In  1845-6-7  Mr.  Waller  was  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  legislature,  having  been  elected  by 
the  old  whig  party,  and  was  a  personal  friend  of  Henry  Clay  and  John  J.  Crittenden.  His  ability 
and  eloquence  as  a  speaker,  as  well  as  his  high  character  as  a  man,  gave  him  an  enviable  position 
in  his  party,  and  a  bright  political  future  seemed  to  await  him.  But  this  brief  service  in  the 
legislature  gave  him  a  great  distaste  for  politics.  His  religious  training  and  extreme  conscien- 
tiousness unsuited  him  for  partisan  strife  and  political  intrigue.  He,  therefore,  when  his  second 
term  of  office  expired,  refused  a  reelection,  and  would  never  afterward  allow  his  name  to  be  used 
in  connection  with  any  political  office.  He  was  active  and  prominent  in  various  public  enter- 
prises, and  from  1851  to  1854  he  was  president  of  the  Maysville  and  Lexington  railroad,  now 
connected  with  the  Kentucky  Central  railroad,  which  is  an  important  branch  of  the  New  Orleans, 
Texas  and  Pacific  railroad. 

In  1853,  being  attracted  by  the  rapid  development  of  the  Northwest,  and  the  prospect  of  its 
commercial  metropolis  becoming  a  great  city,  he  visited  Chicago  and  made  some  investments  in 
real  estate.  His  title  to  one  piece  he  had  purchased  becoming  involved  in  litigation  through  the 
loss  of  a  deed,  and  the  forgery  of  another,  and  being  thereby  compelled  to  spend  much  of  his 
time  here,  he  entered  in  1855  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  this  city,  and  established  the 
firm  of  Waller,  Caulfield  and  Bradley.  By  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Bradley,  it  became  Waller  and 
Caulfield,  which  continued  until  1863. 

In  October,  1860,  Mr.  Waller,  still  retaining  property  in  Kentucky,  and  not  yet  having  moved 
his  family  to  Chicago,  foresaw  the  approaching  strife  between  the  North  and  South,  and  being 
unwilling  to  own  property  on  both  sides  of  the  Ohio  river,  sold  his  Kentucky  property,  and 
located  permanently  in  Chicago  with  his  family. 

In  1864  the  firm  of  Waller,  Stearns  and  Copeland  was  formed,  Mr.  Copeland  shortly  retired, 
and  Waller  and  Stearns  remained  together  until  1867,  when  the  tragic  death  of  Mr.  Stearns  left 
Mr.  Waller  to  continue  the  practice  alone. 

In  1869,  being  in  delicate  health,  and  believing  he  had  accumulated  an  ample  support,  he 
retired  from  the  practice  of  his  profession  to  recover  his  health,  and  to  spend,  as  he  hoped,  his 
remaining  years  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  well  earned  repose.  The  great  financial  crisis  of  1873, 
however,  brought  to  him  severe  losses,  which  necessitated  the  resumption  of  labor.  Not  wishing, 
at  his  advanced  age,  to  undertake  again  to  build  up  a  practice,  he  accepted,  in  July,  1876,  an 
appointment  as  master  in  chancery  of  the  circuit  court  of  Cook  county,  an  office  which  he  con- 
tinues to  hold.  His  reports  as  master  in  chancery  have  been  marked  by  great  ability,  and  show 
him  to  be  possessed  of  a  judicial  mind  of  unusually  high  order.  His  reports  in  such  cases  as 
Ligare  vs.  Peacock,  Jenkins  rs.  Greenebaum  ct  a/.,  and  Mills,  for  the  Town  of  Lake,  vs.  Condit, 
being  rarely  equaled  in  the  records  of  courts.  Among  the  few  men  who,  having  passed  the  age 
of  three  score  years  and  ten,  continue  to  perform  daily  an  undiminished  amount  of  severe  intel- 
lectual labor,  he  stands  conspicuous. 

In  person,  Mr.  Waller  is  under  medium  size,  erect  in  figure,  wiry  and  active.  His  step,  at  his 
advanced  age,  is  rapid  and  elastic.  He  has  a  kindly  expression,  a  mild  blue  eye,  a  warm,  cordial 


196  'UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

greeting.  He  is  a  cultivated  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  courteous,  modest,  unpretentious  and 
unassuming.  He  has  a  deeply  religious  nature,  inherited  from  both  his  parents,  a  number  of  his 
paternal  and  maternal  relatives  having  been  ministers  of  the  gospel.  His  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Breckenridge,  was  a  cousin  of  Rev.  Robert  J.  Breckenridge,  D.D.,  Rev.  John  Breck- 
enridge,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  William  L.  Breckenridge,  D.D.,  distinguished  Presbyterian  divines. 
She  was  a  thoroughly  devout  and'  conscientious  woman,  and  was  conspicuous  for  her  firm  will, 
tender  affection,  and  steadfast  devotion  to  what  she  believed  to  be  right.  Mr.  Waller  has  for 
forty-eight  years  been  a  consistent  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  holding  his  membership 
now  in  the  third  church  of  this  city.  He  has  been  an  extensive  reader,  and  largely  upon  religious 
subjects.  The  researches  of  the  scientist,  and  the  reasoning  of  the  rationalist,  have  been  unavail- 
ing to  shake  his  deep-rooted  faith  in  the  inspiration  of  the  divine  word. 

May  3,  1837,  Mr.  Waller  married  Miss  Sarah  B.  Langhorne,  of  Maysville,  Kentucky,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  old  Virginia  family  of  that  name.  Ten  children,  six  sons  and  four  daughters, 
were  the  fruit  of  that  union.  The  oldest,  William  S.  Waller,  died  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel, 
September  i,  1874,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  years;  the  second,  Rev.  Maurice  Waller,  is  a  Presbyte- 
rian minister,  in  charge  of  a  church  at  Manchester,  Ohio;  Henry  Waller,  Jr.,  and  Edward  C. 
Waller,  are  prominent  real  estate  men  in  this  city;  Doctor  John  D.  Waller,  the  fifth  son,  is  a  phy- 
sician, assistant  surgeon  of  the  Central  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  The  young- 
est son,  James  B.  Waller,  is  connected  with  a  manufacturing  establishment  in  Chicago. 


THOMAS  WILLITS,  M.D. 

NE  W  BOSTON. 

ONE  of  the  venerable  landmarks  of  Mercer  county  is  the  gentleman  whose  name  we  have 
placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  and  who  has  been  a  resident  of  western  Illinois  since 
1837.  He  was  born  near  Circleville,  Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  December  6,  1805,  being  a  son  of 
James  and  Amy  (Allison)  Willits,  members  of  the  farming  community.  Both  parents  were  natives 
of  Pennsylvania.  His  father  was  in  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country. 

Thomas  had  such  mental  training  in  youth  as  the  common  schools  of  the  day  could  furnish; 
studied  medicine  at  Cincinnati,  and  at  twenty  years  of  age  commenced  practice  at  Montezuma, 
Park  county,  Indiana,  where  he  remained  three  or  four  years.  He  was  afterward  in  partnership 
with  Doctor  Pennington,  at  Milton,  Wayne  county,  same  state,  where  he  resided  until  1837,  when 
he  came  into  western  Illinois,  and  located  at  first  in  that  part  of  Warren  county  which  is  now 
Henderson  county  —  its  extreme  northern  border.  In  1840  he  settled  permanently  at  New  Bos- 
ton. During  the  first  ten  years  of  Doctor  Willits'  residence  in  this  part  of  the  county  he  had 
many  very  hard  rides,  often  extending  thirty  and  sometimes  forty  miles  from  home.  Many  a  time 
it  took  him  two  days  to  visit  a  single  patient.  There  are  still  a  few  old  families,  whose  physician 
he  has  been  for  forty  years  or  more,  who  will  call  no  other  doctor,  but  he  rarely  goes  far  from 
home,  except  in  cases  of  consultation. 

The  doctor  is  well  preserved,  clear-headed,  and  very  active  for  a  man  who  is  so  near  his  four- 
score years.  He  is  very  cordial  in  his  disposition,  communicative,  and  an  interesting  talker,  abound  - 
ing  in  reminiscences  of  the  olden  times.  He  has  taken  considerable  interest  in  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation, and  was  for  many  years  a  school  director.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  legislature  in 
1850,  and  voted  for  the  chartering  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad.  During  the  term  which  he 
served  he  attended  a  regular  and  an  extra  session.  He  has  always  voted  the  democratic  ticket. 
The  historians  of  Mercer  county  state  that  he  voted  for  John  Quincy  Adams  when  that  statesman 
was  elected,  but  that  was  in  1824,  when  our  subject  was  only  nineteen  years  old. 

While  in  practice  at  Montezuma,  about  1828,  Doctor  Willits  was  married  to  Mrs.  Catherine 
Dieby,  a  native  of  Circleville,  Ohio,  and  she  died  in  November,  1879.  She  was  the  mother  of  five 
children,  one  of  them  dying  in  infancy,  and  another  (Viola)  dying  soon  after  she  had  married 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

R.  S.  Scudder.  Leroy,  the  only  son,  is  a  farmer  near  New  Boston;  Celeste  is  the  wife  of  William 
Anderson,  of  Chicago,  and  Kate  is  the  widow  of  the  late  Thomas  McCurdy,  her  home  also  being 
in  Chicago. 

A  resident  of  New  Boston  for  nearly  forty-three  years,  Doctor  Willits  is  known  all  over  Mer- 
cer county  and  a  considerable  part  of  Henderson,  and  is  very  much  respected,  not  only  for  his 
age  and  medical  skill,  but  for  the  upright  tenor  of  his  life  and  his  good  neighborly  qualities. 


WILLIAM    LONGHURST. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  LONGHURST,  architect,  was  born  at  Warehorne,  county  of  Kent,  England, 
January  26,  1822,  his  father  being  William  Longhurst,  Sr.,  a  gardener,  and  brother  of  John 
Longhurst,  who,  fifty  years  ago,  was  a'prominent  organist  in  London.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  Susanna  (Copins)  Longhurst.  The  family  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1828,  halting  at  first 
at  Lyons,  New  York,  and  two  or  three  years  later  settling  in  Geneva,  where  William  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools.  Afterward  he  spent  five  years  at  Tonawanda,  New  York,  in  the 
employ  of  -Stephen  White,  president  of  the  East  Boston  Timber  Company,  at  the  end  of  which 
'period  he  went  to  Wisconsin,  made  a  purchase  of  land,  and  then  returned  to  Geneva,  and  learned 
the  trade  of  carpenter  and  studied  architecture  with  C.  N.  Otis,  who,  later  in  life,  became  a  prom- 
inent architect  in  Buffalo,  New  York.  To  that  city  Mr.  Longhurst  repaired  when  he  had  learned 
his  trade,  and  there  lived  nine  years,  going  into  business  for  himself,  putting  up  numerous  fine 
residences,  two  bank  buildings,  etc. 

In  1856  Mr.  Longhurst  removed  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  where  he  was  architect  and  builder,  put- 
ting up  two  public  school-houses,  a  large  hotel,  and  several  blocks  of  mercantile  houses.  He 
settled  in  Chicago  in  1865,  and  since  thai;  date  has  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  architecture, 
and  has  done  a  good  business,  erecting  a  large  number  of  costly  dwelling  houses,  stately  brick 
and  marble  blocks,  etc.  Mr.  Longhurst  has  made  his  profession  his  exclusive  and  careful  study, 
and  his  standing  in  it  has  long  been  highly  creditable.  The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  known  him 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  can  vouch  for  his  reliability,  his  faithfulness,  and  his 
skill  in  everything  he  undertakes  to  do. 

Mr.  Longhurst  married,  in  1845,  Miss  Marcia  Cleveland,  who  died  in  1871,  leaving  three  chil- 
dren: Frederick  E.,  the  eldest,  agent  for  the  Pacific  Railroad  Express  and  Black  Hills  Stage 
Company,  at  Cheyenne;  Jennie  C.,  married  to  Charles  Lines,  Chicago;  and  Stella,  who  is  with 
her  father.  The  oldest  child  of  all,  Willie,  a  bright  youth,  was  drowned  in  the  Mississippi  river, 
while  bathing,  in  1860.  His  loss  was  a  sad  blow  to  his  parents. 


WILLIAM    GAYLE. 

KEITHSBURGH. 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  notice  has  been  a  resident  of  Keithsburgh  since  1845,  and  is 
one  of  its  foremost  business  men.  He  dates  his  birth  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  August  19, 
1819,  his  parents  being  George  and  Sophronia  (Bohannon)  Gayle,  both  natives  of  Virginia.  Sev- 
eral members  of  the  Gayle  family  were  in  the  bloody  struggle  for  independence.  George  Gayle 
was  an  educator,  and  had  the  mental  disciplining  of  his  son  until  the  latter  was  sixteen  years  old, 
the  list  of  text  books  including  the  Latin  and  French  languages.  At  the  age  just  mentioned, 
William  went  into  a  store  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  since  that  period  he  has  found  that  life  is 
real, —  real  as  it  regards  an  opportunity  to  work. 

In   1845   he  came  to  Keithshurgh,  formed  a  partnership  with  James  A.   Noble,  and  for  five 
years  the  firm  of  Noble  and  Gayle  was  engaged  in  merchandising,  pork  packing,  shipping,  etc. 


rxiTKD  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

From  1850  to  1857  Mr.  Gayle  was  alone  in  business,  and  did  well  till  the  early  autumn  of  the  lat- 
ter year,  when  the  great  financial  water-spout  struck  him,  and  with  ten  thousand  other  merchants, 
he  went  under.  Subsequently  he  held  clerkships  in  Saint  Louis  and  Keithsburgh,  and  in  1871 
resumed  business  in  the  latter  place,  where  fortune  once  more  smiled  upon  him.  He  is  furnishing 
coal  to  steamboats,  and  dealing  in  grain,  flour,  lime,  hair  and  cement,  and  is  doing  a  business  of 
$150,000  to  $200,000  a  year. 

Mr.  Gayle  is  a  hard-working,  energetic  man,  and  is  being  handsomely  rewarded  for  the  phys- 
ical strength  and  time  he  is  devoting  to  his  calling.  He  is  a  man  of  thorough  uprightness  of 
character,  of  true  business  principles,  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church  since  1871,  and  president 
of  its  board  of  trustees.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics,  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  order, 
an  Odd-Fellow,  and  has  held  a  few  offices  in  the  subordinate  lodge  and  chapter  in  Masonry,  but 
none  in  politics. 

Mr.  Gayle  was  married  at  Keithsburgh,  in  1851,  to  Miss  Margaret  A.  Ungles,  a  native  of 
Indianapolis,  Indiana,  and  they  have  had  ten  children,  burying  six  of  them,  three  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  surviving  are  Jane,  widow  of  George  K.  Beard  ;  Mary,  wife  of  Boyd  Epperly, 
dentist,  Keithsburgh,  and  Katie  U.  and  Susie  M.,  who  are  at  home,  pursuing  their  studies. 


PROFESSOR  ALLEN   A.  GRIFFITH,  A.M. 

CHICAGO. 

A^LEN  AYRAULT  GRIFFITH,  one  of  the  most  eminent  elocutionists  in  the  United  States, 
is  a  son  of  Luther  Newcomb  Griffith,  and  Emily  (Ayrault)  Griffith,  and  commenced  making 
faces  in  broad  daylight,  June  13,  1831,  at  Pike,  Wyoming  county,  New  York.  In  his  infancy  the 
family  immigrated  as  far  west  as  Elyria,  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  where  he  lived  until  sixteen  years 
of  age,  finishing  his  school  education  at  Mill's  Academy  in  that  town.  In  his  youth  he  gave  no 
promise  of  long  life,  being  quite  weak  and  sickly  until  he  had  reached  the  middle  of  his  teens. 
His  lungs  were  supposed  to  be  affected,  and  his  speedy  death  was  predicted.  Yet,  strange  to  say, 
for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  or  more,  he  has  built  up  his  reputation  largely  in  lung  power,  his 
vocal  organs  being,  so  to  speak,  the  capital  with  which  he  has  made  his  success  in  life. 

The  pivotal  point  in  his  career  was  reached  in  1847,  when  Professor  Kennedy,  a  brilliant  Irish 
elocutionist,  visited  Elyria  and  gave  the  students  in  Mill's  lessons  in  breathing  and  utterance  of 
the  vowels,  with  inflections  and  circumflex,  and  readings.  Our  subject  now  found  that  he  had 
more  and  sounder  lungs  than  his  friends  had  credited  him  with.  In  addition  to  class  exercises 
in  elocution,  he  took  private  lessons  of  Professor  Kennedy,  and  the  inspiring  words  which  that 
eminent  elocutionist  gave  him,  as  it  regarded  the  improvement  of  his  health,  the  compass  of  his 
voice,  etc.,  greatly  encouraged  him.  Not  long  afterward  he  visited  James  E.  Murdoch,  and 
received  from  him  valuable  suggestions  in  reference  to  a  course  of  study  and  practice,  which  Mr. 
Griffith  carried  out  with  the  utmost  care  and  faithfulness. 

At  twenty  years  of  age  he  found  that  he  must  rely  upon  himself  for  a  fortune,  if  he  ever  pos- 
sessed one,  and  he  pushed  on  farther  westward,  believing  that  in  this  direction  were  the  broadest 
and  most  promising  openings.  He  went  to  Wisconsin,  and  was  the  principal  of  union  schools  at 
Milwaukee  and  Waukesha  for  a  period  of  six  years,  studying  law  at  the  same  time,  ^ind  being 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Milwaukee  in  1855.  During  this  period  Mr.  Griffith  had  kept  up  his  elo- 
cutionary readings  and  studies,  for  which  he  had  a  passion,  and  occasionally  appearing  in  public. 
His  performances  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention. 

In  1857,  by  invitation  of  teachers'  associations  in  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  he  visited  institutes  in 
these  states,  and  presented  his  methods  of  teaching  elocution.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions 
that  the  writer  of  this  sketch  first  met  Professor  Griffith,  and  became  charmed  with  his  well 
trained  voice,  and  splendid  oratorical  powers.  His  public  recitations  were  everywhere  received 
with  hearty  appreciation  and  warm  applause.  In  1858,  by  invitation,  he  joined  the  distinguished 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES    ntOGKATIl  ICAI.    DICTIONARY.  2O  1 

teacher  of  elocution,  C.  P.  Bronson,  in  a  series  of  entertainments,  and  our  subject  was  now  fairly 
before  the  public  as  a  reader,  and  took  his  position  in  the  front  rank  as  an  elocutionist  and 
lecturer. 

In  1869,  at  the  suggestion  of  Principal  Mayhew,  of  the  Michigan  State  Normal  School,  at 
Ypsilanti,  our  subject  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  English  literature  and  elocution  in  that  insti- 
tution, and  held  that  position  for  three  years.  When  principal,  Mayhew  resigned  to  become  the 
chemist  of  the  silver  smelting  works  at  Wyandott,  Michigan.  Professor  Griffith  accepted  a  con- 
fidential clerkship  under  the  late  E.  B.  Ward,  of  Detroit,  and  in  that  situation  made  a  great 
amount  of  money  for  his  employer  and  himself,  developing  rare  executive  abilities,  as  well  as  the 
power  to  combine  men  in  large  union  operations. 

For  three  years  he  was  president  of  the  Northern  Illinois  College,  at  Fulton  City,  and  brought 
that  school  up  to  a  highly  respectable  grade  among  the  literary  institutions  of  the  state. 

At  its  commencement  in  1866  the  University  of  Chicago  conferred  upon  Professor  Griffith  the 
honorary  degree  of  master  of  arts,  for  his  services  to  the  cause  of  learning,  and  in  1880  he  again 
became  a  member  of  its  faculty,  and  is  filling  the  chair  of  elocution  and  oratory  with  distin- 
guished ability.  He  is  a  very  devoted  student  in  his  line  of  studies.  The  great  benefit  which  he 
himself  has  received  from  the  practice  of  elocution  makes  him  enthusiastic  as  a  teacher,  and  he 
has  the  happy  gift  of  infusing  his  own  spirit  into  that  of  his  pupils,  hence  their  progress  under 
his  training  is  truly  remarkable.  Scores  of  testimonials  like  the  following  could  be  furnished, 
touching  his  success  as  a  teacher,  but  these  may  suffice: 

GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE,  D.  C.,  May  9,  1867. 
ALLEN  A.  GRIFFITH,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Elocution: 

DEAR  SIR, — The  admirable  manner  in  which  you  have  explained  your  principles  and  practice  of  elocution  merits  our 
congratulations.  All  agree  that  your  lessons  were  a  decided  success.  Having  been  present  myself  at  all  the  lectures 
before  the  students,  and  also  participated  in  the  special  practice  before  the  fathers  and  scholastics,  I  most  heartily  con- 
cur in  all  their  commendations.  I  must  add,  too,  that  the  proficiency  of  the  students  has  exceeded  my  expectations. 
I  hope  that  your  success  will  be  as  great  elsewhere  as  it  has  been  here.  It  is  a  pleasure,  as  I  deem  it  a  duty,  to  recom- 
mend you  warmly  to  all  who  wish  to  obtain  the  elegant  and  necessary,  but  too  often  neglected,  accomplishment. 
Trusting  that  we  shall  meet  again,  I  remain,  very  respectfully  yours,  JAMES  A.  WARD, 

Prefect  of  Schools  and  Professor  of  Rhetoric. 

"  Professor  Griffith  is  engaged  in  giving  drill  exercises  to  about  two  hundred  of  the  college  and 
preparatory  students.  As  an  instructor,  he  obeys  the  divine  injunction,  to  do  with  all  his  might 
whatever  his  hands  find  to  do,  and  he  is  producing  a  revolution  in  the  opinion  among  educated 
men  in  this  country  in  regard  to  .this  object.  Professor  Griffith  assumes  that  all  may  improve  in 
manner  of  delivery  of  speech,  by  practice,  as  they  may  improve  in  rhetoric,  mathematics  and  lan- 
guages, and  no  student  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  present  attainment  in  elocution  and  oratory 
any  more  than  they  are  contented  with  their  present  knowledge  in  any  other  department  of  edu- 
cation. All  the  students  taking  lessons  of  him  are  encouraged,  and  we  say,  unhesitatingly,  that 
so  far  as  our  experience  extends,  the  professor  is  at  the  head  of  his  profession.  The  universal 
opinion  of  college  men  who  know,  him  has  accorded  him  the  place  as  an  instructor  and  lecturer 
upon  elocution  and  oratory  which  Guyot  and  Agassiz  occupy  in  geography  and  history  and  the 
natural  sciences." — Oberlin  News,  August,  i86j. 

One  of  the  great  gifts  of  Professor  Griffith  is  the  number  of  facial  expressions  which  he  is 
capable  of  giving,  at  least  eighteen  or  twenty  in  all,  which  are  very  striking.  He  can  look  like 
the  judge,  the  lover,  the  meddler,  the  tippler,  the  scientist,  the  drunkard,  the  booby,  etc.;  like  the 
German,  the  Frenchman,  the  Irishman,  and  other  nationalities,  and  in  short  can  make  up  a  face 
strikingly  resembling  almost  every  conceivable  character.  His  remarkable  mobility  of  features 
enables  him  to  display  a  gallery  of  portraits  truly  marvelous,  showing  what  cultivation  of  expres- 
sion can  do  to  the  human  face  divine. 

Some  journalists  have  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  in  facial  expressions  Professor  Griffith 
outdoes  the  comic  actor  Garrick.  Certainly  he  is  a  skillful  artist  in  that  line.  Faces  are  a  good 
subject  for  study,  for  they  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  title  page  of  the  thoughts  within.  Pro- 


2O2  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

fessor  Griffith  has  a  dignified  and  commanding  appearance;  is  perfectly  self-possessed,  and  easy 
and  graceful  in  his  manners,  and  these  qualities,  coupled  with  a  full,  round  voice  of  wonderful 
flexibility,  entitle  him  to  the  appellation  of  the  model  elocutionist. 

Some  of  the  best  readers  and  lecturers  in  the  country  owe  their  success  in  no  stinted  measure 
to  the  training  of  our  subject,  notably  Professor  Burbank,  Hon.  George  R.  Wendling  and  Miss 
Frances  A.  Willard.  The  oratorical  exercises  at  the  anniversaries  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
show  what  thorough  drill  can  do  for  a  graduating  class. 

Professor  Griffith  is  the  author  or  compiler  of  several  works,  which  have  had  a  cordial  wel- 
come at  the  hands  of  the  press  and  the  public.  One  of  his  latest  is  entitled,  "  Class  Book  of 
Oratory  and  Elocution,"  which  is  divided  into  three  parts,  drill  exercises,  selections  and  an  appen- 
dix, and  is  an  admirable  work  of  the  kind.  "Lessons  in  Elocution,"  an  earlier  work  of  his,  was 
highly  commended  by  the  teachers  in  normal  schools,  colleges,  etc.,  and  had,  as  it  deserved  to 
have,  a  large  sale. 

Professor  Griffith  is  a  man  of  positive  views  on  almost  every  subject.  In  politics  he  is  an  out 
and  out  republican,  and  took  the  stump  for  Lincoln,  Grant,  Hayes  and  Garfield.  He  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  General  Garfield,  and  years  ago  attended  teachers'  institutes  with  him  in 
northern  Ohio.  In  political  campaigns  they  sometimes  met  and  spoke  from  the  same  rostrum. 

Professor  Griffith  was  married  at  Milwaukee  in  1854  to  Miss  Jane  Amelia  Stoddard,  and  they 
have  three  children,  Allen  A.,  Jr.,  Jennie  Estella  and  Arthur  Colburn,  all  students  in  the  uni- 
versity, and  making  rapid  progress  in  their  studies. 

Their  father  takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  college  and  in  his  associates  in  the  faculty,  as  well  as 
in  the  mental  discipline  of  his  own  children,  and  he  has  recently  made  a  large  amount  of  money 
by  organizing  electric  light  companies. 


ADAMS   A.    GOODRICH. 

JERSEYVILLE. 

A  JAMS  AUGUSTUS  GOODRICH,  lawyer  and  state's  attorney  for  the  county  ot  Jersey,  is  a 
son  of  Henry  O.  and  Jane  A.  (Knapp)  Goodrich,  and  belongs  to  an  old  professional  family 
which  settled  originally  in  Connecticut,  and  of  which  S.  G.  Goodrich,  better  known  as  Peter  Par- 
ley, is  a  member.  It  has  long  been -a  prominent  family  in  New  England,  and  in  some  of  the 
middle  states.  Clark  H.  Goodrich,  the  grandfather  of  Adams,  was  an  attorney-at-law  in  New 
York;  came  to  this  state  in  1839,  and  settled  in  Jersey  county,  dying  at  Jerseyville  in  1868.  Henry 
O.  Goodrich  was  in  the  milling  business  in  Jersey  county  for  many  years,  and  is  still  living.  We 
learn  from  the  atlas  of  Jersey  county,  published  in  1872,  that  he  was  sutler  of  the  6ist  regiment  of 
Illinois  infantry  in  1862  and  1865;  that  he  was  twice  elected  mayor  of  Jerseyville,  and  was  one  of 
its  first  trustees  when  the  city  was  incorporated;  that  he  was  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  organ- 
izing the  Jersey  county  Agricultural  Society,  and  was  its  president  in  1871  and  1872;  and  that  by 
his  liberality  and  integrity  in  his  dealings  he  won  the  approbation  of  his  fellow  citizens  of  the 
county. 

His  wife  is  a  sister  of  the  late  Hon.  A.  L.  Knapp,  of  Springfield,  and  Hon.  Robert  M.  Knapp, 
of  Jerseyville,  both  in  their  day  members  of  congress,  and  prominent  lawyers.  The  Knapps  were 
early  settlers  in  Connecticut. 

Our  subject  was  born  in  Jerseyville,  January  8,  1849;  was  educated  in  the  graded  schools  of 
his  native  place,  and  at  the  military  academy  at  West  Point,  which  he  was  obliged  to  leave  in  the 
fourth  year  on  account  of  impaired  health.  He  spent  nearly  two  years  in  Colorado  and  Califor- 
nia, and  returned  with  his  health  completely  restored;  read  law  at  Jerseyville  and  Springfield  with 
his  maternal  uncles  already  mentioned;  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  January,  1873,  and  has  practiced 
in  Jerseyville  since  that  date.  He  has  a  good  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and  manages  his  case  with 
a  great  deal  of  care  and  with  decided  ability.  This  is  true  of  criminal  as  well  as  civil  causes.  He 
is  studious  as  well  as  painstaking,  and  is  a  young  man  of  much  promise. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


203 


Mr.  Goodrich  held  the  office  of  city  attorney  three  terms,  and  was  elected  state's  attorney  in 
1878,  an  office  which  he  still  holds,  and  the  duties  of  which  he  is  discharging  with  great  satisfac- 
tion to  the  public.  Mr.  Goodrich  is  a  democrat  in  politics,  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason,  an  Odd-Fellow, 
and  a  Knight  of  Pythias,  and  has  been  through  the  last  two  orders,  holding  all  the  offices  in  the 
local  lodges. 

When  Mr.  Goodrich  left  West  Point,  in  1867,  he  was  a  weak,  consumptive-looking  young  man, 
with  a  poor  prospect  seemingly  of  ever  being  a  member  of  the  bar  of  Jersey  county.  He  is  now 
a  fine  sample  of  robustness;  and  although  only  five  feet  and  seven  inches  tall,  is  compactly  built, 
and  weighs  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds.  He  bids  fair  to  live  many  years,  and  to  rise  to 
distinction  in  his  profession.  He  has  the  best  of  Puritan  blood  in  his  veins,  on  both  sides,  but  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  he  depends  upon  no  family  tree  for  his  own  elevation.  He  will  rise,  if  at  all, 
through  his  own  inherent  energies  and  fine  talents  and  attainments. 


E 


EDWARD   G.  MINER. 

WINCHESTER. 

DWARD  GRIFFITH  MINER,  banker,  and  an  early  settler  in  Winchester,  is  a  son  of 
William  and  Prudence  (Potter)  Miner,  and  was  born  in  Bridport,  Vermont,  January  21, 
1809.  His  grandfather,  Clement  Miner,  was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  continental 
army  July  3,  1776,  the  day  before  independence  was  declared  by  the  colonies.  Our  subject  has 
the  original  commission  issued  to  Clement  Miner,  and  signed  by  Governor  Trumbull.  Prudence 
Potter  was  a  native  of  Connecticut. 

The  father  of  Edward  was  a  sailor  in  his  younger  years,  sailing  to  the  West  Indies,  and  after- 
ward became  a  farmer,  and  died  at  Bridport  when  our  subject  was  about  four  years  old.  Edward 
was  the  youngest  of  six  children,  and  was  early  thrown  upon  his  own  resources  for  support.  When 
only  thirteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  Middlebury,  in  his  native  state,  and  worked  a  few  months 
at  the  blacksmith  trade,  John  Deere,  now  of  Moline,  working  at  the  same  time  in  another  black- 
smith shop  in  the  same  place.  Young  Miner  was  not  large  enough  and  strong  enough  to  be  of 
much  service  at  a  trade  requiring  a  good  development  of  muscle,  and  he  left  Middlebury.  At 
sixteen  years  of  age  he  went  into  a  woolen  factory  at  Milton,  Vermont,  and  learned  the  trade  of 
wool  carding  and  cloth  dressing,  following  it  for  four  years. 

Up  to  this  time  he  had  had  only  a  little  schooling,  and  feeling  his  deficiency  in  education,  and 
having  a  little  money,  he  attended  an  academy  at  Jericho,  and  subsequently  taught  school  two 
winters,  and  acted  as  salesman  in  a  dry  goods  store  in  the  summer.  In  the  autumn  of  1832,  Mr. 
Miner  had  the  offer  of  a  free  conveyance  to  Illinois,  if  he  would  drive  one  of  the  two  teams  which 
the  man  wished  to  bring  with  him.  He  accepted  the  offer,  and  they  were  a  little  over  six  weeks 
in  reaching  Greene  county,  which  now  joins  Scott  county  on  the  south.  At  Winchester  he  had 
the  offer  of  a  clerkship  in  a  store,  which  he  accepted,  and  which  lasted  only  one  year.  In  1834 
Mr.  Miner  commenced  mercantile  business  for  himself,  and  in  the  same  year  was  married  to  Miss 
Sophronia  Alden,  of  Ashfield,  Massachusetts.  She  is  a  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Alden,  a 
Baptist  minister,  and  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Alden,  of  the  Mayflower. 

About  1847  Mr.  Miner  bought  a  farm  adjoining  the  corporation  of  Winchester,  and  farmed 
until  1857,  when  he  started  a  small  bank.  Banking  is  still  his  business,  he  being  of  the  firm 
of  Miner,  Frost  and  Hubbard,  the  only  bankers  in  Winchester,  which  is  the  shire  town  of  Scott 
county. 

Mr.  Miner  seems  to  have  aimed  to  live  a  very  quiet,  unobtrusive  life,  and  never  but  once  was 
persuaded  to  accept  a  civil  or  political  office.  Not  long  before  the  demise  of  the  whig  party,  he 
accepted  a  nomination  for  the  legislature,  by  that  party,  and  was  elected.  A  single  term  of  pub- 
lic life  satisfied  his  ambition  in  that  direction.  In  1857  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Bissell 
trustee  of  the  Illinois  Insane  Asylum,  at  Jacksonville,  an  office  which  he  held  for  a  period  of 


2Q4  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

twelve  years,  through  the  administrations  of  Governors  Bissell,  Yates  and  Oglesby.  During  the 
last  four  years  he  was  president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  in  that  capacity  rendered  to  the 
state,  without  compensation,  other  than  traveling  expenses,  most  important  and  valuable  service. 
It  was  in  Winchester,  by  the  way,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  made  his  first  out-and-out  free-soil 
speech,  announcing  doctrines  which  were  woven  into  the  first  platform  of  the  republican  party. 

It  was  also  in  Winchester  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas  taught  his  first  school  in  this  state,  a  tuition 
school,  which  Mr.  Miner  aided  him  in  getting  up.  They  did  not  agree  in  politics,  but  they  were 
Vermonters,  and  sufficiently  warm  personal  friends  to  sleep  together  during  the  winter  that 
Douglas  taught.  Mr.  Miner  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  served  for  years  as  one  of  its 
deacons.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  in  Winchester  pays  more  liberally,  or  more  cheerfully, 
toward  the  support  of  the  gospel. 


HENRY  CRADLE,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

HENRY  Gradle,  professor  of  physiology  in  the  Chicago  Medical  College,  is  a  native  of  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  and  was  born  August  17,  1855.  His  parents  are  Bernhard  Gradle  and 
Rosa  (Schottenfels)  Gradle,  who  left  the  old  country  in  1864,  and  came  to  Chicago,  where  Henry 
received  a  good  English  and  classical  education  in  a  private  school.  Here  he  also  studied  medi- 
,  cine,  for  which  he  early  had  a  fondness,  and  was  graduated  at  the  Chicago  Medical  College  in 
1874.  Intending  to  take  the  eye  and  ear  for  his  specialty  in  medical  and  surgical  science,  he  went 
to  Europe  and  spent  three  years  in  study  at  Vienna,  Heidelberg,  Leipsic,  and  Paris,  returning  to 
Chicago  in  1877.  He  met  with  good  success  in  his  profession,  and  has  occupied  the  chair  of 
physiology,  already  mentioned,  since  1879. 

Doctor  J.  S  Jewell:  "  As  a  scholar  Doctor  Gradle  stands  well,  especially  in  medicine,  as  well 
as  the  collateral  sciences.  He  is  especially  learned  in  biology.  His  information  is  extensive  and 
accurate.  In  disposition  he  is  cautious  and  critical,  and  possesses  the  scientific  spirit  above  the 
average  of  scientific  men.  He  has  especial  taste  and  aptitude  in  the  department  of  experimental 
physiology.  As  a  lecturer  he  is  clear,  consecutive  and  interesting,  and  bids  fair  to  arrive  at  a 
comparatively  early  period  in  life  at  unusual  eminence  in  his  profession. 

Doctor  Gradle  has  written  a  few  articles  for  the  "American  Journal  of  Medical  Science,"  and 
still  more  for  the  "American  Journal  of  Nervous  Diseases,"  and  has  contributed  a  few  articles  to 
other  periodicals. 

Doctor  Gradle  married  August,  1881,  Miss  Fanny  Searls,  of  Waukegan,  Illinois. 


AUGUSTUS  REISE. 

ATLANTA. 

AJGUSTUS  REISE,  one  of  the  thrifty  farmers  of  Logan  county,  was  born  in  Saxe- Weimar, 
Germany,  November  25,  1821,  being  a  son  of  Augustus  Reise,  Sr.,  who  in  the  old  country 
was  a  farmer  and  grain  dealer.  Augustus  attended  school  from  six  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  then 
learned  the  brewing  business,  but  never  followed  it.  In  1844  the  family  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  went  to  Saint  Louis,  Missouri.  Our  subject  was  the  oldest  child,  and  the  family  have 
been  unfortunate,  each  member  having  to  look  out  for  himself.  Augustus  went  into  the  country 
eight  miles  from  Saint  Louis,  and  chopped  wood  at  fifty  cents  a  cord.  Soon  afterward  he  went 
to  Belleville,  Illinois,  and  worked  in  a  distillery,  commencing  at  $12  per  month,  and  soon  having 
his  wages  nearly  doubled.  Being  desirous  of  acquiring  a  good  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage; and  having  no  such  an  opportunity  at  Belleville,  at  the  end  of  two  years  Mr.  Reise  went 
to  Peoria,  where  he  worked  in  a  distillery  for  five  years,  commencing  on  a  salary  of  $37  a  month, 
and  ending  with  $100. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRA  r  II  1C  A  I.    DICTIONARY. 


2O5 


At  the  end  of  that  period  he  came  to  Logan  county,  and  bought  a  small  distillery;  accumu- 
lated a  little  money,  purchased  a  farm  in  1853,  began  to  stodc  it,  and  in  1857  went  into  farming 
himself  east  of  Atlanta,  and  was  quite  successful.  In  1867  Mr  Reise  sold  his  farm  of  200  acres 
east  of  Atlanta  for  $14,000,  and  purchased  one  of  300  acres,  adjoining  Atlanta  on  the  west,  for 
$15,000.  He  has  since  put  at  least  $10,000  on  it  in  improvements,  having  five  or  six  miles  of  tile; 
a  live  fence  on  the  outside  of  it.  a  good  orchard,  and  everything  around  his  premises  in  the  finest 
order.  He  raises  and  feeds  from  sixty  to  100  head  of  cattle  annually,  and  about  the  same  number 
of  swine,  and  is  known  far  and  wide  as  an  enterprising  farmer. 

Mr.  Reise  was  in  the  village  council  in  1859,  a  school  director  for  some  years,  and  a  member  of 
the  Twenty-seventh  General  Assembly  one  term,  being  elected  in  1870.  He  is  a  democrat,  and 
had  a  majority  of  more  than  two  hundred  votes  in  a  strong  republican  county.  He  has  declined 
various  offices  which  have  been  offered  him.  The  family  are  Lutherans,  but  there  is  no  church  of 
that  name  at  Atlanta. 

In  1847  Mr.  Reise  and  Miss  Elizabeth  German,  a  native  of  Germany,  were  joined  in  wedlock, 
and  she  died  August  29,  1881,  leaving  four  children,  three  daughters  and  one  son;  one  child  had 
previously  died.  Two  of  the  children  are  married.  The  son,  Augustus  J.  Reise,  is  a  prosperous 
farmer  in  Spink  county,  Dakota  Territory. 


BENJAMIN  R.   BURROUGHS. 

ED  WARDSVILLE. 

BENJAMIN  RUDOLPH  BURROUGHS,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Madison  county  bar, 
was  born  in  Charles  county,  Maryland,  May  20,  1849.  Both  parents,  John  A.  Burroughs, 
and  Eliza  T.  (Dent)  Burroughs,  were  descended  from  two  old  Maryland  families.  The  paternal  and 
maternal  grandfathers  of  Benjamin  messed  together  in  the  revolutionary  war.  A  British  officer 
undertook  at  one  time  to  bribe  Captain  Dent,  but  made  a  failure.  The  captain  lived  to  be  ninety- 
eight  years  old,  and  grandfather  Burroughs  to  be  ninety-two  years.  The  father  of  Benjamin  died 
in  1872,  his  mother  in  1881. 

Our  subject  received  a  classical  education  at  Charlotte  Hall,  Saint  Mary's  county,  Maryland,  a 
state  institution,  which  bestowed  upon  him  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts,  and  master  of  arts. 
He  came  to  Edwardsville,  Illinois,  in  August,  1867,  having  an  uncle  and  older  brother  living 
near  that  place;  and  he  taught  a  country  school  two  winters  in  Madison  county,  Illinois.  At  that 
period  of  his  life  Mr.  Burroughs  had  the  legal  profession  in  view,  but  deemed  it  best  to  make  some 
money  before  he  commenced  his  studies,  so  he  dealt  in  hardware  and  agricultural  implements,  a 
few  years,  making  a  splendid  success  in  that  line  of  business,  and  accumulating  a  handsome 
property. 

He  read  law  with  Irwin  and  Krome,  of  Edwardsville;  finished  his  studies  at  the  Union 
College  of  Law,  Chicago,  being  graduated  in  June,  1876,  and  immediately  opened  an  office  at  Ed- 
wardsville. He  has  many  friends  in  the-county,  and  stepped  at  once  into  a  good  practice.  It  is 
doubtful  if  there  is  a  lawyer  in  Madison  county  who  has  not  been  in  law  practice  more  than  six  or 
seven  years,  whose  business  is  superior  to  that  of  Mr.  Burroughs.  He  handles  many  important 
cases,  and  has  j  mind  sufficiently  capacious  to  manage  with  ability  and  adroitness  any  case  which 
he  touches.  -He  is  a  forcible  and  persuasive  speaker,  and  makes  an  excellent  jury  lawyer.  His 
preparations  are  always  well  made,  and  he  never  subjects  himself  to  the  mortification  of  a  blunder. 
He  is  a  man  of  unblemished  character,  living  strictly  up  to  the  standard  of  professional  ethics, 
and  his  future  seems  to  be  full  of  promise.  If  he  lives,  his  friends  will  be  disappointed  if  he  does 
not  distinguish  himself  among  the  legal  fraternity. 

Mr.  Burroughs  held  the  office  of  city  attorney  in  1877  and  1879,  and  is  now  a  member  of  the 
local  school  board,  the  only  offices,  we  believe,  that  he  has  held.  He  seems  to  care  very  little 
about  honors  in  that  direction.  Evidently  his  ambition  is  to  excel  in  his  profession,  and  if  he  has 
his  health  he  will  not  be  likely  to  make  a  failure. 


2O6  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

His  politics  are  democratic,  and  he  was,  not  long  ago,  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  county;  yet  he  is  by  no  means  a  bitter  partisan,  and  in  local  matters  will  not  support  any 
candidate  who  has  not  a  good  record.  He  is  a  Freemason,  and  has  been  master  of  the  local 
lodge.  He  was  reared  in  the  Episcopal  church. 

January  26,  1873,  Mr.  Burroughs  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  Judy,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Judy,  of  Edwardsville,  and  they  have  buried  two  sons,  and  have  three  daughters  living. 


HON.  GEORGE  W.  PLEASANTS. 

ROCK  ISLAND. 

WASHINGTON  PLEASANTS,  judge  of  the  tenth  judicial  district,  is  a  son  of 
Benjamin  F.  and  Isabella  (Adair)  Pleasants,  and  was  born  in  Harrodsburgh,  Kentucky, 
November  24,  1823.  The  Pleasants  family  were  from  early  settlers  at  Goochland  near  Richmond, 
Virginia.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  General  Adair,  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina. He  was  in  both  wars  with  England  ;  a  general  in  command  under  General  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans ;  a  governor  of  Kentucky  and  represented  that  state  in  both  houses  of  congress. 

Mr.  Pleasants  received  a  classical  education  at  Williams  College,  Massachusetts,  graduating  in 
the  class  of  1842.  He  studied  law  with  Horace  Holden,  of  New  York  city  ;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  Rochester,  New  York,  October  31,  1845,  and  practiced  at  Williamstown,  Massachusetts, 
until  1849.  He  was  there  married,  January  29,  1850,  to  Sarah  T.,  daughter  of  Solomon  Buckley. 
In  1851  he  removed  to  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  where  he  remained  till  the  spring  of 
1853,  when  he  settled  in  Rock  Island. 

In  November,  1861,  Mr.  Pleasants  was  elected  for  the  district  composed  of  Rock  Island,  Henry 
and  Mercer  counties,  a  member  of  the  convention  to  revise  and  amend  the  constitution  of  the 
state.  When  practicing  at  the  bar  he  had  very  few  peers  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  was  mas- 
ter in  chancery  for  several  terms.  In  June,  1867,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  elected  judge  of 
the  sixth  judicial  district  for  the  full  term  of  six  years,  and  by  repeated  reflections,  still  wears 
the  ermine,  his  now  being  the  tenth  district.  He  is  also  one  of  the  judges  of  the  appellate  court 
for  the  second  district.  He  is  a  profound  lawyer,  and  his  decisions  are  very  seldom  reversed  by  a 
higher  court.  He  is  very  courteous  and  pleasant  with  the  legal  brotherhood,  and  between  him 
and  the  bar  there  is  difficulty  in  getting  up  any  friction.  Judge  Pleasants  is  a  born  gentleman. 

Judge  Pleasants  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  a  man  of  sound  moral  as  well 
as  judicial  character.  The  church  cannot  have  too  many  of  this  class  of  lawyers.  In  the  family 
are  four  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  Adair,  the  eldest  son,  is  an  attorney-at-law,  of 
the  firm  of  Parks  and  Pleasants,  Rock  Island  ;  Nannie,  the  elder  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Samuel 
A.  Lynde,  Chicago,  and  Isabella  Adair  and  George  are  at  home. 


HON.   JAMES   M.    RIGGS. 

WINCHESTER. 

JAMES  MILTON  RIGGS,  lawyer,  and  member  of  congress  from  the  twelfth  district,  is  a 
native  of  the  county  (Scott)  in  which  he  lives,  and  was  born  five  miles  north  of  Winchester, 
the  county  seat,  April  17,  1839,  only  a  few  days  after  the  county  was  organized.  His  father  was 
John  Adams  Riggs,  who  died  when  James  was  six  years  old,  and  his  mother  was  Orpha  (Camp- 
bell) Riggs,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  The  grandfather  of  James  was  Scott  Riggs,  a  native  of 
Stokes  county,  North  Carolina,  and  a  descendant  of  Edward  Riggs,  who  settled  in  Roxbury,  now 
Boston  Highlands,  Massachusetts,  in  1633,  when  Boston  itself  was  a  small  village,  only  three 
years  old. 

Our  subject  was  reared  under  the  fostering  care  of  a  kind  mother,  and  in  his  younger  years 


UNITED   STA  TES  HIOGKAPHICAL   DICTIONAR  Y.  2Oy 

was  engaged  in  farming.  In  1862  he  went  to  Eureka  College,  Woodford  county,  purposing  to 
take  a  full  classical  course,  but  civil  war  was  raging  at  the  South,  whither  some  of  his  relatives 
had  gone  to  aid  in  putting  down  the  rebellion,  and  at  the  end  of  a  year  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
school,  and  resumed  farming.  He  taught  a  district  school  three  winters.  In  the  autumn  of  1864 
he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  while  filling  that  office  he  also  studied  law,  and  January 
i,  1868,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  evidently  loves  the  profession  of  law,  and  is  a  studious, 
growing  man.  He  has  a  large  and  choice  library,  of  which  he  makes  the  best  nse,  annotating 
many  of  the  volumes,  and  he  has  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  read  lawyers  in  central 
Illinois.  His  great  strength  consists  in  knowing  what  the  law  is,  and  in  laying  it  before  the 
court  in  a  clear  manner,  great  deference  being  paid  to  his  opinions  on  such  questions.  Morally, 
as  well  as  legally,  his  character  stands  high. 

Mr.  Riggs  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1870,  and  served  one  term,  representing  Scott 
county.  He  was  state's  attorney  from  1872  to  1876,  and  was  elected  to  congress  in  November, 
1882.  The  office  of  state's  attorney  he  filled  with  decided  ability,  and  with  thorough  acceptance 
to  his  constituents,  and  his  friends  predict  for  him  an  honorable  record  in  the  national  halls  of 
legislation. 

Mr.  Riggs  was  married  December  31,  1868,  to  Lillie,  daughter  of  Doctor  Lucian  Berry,  then 
of  Winchester,  now  of  Nevada,  Missouri.  They  have  two  daughters  and  five  sons  living,  and  one 
daughter  deceased.  He  is  a  man  of  most  excellent  habits,  and  a  much  respected  and  valuable 
citizen.  Since  1868  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  local  board  of  education,  and  has  been  very 
active  in  his  efforts  to  raise  the  standard  of  education  in  Winchester.  Such  a  class  of  men  can- 
not be  too  numerous  in  any  community. 


G 


GEORGE    W.  MARTIN. 

WINCHESTER. 

EORGE  WASHINGTON  MARTIN,  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Scott,  is  a  native  of  West 
_J  Virginia,  and  was  born  in  Ohio  county,  now  Marshall,  July  22,  1827.  His  father,  Samuel 
Martin,  was  born  in  Wheeling,  same  state,  and  was  a  son  of  Alexander  Martin,  who  was  from 
Ireland.  Samuel  Martin  married  Susan  Sisson,  a  native  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  they  had 
nine  children,  of  whom  George  was  the  eldest  son.  In  March,  1834,  the  family  came  into  this 
state  and  settled  on  Sweet's  Prairie,  six  miles  southeast  of  Winchester,  which  was  then  in  Morgan 
county.  The  father  died  in  1845,  and  our  subject  had  charge  of  the  farm,  having  received  mean- 
while only  a  limited  district  school  training,  in  all  not  to  exceed  one  full  year.  He  is  a  self- 
educated,  and  a  well  informed  man. 

In  1847  Mr.  Martin  married  Miss  Angeline  Conway,  of  Greene  county,  and  the  next  year  went 
to  Dallas  county,  Texas,  near  Lancaster,  and  spent  ten  years  in  farming  in  that  state.  While 
there  he  buried  (1855)  his  first  wife,  who  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  only  two  of  them,  both 
daughters,  now  living.  Eliza  J.  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  Mark  W.  Wilcox,  of  Harvard,  Nebraska, 
and  Mary  E.  is  a  school  teacher  in  Clay  county,  same  state.  Before  leaving  Texas  Mr.  Martin 
married  Miss  Rachel  M.  Harris,  who  lived  only  about  ten  months.  In  1858  he  thought  he  saw 
civil  war  approaching,  and  having  buried  two  wives  and  one  child  in  the  Lone  Star  State,  he 
deemed  it  best  to  bring  the  remainder  of  his  family  back  to  the  North.  He  returned  to  the  old 
homestead,  then  in  the  hands  of  a  brother-in-law,  whom  he  aided  in  cultivating  it  until  the  war 
broke  out,  having,  meantime,  in  April,  1860,  married  Miss  Cornelia  M.  Richmond,  who  was  from 
Madison  county,  New  York,  and  by  whom  he  has  had  nine  children,  only  five  of  them,  four 
daughters  and  one  son,  now  living. 

In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Martin  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  H,  izgth  Illinois  infantry. 
On  its  organization  he  was  elected  first  lieutenant,  and  was  mustered  in  as  captain  of  the  com- 
pany. He  was  in  what  is  known  in  history  as  the  Atlanta  campaign.  In  December,  1863,  he  had 


2O8  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

the  typhoid  fever,  and  in  the  following  February  came  home.  He  returned  to  the  South  in 
March  ;  was  with  his  company  until  the  taking  of  Atlanta  in  September,  1864,  when  he  took  cold, 
became  thoroughly  broken  down  in  health  and  resigned. 

In  1865  Captain  Martin  was  elected  clerk  of  the  county  court,  and  by  reelections  filled  that 
office  for  twelve  consecutive  years.  For  four  and  a  half  years,  immediately  thereafter,  he  held 
the  post  of  deputy  clerk,  and  in  -November,  1882,  was  elected  sheriff,  the  duties  of  which  office  he 
is  now  performing.  Sheriff  Martin  is  a  republican,  living  in  a  strong  democratic  county,  and 
owes  his  success  at  the  polls  to  his  popularity,  and  his  special  fitness  for  official  positions.  He  is 
faithful  as  well  as  prompt  and  efficient,  and  gives  good  satisfaction  to  all  parties.  The  voters  of 
Scott  county  usually  have  the  good  sense  to  drop  partisan  bias,  when  selecting  county  officers, 
and  go  for  the  most  capable  and  reliable  men. 

Sheriff  Martin  is  a  Blue  Lodge  and  Royal  Arch  Mason,  an  Odd-Fellow,  an  elder  in  the  Christian 
Church,  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  the  last  seventeen  years,  and  a  man  whose  integrity 
and  purity  of  life  are  unquestioned. 


HENRY  SHIMER,  A.M.,   M.D. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

ONE  of  the  best  examples  of  a  self-educated  man  in  western  Illinois,  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch.  He  was  reared,  as  we  once  heard  him 
remark,  "on  a  twenty-five  acre  farm,  one  half  hills  and  stones,  and  the  other  half  swamp,  and  by 
parents  who  could  scarcely  read  or  write."  He  was  sent  to  school  from  three  to  four  months  in 
the  year,  in  a  little,  poorly  ventilated  country  school  house  in  the  hill  country  of  Pennsylvania, 
where  about  sixty  pupils  were  crowded  together  under  the  very  ordinary  teachers  of  those  days, 
from  whom  he  could  learn  nothing  beyond  his  attainments  at  fourteen  years  of  age.  After  that 
period  he  was  never  sent  to  school  a  single  day.  But  there  was  no  halt,  no  let-up,  in  his  studies, 
no  long  winter  nights  spent  in  idleness;  no  moments  of  precious  time  squandered  in  youthful 
frivolities.  In  humble  circumstances,  without  money  or  friends  to  push  him  forward,  he  knew 
no  such  word  as  fail;  he  never  despaired  or  faltered,  but  pressed  right  onward  toward  the  mark 
of  high  scholarship.  The  whole  secret  of  his  eminent  success  lies  in  the  right  beginnings  of  his 
youth,  in  the  use  he  made  of  his  spare  hours,  his  determination  to  know  something,  and  his  pluck 
and  perseverance  since  shown. 

Henry  Shimer,  physician  and  scientist,  is  a  native  of  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  his  birth 
being  dated  at  West  Vincent,  September  i,  1828.  His  father  was  William  Shinier,  a  farmer  and 
native  of  the  same  county,  and  his  mother,  before  her  marriage,  was  Catharine  Still.  She  is  yet 
living,  being  in  her  seventy-eighth  year.  His  father  died  in  1867.  Henry  lived  on  the  farm  in 
boyhood;  was  his  own  teacher  after  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  at  eighteen  commenced  teach- 
ing a  winter  school,  working  at  the  trade  of  mason  the  rest  of  the  year.  During  this  period  he 
devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  study. 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  1854,  Mr.  Shimer  started  for  the  West;  reached  Mount  Carroll  in 
the  following  month,  and  after  taking  a  wide  circuit  through  the  Mississippi  Valley,  lasting  for 
three  or  four  years,  he  concluded  that  this  should  be  his  home.  Like  Bayard  Taylor,  in  making 
his  first  tour  to  Europe,  and  Henry  D.  Thoreau  in  making  his  excursions  in  this  country  and  Can- 
ada, Mr.  Shimer  had  many  of  his  views  a-foot,  when  he  went  off  from  the  railroad  and  steamboat 
lines  of  travel,  going  as  far  to  the  northwest  as  Minnesota,  and  as  far  south  as  Texas,  traveling  on 
two  occasions  more  than  1000  miles  each  trip  on  foot,  and  several  shorter  journeys  of  a  few  hun- 
dred miles  each,  never  less,  and  traveled  by  rail,  by  water  and  on  foot  more  than  10,000  miles  in  all, 
before  his  feet  finally  rested,  contented  and  satisfied,  on  the  uplands  of  Mount  Carroll,  which  he 
justly  regarded  as  the  gem  of  town  sites.  During  these  travels  his  trowel  and  his  note-book  were 
his  companions,  and  he  settled  down  here  with  his  muscles  strengthened,  and  his  mind  well  stored 
and  greatly  expanded. 


il     Years       Oil 


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OF  THE        ,,,„,» 

UNIVERSITY  ofU-L 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  21  I 

In  December,  1857,  he  married  Miss  Frances  Anna  Wood,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Mount 
Carroll  Seminary  four  years  before,  and  still  its  principal;  and  he  engaged  in  teaching  in  that 
institution,  now  grown  to  mammoth  proportions.  Here  he  diligently  pursued  the  study  of  the 
mathematics,  the  physical  sciences,  and  natural  history,  which  have  always  been  favorite  branches 
with  him;  he  also  continued  his  medical  studies,  which  he  had  begun  years  before, and  was  finally 
graduated  at  the  Chicago  Medical  College  in  March,  1866,  he  being  prize  essayist  on  a  thesis 
entitled  ''The  Diseases  of  Insect  Life."  He  afterward  spent  two  winters  in  the  medical  colleges 
and  hospitals  of  New  York  city,  where  he  enjoyed  superior  advantages  in  different  departments 
of  his  chosen  profession.  In  a  very  few  years  he  built-up  a  liberal  practice,  and  has  attained  to 
eminence  in  his  profession.  For  awhile  after  commencing  practice,  he  continued  to  teach  a  short 
time  each  day  in  the  seminary,  but  his  professional  labors  at  length  became  so  onerous,  that  of  late 
years  he  has -done  little  more  than  lecture,  now  and  then,  on  some  branch  of  natural  history. 

As  a  writer  in  the  "  History  of  Carroll  County  '  has  well  remarked,  "the  doctor  is  an  enthusi- 
ast in  all  that  he  undertakes,  and  a  close  student,  devoting  the  time  which  most  men,  less  ardent, 
would  require  for  rest,  to  the  interests  of  a  large  and  growing  practice,  and  to  his  favorite 
branches  of  science,  as  his  ample  specimens  in  mineralogy,  ornithology,  entomology  and  botany 
attest.  He  is  a  skillful  taxidermist,  and  years  ago  prepared  three  thousand  specimens  of  birds  of 
the  different  varieties  found  in  this  vicinky,  with  some  rare  ones  from  foreign  places.  A  few 
'hours  spent  in  examining  the  doctor's  cabinet  of  specimens  will  amply  repay  the  lover  of  science." 

In  July,  1866,  the  University  of  Chicago  conferred  upon  Doctor  Shimer  the  honorary  title  of 
master  of  arts,  an  honor  well  merited,  and  all  the  more  noteworthy  since  the  recipient  had  been 
his  own  tutor  since  he  was  fourteen  years  old. 

We  believe  the  doctor  has  always  regarded  himself  as  lucky  in  having  his  steps  in  early  life 
directed  toward  the  setting  sun,  where  he  caught  the  progressive  spirit  and  stimulating  impulse 
of  the  Great  West.  Here  he  had  much  to  encourage  him  to  continue  as  he  had  commenced,  and 
to  push  forward  in  his  studies,  application  to  which  is  his  life  work.  He  was  nevermore  studious 
than  now,  and  this  habit  has  been  to  him  his  exceeding  great. reward.  It  has  placed  him  among 
the  eminent  physicians  of  the  state,  and  in  the  front  rank  among  mathematicians  and  naturalists. 

Doctor  Shimer  is  six  feet  in  height,  and  weighs  two  hundred  and  ten  pounds,  and  is  a  fine 
sample  of  robust  manhood.  Although  his  early  travels  and  later  business  associations  often 
brought  him  into  the  company  of  drinking  and  smoking  men,  and  he  has  probably  been  invited  a 
thousand  times  to  take  a  social  glass,  he  has  always  had  the  courage  to  say  no.  He  uses  neither 
distilled  nor  fermented  liquors,  nor  tobacco  in  any  form;  has  drunk  neither  tea  nor  coffee  since 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  for  the  last  fifteen  years  has  eaten  only  two  meals  a  day.  The  doctor's 
habits  are  his  best  physician. 

Frances  Anna  Wood  Shimer,  the  wife  of  Doctor  Shimer,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Milton,  Sar- 
atoga county,  New  York,  August  21,  1826,  her  parents  being  Jesse  and  Rebecca  (Bryant)  Wood. 
She  lost  her  mother  in  1836,  and  four  years  later,  when  only  fourteen  years  old,  she  began  teach- 
ing. She  finished  her  education  at  the  State  Normal  School,  Albany,  and  left  her  native  state  for 
Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1853.  The  year  before  a  bill  to  incorporate  the  Mount  Carroll  Seminary 
had  passed  the  legislature  and  become  a  law;  stock  to  the  amount  of  about  $4,000  had  been  sub- 
scribed, but  less  than  $>i,ooo  of  it  was  ever  realized  in  cash,  and  Misses  Frances  A.  Wood  and 
Cinderella  M.  Gregory  were  appointed  teachers.  They  opened  the  school  in  May,  1853,  with 
eleven  pupils,  and  before  the  end  of  the  term  the  number  went  up  to  forty.  Their  school  was  in 
the  second  story  of  the  only  brick  business  building  in  town;  later  they  moved  up  town  into  a 
new  brick  building,  erected  for  seminary  purposes,  and  which  was  forty-two  by  forty-six  feet,  and 
two  stories  high.  It  was  dedicated  October  24,  1854.  The  five  acres  of  ground  on  which  the 
building  stood  were  subsequently  increased  to  about  twenty-five;  the  original  campus  was  im- 
proved until  it  became  an  Eden  of  beauty,  and  the  building  which  these  teachers  had  purchased 
received  two  additions  while  they  were  laboring  in  concert. 

Up  to  1864  the  seminary  had  been  open  to  both  sexes;  since  that  date  it  has  been  used  for 

22 


212  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY, 

females  exclusively.  A  second  charter  was  obtained  in  1867,  naming  Mrs.  Shimer  and  Miss  Greg- 
ory as  sole  corporators. 

When  Miss  Gregory  came  to  Mount  Carroll  she  had  $80  to  put  into  the  institution;  in  1870 
she  retired  with  $10,000,  and  not  long  afterward  became  the  wife  of  Rev.  L.  L.  Lansing,  now  pas- 
tor of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Beloit,  Wisconsin.  Miss  Ada  C.  Joy  took  Miss  Gregory's  place,  as 
associate  principal,  a  happy  selection. 

When,  in  1867  the  second  addition  to  the  seminary  was  completed,  forty  by  one  hundred  feet, 
and  four  stories  high,  it  was  thought  by  many  that  the  last  brick  had  been  laid,  but  in  1876  Mrs. 
Shimer  added  the  main  building,  and  nearly  doubled  the  capacity  of  the  seminary.  When  these 
several  additions  were  made,  Mrs.  Shimer  was  her  own  architect,  and  drew  her  own  plans. 

The  sanitary  arrangements  here  are  perfect,  the  whole  surroundings  are  charming,  the  corps 
of  teachers  is  large,  they  are  experienced  educators,  and  the  institution  offers  facilities  for 
instruction  equal  to  any  seminary  of  the  kind  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Determined  to  keep 
pace  with  the  progress  of  the  age,  in  January,  1878,  Mrs.  Shimer  introduced  a  department  of  tel- 
egraphy, for  the  benefit  of  young  women  who  wish  to  prepare  themselves  for  something  that  may 
enable  them  to  be  self-sustaining.  One  of  the  beautiful  features  of  this  school  is  its  manual  labor 
department  for  the  benefit  of  poor  girls,  which  averages  about  thirty  pupils.  Some  of  the  best 
scholars  and  most  brilliant  women  here  educated  were  in  that  department. 

A  writer  in  a  Chicago  newspaper  thus  speaks  of  this  school: 

"The  Seminary,  now  in  its  thirtieth  year,  is  gathering  power  as  it  ripens  in  years.  It  was 
never  so  strong  in  its  influence  as  at  the  present  time.  Every  year  not  only  adds  to  its  alumni, 
but  to  its  popularity.  Its  graduates  go  abroad  to  praise  it,  and  by  their  deportment  and  scholar- 
ship, to  honor  it.  The  more  young  ladies  that  can  come  under  the  influence  and  receive  the  mental 
discipline  of  the  Mount  Carroll  Seminary,  the  better." 

The  Mount  Carroll  Seminary  owes  its  splendid  success  and  its  high  standing  to  the  very  able 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  managed.  Mrs.  Shimer  has  no  beggars  for  it,  has  never  asked  a 
cent  of  anybody,  has  never  solicited  patronage  of  any  one,  nor  employed  an  agent  to  canvass  for 
pupils.  The  school  stands  on  its  own  merits.  The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  watched  its  growth 
for  the  last  twenty  years;  has  marked  its  wide-spread  influence  and  usefulness  with  much  grati- 
fication, and  is  glad  to  know  that  there  is  at  least  one  queenly  financier  in  the  state  of  Illinois. 


ANDREW  J.   McGLUMPHY,   D.D. 

LINCOLN. 

THE  president  of  Lincoln  University,  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  is  a  native  of  Washing- 
ton county,  Pennsylvania,  dating  his  birth  June  2,  1831.  His  father,  Samuel  McGlum- 
phy,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  the  same  county,  in  1799.  His  grandfather,  John  McGlumphy,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  American  revolutionary  army.  The  family  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland.  The 
mother  of  our  subject,  Nancy  (Allen)  McGlumphy,  was  from  the  same  country  (the  county  of 
Monahan),  and  her  ancestors  held  property  entailed  upon  them  by  William,  Prince  of  Orange. 

Mr.  McGlumphy  was  educated  at  Waynesburgh  College,  Greene  county,  Pennsylvania,  being 
graduated  in  1858,33  valedictorian  of  his  class.  He  was  immediately  elected  professor  of  ancient 
languages  in  the  same  institution,  and  occupied  that  chair  one  year,  when  he  accepted  the  princi- 
palship  of  Mount  Zion  Seminary,  Macon  county,  Illinois,  and  held  that  position  for  seven  years. 
He  was  ordained  in  1859,  and  was  a  short  time  pastor  of  a  church  at  Prosperity.  In  1866  he  resigned 
the  principalship  to  accept  the  chair  of  mathematics  in  the  Lincoln  University,  then  just  starting, 
and  which  he  aided  in  organizing,  and  of  which  he  was  vice-president.  At  the  end  of  seven  years, 
on  the  death  of  President  J.  C.  Bowden,  D.D.,  Professor  McGlumphy  succeeded  him  (1873),  and 
is  filling  the  chair  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy. 

President  McGlumphy,  it  is  here  seen,  has  been  a  member  of  the  faculty  from  the  start,  and 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  2  13 

he  has  seen  the  institution  expand  into  truly  manly  proportions.  During  the  first  year  the  num- 
ber of  students  hardly  reached  one  hundred,  now  it  is  fully  two  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  univer- 
sity is  growing  in  popularity  and  usefulness  every  year. 

President  McGlumphy  is  a  man  of  fine  scholarship  and  industrious  habits.  His  tastes  are 
purely  intellectual.  He  possesses  fine  self-control,  and  governs  with  ease  and  dignity.  He  is  sel- 
dom austere,  and  never  implacable.  He  is  modest  and  simple  in  his  style.  As  a  teacher  he  has 
but  few  equals.  His  methods  are  mostly  original.  He  always  masters  the  subject  to  be  taught, 
and  never  appears  before  a  class  without  special  preparation.  He  has  followed  teaching  since  his 
boyhood,  and  may  be  called  a  master  of  the  art.  Few  men  develop  a  greater  interest  among  their 
pupils  than  he.  As  a  public  speaker  he  is  far  above  ordinary.  He  prepares  all  his  public  dis- 
courses with  great  labor,  and  delivers  them  with  fine  effect. 

In  August,  1873,  two  months  after  his  elevation  to  the  presidency  of  Lincoln  University,  our 
subject  received  from  his  alma  mater  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity,  which  title  is  all 
the  more  complimentary,  inasmuch  as  he  never  attended  a  theological  seminary.  He  has  taught 
the  classics,  the  physical  sciences,  the  mathematics,  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  and  seems  to 
be  a  general  student,  master  of  almost  every  branch  of  learning  usually  taught  in  colleges. 

As  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  Mr.  McGlumphy  has  always  been  a  hard  worker.  When  a  student 
in  Pennsylvania  he  was  elected  county  superintendent  of  schools,  and  held  that  office  for  three 
years,  giving  his  time  also  on  Saturdays  to  the  examination  of  teachers.  Since  coming  to  this 
state  he  was  at  one  period  a  member  of  the  state  board  of  examiners. 

He  is,  and  has  long  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  press  of  his  denomination,  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian,  and  his  writings  thus  published  are  quite  voluminous.  It  is  understood,  we 
believe,  that  he  has  more  or  less  material  partially  arranged,  which  may  some  day  be  put  in  book 
form.  The  whole  appearance  of  the  man  is  that  of  one  whose  life  has  been  given  to  books  and  to 
deep  thinking.  He  has  lectured  before  teacher's  institutes  in  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois,  and  on 
literary  subjects  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  his  productions  of  this  class  all  bear  the 
impress  of  a  thoroughly  disciplined  and  well  stored  mind. 

President  McGlumphy  was  married  in  1860  to  Emeline,  daughter  of  Aaron  Heaton,  of  Seneca, 
Ohio,  and  they  have  seven  children  living  and  have  buried  one  daughter. 


E 


EDWARD  Y.  GRIGGS. 

OTTAWA. 

DWARD  YOUNG  GRIGGS,  one  of  the  older  class  of  merchants  in  La  Salle  county,  and  a 
noteworthy  representative  of  that  class,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  Octo- 
ber 24,  1820,  his  parents  being  Ebenezer  and  Hepzebeth  (Bartholomew)  Griggs.  Both  were  of 
pure  New  England  stock,  and  of  English  lineage. 

The  father  of  Edward  was  a  foundryman  and  an  ingenious  machinist,  the  inventor  of  the  gov- 
ernor to  a  steam  engine,  and  died  at  Cincinnati  in  1823,  leaving  three  children,  all  quite  young, 
Edward  being  only  three  years  old.  Two  or  three  days  after  the  death  of  Ebenezer  Griggs,  Rev. 
William  Gray,  hearing  of  the  children's  loss,  and  not  wishing  to  have  them  separated,  adopted 
the  whole  of  thtm,  and  reared  them  in  a  most  exemplary  manner,  giving  Edward,  however,  only 
a  moderate  education,  although  enough,  with  the  additions  which  he  afterward  made,  for  business 
purposes. 

Rev.  William  Gray  married  a  sister  of  General  Mitchell,  the  astronomer,  Cincinnati,  where  she 
died  many  years  ago.  Mr.  Gray  died  in  Ottawa,  and  both  are  buried  at  Springfield,  Ohio. 

From  Cincinnati  the  children  were  taken  to  Lebanon,  and  subsequently  to  Springfield,  Ohio, 
where  Edward  became  a  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store.  There  he  remained  until  1849,  when  he  came 
to  Ottawa,  holding  here  also  for  a  year  and  a  half  a  clerkship  in  the  dry-goods  store  of  J.  Y.  Nat- 
tinger.  In  September,  1851,  Mr.  Griggs  opened  a  drug  store,  putting  up  the  sign  of  E.  Y.  Griggs, 


214  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

and  his  is  the  only  sign  that  was  here  thirty-two  years  ago  that  has  not  been  changed.  Such  is 
the  mutation  of  things  in  this  fluctuating,  changing  young  West.  Commercial  tornadoes  have 
swept  over  prairie  land,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  mercantile  traders  have  gone  down  before  the 
blasts,  but  Mr.  Griggs  has  always  maintained  his  perpendicularity,  and  been  able  to  keep  square 
with  the  world.  This  is  owing  to  the  fact,  no  doubt,  that  he  has  never  ventured  into  deep  water, 
and  has  managed  his  business  with  prudence  and  careful  foresight,  and  with  a  reasonable  degree 
of  economy.  He  has  held,  we  believe,  no  civil  office,  but  is  an  Odd-Fellow  and  past  grand  repre- 
sentative of  the  grand  lodge  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Griggs  married  in  1847  Miss  Mary  Barnett,  of  Charleston,  Indiana,  and  they  have  had 
four  children,  all  still  living:  Lavinia,  the  oldest  child,  is  with  her  parents;  Allen  G.  is  a  manu- 
facturer of  patent  medicines,  Ottawa;  Oakley  has  a  drug  and  book  store  at  Streator,  La  Salle 
county,  and  Clarence  is  a  lawyer  at  Ottawa.  The  wife  and  daughter  of  Mr.  Griggs  are  members 
of  the  Congregational  Church,  of  which  he  is  a  liberal  supporter. 


T 


LEWIS  P.   LOTT. 

MORRIS. 

HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  son  of  Zephaniah  Lott  and  Permilla  (Phelps)  Lott,  and  was 
born  in  Covert,  Seneca  county,  New  York,  August  5,  1813.  His  mother  was  English  descent, 
and  his  father  Holland,  or  Pennsylvania  Dutch.  He  moved  from  Pennsylvania  into  New  York, 
and  married.  True  to  the  instincts  of  his  phlegmatic  ancestors,  he  lived  on  one  farm  sixty  years, 
and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  his  wife  following  him  at  eighty.  The  Lotts  are  a  long-lived 
race,  his  paternal  grandsire  dying  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  four,  and  his  grandmother  at 
one  hundred  and  six. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen  Lewis  went  into  the  office  of  an  anti-masonic  paper,  at  Canandaigua,  On- 
tario county,  New  York,  called  the  "Ontario  Phoenix."  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1826,  at  the 
time  of  the  great  anti-masonic  excitement,  occasioned  by  the  the  abduction  of  Morgan.  He 
remained  in  Canandaigua  for  a  period  of  six  years,  following  his  occupation  very  successfully  in 
various  newspaper  offices  of  the  place,  but  after  mastering  his  trade  he  went  to  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
in  1832,  and  worked  two  years  as  journeyman  printer  there.  He  then,  in  company  with  General 
A.  S.  Sanford,  bought  out  the  printing  office,  and  for  eight  years  did  a  thriving  business.  The 
style  of  the  firm  was  Sanford  and  Lott,  and  besides  doing  a  general  job  printing  business,  book 
and  newspaper  work,  they  dealt  largely  in  books,  stationery,  printing  material,  paper,  etc.,  and 
for  several  years  their  business  was  very  successful. 

In  1842,  however,  he  sold  out  to  his  partner,  and  removed. to  near  Kirtland,  Ohio,  where  he 
engaged  in  manufacturing  pumps,  pails,  tubs,  household  furniture,  etc.  The  change,  however, 
was  not  a  profitable  one,  as  he  sunk  about  all  the  capital  he  had  before  he  sold  out.  He  had  not, 
however,  seriously  impaired  his  fortune  by  the  venture,  and  removing  to  Warren,  Trumbull  county, 
he  engaged  in  general  merchandising.  For  two  years  he  kept  a  large  store  of  a  general  assortment 
of  goods,  and  made  money,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time,  in  1846,  he  was  burned  out.  He  was, 
however,  fully  insured,  and  beyond  the  delay  and  interruption  of  business,  sustained  no  special  loss. 

In  the  summer  of  that  year  he  moved  to  Racine,  Wisconsin,  and  for  two  years  more  followed 
the  same  business.  In  the  spring  of  1848,  however,  he  moved  once  more  and  for  the  last  time, 
bringing  his  goods  to  Morris,  and  opening  up  a  general  assortment  here.  That  fall  and  the  fol- 
lowing summer  he  erected  a  plain,  substantial  residence,  in  which  he  has  resided  with  his  family 
up  to  the  present  time. 

In  1860  Mr.  Lott  sold  out  his  goods  to  his  partner,  Horace  Hurlburd,  and  retired  from  the  busi- 
ness with  a  competence.  His  life,  however,  could  not  be  spent  in  idleness.  He  was  but  forty-seven 
years  old,  and  full  of  energy  and  activity,  and  he  accepted  the  position  of  deputy  clerk  of  the  cir- 
cuit court  of  Grundy  county,  and  for  eight  years  managed  the  affairs  of  that  office  with  rare  skill 
and  success. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  215 

Mr.  Lott  possesses  unusual  business  tact  and  ability,  and  every  business  he  touches  rapidly 
assumes  an  orderly,  systematic  and  prosperous  condition  under  his  hands.  Hence,  although  busy 
with  his  own  affairs,  he  was  forced  from  time  to  time  to  serve  his  fellow  citizens  iii  various  posi- 
tions of  trust.  In  1856  he  was  elected  chairman  of  the  board  of  supervisors,  and  served  three 
years.  For  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  and  in  1870  was 
elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  has  held  the  office  ever  since. 

As  treasurer  of  the  school  board  he  administered  its  finances  successfully  for  several  years.  As 
a  Mason  Mr.  Lott  has  also  been  forced  to  act  in  almost  every  official  position  in  the  three 
degrees  of  Master  Mason,  Royal  Arch  and  Knight  Templar.  He  served  as  worshipful  master 
of  Cedar  Lodge,  No.  124,  of  A.F.A.M.;  was  high  priest  of  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  and  held  every 
office  in  Blaney  Commandery,  No.  5,  K.T.  He  was  also  for  some  years  a  prominent  Odd-Fellow, 
but  withdrew  several  years  ago. 

In  politics  Mr.  Lott  is  a  republican,  dyed  in  the  wool,  having  passed  through  the  various  pre- 
paratory stages  of  the  abolition,  whig  and  free-soil  parties,  but  while  active  in  political  matters, 
and  of  pronounced  opinions  upon  every  question,  cannot  be  called  a  politician.  He  has  never 
sought  office,  and  has  served  only  when  it  was  thrust  upon  him. 

In  1844  Mr.  Lott  married  Miss  Delia  Lloyd  Clark,  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.     The  ceremony  was 

performed  on  Washington's  birth-day,  February  22,  by  Rev.  W.  Walden,  Baptist  minister.     Four 

•sons  were  the  fruit  of  that  union,  three  of  whom  he  has  had  the  grief  to  lay  away  in  death,  but 

his  eldest,  Edward  L.  Lott,  now  a  man  thirty-six  years  of  age,  is  engaged  in  business  at  Grand 

Tower,  Illinois. 

In  1874  Mr.  Lott  took  a  trip  to  the  western  coast,  and  spent  a  few  months  visiting  the  places 
of  interest  in  that  fascinating  region.  With  this  exception  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  have  been 
spent  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  his  home  in  Morris,  in  the  company  of  his  wife,  a  lady  still  in  the 
possession  of  good  health.  He  has  long  since  laid  by  an  ample  competence  for  his  declining 
years;  has  a  portion  of  it  invested  in  two  fine  farms  south  of  the  river,  and  amuses  himself  by  an 
occasional  visit  to  them.  Although,  sixty-nine  years  old  Mr. Lott  is  straight  as  an  arrow,  in  full 
health  and  vigor,  and  bids  fair  to  survive  many  years. 


CHARLES    SPEARS  AND   SON. 

MORRISON. 

THE  oldest  mercantile  house  in  Morrison  is  that  of  Charles  Spears  and  Son,  which  was 
founded  in  1857  by  William  and  Charles  Spears,  with  the  firm  name  of  Spears  and  Brother, 
who  kept  a  stock  of  general  merchandise,  and  who  had  previously  been  in  trade  together  in  Pitts- 
burgh, Carroll  county,  Indiana.  In  1867  John  Snyder  was  taken  into  the  firm,  and  its  name 
changed  to  Spears  and  Company.  In  1870  Mr.  Snyder  sold  out  his  interest  to  W.  W.  Wilcox,  who 
retired  in  1873.  William  Spears  had  died  the  year  previous,  and  when  Mr.  Wilcox  went  out,  the 
firm  took  its  present  name,  and  changed  its  line  of  business  to  dry  goods  and  notions  exclusively. 

The  father  of  William  and  Charles  Spears  was  William  Spears,  Sr.,  a  farmer,  born  in  York 
county,  Pennsylvania.  William  Spears,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Monroe  county,  New  York,  in  1812, 
and  Charles  in  r8i6.  Two  years  later  the  family  moved  to  Huron  county,  Ohio,  where  the  sons 
received  a  very  ordinary  English  education,  being  subsequently  their  own  instructors.  Charles 
Spears  in  his  youth  was  engaged  in  farming;  in  1838  went  to  Indiana,  took  a  contract,  and  built 
several  miles  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  and  in  1845  ne  ar>d  his  older  brother  commenced 
the  general  mercantile  trade  in  Carroll  county,  Indiana,  the  firm  name  being  Spears  and  Brother. 
They  remained  in  business  there  until  1857,  when  they  removed  to  Morrison. 

William  Spears,  Jr.,  the  senior  member  of  the  original  firm,  was  a  prudent  business  man, 
a  deacon  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  a  citizen  who  was  very  much  respected.  He  died,  as 
already  intimated,  in  1872,  leaving  a  widow  but  no  children.  Charles  Spears,  the  senior  member 


2l6  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

of  the  present  firm,  and  the  ranking  merchant  of  Morrison,  has  been  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits for  forty-five  years ;  has  passed  through  several  commercial  cyclones,  which  have  swept 
over  and  devastated  the  country,  and  he  has  never  bent  an  iota.  Figuratively  speaking  he  has 
always  stood  perfectly  erect,  and  enjoys  to-day  a  thoroughly  healthv  spine.  He  is  among  the 
truly  successful  business  men  of  Morrison  ;  is  fair  and  honorable  in  all  his  dealings  with  his 
fellow  men,  and  has  the  unlimited  confidence  of  the  community  in  his  integrity  as  well  as  finan- 
cial solidity.  He  was  mayor  of  the  city  of  Morrison  for  two  years,  and  may  have  held  other  local 
offices  of  which  we  are  not  cognizant.  He  is  much  esteemed  as  a  public  spirited  citizen.  He 
married,  in  1847,  Miss  Rebecca  Benham,  of  Pittsburgh,  Indiana,  and  they  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren, only  three  of  them,  all  sons,  now  living.  They  have  had  a  good  business  training,  and  are 
industrious  and  capable  young  men.  Charles  W.,  the  eldest  son,  is  married,  and  of  the  firm  of 
Charles  Spear  and  Son,  and  Peter  and  William  are  bankers  at  Burr  Oak,  Jewell  county,  Kansas. 


CHARLES   A.  GRISWOLD,  A.M.,  M.D. 

FULTON  CITY. 

/CHARLES  AUGUSTUS  GRISWOLD,  the  oldest  medical  practitioner  in  Fulton  City,  was 

V '  born  in  Saybrook,  now  Essex,  Connecticut,  November  24,  1830.  His  father,  Selah  Griswold, 

was  born  in  the  same  town,  and  his  mother,  Rosanna  (Bull)  Griswold,  was  also  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut. Selah  Griswold,  senior,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  descendant  of  the 
Griswold  family  so  conspicuous  in  Connecticut,  a  hundred  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
and  for  whom  Fort  Griswold  was  named,  and  which  family  includes  at  least  one  governor  of  that 
state.  The  grandfather  of  Charles  was  a  pensioner  of  the  revolutionary  war,  and  his  father,  of 
the  war  of  1812-14. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  prepared  for  college  at  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  and  is  a  graduate  of 
Yale  College,  class  of  1852  ;  studied  medicine  for  three  years  in  connection  with  the  State  Lunatic 
Asylum  at  Utica ;  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  in  the  medical  department  of  his  alma  mater, 
and  one  course  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York  city,  from  which  latter 
institution  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  in  March  1856. 

Doctor  Griswold  came  to  Fulton  City,  where  he  has  been  in  the  successful  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession for  twenty-seven  years,  with  the  exception  of  three  spent  in  the  service  of  his  country. 
He  went  into  the  army  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  93d  Illinois  infantry  in  October,  1862,  and 
was  mustered  out  with  his  regiment  in  July,  1865,  being  promoted  to  surgeon  in  1864.  The  gal- 
lant 93d  was  at  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg,  and  accompanied  Sherman  in  his  march  to 
the  sea,  and  through  the  Carolinas  to  Richmond.  Doctor  Griswold  had  his  full  share  of  hard- 
ships, but  never  received  a  wound,  or  even  a  scratch,  and  was  not  off  duty  a  single  day.  His 
experience  in  the  war  was  of  great  service  to  him  as  a  surgeon,  and  enhanced  his  reputation  for 
skill  in  that  branch  of  the  healing  art.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Whiteside  County  Medical  Soci- 
ety, of  the  Union  Medical  Society,  which  embraces  Clinton  county,  Iowa,  and  Whiteside  county. 
Illinois,  lying  on  opposite  sides  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  at  the  time  of  writing  (spring  of 
1882),  he  is  a  delegate  under  appointment  to  the  American  Medical  Association  to  be  held  at 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  in  June  1882.  He  has  always  had  a  highly  creditable  standing  among 
the  medical  fraternity. 

The  doctor  has  a  leaning  toward  literary  work,  and  frequently  writes  for  the  local  papers.  At 
one  period  he  was  associate  editor  of  the  Fulton  City  "  Advertiser,"  a  republican  weekly,  which 
was  changed  to  the  "Journal."  He  was  also  connected  at  one  time  with  the,  Northern  Illinois 
College,  Fulton,  and  lectured  on  physiology,  anatomy  and  hygiene  for  two  or  three  years,  sub- 
jects to  which  he  has  given  a  good  deal  of  hard  study.  Doctor  Griswold  has  been  examiner  for 
pensions  ever  since  his  return  from  the  army;  was  a  school  director  for  two  or  three  terms; 
mayor  of  the  city  in  1868,  and  is  now  serving  his  second  year  as  a  member  of  the  county  board 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  2l"J 

of  supervisors.  The  doctor  is  a  member  of  Fulton  City  Lodge,  No.  189,  of  Freemasons,  and  was 
master  of  the  lodge  for  four  years. 

December  29,  1876,  on  his  return  from  Connecticut,  where  he  had  been  on  the  sad  mission  to 
attend  the  funeral  of  his  father,  who  died  in  his  ninety-seventh  year,  he  was  on  the  train  at 
Ashtabula,  which  went  down  through  the  bridge,  and  in  which  fearful  disaster  about  half  of  his 
fellow  travelers  lost  their  lives.  He  himself  was  badly  injured. 

Doctor  Griswold  married  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  July  5,  1866,  Miss  Alice  E.  Smith,  who  died 
December  10,  1874,  leaving  three  children,  one  daughter,  Joe  Adelaide,  having  previously  died, 
and  Charles  Richard  having  died  in  infancy.  The  survivors  are  Marietta  Alice  and  Henrietta 
Beaumont,  two  promising  children,  who  are  with  their  relatives  in  Cleveland,  and  pursuing  their 
studies.  Doctor  Griswold  is  still  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and,  ranking 
other  medical  men  in  the  place,  and  having  a  fine  reputation  for  skill,  he  does  a  good  deal  in  the 
line  of  consultation. 

HON.  JAMES  C.  ROBINSON. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ONE  of  the  prominent  and  well  known  lawyers  and  democratic  politicians  of  Illinois  is  James 
C.  Robinson,  of  the  firm  of  Palmer,  Robinson  and  Shutt.  His  father,  Richard  Robinson, 
a  native  of  North  Carolina,  moved  to  Clark  county,  this  state,  in  1820,  and  shortly  afterward 
removed  to  Edgar  county,  where  James  was  born  in  1824.  A  little  later  the  family  returned  to 
Clark  county,  where  the  son  was  reared  and  educated. 

We  learn  from  the  history  of  Sangamon  county  that  Mr.  Robinson  read  law  in  Clark  county; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1850,  and  there  practiced  until  1869,  when  he  settled  in  Springfield. 
The  firm  with  which  he  is  connected  consists  of  Hon.  John  M.  Palmer,  formerly  governor  of  the 
state,  J.  Mayo  Palmer,  his  elder  son,  late  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legislature,  and 
Hon.  William  E.  Shutt,  who  represents  Sangamon  county  in  the  state  senate.  It  is  one  of  the 
leading  law  firms  in  the  state,  its  business  extending  into  all  the  courts  of  the  state  and  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and  is  especially  large  in  the  higher  courts.  As  an  advocate 
Mr.  Robinson  stands  in  the  front  rank. 

For  a  score  of  years  he  has  been  quite  prominent  among  the  democratic  magnates  of  the 
state.  He  was  a  member  of  congress  from  1859  to  1865;  was  an.  unsuccessful  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor in  1864,  and  again  served  in  congress  (this  time  from  the  Springfield  district)  from  1871 
to  1875. 

Mr.  Robinson  has  a  wife  and  six  children,  two  sons  and  four  daughters,  both  of  the  former 
being  lawyers. 

JOHN   A.  SHEPHARD. 

JERSEYVILLE. 

TOHN  ADAM  SHEPHARD,  treasurer  of  the  county  of  Jersey,  is  a  son  of  William  and  Ann 
J  Maria  (Gross)  Shephard.  and  was  born  in  Jerseyville  March  21,  1847.  His  father  was  a  native 
of  England,  born  in  1816;  was  educated  in  that  country,  and  in  1832  came  to  this  country  with 
his  father,  William  Shephard,  Sr.  William  Shephard,  Jr.,  aided  in  constructing  the  Raritan 
canal,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  he  lived  about  three  years,  removing  thence  to  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  spring  of  1838  he  came  west;  halted  a  few  months  in  Saint  Louis,  and  in 
October  of  that  year  went  to  Coles  county,  this  state,  where  he  had  a  contract  on  the  Central 
Branch  railroad,  now  a  part  of  the  Indianapolis  and  Saint  Louis  road.  In  1839  he  settled  in  Jersey- 
ville, and  took  a  contract  to  dig  down  the  Grafton  bluff.  Subsequently  he  carried  on  the  shoe- 
making  business,  at  which  he  had  worked  a  short  time  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  on  coming  to  this 
country.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Adam  Gross,  of  Dauphin  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  they 
were  married  in  1840. 


2l8  I'NITED    STATES  BfOGRAPIIICAT.   r>ICTIONARY. 

In  1847,  as  we  learn  from  the  "Atlas  of  Jersey  County,"  Mr.  Shephard  became  a  merchant  at 
Grafton,  where  he  remained  in  business  four  or  five  years,  and  then,  for  a  shorter  period,  gave  his 
attention  to  railroad  building  in  Illinois.  Subsequently  he  was  president  of  the  Jacksonville, 
Alton  and  Saint  Louis  road,  resigning  that  post  late  in  the  year  1860.  From  1862  to  1869  he  was  a 
merchant  at  Jerseyville,  being  meanwhile  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1866,  and  reelected  in  1870. 
He  resigned  the  next  year,  having  previously  engaged  in  railroad  building  in  Texas.  From  1872 
to  1875  he  was  in  the  banking  business  in  Jerseyville,  and  closed  out  just  before  his  death,  August 
12  of  the  latter  year. 

Says  a  writer  who  knew  Mr.  Shephard  well:  "When  he  landed  on  American  soil  he  was  poor 
and  friendless,  but  the  affable  and  courteous  manners  for  which  he  was  noted  soon  enabled  him 
to  win  true  and  honorable  friends,  and  being  endowed  with  great  energy  and  perseverance  and 
indomitable  industry,  he  gradually  acquired  considerable  wealth.  Few  men  in  Jersey  county 
have  been  better  fitted  for  a  prominent  and  active  business  life  than  Mr.  Shephard,  he  being  among 
that  class  of  self-made  men  whose  integrity  and  honesty  are  never  doubted."  The  widow  of  Mr. 
Shephard  is  still  living,  her  home  being  in  Jerseyville. 

John  Adam  Shephard  was  educated  in  a  Catholic  school  in  Saint  Louis,  including  the  classics, 
and  in  his  younger  years  was  in  a  store  in  Jerseyville.  From  1860  to  1867  he  was  a  bookkeeper  for 
his  father.  From  1872  to  1875  he  was  in  the  banking  business  with  his  father;  was  in  the  law 
and  real  estate  business  with  A.  A.  Goodrich  for  three  or  four  years,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1879 
he  was  elected  county  treasurer  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Thomas  O'Donnell.  Mr.  Shep- 
hard was  reelected  in  1882,  and  is  making  a  very  acceptable  and  popular  county  official.  He  is  a 
democrat  in  politics,  as  was  his  father  before  him,  and  it  is  but  justice  to  say  that  all  parties  in 
Jersey  county  have  unbounded  confidence  in  his  integrity.  The  funds  of  the  county  could  not  be 
in  safer  hands. 

Mr.  Shephard  is  quite  public-spirited,  and  is  treasurer  of  the  Jersey  County  Fair,  a  truly  pros- 
perous organization.  He  is  alderman  of  the  fourth  ward,  and  has  -held  that  office  a  number  of 
years.  January  16,  1878,  he  married  Miss  Hattie  Ely,  daughter  of  George  I.  Ely,  of  Jerseyville, 
and  they  have  one  child,  a  daughter. 

WILLIAM   E.  IVES. 

AMBOY. 

WILLIAM  ELLERY  IVES,  one  of  the  oldest  lawyers  in  practice  in  Lee  county,  is  a  son  of 
Almon  and  Nancy  (Tomlin)  Ives,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Ellery,  Chautauqua  county, 
New  York,  May  24,  1821.  An  account  of  the  family  may  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  his  brother, 
Doctor  F.  B.  Ives,  on  other  pages  of  this  volume.  In  April,  1834,  the  family  came  to  Illinois,  and 
William  finished  his  education  at  the  Granville  Academy,  Putnam  county.  He  read  law  at 
Oswego,  Kendall  county,  with  an  older  brother,  Almon  B.  Ives,  and  was  graduated  at  the  National 
Law  School,  Balston  Spa,  New  York,  in  1852.  He  practiced  two  years  at  Oswego,  this  state,  and 
in  1854  settled  in  Amboy,  where  he  has  been  steadily  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  He  does  business  in  all  the  state  and  federal  courts,  and  has  always  had  a 
remunerative  practice.  He  received  a  thorough  legal  education  before  opening  an  office;  has 
since  been  quite  studious,  and  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  best  read  lawyers  in  Lee  county.  He  is  a 
man  of  probity  and  of  sound  judgment,  and  has  the  unlimited  confidence  of  his  clients  and  the 
community,  never  encouraging  a  man  to  go  to  law  unless  it  is  evident  that  he  has  a  clear  case. 

Mr.  Ives  was  mayor  of  the  city  four  consecutive  terms,  and  state's  attorney,  first  by  appoint- 
ment, and  afterward  four  years  by  election,  making  an  honorable  record  in  that  position,  as  in 
every  other  which  he  has  ever  held. 

He  is  a  republican  of  whig  antecedents,  firm  in  his  principles,  and  free  to  express  them  in 
private  or  on  the  stump;  is  a  man  also  of  no  inconsiderable  sagacity;  has  a  good  deal  of  political 
influence,  and  is  quite  active  in  an  exciting  canvass.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  has  been 
junior  warden  of  Illinois  Central  Lodge,  No.  178. 


t'BrviRY' 


i;<ois 


STATES  RroGRArmcAi.  DICTIONARY.  221 

He  married  in  December,  1841,  Susan,  daughter  of  James  Ryon,  of  Kendall  county,  and  they 
have  had  five  children,  only  three  of  them,  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  now  living.  Charles  E., 
the  elder  son,  is  an  attofney-at-law,  having  a  family,  and  being  of  the  firm  of  W.  E.  Ives  and  Son. 
He  served  between  one  and  two  years  in  the  late  civil  war,  at  first  in  the  6<)th,  and  afterward  in 
the  146111  Illinois  infantry.  Esther  M.  is  the  wife  of  E.  A.  Winn,  of  Amboy,  and  James  R.  is  a 
graduate  of  the  University  of  Rochester,  New  York,  an  attorney-at-law,  and  editor  and  proprietor 
of  the  "Rocky  Mountain  Mining  Review,"  Denver,  Colorado. 


ISAAC   N.  ARNOLD. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  family  of  Arnold,  according  to  the  "Historical  and  Genealogical  Register"  of  October, 
1879,  is  of  very  great  antiquity,  having  its  origin  among  the  ancient  princes  of  Wales. 
According  to  a  pedigree  recorded  in  the  College  of  Arms,  they  trace  from  Ynir,  king  of  Gwent- 
land,  who  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  who  was  the  descendant 
paternally  from  Ynir,  the  second  son  of  Cadwalader,  king  of  the  Britons.  The  first  who  bore 
the  family  name  was  Arnholt,  son  of  Gwillim,  the  tenth  in  a  direct  line  from  Ynir,  king  of 
Gwentland.  He  had  a  son  whom  he  named  Arnholt,  whose  son,  Roger  of  Llanthony,  in  Mon- 
mouthshire, was  the  first  to  adopt  his  father's  name  as  a  surname.  Thomas  Arnold,  the  sixteenth 
in  a  direct  line,  and  the  fourth  in  descent  from  Roger  who  bore  the  name  of  Arnold,  was  second 
son  of  Richard  Arnold,  of  Bagbere,  whose  manor  house  was  standing  in  1870,  when  it  was  demol- 
ished and  a  smaller  building  erected  on  its  site  for  a  farm-house.  He  was  married  twice,  and 
had  nine  children.  His  first  wife  was  Alice  Gully,  who  bore  him  six,  of  whom  William  was  the 
fifth  child.  His  second  wife  bore  him  three,  two  daughters  and  one  son,  Thomas,  from  whom 
Isaac  N.  Arnold  sprang. 

Thomas  and  William  were  the  first  of  the  family  to  come  to  America.  They  set  sail  from 
Dartmouth,  England,  May  i,  1635,  and  arrived  June  24  in  New  England.  After  residing  a  short 
time  at  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  William  removed  with  his  family,  April  20,  1636,  to  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  and  became  associated  with  Roger  Williams  and  others  in  the  purchase  of  lands 
from  the  Indians.  The  place  selected  for  their  settlement  was  na-med  by  the  pious  Roger 
Williams,  in  gratitude  to  God  for  his  care  and  providential  oversight  and  direction  since  his 
expulsion  from  the  Massachusetts  colony  for  his  religious  opinions  —  Providence.  The  lands 
purchased  were  parceled  out  among  the  associates,  Mr.  Arnold  receiving  large  portions  in  Prov- 
idence, Pawtuxet  and  Warwick.  He  was  held  in  much  esteem,  and  filled  various  important 
offices  in  the  new  colony.  His  son,  Benedict  Arnold,  succeeded  Roger  Williams  as  governor  of 
the  colony  in  1657.  From  him  descended  General  Benedict  Arnold,  whose  treason  to  the  cause 
of  liberty  during  the  revolution  made  his  name  as  infamous  as  that  of  his  great-grandsire  and 
namesake  had  been  honorable. 

Thomas  Arnold  married  his  first  wife  in  England.  Her  name  is  not  known.  His  second  wife 
was  Phebe,  daughter  of  George  Parkhurst,  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts.  He  was  fined  in  1654 
and  1655  for  not  attending  public  worship,  and  subsequently  removed  to  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  his  half  brother,  William,  and  Roger  Williams.  From  this  cir- 
cumstance it  is  probable  that  he  shared  the  religious  faith  of  that  remarkable  man  who  founded 
in  1639  the  first  Baptist  church  of  America. 

The  fifth  in  a  direct  line  from  this  man  was  also  named  Thomas,  who  married  Anstis  Thorn- 
ton, and  had  eleven  children.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the  revolution,  and  named  one  of  his  sons 
George  Washington,  after  the  Father  of  his  Country.  He  was  born  at  Warwick,  Rhode  Island, 
November  29,  1778;  studied  medicine,  and  died  March  7,  1838,  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age. 
November  3,  1795,  he  married  Sophia,  daughter  of  Reuben  and  Hannah  (Aldrich)  Mason.  She 
23 


222  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

died  January  9,  1861,  aged  seventy-eight.  They  were  the  parents  of  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch. 

About  the  year  1800  Doctor  George  W.  Arnold  removed  with  his  family  from  Rhode  Island  to 
Hartwick,  Otsego  county,  New  York,  where  Isaac  was  born,  November  30,  1813.  At  the  early 
age  of  fifteen  Isaac  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  and  compelled  to  hew  out  his  own  for- 
tune. The  district  school  and  village  academy  were  the  only  institutions  of  learning  he  was  able 
to  attend,  but  so  well  did  he  make  use  of  such  facilities  as  he  had,  and  so  proficient  had  he  become 
in  the  classics,  that  when  he  came  to  study  law,  three  years  were  deducted  from  the  seven  legally 
required  before  admission  to  the  bar.  While  still  at  school  he  listened  a  few  times  to  the  elo- 
quence of  Judge  Morehouse  and  Joshua  A.  Spencer,  who  were  regarded  at  that  time  as  the  most 
talented  members  of  the  bar  of  central  New  York,  and  it  proved  the  pebble  in  the  rivulet  of  his 
youth  which  gave  direction  to  the  whole  after  current  of  his  life.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
entered  the  law  office  of  Richard  Cooper,  at  Cooperstown,  the  county  seat  of  Otsego  county,  New 
York.  (Richard  Cooper  was  the  nephew  of  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  the  illustrious  American 
novelist,  who  abandoned  the  navy  after  six  years'  experience,  and  settled  in  Cooperstown  in 
1810.)  After  a  short  time,  however,  the  opportunity  presenting,  he  left  Mr.  Cooper's  office  for 
that  of  Judge  Morehouse,  where  he  remained  till  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
state,  December  20,  1835.  He  had  spent  but  four  years  in  the  study  of  law,  but  passed  with 
honor  when  but  little  over  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

Very  soon  after  he  began  his  law  studies  he  was  permitted  to  assist  Judge  Morehouse  in  the 
preparation  of  cases,  and  after  a  time  to  plead  before  justices'  courts,  and  earned  in  this  way 
sufficient  to  pay  his  personal  expenses  till  admitted  to  the  bar,  when  he  at  once  formed  a  part- 
nership with  his  preceptor,  and  entered  upon  a  lucrative  practice.  He  was  not  long  contented, 
however,  to  remain  in  competition  with  the  old  established  lawyers  of  his  native  state.  His 
ambition  spurred  him  to  strive  for  the  highest  honors,  and  his  judgment  told  him  that  the  great 
undeveloped  West  was  the  most  promising  field  for  a  young  lawyer,  as  for  every  other  class  of 
citizens.  Chicago  was  even  then  beginning  to  attract  attention,  and  he  decided  to  come  west 
and  grow  up  with  the  country.  He  reached  Chicago  in  October,  1836,  with  very  little  money, 
but  a  good  deal  of  ambition  and  pluck.  He  at  once  opened  a  law  office  on  his  own  account,  but 
after  a  few  months  formed  a  copartnership  with  Mahlon  D.  Ogden. 

Chicago  was  then  but  an  ambitious  village  of  about  3,000  inhabitants,'  but  the  following  year 
it  was  incorporated  as  a  city,  and  elected  William  B.  Ogden  its  first  mayor,  and  Isaac  N.  Arnold 
city  clerk.  His  law  business,  however,  increased  so  rapidly  that  he  was  forced  to  resign  his  office 
to  attend  to  it,  and  was  soon  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  talented  and  successful  lawyers  of 
the  state.  Thenceforward  his  history  is  inseparably  interwoven  with  that  of  the  city  and  the 
state.  For  nearly  half  a  century  he  has  been  a  prominent  actor  in  her  affairs,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  separate  his  record  from  her  history,  his  achievements  from  her  progress.  He  wedded  the  city 
when  both  were  young,  and  they  have  grown  old  and  prosperous  together.  While  both  are  self- 
made,  each  owes  to  the  other  many  of  the  conditions  of  their  joint  prosperity,  and  both  would 
have  suffered  loss  had  they  remained  strangers  each  to  the  other. 

The  first  substantial  service  Mr.  Arnold  rendered  his  adopted  state  was  the  occasion  of  his 
entry  into  public  life  by  his  election  to  the  state  legislature,  in  1842.  It  is  impossible,  within  the 
limits  of  this  sketch,  to  give  a  full  history  of  the  woeful  condition  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
state  at  this  period,  but  we  quote  the  following  from  Governor  Ford's  history  as  the  best  brief 
statement  possible  of  the  condition  of  affairs  when  he  came  into  office,  and  the  causes  which  led 
to  it : 

"In  1842  the  state  was  in  debt  about  $14,000,000  for  moneys  wasted  in  internal  improvements 
and  in  banking.  The  domestic  treasury  of  the  state  was  in  arrears  $313,000  for  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  government.  Auditors'  warrants  were  freely  selling  at  a  discount  of  fifty  per  cent. 
The  people  were  unable  to  pay  even  moderate  taxes  to  replenish  the  treasury,  in  which  not  one 
cent  was  contained  even  to  pay  postage  on  letters  to  and  from  the  public  offices.  The  great 


UNITED    STATES  BIOCK.-I  r/flCAL    DICTIONARY. 


223 


canal,  after  spending  $5,000,000  on  it,  was  about  to  be  abandoned.  The  banks,  upon  which  the 
people  relied  for  a  currency,  had  become  insolvent;  their  paper  had  fallen  so  low  as  to  cease  to 
circulate  as  money,  and  as  yet  no  other  money  had  taken  its  place,  leaving  the  people  wholly  des- 
titute of  a  circulating  medium,  and  universally  in  debt.  Immigration  to  the  state  had  almost 
ceased.  Real  estate  was  wholly  unsalable.  The  people  abroad,  terrified  at  the  prospect  of  high 
taxation,  refused  to  come  among  us  for  settlement,  and  our  own  people  at  home  were  no  less 
alarmed  and  terrified  at  the  magnitude  of  our  debt,  then  apparently  so  much  exceeding  any 
known  resources  of  the  country.  Many  were  driven  to  absolute  despair  of  ever  paying  a  cent  of 
it,  and  it  would  have  required  but  little  countenance  and  encouragement  in  the  then  disheartened 
and  wavering  condition  of  the  public  mind  to  have  plunged  the  state  into  the  one  terrible  infamy 
of  open  repudiation." 

Happily,  however,  there  was  sufficient  wisdom  and  integrity  among  her  citizens  to  extricate 
the  state  from  her  disastrous  condition.  Arthur  Bronson,  of  New  York,  William  B.  Ogden,  Justin 
Butterfield  and  Mr.  Arnold  met  in  council  to  devise  some  plan  to  save  the  state  credit,  and  a  very 
simple  suggestion  by  Mr.  Bronson  solved  the  whole  enigma.  The  proposition  was  to  offer  the 
bondholders  the  canal  and  its  revenues,  when  it  should  be  finished,  and  its  land  as  security  for 
additional  advances  to  finish  it.  Mr.  Arnold  elaborated  the  scheme  in  a  speech  in  Chicago,  which 
was  printed  and  put  in  circulation.  He  became  at  once  the  champion  of  the  anti-repudiation 
element,  and  was  elected  to  the  legislature  on  that  issue.  Mr.  Butterfield  drew  up  the  necessary 
bill,  which  Mr.  Arnold,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  finance,  took  charge  of.  With  the  assis- 
tance of  Governor  Ford,  a  slender  majority  was  secured  for  it  and  the  state  was  saved.  At  this 
session  a  bill  was  passed  providing  that  no  property  should  be  sold  upon  execution  or  judicial 
process  until  it  had  been  first  appraised,  nor  unless  it  should  bring  two-thirds  of  its  appraised 
value.  This  was  a  stretch  of  legislative  generosity  designed  to  protect  the  impoverished  people 
from  oppression  by  their  equally  distressed  creditors.  Mr.  Arnold  opposed  its  passage  on  the 
ground  of  its  unconstitutionality,  and  on  its  passage,  carried  the  question  to  the  United  States 
supreme  court  on  some  test  cases,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  his  judgment  affirmed  by 
that  tribunal.  As  a  delegate  to  the  democratic  state  convention,  prior  to  his  election  to  the  legis- 
lature in  1842,  Mr.  Arnold  had  done  his  utmost  to  get  his  party  to  commit  itself  to  the  doctrine 
of  anti-repudiation,  but  failed.  In  1844  he  tried  to  secure  the  nomination  of  Van  Buren  as  the 
democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency,  but  was  again  disappointed;  but  nevertheless,  as  one  of 
the -state  electors,  he  reluctantly  cast  his  electoral  vote  for  Polk  and  Dallas. 

By  1848  he  was  prepared  to  enter  heartily  into  the  free-soil  movement,  and  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Buffalo  convention  when  the  party  was  organized.  In  that  platform,  in  common  with  the 
other  members  of  the  convention,  he  pledged  himself  to  fight  for  free  soil,  free  speech,  free  labor 
and  free  men,  until  a  triumphant  victory  should  reward  their  exertions. 

With  the  aid  of  such  men  as  William  B.  Ogden,  Thomas  Hoyne,  Daniel  Brainerd  and  George 
Manierre,  a  convention  was  called  at  Ottawa,  a  Van  Buren  and  Adams  ticket  put  into  the  field, 
and  the  first  anti-slavery  political  campaign  inaugurated  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  Mr.  Arnold 
took  the  stump  with  great  ardor,  and  although  the  ticket  was  defeated,  having  received  but  291,- 
263  votes  out  of  a  total  popular  vote  of  2,871,908,  and  out  of  a  total  electoral  vote  of  290  not  one, 
yet  Cook  county  gave  it  a  majority  over  Taylor  of  412  votes.  The  vote  stood:  Van  Buren,  2,120; 
Taylor,  1,708;  Cass,  1,622. 

From  1848' to  1858,  although  taking  an  active  part  on  the  anti-slavery  side  in  every  campaign, 
state  and  national,  he  devoted  himself  closely  to  his  profession,  and  achieved  a  high  reputation 
as  attorney  for  the  canal  board.  He  gained  important  suits  over  N.  B.  Judd  and  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  before  the  supreme  court. 

In  1855  he  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  as  the  free-soil  candidate  for  speaker  was 
defeated  by  three  or  four  votes  only.  During  this  session  he  made  an  elaborate  and  effective 
speech  in  reply  to  those  who  contended  that  Governor  Bissell,  who  had  just  been  elected,  was 
constitutionally  ineligible  to  office,  in  consequence  of  having  accepted  a  challenge  to  mortal  com- 


224  UNITED    STATES   RIOGRAPIIICAL    DICTIONARY. 

bat  from  Jefferson  Davis  while  in  congress;  arguing  that  the  challenge  was  accepted  while  out  of 
the  state,  and  did  not  affect  the  case.  In  1858  he  was  a  candidate  for  congress,  and  was  defeated 
by  John  F.  Farnsworth  by  a  close  vote,  but  being  nominated  in  1860,  he  was  triumphantly 
elected,  receiving  14,663  votes,  and  running  ahead  of  the  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  electoral  ticket  by 
seventy-six  votes.  During  the  campaign  he  addressed  a  vast  multitude  in  the  wigwam  at 
Springfield  for  Lincoln  and  liberty*.  The  next  day,  when  parting  from  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  whom 
he  had  been  for  years  personally  intimate,  Mr.  Arnold  said:  "Good-bye,  Mr.  Lincoln;  next  time 
I  see  you,  I  shall  congratulate  you  on  being  president-elect."  "And  I  you,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"on  being  congressman-elect."  Whereupon  Mr.  Arnold  remarked:  "Well,  I  desire  to  go  to  con- 
gress chiefly  that  I  may  aid  you  in  the  great  conflict  with  slavery  that  is  before  you."  Mr.  Lincoln 
replied:  "  I  know  not  what  is  before  me,  but  if  elected  I  will  do  my  duty  as  God  shall  enable  me 
to  see  it,  and  if  a  conflict  comes,  thrice  is  he  armed  who  hath  his  quarrel  just."  Mr.  Arnold  was 
among  the  very  first  northern  men  to  arrive  in  Washington  in  February,  1861,  just  previous  to 
Lincoln's  inauguration.  From  that  time  until  Mr.  Lincoln's  assassination  he  devoted  all  his 
energies  to  the  support  of  the  president  and  the  Union  cause,  and  no  more  active  or  efficient 
friend  was  found  in  the  country  than  Mr.  Arnold  proved.  When  the  more  intense  radicals 
became  dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Lincoln  because  of  his  apparent  unwillingness  to  adopt  extreme 
measures  against  slavery  during  the  first  year  of  the  war,  Mr.  Arnold  and  his  colleague,  Owen 
Lovejoy,  did  much  to  neutralize  this  feeling  by  expressing  their  entire  confidence  in  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  an  anti-slavery  man.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Douglas,  in  1861,  Mr.  Arnold  was  selected  by  the 
Illinois  delegation  to  represent  the  republicans  and  speak  in  honor  of  his  memory.  This  was  his 
first  speech  in  congress. 

He  was  reflected  in  1862,  and  his  devotion  to  the  anti-slavery  cause  during  the  whole  period 
of  the  war,  until  its  triumph  by  the  overthrow  of  the  rebellion,  was  enthusiastic  and  unflagging. 
To  him  belongs  the  honor  of  introducing  the  first  bill  for  an  act  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  territories,  and  also  a  resolution  for  its  final  abolition  by  a  change  in  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  first  of  these  was  offered  in  March,  1862;  passed  the  house  May  12,  and  the 
senate  June  17  following.  The  second  resolution  was  introduced  February  15,  1864,  and  passed 
on  the  day  following.  It  reads  as  follows: 

"Resolved,  That  the  constitution  should  be  so  amended  as  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  United  States  wherever  it  now 
exists,  and  to  prohibit  its  existence  in  every  part  thereof  forever." 

In  the  preceding  January  he  introduced  a  bill  confirming  the  president's  emancipation  procla- 
mation. In  December,  1861,  Mr.  Arnold  called  the  attention  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  defenseless 
condition  of  the  northern  lakes,  and  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  select  committee  of  nine  on  the 
defense  of  the  great  lakes  and  rivers.  This  committee  was  composed  of  Arnold,  Ashley,  Noel, 
Aldrich,  Babbitt,  Spaulding,  Granger,  Wheeler  and  Potter,  and  February  17,  1862,  they  made  an 
able  report  in  favor  of  enlarging  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  to  the  dimensions  of  a  ship 
canal.  Francis  P.  Blair,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs,  reported  also  in  favor  of 
the  same.  Mr.  Arnold  prepared  a  bill  to  this  effect,  which  he  introduced,  and  in  June  made  a 
speech  in  its  support.  July  i  following,  it  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  65  to  62,  but  after- 
ward reconsidered  and  postponed  to  the  next  session.  Determined  not  to  abandon  the  project, 
the  friends  of  the  measure  planned  a  convention  to  assemble  in  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Arnold  drew  a 
call  for  the  same,  which  was  signed  by  Edward  Bates,  attorney  general,  and  eighty  senators  and 
members  of  congress.  June  2,  1863,  the  convention  met.  It  was  the  largest  and  most  enthusias- 
tic gathering  of  the  kind  that  ever  assembled.  Not  less  than  10,000  persons  from  states  other  than 
Illinois  were  present.  Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin  was  its  chairman,  and  gave  an  address  in  favor  of 
the  purpose  of  the  convention  with  his  usual  wisdom.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  memorialize 
congress,  of  which  Mr.  Arnold  was  chairman.  It  met  in  New  York  in  October,  and  prepared  the 
memorial,  which  was  presented  to  congress  during  its  following  session.  The  bill  passed  the  house, 
but  although  recommended  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  annual  message,  it  was  defeated  in  the  senate. 
January  following,  1864,  Mr.  Arnold  offered  a  modified  bill,  which  was  referred  to  the  committee 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  225 

on  roads  and  canals,  of  which  Mr.  Arnold  was  also  chairman,  and  March  10  reported  back  and 
recommended  for  passage.  This  bill  provided  for  the  issue  by  congress  of  $5,000,000  in  govern- 
ment bonds  to  aid  the  state  of  Illinois  in  enlarging  the  canal  for  the  passage  of  gunboats  and 
other  vessels,  in  return  for  which  the  United  States  government  was  to  have  free  use  of  the  canal 
for  all  government  purposes  of  transportation  forever.  It  passed  the  house  February  2,  1865, — 
yeas  77,  nays  68, —  but  also  perished,  like  its  predecessor,  in  the  senate. 

This  bill  can  be  found  complete  in  the  "Congressional  Records"  of  the  second  session  of  the 
thirty-eighth  congress,  part  I,  page  546.  We  have  been  thus  full  in  this  part  of  Mr.  Arnold's 
history  on  account  of  the  patient  and  persistent  efforts  he  made  to  bring  about  an  improvement 
which  would  have  effectually  solved  a  problem  of  great  importance  to  Chicago  —  how  to  cleanse 
her  river,  get  rid  of  her  sewage,  and  keep  her  drinking  water  pure.  In  view  of  the  present  effort 
to  get  an  appropriation  for  the  construction  of  the  Hennepin  Ship  Canal,  this  history  will  be  of 
unusual  value  and  interest,  and  to  make  it  as  complete  as  possible,  we  add  the  following  extract 
from  the  first  report  of  the  select  committee  of  nine  before  referred  to: 

"The  realization  of  a  ship  canal  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Mississippi  River  for  military  and 
commercial  purposes  is  the  great  work  of  the  age.  In  effect,  commercially,  it  turns  the  Mississippi 
into  Lake  Michigan,  and  makes  an  outlet  for  the  great  lakes  at  New  Orleans,  and  for  the  Missis- 
sippi at  New  York.  It  brings  together  the  two  great  systems  of  water  communication  of  our 
country,  the  great  lakes,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  canals;  connecting  the  lakes  with  the  ocean 
on  the  east,  and  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  with  all  their  tributaries,  on  the  west  and  south, 
etc." 

While  a  member  of  the  committee  on  the  Pacific  railroad,  Mr.  Arnold  offered  the  amendment 
which  provided  for  a  northern  branch.  He  also  introduced  and  urged  through  congress  the 
passage  of  an  act  making  all  foreign-born  soldiers  who,  after  service  in  the  Union  army,  should 
be  honorably  discharged,  naturalized  citizens  of  the  United  States.  He  was  an  early  and  earnest 
advocate  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  made  a  speech  in  favor  of 
the  confiscation  of  the  property  and  liberation  of  the  slaves  of:  rebels  early  in  the  war. 

On  his  return  to  Chicago  after  the  adjournment  of  congress,  in  July,  1864,  he  had  an  enthusi- 
astic public  reception  from  the  people  of  the  city,  which  proved  the  high  appreciation  the  public 
had  of  the  character  of  his  services  to  the  state  and  nation.  He  ardently  supported  Mr.  Lincoln 
for  reelection  during  the  campaign  of  1864,  delivering  a  strong  speech  in  the  house,  which  was 
widely  circulated  as  a  campaign  document.  Declining  a  renomination  himself,  he  nevertheless 
•  devoted  his  time  during  the  canvass  to  public  speaking  in  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York  in  support  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

With  Mr.  Lincoln's  approval,  he  was  engaged  during  the  last  year  of  the  president's  life  in 
preparing  a  life  of  Lincoln  and  a  history  of  the  overthrow  of  slavery.  To  facilitate  his  labors, 
which  must  be  performed  at  Washington,  Mr.  Lincoln  tendered  him  the  position  of  United  States 
district  attorney  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  also  of  that  of  auditor  of  the  treasury  for  the 
postoffice  department,  but  before  the  appointment  was  made  the  president  was  assassinated,  and 
his  successor  appointed  him  auditor.  Afterward,  however,  from  dislike  of  Mr.  Johnson's  politi- 
cal course,  he  resigned  the  office  in  a  very  plain  letter  to  the  acting  president,  and  returned 
to  Chicago. 

The  "  Life  of  Lincoln  "  was  completed  soon  after,  and  published  in  1867,  and  forms  a  standard 
work  of  reference  on  the  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  downfall  of  slavery.  In  1869  he  wrote  a 
sketch  condensed  from  the  larger  work,  and  in  1871  the  original  "  Life  of  Lincoln  "  was  issued  in 
a  new  and  revised  edition.  The  house  of  Mr.  Arnold  and  most  of  its  treasures  was  consumed  by 
the  fire  of  October,  1871,  the  family  barely  escaping  with  their  lives. 

Mr.  Arnold  was  married  at  Cooperstown,  New  York,  in  October,  1837,  to  Miss  Catharine  D. 
Dorrance,  daughter  of  Trumball  Dorrance,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts.  She  died  at  the  Lake 
House,  foot  of  Rush  street,  October  20,  1839.  By  her  he  had  one  son,  who  also  died,  at  the  age 
of  five  years.  His  second  wife  was  Harriet  Augusta  Dorrance,  sister  of  the  preceding,  by  whom 


226  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

he  had  four  daughters  and  two  sons,  both  of  whom  are  now  dead.  The  last  was  Arthur  Mason 
Arnold,  a  most  promising  youth,  who  was  drowned  in  Rock  River,  near  Dixon,  Illinois,  Saturday 
afternoon,  April  27,  1873,  when  near  his  fifteenth  birthday.  All  the  sad  particulars  were  pub- 
lished in  the  Chicago  "Tribune  "  of  April  28  and  29,  1873,  to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 

Mr.  Arnold  is  spending  his  closing  years  in  quiet  enjoyment,  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  of 
the  plenty  his  years  of  arduous  labors  have  provided.  He  is  president  of  the  Historical  Society, 
and  the  duties  of  the  office,  together  with  his  literary  labors,  serve  to  occupy  his  time  pleasantly. 
While  on  a  visit  to  England  the  last  year,  on  private  business,  he  was  invited  by  the  Royal  His- 
torical Society  of  London  to  read  a  paper  before  it  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  at  a  regular  meeting 
held  June  16.  1881.  The  paper  was  greatly  admired,  printed,  and  extensively  circulated. 

In  religion  Mr.  Arnold  is  a  liberal  churchman  and  a  member  of  Saint  James  Church  in  this  city. 


HON.  WILLIAM    P.  LAUNTZ. 

EAST   SAINT  LOUIS. 

\  T  ^ILLIAM  PARKINSON  LAUNTZ,  judge  of  the  city  court  of  record  of  East  Saint  Louis, 
V  V  is  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Matilda  (Parkinson)  Launtz,  and  was  born  in  Guernsey  county,  Ohio, 
February  24,  1848.  His  father,  who  is  a  farmer,  living  in  Salinas,  Monterey  county,  California,  is 
of  German  pedigree,  and  his  mother  is  of  remote  English  descent.  She  is  a  woman  of  a  well  cul- 
tivated, excellent  mind,  and  a  leader  in  Christian  and  social  circles,  she  and  her  husband  being 
members  of  the  Methodist  church.  When  living  in  Ohio,  Mrs.  Launtz  was  accustomed  to  write 
religious  and  political  poetry  for  public  gatherings  and  for  other  occasions,  and  many  of  her  pro- 
ductions of  that  class  found  their  way  into  newspapers. 

Our  subject  received  a  common  English  education,  and  in  his  teens  went  to  Iowa  with  his 
parents,  they  some  years  since  having  gone  as  far  west  as  California.  Early  in"  the  year  1867  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  join  his  father,  then  in  the  mines  of  Idaho,  and,  although  the  United  States 
was  at  war  with  the  Indians,  Sioux,  Black  Feet,  etc.,  he  started  from  Fort  Kearney  on  his  long 
and  extremely  perilous  journey,  afoot  and  alone.  In  that  way  he  traveled  for  thirteen  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  most  of  the  way  through  the  Indian  country,  and  those  Indians  of  a  most  bel- 
ligerent disposition.  He  rarely  ventured  out  in  the  daytime,  but  kept  concealed  in  the  sage 
brush  and  other  coverts  ;  swam  all  streams,  and  averaged  about  forty  miles  per  night.  On  one 
occasion  he  passed  over  a  battle  field,  where  the  white  men,  who  had  fallen  the  day  before,  had 
just  been  gathered  up  in  a  horribly  mutilated  condition  by  their  white  comrades. 

Repeatedly  Mr.  Launtz  supposed  his  time  for  this  life  was  abo.ut  up,  but  he  escaped,  pushed 
on,  and  finally,  at  the  end  of  six  weeks,  reached  Idaho.  Much  of  the  way  through  the  most 
desolate  parts  of  the  country,  he  subsisted  for  days  entirely  on  dried  venison  and  water.  His 
was  the  most  daring  foot  trip  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  and  Mr.  Launtz  has  been  offered 
several  hundred  dollars  for  a  minute  account  of  it.  The  only  reasons  which  the  writer  has  ever 
heard  him  offer  for  withholding  the  narrative,  are  first,  that  the  reader  would  doubt  his  veracity, 
and  second,  that  he  has  no  ambition  to  run  a  tilt  with  Buffalo  Bill. 

When  Mr.  Launtz  started  on  his  trip  from  Fairfield,  Jefferson  county,  Iowa,  which  led  from 
Fort  Kearney  to  Denver,  from  Denver  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  thence  to  Fort  Du  Boyce,  Idaho, 
he  took  some  extra  clothing,  but  that  he  threw  away  on  the  second  or  third  day  out  from  Fort 
Kearney,  his  only  through  companion  being  his  revolver  and  ammunition.  But  for  these  he  would 
not  have  reached  Salt  Lake,  probably  not  Denver.  Mr.  Launtz  spent  about  three  years  in  the 
gold  mines,  and  had  good  success.  On  returning  he  invested  his  funds  in  a  fruit  farm  in  Perry 
county,  Illinois,  and  that  venture  was  a  failure. 

He  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  1871,  reading  mainly  with  Mortimer  Millard,  of  East  Saint 
Louis,  and  was  examined  at  Ottawa  before  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  and  licensed  to  practice 
in  the  state  courts  in  September,  1873,  and  subsequently  in  the  United  States  courts.  In  1876  our 


UNITED   STA  TES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAR  Y. 


227 


subject  took  a  trip  to  Idaho,  California  and  the  British  possessions,  to  see  if  the  prospects  were 
better  there  than  in  Illinois  for  legal  practice.  He  returned  to  East  Saint  Louis,  where  he  has 
been  very  successful  in  his  profession.  In  1881  he  took  another  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast,  going 
through  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  California,  and  Colorado,  his  mission  this  time  being  the  intro- 
duction of  machinery  in  which  compressed  air  is  used  for  mining  purposes  instead  of  water. 

Mr.  Launtz  was  appointed  United  States  commissioner  in  1881,  and  in  September,  1882,  he 
was  elected  to  his  present  judicial  office,  the  duties  of  which  he  is  performing  with  decided  ability, 
and  great  satisfaction  to  the  public.  Judge  Launtz  is  a  republican,  but  refused  to  run  for  a 
judgeship  as  a  partisan,  and  he  received  quite  as  many  democratic  as  republican  votes.  He  is 
popular  with  all  parties. 

In  September,  1871,  the  judge  was  married  to  Miss  Maggie  Stagg,  daughter  of  Rev.  Isaac  M. 
Stagg,  a  prominent  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  they  have  buried  one  son 
and  have  three  children  living.  A  gentleman  who  is  intimately  acquainted  with  Judge  Launtz 
states  that  "he  is  well  related  by  marriage ;  his  social  standing  is  as  good  as  the  best;  he  is 
a  man  of  temperate  habits,  and  guiltless  of  profane  language  ;  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity, 
an  indefatigable  worker,  and  doing  a  very  hopeful  and  successful  business." 


BENJAMIN  F.  GARDNER,  M.D. 

A  TLANTA. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  GARDNER,  physician  and  druggist,  is  a  remarkable  example  of  a 
self-educated  man,  having  attended  school  only  nine  months  in  his  life,  yet  becoming  well 
read  in  several  branches  of  science.  He  was  born  in  Brown  county,  Ohio,  June  22,  1817,  his 
parents  being  Rodman  Gardner,  also  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  Mary  (Worstell)  Gardner,  a  native  of 
Kentucky.  His  grandfather,  Benjamin  Gardner,  served  seven  years  in  the  revolutionary  army, 
going  in  as  private  and  coming  out  as  captain.  The  family  was  from  Martha's  Vineyard,  Massa- 
chusetts. Rodman  Gardner  died  when  Benjamin  was  thirteen  years  old,  and  the  widow  was  left 
quite  poor  with  three  children,  of  whom  Benjamin  was  the  oldest.  At  that  early  age  he  took 
charge  of  the  family,  working  on  a  farm  nine  months  in  the  year,  the  first  three  years,  and  attend- 
ing a  common  school  the  rest  of  the  time.  At  the  same  time  a  blacksmith  hired  him  to  blow  a 
a  bellows  in  the  evening,  his  wages  being  at  first  ten  cents  a  night. 

At  the  end  of  the  three  years  young  Gardner  set  up  the  blacksmithing  business  for  himself, 
and  soon  not  only  became  an  expert  at  shoeing  horses,  but  acquired  great  power  over  such  ani- 
mals, so  that  he  could  tame  the  most  vicious,  made  so  simply  by  ill  treatment.  Knowing  the 
great  influence  which  mind  has  over  matter,  and  a  superior  animal  over  an  inferior  one,  and  the 
power  of  gentleness,  he  soon,  by  kind  treatment,  handled  with  ease  any  animal  brought  into  his 
shop.  Receiving,  by  mishap,  an  injury  which  prevented  his  longer  working  at  his  trade,  Mr. 
Gardner  studied  phrenology,  and  lectured  on  that  subject,  pursuing  also  medical  studies  at  the 
same  time.  He  attended  lectures  at  the  Cincinnati  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  but  not  then  taking 
all  the  courses;  commenced  practice  in  1849,  in  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  the  next  year  went  to 
Alton,  Illinois,  and  from  1851  to  1854  was  in  practice  in  Saint  Louis,  where  he  also  attended  lec- 
tures. In  the  latter  year  he  went  to  Waynesville,  DeWitt  county,  Illinois.  In  1860  he  was  grad- 
uated at  the  Cincinnati  Eclectic  Institute,  and  in  1866  settled  at  Atlanta,  where  he  is  still  engaged 
in  medical  practice  and  selling  drugs,  school  books,  etc.  His  professional  business  is  confined 
almost  exclusively  to  office  practice.  He  has  made  a  success  of  his  profession,  and  is  not,  we 
believe,  inclined  to  murmur  at  any  of  the  allotments  of  life.  He  took  care  of  his  younger  brother 
and  sister  until  they  were  old  enough  to  support  themselves,  and  provided  a  comfortable  home 
for  his  mother  until  her  death  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-seven  years. 

The  doctor  had  a  hard  struggle  in  his  younger  years,  not  only  to  support  the  family,  but  to 
secure  his  education.  For  years  he  was  accustomed  to  work  all  day  and  pore  over  books  half  the 


228  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

night;  and  at  length  he  was  happy  in  a  well  stored  mind,  and  fitness  for  one  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. 

Doctor  Gardner  is  a  thinking  man,  and  has  always  had  his  views  on  politics,  as  well  as  other 
subjects.  He  was  originally  a  whig,  of  strong  anti-slavery  tendencies;  was  in  attendance  at  the 
birth  of  the  republican  party,  attending  its  first  convention  at  Bloomington,  and  has  since  voted 
the  republican  ticket. 

He  is  past  master  in  Freemasonry,  and  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  Odd-Fellowship. 

In  1847  he  married  Miss  Mary  Houser,  of  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  and  they  have  seven  daugh- 
ters and  one  son,  having  never  lost  a  child.  The  four  oldest  children,  all  daughters,  are  married. 
Sarah  Emeline  to  George  Onstott,  of  Atlanta;  Caroline  to  Edward  E.  Beath,  of  Bloomington; 
Mary  Sewana  to  Preston  Osborn  of  Chicago,  and  Jennetta  to  Richard  Gill,  Jr.,  of  Atlanta.  The 
younger  children  are  at  home,  part  of  them  still  pursuing  their  studies.  Their  names  are  Belle, 
Katie,  Benjamin  F.,  and  Myrtle  Augusta. 


OSCAR   W.  BARRETT. 

CHICAGO. 

OSCAR  W.  BARRETT  is  the  son  of  Edward  E.  Barrett  and  Emmeline  (Wilcox)  Barrett,  and 
was  born  at  Bristol,  Ontario  county,  New  York,  June  13,  1836.  His  ancestors  were  English, 
and  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  New  England.  His  father  was  a  machinist,  and  a  very  ingen- 
ious mechanic.  The  old  American  Knitting  Machine,  which  was  the  first  invented  in  this  country, 
which  completed  a  stocking,  was  principally  the  product  of  his  hand  and  brain.  Many  other 
useful  and  ingenious  devices  originated  with  him,  among  them  the  hand  stamp,  and  he  seems  to 
have  been  almost  a  universal  genius. 

When  a  child  Mr.  Barrett's  parents  moved  into  Rochester,  and  he  attended  the  village  school 
till  fourteen  years  of  age.  At  that  age  the  choice  was  offered  him  of  a  course  in  college  and  a 
professional  career,  or  a  practical  education  and  a  business  life.  The  bent  of  his  genius  directed 
his  course  toward  a  life  of  activity,  and  he  chose  the  practical  education.  At  fourteen  he  went  to 
Glens  Falls  Academy,  where  he  remained,  with  a  short  interruption,  three  years.  He  then  entered 
the  service  as  confidential  clerk  and  bookkeeper  of  William  B.  Lawton,  importer  and  whole- 
sale dealer  in  English  watches,  in  New  York.  He  remained  in  New  York  for  four  years, 
when  he  determined  to  accept  the  famous  advice  of  Horace  Greeley  to  young  men,  and  came 
west.  He  reached  Chicago  August  9,  1856,  and  by  three  o'clock  P.M.,  of  the  same  day,  had 
obtained  a  situation  as  clerk  with  John  S.  Wallace,  dealer  in  hard-wood  lumber.  He  received 
the  munificent  salary  of  thirty  dollars  a  month,  and  boarded  himself.  However,  November  i,  he 
entered  the  employ  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Hoard,  wholesale  jeweler,  who  died  November  25, 
1 88 1.  He  took  the  position  of  confidential  clerk,  bookkeeper  and  cashier  at  a  handsome  salary, 
and  remained  with  him  two  years.  During  the  panic  of  1857  Mr.  Hoard,  with  abundant  assets, 
yet  had  paper  coming  due  he  knew  not  how  to  meet,  and  contemplated  suspending.  Mr.  Barrett 
skillfully  piloted  the  commercial  craft  through  the  storm,  and  landed  her  safely  in  the  harbor 
out  of  danger.  This  feat  brought  him  a  good  deal  of  credit  with  the  house,  and  he  received  an 
offer  from  Mr.  Hoard  of  abundant  financial  backing,  if  he  would  go  into  business.  He  decided 
to  do  so  in  company  with  a  gentleman  then  in  business  in  Hastings,  Minnesota.  The  latter  was, 
however,  soon  after  wrecked  in  fortune  by  the  sinking  of  a  Mississippi  steamer,  having  a  large 
consignment  of  goods  belonging  to  him.  The  loss  was  total,  and  broke  up  the  contemplated 
partnership. 

Soon  after,  Mr.  Barrett  accepted  the  position  of  commercial  traveler  and  collector  for  a  large 
mercantile  house,  and  went  on  the  road.  For  three  years  he  traveled  in  the  northwestern  states, 
about  ten  thousand  miles  per  year,  mostly  with  horse  and  buggy.  It  was  an  excellent  school,  and 
he  finished  'his  business  education  on  the  great  prairies  of  the  Northwest.  On  giving  up  the  road 


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UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  251 

o 

in  April,  1863,  he  entered  into  the  employ  of  B.  W.  Philips  and  Company,  Insurance,  as  book- 
keeper and  cashier,  which  firm  he  succeeded  in  1866,  and  formed  a  copartnership  with  J.  H.  D. 
Blake,  who,  unfortunately,  died  in  about  two  months  afterward,  and  left  the  entire  business  to 
his  partner. 

During  the  war  he  was  one  of  the  most  useful  and  indefatigable  workers  in  the  city.  When 
the  Board  of  Trade  battery  was  organized,  he  took  his  place  in  its  ranks,  but  a  younger  man 
insisted  on  taking  his  place,  and  did  so,  but  Mr.  Barrett  found  quite  as  important  a  field  of  use- 
fulness at  home,  and  labored  unremittingly  on  behalf  of  the  Union  cause  till  the  rebellion  was 
crushed. 

Mr.  Barrett  is  a  prominent  Mason  and  Knight  Templar,  having  taken  every  degree  in  the 
York,  Scotch  and  Egyptian  rites,  and  held  various  important  offices  in  the  lodge.  He  is  a  repub- 
lican in  politics,  and  in  religion  a  Baptist.  For  fifteen  or  more  years  he  has  been  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  in  Chicago,  and  particularly  active  in  Sunday-school  work. 
His  genius  for  finance  and  undoubted  integrity  causes  his  friends  and  companions  in  the  various 
relations  of  life  to  thrust  innumerable  positions  of  responsibility  upon  him.  Wherever  an 
efficient  trustee,  treasurer,  or  financial  officer  is  required  he  is  always  in  demand,  so  that  he  must 
act  as  treasurer  and  trustee  for  the  church,  president  of  the  school  board  in  Highland  Park,  where 
he  resides,  secretary  and  trustee  of  Chicago  University,  etc. 

He  was  a  severe  sufferer  by  the  great  fire,  and  lost  nearly  his  whole  property,  but  has  more 
than  made  it  up  since,  and  is  now  owner  of  large  real  estate  properties  in  the  city,  besides  having 
an  increasingly  profitable  insurance  business.  June  30.  1862,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Genevieve 
Hoard,  daughter  of  his  employer,  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Hoard,  by  whom  he  has  had  five  boys 
and  two  girls,  all  living.  In  person  Mr.  Barrett  is  of  medium  size,  five  feet  and  eight  inches  in 
height,  weighs  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds  ;  has  light  complexion,  brown  hair  and  hazel 
eyes.  He  is  snugly  built,  put  up  on  business  principles,  and  is  active  and  business-like  in  his 
motions.  He  has  a  pleasing  exterior,  is  very  approachable  and  attentive  to  strangers,  and  exceed- 
ingly sociable  and  entertaining  to  his  friends.  He  has  a  large  and  benevolent  heart,  is  known  as 
a  generous  and  liberal  giver,  and  is  highly  esteemed  by  a  large  circle  of  friends  in  the  West. 


F 


FRANKLIN    M.    HOBBS. 

YORK'VILLE. 

RANKLIN  MOODY  HOBBS,  the  oldest  merchant  in  Yorkville,  and  one  of  the  most  reliable 
business  men  in  Kendall  county,  is  a  son  of  Josiah  and  Miranda  (Merrill)  Hobbs,  and  was 
born  in  Falmouth,  Maine,  January  20,  1829.  His  grandfather,  Josiah  Hobbs,  Senior,  enlisted  in 
the  continental  army  in  1775,  when  not  more  than  sixteen  years  old,  and  served  until  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  colonies  was  gained,  going  in  as  a  drummer  boy  and  coming  out  as  drummer 
major.  The  Hobbs  family  was  of  English  pedigree,  and  settled  in  Maine  long  before  the  rupture 
with  the  mother  country.  The  Merrills  were  also  a  Maine  family. 

Franklin  received  a  district-school  education  only,  being  more  or  less  self-taught,  and  acquir- 
ing a  good  business  education.  He  farmed  with  his  father  until  nineteen  years  of  age;  then  went 
into  a  cotton  mill  at  Saco,  and  worked  nine  years,  and  subsequently  one  year  in  a  machine  shop. 
In  the  spring  of  1856  he  came  to  Bristol;  traded  there  two  years,  and  then  built  and  opened  with 
his  brother-in-law  Isaac  Crocker,  the  store  which  he  now  occupies.  There  were  a  few  buildings 
on  the  hill,  but  under  the  hill,  where  the  village  now  stands,  there  was  nothing  but  the  grist  mill 
and  two  or  three  little  shanties,  their  store  being  the  first  building  of  the  kind  of  the  least  pre- 
tentions.  At  first  it  was  only  fifty  feet  long,  but  a  few  years  afterward  it  was  increased  to  ninety. 

In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Hobbs  left  the  store  in  the  hands  of  his  partner,  and  enlisted  in  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country,  going  in  as  first  lieutenant  of  company  H,  891)1  Illinois  infantry,  which  was 
in  the  4th  corps,  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  He  was  promoted  to  the  captaincy  at  Murfreesboro; 
24 


232 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


was  in  the  several  engagements  preceding  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  and  remained  in  the  army  a 
little  more  than  two  years,  resigning  his  commission  and  returning  to  Yorkville  in  November,  1864. 

In  1873  Mr.  Hobbs  bought  out  his  partner,  and  has  since  been  alone  in  trade.  He  is  carrying 
the  largest  stock  of  merchandise  in  town,  and  has  always  had  a  reputation  for  square  dealing. 
No  financial  cyclone  has  ever  shaken  him,  and  he  has  always  stood,  as  he  stands  to-day,  firmly  on 
his  feet.  His  business  history  is  a  credit  to  the  mercantile  trade. 

Captain  Hobbs  is  a  pronounced  republican,  but  has  aspired,  we  believe,  to  no  political  office. 
He  has  made  himself  serviceable  to  the  cause  of  education  by  filling  the  offices  of  school  director 
and  school  trustee,  and  has  never  been  backward  in  aiding  to  push  forward  any  measure  calcu- 
lated to  benefit  the  people. 

Two  years  before  leaving  his  native  state,  January  i,  1854,  our  subject  was  united  in  marriage 
at  Saco  with  Miss  Harriet  N.  Crooker,  and  they  have  seven  children,  all  at  home  or  at  school  but 
the  oldest  daughter,  Clara  E.,  who  is  married  to  W.  D.  King,  of  Elgin,  Kane  county.  The  names 
of  the  others  are  Charles  F.,  who  is  in  the  store  with  his  father,  Alice  M.,  Sidney  F.,  Miranda, 
Glenn  and  Reuben  M. 

ISAAC    E.   HARDY,  M.D. 

ALTON. 

ISAAC  EDWARDS  HARDY,  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  still  in  practice  in  Madison  county, 
Illinois,  is  a  native  of  Barren  county,  Kentucky,  his  birth  being  dated  March  8,  1825.  His 
father,  Isham  Hardy,  is  a  native  of  Pittsylvania  county,  Virginia,  and  is  living  with  his  son,  Isaac, 
being  in  his  seventy-eighth  year  (born  1805).  The  Hardy  family  settled  in  Jamestown,  Virginia, 
in  1625,  eighteen  years  after  the  pioneers  .in  that  state.  Such  of  the  great  uncles  of  our  subject 
as  were  old  enough,  participated  in  the  successful  struggle  for  independence.  The  mother  of 
Isaac  was  Martha  (Edwards)  Hardy,  who  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1803,  and-  died  at  Alton  in 
1876.  The  family  moved  to  Hamilton  county,  Illinois,  in  1825,  when  Isaac  was  an  infant.  He 
was  educated  chiefly  at  Shurtliff  College,  Upper  Alton,  leaving  at  the  close  of  the  junior  year  ; 
commenced  the  study  of  medicine  at  Alton  with  Doctor  B.  K.  Hart  in  the  autumn  of  1844  ; 
eighteen  months  later  went  into  the  Mexican  war  as  a  private  soldier,  and  served  in  that  capacity 
until  after  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  in  which  he  received  three  slight  gunshot  wounds.  He  was 
detached  as  a  nurse. 

Late  in  the  year  1847  he  returned  to  Illinois,  and  resumed  his  medical  studies.  He  attended 
lectures  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  receiving  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  medicine  March  5,  1849.  That  summer  he  spent  at  Madison,  between  Alton  and 
Saint  Louis,  and,  it  being  a  cholera  season,  he  had  a  very  laborious  practice. 

Doctor  Hardy  was  in  practice  between  two  and  three  years  in  Genevieve  county,  Missouri, 
and  in  March,  1852,  settled  in  Alton,  where  he  has  been  in  general  practice  for  a  little  more  than 
thirty  years,  except  when  in  the  service  of  his  country.  For  four  years,  1862-6,  he  was  acting 
assistant  surgeon,  United  States  Army,  the  first  year  and  a  half  having  charge  of  the  military 
post  at  Alton,  and  the  last  year  charge  of  the  Cairo  General  Hospital.  Doctor  Hardy  has  been 
a  member  of  the  city  council  two  or  three  times  ;  was  city  physician  a  dozen  years  or  more ;  was 
township  supervisor  of  the  poor  in  1881,  and  is  now  (1882)  physician  for  Alton  township.  In 
many  ways  he  has  made,  and  is  making  himself  a  useful  citizen.  In  national  politics  he  is  demo- 
cratic ;  in  local  contests  he  goes  for  the  best  men,  irrespective  of  party  leanings.  He  has  been  a 
Freemason  since  May,  1846;  has  taken  the  thirty-second  degree;  has  held  nearly  all  the  offices 
in  the  order  as  far  up  as  the  Knight  Templar,  and  has  been  a  representative  to  the  Grand  Lodge 
of  the  state  several  times.  He  has  also  passed  the  several  chairs  in  Odd-Fellowship. 

Doctor  Hardy  was  married  in  Hamilton  county,  Illinois,  August  12,  1848,  to  Miss  Sarah  Jane 
Hardy,  a  distant  relative,  and  she  is  the  mother  of  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are  yet  living. 
Rachel  Ida  is  married  to  Doctor  J.  J.  Brown,  of  Troy,  Illinois  ;  Marcia  May  to  C.  A,  Niemeyer,  of 
Creston,  Iowa ;  Joseph  Edward  is  in  Sherman,  Texas,  and  the  rest  are  at  home. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  233 

Doctor  Hardy,  having  been  in  two  wars,  and  passed  through  at  least  three  cholera  seasons, 
has  seen  some  long  hills  of  mortality  and  a  good  deal  of  human  suffering ;  and  his  varied  experi- 
ences in  his  profession,  and  his  happy  gift  at  communication,  make  him  an  entertaining  conver- 
ser.  He  is  a  free,  open-hearted  man,  cordial  and  cheerful  in  his  disposition,  and  must  be  a  very 
welcome  visitor  in  the  sick  room. 


WILLIAM   S.  CALDWELL,  M.D.  . 

FREEPORT. 

WILLIAM  SPENCER  CALDWELL,  one  of  the  leading  and  most  successful  physicians 
and  surgeons  in  Stephenson  county,  was  born  in  southern  Kansas,  August  8,  1832,  his 
parents  being  Abner  and  Susan  (Foss)  Caldwell.  His  father  belonged  to  the  family  so  prominent 
in  North  Carolina,  and  was  a  brother  of  United  States  Senator  J.  P.  Caldwell.  of  that  state. 

At  fourteen  years  of  age  our  subject  went  to  Michigan,  where  he  finished  his  literary  educa- 
tion, and  commenced  his  medical  at  the  State  University,  Ann  Arbor,  and  was  graduated  at  the 
Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  Cincinnati,  in  1856.  In  that  year  Doctor  Caldwell  came  into  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Elizabeth,  Jo  Daviess  county,  with  twenty  dollars  in  his  pocket,  teaching  school 
the  first  winter  and  then  commencing  business.  Patients  came  to  him  before  'his  patience  had 
time  to  become  exhausted,  and  he  had  a  thrifty  ride  over  that  mining  and  hilly  country.  While 
there  in  1858  he  married  Miss  Caroline  B.  Hutchins,  of  that  place.  He  remained  in  Elizabeth 
fifteen  years,  and  then  removed  to  Warren  in  the  same  county.  Meantime,  while  at  the  former 
place,  the  doctor  attended  lectures  at  Jefferson  College,  Philadelphia,  there  receiving  another 
degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1864.  Two  years  afterward  he  went  to  Europe  and  spent  a  year, 
mostly  at  Heidelberg.  He  received  the  title  of  doctor  of  medicine  from  the  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  College,  1871,  and  from  the  University  of  New  York,  1873.  No  medical  man  in  north- 
western Illinois  has  taken  more  pains  in  his  medical  equipments,  or  is  reaping  a  richer  harvest 
for  the  time  and  money  spent  in  perfecting  himself  in  his  profession.  Not  satisfied,  however, 
with  the  education  received  in  this  country,  in  the  spring  of  1877  he  went  abroad,  and  spent 
nearly  two  years  walking  the  hospitals  of  Berlin,  Vienna,  Paris  and  London,  and  pursuing  in 
those  cities  special  studies  in  connection  with  his  profession. 

Doctor  Caldwell  was  eminently  successful  in  his  practice  at  Warren,  but  the  field  was  not 
large  enough,  and  on  returning  from  Europe  in  June,  1879,  he  settled  at  Freeport,  where  in  one 
short  year  he  built  up  a  very  lucrative  practice,  nothing,  it  is  safe  to  say,  matching  it  in  this  part 
of  the  state.  Thoroughness  of  education  and  skill,  in  this  instance,  are  being  amply  rewarded. 
Doctor  Caldwell  does  not  rely  upon  his  five  medical  diplomas  for  continued  success,  but  he 
makes  good  use  of  his  large  and  choice  library,  and  is  a  close  student  and  a  growing  man.  He  is 
a  republican  in  politics,  a  Thirty-second  Degree  Mason,  and  an  Odd-Fellow,  but  nothing  has  the 
priority  over  his  professional  duties. 


HON.  JAMES    M.    HUNTER. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  HUNTER,  lawyer,  is  a  son  of  John  and  Susan  (Ramsey)  Hunter, 
and  dates  his  birth  December  9,  1831,  at  Milton,  Northumberland  county,  Pennsylvania.  His 
mother  was  a  native  of  Luzerne  county,  that  state.  His  father  was  from  the  county  of  Donegal, 
Ireland,  where  his  grandfather,  James  Hunter,  was  born  and  died,  being  a  descendant  of  an  old 
Protestant  family  in  that  county.  John  Hunter  was  a  horticulturist,  and  a  man  of  considerable 
culture  and  poetic  taste,  naming  his  son  for  a  favorite  English  poet,  whose  hymns,  with  those  of 
Watts,  Wesley  and  others,  continue  to  grace  our  singing  books.  His  father  died  at  Milton  in 


234  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

1853,  and  his  mother  in  Perry,  Iowa,  in  1881.  James  was  educated  in  the  common  and  high 
schools  of  Milton;  remained  in  his  native  county  until  1849;  moved  to  Centre  county,  same  state; 
studied  medicine  a  while  with  Doctor  John  P.  Gray,  of  Bellefonte;  shifted  his  quarters  to  the  law 
office  of  Judge  Samuel  Lynn,  of  the  same  place,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1854. 

Mr.  Hunter  practiced  his  profession  at  Bellefonte  three  years,  and  then  started  for  the  West, 
he  regarding  this  part  of  the  country  as  a  more  promising  field  for  a  young  man  of  the  legal  or 
of  any  profession.  He  located  in  Galena,  Jo  Daviess  county,  in  1857,  where  he  remained  until 
1862,  when  he  settled  in  his  present  and  pleasant  home,  and  where  he  has  made  a  highly  credit- 
able record  at  the  bar.  The  law  is  much  more  congenial  to  his  taste  than  medicine;  indeed,  he 
may  be  said  to  love  it;  hence  his  progress  in  its  study,  his  success  in  its  practice,  and  his  good 
professional  standing.  Few  jury  trials  occur  in  Carroll  county  in  which  he  is  not  retained  either 
for  the  prosecution  or  the  defense. 

Mr.  Hunter  is  president  of  the  McMahan  and  Irvine  Consolidated  Mining  and  Milling  Com- 
pany, Nye  county,  Nevada,  but  does  not,  we  believe,  let  anything  interfere  materially  with  his 
legal  practice.  Mr.  Hunter  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  represented  Jo  Daviess,  Stephenson 
and  Carroll  counties,  conjointly  with  Doctor  Little,  of  Elizabeth,  in  the  state  senate  under  the 
new  constitution  (1871-1872).  He  is  a  Master  Mason,  and  has  passed  through  Odd-Fellowship. 

Mr.  Hunter  has  a  second  wife.  His  first  was  Margaret  C.  Baker,  of  Jo  Daviess  county,  mar- 
ried in  1858,  and  dying  in  1863,  leaving  three  children,  Mary  Imogene,  Belle  and  Margaret  Craw- 
ford; and  his  second  was  Mary  Jane  Ginn,  of  Galena,  married  in  April,  1864,  by  whom  he  has 
two  children,  Jennie  E.  and  John.  • 


E.    FOLLETT    BULL. 

OTTAWA. 

I  ^LIPHALET  FOLLETT  BULL,  a  prominent  lawyer  in  La  Salle  county,  was  born  in  Belle- 
r \i  vue,  Ohio,  April  18.  1834,  being  a 'son  of  Mason  Bull,  farmer  and  mechanic,  and  Mary  Ells- 
worth (Follett)  Bull.  His  grandfather,  Smith  Bull,  was  residing  in  Vermont  at  the  opening  of  the 
revolution,  and  participated  in  the  battle  of  Bennington  in  1777.  His  maternal  great-grand- 
father, Benjamin  Follett,  had  a  large  tract  of  land  granted  to  him  in  Pennsylvania  by  the  British 
crown,  and  was  killed  at  the  massacre  of  Wyoming,  his  widow  and  five  children  escaping  by  the 
aid  of  friendly  Indians.  Eliphalet  Follett,  son  of  Benjamin,  and  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was 
not  born  till  some  months  after  his  father's  death. 

Mr.  Bull  was  on  a  farm  until  fourteen  years  of  age;  was  educated  in  the  high  school  at  Per- 
rysburgh,  Ohio,  and  taught  school  off  and  on  while  getting  his  education,  in  all  six  or  seven 
winters.  He  commenced  reading  law  at  Bellevue;  went  thence  to  Adrian,  Michigan;  finished 
his  readings  with  Hon.  F.  C.  Beaman;  came  to  Waterloo,  Monroe  county,  Illinois,  in  1853;  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Mount  Vernon  in  1854,  and  the  next  year  came  to  La  Salle  county,  where 
he  has  practiced  his  profession  steadily  for  twenty-seven  years.  From  1855  to  1870  his  residence 
was  at  La  Salle,  of  which  city  he  was  mayor  for  three  years.  He  has  always  had  an  office  at 
Ottawa,  the  county  seat,  and  since  the  last  date  mentioned  has  made  this  city  his  home.  On 
coming  to  this  county  he  soon  built  up  a  remunerative  practice,  and  has  long  held  a  front  rank 
at  the  La  Salle  county  bar.  We  cannot  learn  that  he  has  held  any  civil  office  except  the  one 
already  mentioned,  the  municipal  chief  magistrate  of  the  city  of  La  Salle.  He  is  a  republican, 
but  politics  has  never  interfered  with  his  legal  studies  and  practice,  his  profession  having  claims 
prior  to  all  others.  His  high  position  as  a  lawyer  has  been  reached  by  the  hardest  climbing,  and 
not  by  anything  like  intuitive  strides.  He  loves  his  profession,  as  the  writer  once  heard  him 
declare,  and  has  adhered  to  his  studies  with  great  tenacity,  allowing  no  let  up,  and  that  is  why 
he  holds  his  present  standing  among  the  legal  fraternity. 

A  gentleman  who  has  long  known  the  subject  of  this  sketch  states  that  Mr.  Bull  has  a  good 


UNITED   STATES  R10GRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  235 

deal  of  business  in  the  supreme  court,  and  that  he  ranks  high  among  that  class  of  attorneys;  that 
his  local  reputation  as  a  criminal  lawyer  is  second  to  that  of  no  other  man  in  the  county  or 
circuit;  that  as  a  speaker  he  has  wonderful  power  over  a  jury,  being  not  only  logical  and  clear, 
but  eloquent  and  very  persuasive,  and  that  in  legal  attainments  he  has  but  few  peers  in  this  part 
of  the  state. 

Mr.  Bull  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  order,  but  has  held  only  a  few  offices,  the  highest 
of  them  being  that  of  senior  warden.  He  married,  in  1856,  Miss  Helen  Perrin,  of  Perrysburgh, 
Ohio,  and  they  have  buried  two  children  and  have  three  living:  Lillian  T.,  the  oldest  child  and 
only  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Silas  W.  Ruger,  of  Campbell,  Minnesota;  Edward  Henry  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  Follett  Wilkinson  is  attending  the  local  schools. 


ORRIS  K.  GRIFFITH,  M.D. 

HUNTLEY. 

ORRIS  KINGSBURY  GRIFFITH,  physician,  is  a  native  of  Trumbull  county,  Ohio,  his  birth 
being  dated  July  29,  1837.  His  father,  Clement  Griffith,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Montgomery 
county,  New  York;  his  grandfather  was  from  Wales,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Anne  Hewitt,  was  a  native  of  Saratoga  county,  New  York.  Her  father,  Randall  Hewitt,  who 
lived  to  be  ninety-two  years  of  age,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  famous  Indian  chief,  Brant,  and 
taken  to  Canada,  but  we  do  not  know  how  long  he  remained  in  durance  vile.  There  seems  to 
have  been  great  longevity  on  both  sides  of  the  family,  the  paternal  grandfather  of  Orris  dying  in 
his  ninety-third  or  ninety-fourth  year.  Clement  Griffith  died  in  Ohio  more  than  forty  years  ago, 
and  in  1844  our  subject  came  to  McHenry  county,  Illinois,  with  his  widowed  mother,  who  is  still 
living,  being  in  her  ninety-fourth  year,  her  home  being  in  McHenry  county. 

Our  subject  was  educated  at  the  Marengo  Academy,  in  which  town  he  also  read  medicine  with 
Doctor  j.  W.  Green.  He  attended  lectures  at  the  Cincinnati  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  from 
which  institution  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1861.  From  that  date  to  1865 
he  was  in  practice  at  Quasqueton,  Buchanan  county,  Iowa;  from  1866  to  1868,  in  Independence, 
same  county,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  latter  year  removed  to  his  present  home,  where,  as  he 
had  in  the  Hawkeye  State,  he  has  a  good  practice.  The  doctor  was  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  village  of  Huntley  for  two  or  three  years,  and  takes  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  its 
educational  and  other  matters,  he  being  decidedly  public  spirited,  and  an  eminently  useful  citizen. 

In  Iowa  he  was  very  active  in  politics,  and,  as  the  writer  of  this  sketch  happens  to  know,  had 
much  influence  in  the  republican  ranks.  He  liberalized  in  1872,  and  is  still,  we  believe,  an  inde- 
pendent voter.  The  doctor  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason,  and  an  Odd-Fellow. 

He  married  in  1862  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Taylor,  of  North  Adams,  Massachusetts,  and  they  have 
one  child,  Mary,  seventeen  years  of  age. 


HON.  JOHN  S.   BAILEY. 

MACOMB. 

JOHN   SIMPSON   BAILEY,  lawyer,  master  in  chancery,  and  many  years  ago  a  circuit  judge, 
hails  from  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Tinnicum,  September  7,  1814 
His  parents,  Samuel  and  Mary  (Buckman)  Bailey,  were  also  natives  of  that  county.     The  pro- 
genitors of  the  Bailey  family  came  to  this  country  prior  to  the  American  revolution,  and  settled 
on  the  so-called  Irish  Grant,  Pennsylvania. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  no  schooling  after  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  but  from  youth 
was  fond  of  reading,  and  gave  most  of  his  leisure  time  to  study.  His  father  was  a  farmer  early 
in  life,  and  later  a  carpenter,  and  the  son,  after  spending  two  years  in  a  lottery  office  in  Philadel- 
phia, went  to  work  for  his  father  in  the  same  city,  coming  to  Illinois  in  1836.  He  continued  to 


236  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

work  at  the  carpenter's  trade  until  1839,  when  he  taught  school  one  year  and  read  law  at  the  same 
time  at  Quincy  with  Ralston,  Warren  and  Wheat.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Springfield  in 
the  spring  of  1841,  and  commenced  practice  at  Mount  Sterling,  Brown  county,  where  he  remained 
for  fourteen  years.  In  1846-7  he  represented  Brown  and  Schuyler  counties  in  the  state  legisla- 
ture, and  held  the  office  of  state's  attorney  for  six  or  eight  years. 

In  June,  1855,  Mr.  Bailey  settled  'in  Macomb,  the  shire  town  of  McDonough  county,  and  has 
been  in  steady  practice  here  since  that  date,  excepting  when  on  the  bench.  In  1858  he  was  elected 
judge  of  the  fifth  judicial  circuit,  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  appointment  of  Judge  Pinkney 
H.  Walker  to  the  supreme  bench,  and  held  that  office  until  1861,  when  he  refused  to  serve  any 
longer.  The  salary  in  those  days  was  $1,000  a  year,  and  it  cost  him  $1,300  to  support  his  family. 
Judge  Bailey  was  appointed  master  in  chancery  in  1861,  and  still  holds  that  office.  As  a  lawyer 
he  is  sound;  prepares  a  case  with  great  care  and  accuracy,  and  as  a  counselor  has  no  superior  at 
the  McDonough  county  bar.  On  the  bench  he  was  clear-headed,  considerate  and  impartial,  mak- 
ing a  record  of  which  his  friends  have  no  occasion  to  be  ashamed.  He  is  a  democrat,  and  in  poli- 
tics "  knows  no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning." 

While  at  Mount  Sterling  he  joined  the  Freemasons;  was  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge  there  for  five 
years,  and  is  now  a  Royal  Arch  Mason.  Judge  Bailey  is  senior  warden  of  Saint  George's  Mission 
(Episcopal)  Church,  and  a  man  of  sterling  character.  He  was  first  married  in  1842  to  Miss  Salina 
Sweet,  of  Brown  county,  and  she  died  in  1872,  leaving  six  children,  one  of  them,  a  son,  since 
dying.  He  was  married  the  second  time  in  1878  to  Mrs.  Martha  (Spurck)  Swinnerton,  of  Peoria 
county. 

EDWARD  F.   DUTCHER. 

OREGON. 

EDWARD  FELLOWS  DUTCHER,  one  of  the  oldest  lawyers  in  Ogle  county,  is  a  son  of 
Ruluff  and  Lucinda  (Howe)  Dutcher,  and  was  born  in  Canaan,  Litchfield  county,  Connecti- 
cut, April  2,  1818.  His  father,  a  farmer,  was  born  at  Dutcher's  Bridge,  same  county,  and  was  a 
captain  in  the  second  war  with  England,  and  his  grandfather,  Ruluff  Dutcher,  Sr.,  was  born  on 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  while  his  parents  were  on  the  way  from  Holland  to  this  country.  His  mater- 
nal grandfather,  Elisha  Howe,  was  a  descendant  from  the  pilgrim  fathers  and  a  soldier  in  the 
first  war  with  England. 

Edward  was  educated  at  Lenox  Academy,  Massachusetts,  and  Salisbury,  Connecticut;  went 
to  Lockport,  New  York,  in  1836,  and  there  read  law  with  different  parties,  commencing  with 
Woods  and  Morse,  and  was  in  law  offices  there  until  1844,  when  he  moved  to  the  village  of  Lynn- 
ville,  town  of  Yates.  Orleans  county,  practicing  in  company  with  Judge  Royal  Chamberlain. 

At  the  time  the  Caroline  was  burned  at  Schlosser  (1837),  three  miles  above  Niagara  Falls,  our 
subject  was  the  lad  who  went  from  Lockport  to  Buffalo  and  obtained  a  capias  for  Colonel 
Alexander  McLeod,  the  British  officer  who  ordered  it  burned,  in  favor  of  William  C.  Wells,  the 
owner  of  the  boat.  During  the  patriot  war  (1837-8)  young  Dutcher  was  arrested  at  Hamilton, 
Upper  Canada,  now  Ontario,  July  4,  1838,  at  the  time  of  the  affair  at  Short  Hills,  and  held  for  four 
days  as  a  rebel,  with  seventeen  other  Americans,  who  sympathized  with  the  Canadians  in  their 
struggle  to  remedy  their  grievances. 

In  1846  our  subject  came  to  Illinois,  settled  in  Oregon,  and  has  been  in  practice  here  steadily  for 
nearly  thirty-seven  years,  except  when  in  the  service  of  his  country.  We  learn  from  the  "  History 
of  Ogle  County"  that  he  enlisted  August  13,  1862,  as  a  private;  that  on  the  second  of  the  next 
month  Governor  Gates  authorized  him  to  raise  a  company,  with  rank  of  second-lieutenant;  that 
he  enlisted  101  men,  and  was  elected  major  of  the  74th  regiment  Illinois  infantry.  That  regi- 
ment was  in  different  army  corps,  and  Major  Dutcher  was  in  the  battles  of  Perryville,  Lancaster, 
Knob's  Gap,  Overall's  Creek,  Stone  River, and  all  the  engagements  participated  in  by  the  regiment 
until  his  resignation,  on  account  of  disability,  in  March,  1863.  He  commanded  the  regiment 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  237 

seventy  days  after  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  at  the  time  of  the  expedition  to  Franklin,  Tennes- 
see, to  attempt  to  cut  off  Forrest  and  Wheeler's  cavalry,  the  whole  command  being  under  the  late 
Major-General  Jefferson  C.  Davis.  Major  Dutcher  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic. His  politics  are  democratic.  As  a  lawyer  he  stands  high.  His  practice  extends  over  a  wide 
extent  of  country,  and  he  has  all  he  can  do. 

He  was  raised  in  the  Episcopal  church,  to  which  form  of  worship  he  has  a  leaning,  but  there 
is  no  church  of  the  kind  where  he  resides.  The  major  has  a  second  wife.  His  first  wife  was 
Elizabeth  S.  Van  Volkenburg,  of  Kinderhook,  New  York,  married  in  1849,  and  dying  in  1876, 
leaving  four  sons,  two  daughters  having  previously  died.  His  present  wife  was  Mrs.  Sarah 
(Marsh)  Scripter,  of  Batavia,  New  York,  married  in  1879.  The  four  children  of  the  first  wife  are 
Edward  S.,  William  H.,  Ruluff  E.  and  George  A. 


DOCTOR  FLORIAN    E.  HANSEN. 

WINCHESTER. 

FLORIAN  EMILIUS  HANSEN,  dentist,  and  mayor  of  the  city  of  Winchester,  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  September  19,  1837.  His  father,  Edward  Richard 
Hansen,  a  teacher  of  music  by  profession,  was  born  in  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  and  educated  for  the 
Lutheran  ministry.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Anna  Eliza  Maison,  a  native  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  a  grand-niece  of  Marquis  Maison,  marshal  of  France. 

When  Florian  was  but  six  years  old  the  family  went  to  the  island  of  Cuba,  where  our  subject 
received  most  of  his  education.  In  1854  the  family  left  Cuba,  and  for  some  time  Florian  was 
engaged  in  traveling  through  the  eastern  and  western  states,  tarrying  awhile  in  Springfield,  in 
this  state.  He  had  commenced  the  study  of  dentistry  in  Cuba,  and  finished  in  New  York,  taking 
great  pains  to  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  profession.  He  practiced  it  for  two  or  three 
years  in  New  York  city,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1863  returned  to  Illinois  and  settled  at  Winchester, 
which  has  been  his  home  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  where  he  has  met  with  very  encouraging 
success.  For  years  he  has  been  the  leading  dentist  of  Scott  county. 

Doctor  Hansen  was  an  alderman  of  the  first  ward  one  term,  and  mayor  of  the  city  in  1881  and 
1882,  making  a  public-spirited  and  efficient  chief  magistrate.  In  politics  Mayor  Hansen  is  a 
republican,  and  he  is  an  earnest  worker  in  the  interest  of  'his  party,  serving  at  one  period  as  a 
member  of  the  central  committee  of  the  thirty-seventh  senatorial  district.  He  is  not  an  office 
seeker,  and  will  work  much  harder  for  the  election  of  a  friend  than  for  himself. 

In  1871  he  married  Miss  Mary  C.  Woods,  daughter  of  Colonel  John  R.  Woods,  deceased, 
during  the  civil  war  secretary  of  the  soldiers'  sanitary  commission,  his  residence  being  at  Win- 
chester. Doctor  Hansen  has  been  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  since  1855,  and  is  a  man  of 
solid  character. 

CLINTON    HELM,  M.D. 

ROCKFORD. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  son  of  Woodhull  and  Lucy  (Ruggles)  Helm,  and  was  born   in 
Blenheim,  Schoharie  county,  New  York,  February  21,  1829.      His  father  was  born  in  Orange 
county,  New  York,  and  his  mother  in  Worcester  county,  Massachusetts.     The  latter  belonged  to 
the  New  England  branch  of  the  family,  now  so  widely  scattered  over  the  country,  she  being  a 
distant  relative  of  General  Ruggles. 

•In  1835  Woodhull  Helm  moved  his  family  to  Illinois,  settling  at  first  near  Alton,  and  two 
years  afterward  removed  northward  into  Ogle  county,  where  the  parents  remained.  In  1848  our 
subject  came  to  Rockford  ;  here  finished  his  literary  education,  taking  an  academic  course ; 
studied  medicine  with  Doctor  Lucius  Clark  ;  attended  lectures  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  the  first  class, 


238  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL.   DICTIONARY. 

received  his  diploma  in  1852,  and  the  following  season  was  offered  the  position  of  demonstrator 
of  anatomy  in  the  college,  which  he  declined. 

Doctor  Helm  practiced  two  or  three  years  at  Oregon,  Ogle  county,  then  moved  to  Byron, 
where  he  remained  until  1869.  He  went  into  the  army  as  surgeon  of  the  gzd  Illinois  infantry, 
and  served  three  years,  being  staff  surgeon  with  General  Kilpatrick  during  the  last  year.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Chickamauga  in  September,  1863,  with  over  fifty  other  surgeons  sent  to  Libby 
Prison,  and  was  exchanged  after  two  months'  confinement.  Returning  to  Illinois,  Doctor  Helm 
resumed  practice  at  Byron,  and  in  1869  removed  to  Beloit,  Wisconsin,  where  he  remained  for 
eight  years.  In  January,  1878,  he  settled  in  Rockford,  and  soon  built  up  a  large  practice.  He  is 
a  skillful  surgeon,  performing  the  most  difficult  operations  with  marked  success.  He  has  had 
numerous  cases  of  ovariotomy,  in  nearly  all  of  which  the  operations  have  been  successful. 
Wherever  he  has  been  located  he  has  done  an  extensive  general  business,  so  much  so  that  he  has 
had  very  little  time  to  attend  to  anything  else.  He  has  held  no  civil  office  of  any  kind  ;  is  a 
republican,  but  does  not  always  get  to  the  polls.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Second  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Rockford,  and  his  character  stands  high  in  the  community.  The  doctor  has 
done  more  or  less  writing,  but  very  seldom  gives  anything  to  the  medical  or  any  other  press.  He 
married,  in  November,  1852,  Miss  Hannah  S.  Poyneer,  of  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  and  they  have 
had  seven  children,  all  yet  living  but  one  son. 


CHICAGO    STEEL   WORKS. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

THE  business  represented  under  the  above  name  stands  conspicuous  among  Chicago's  thriv- 
ing industrial  enterprises.  It  dates  its  origin  from  September,  1873,  at  which  time  it  was 
incorporated  with  an  invested  capital  of  $100,000.  For  various  reasons,  however,  the  establish- 
ment did  not  get  fully  into  operation  until  in  July,  1874,  and  the  amount  of  business  done  during 
the  first  few  years  was  limited  in  extent,  the  average  products  being  about  one  thousand  tons  of 
Bessemer  steel  goods  per  annum. 

The  business  is  located  at  the  corner  of  Noble  street  and  North  avenue,  and  at  the  beginning 
occupied  a  building  covering  an  area  of  forty-two  by  seventy-two  feet.  With  the  growing 
demands  of  the  trade,  the  facilities  were  increased,  and  the  building  enlarged  from  time  to  time, 
until  it  now  (1883)  has  a  frontage  of  two  hundred  and  forty-six  feet  on  Noble  street,  with  an 
extreme  depth  of  sixty-five  feet,  while  the  entire  premises  cover  a  triangular  area  of  two  hundred 
and  forty  by  five  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  The  number  of  hands  employed  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  works,  has  been  increased  from  twenty-five  to  seventy-five,  who,  with  the  aid  of 
modern  appliances  with  which  the  establishment  is  furnished  throughout,  turn  out  products  to 
the  amount  of  $200,000  per  annum.  A  progressive  policy  has  always  prevailed  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  enterprise,  it  being  the  aim  of  those  who  have  its  affairs  in  charge  to  introduce  every 
improvement  in  the  line  of  new  appliances  necessary  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  the  day,  a 
policy  which  has  resulted  in  the  building  up  of  a  model  establishment. 

Of  the  various  articles  produced,  a  specialty  is  made  of  steel  plow  beams,  sleeves  and  shovel 
blocks  for  cultivators,  steel  harrow  teeth,  etc.,  but  limited  space  forbids  that  we  give  more  than 
a  passing  notice  of  the  more  prominent  products.  The  plow  beams  are  made  of  tempered  steel, 
and  are  shaped  with  a  special  view  to  securing  the  greatest  strength  with  the  lightest  weight.  As 
is  known,  the  direct  strain  on  a  plow  beam  tends  to  straighten  it  out,  and  thus  to  stretch  or  part 
the  under  side.  To  overcome  this,  two  provisions  are  made  in  the  sections,  namely,  the  body  or 
under  part  is  made  much  heavier  than  any  other  part ;  and  again,  the  comb  on  the  top  is  so  .high 
that  the  leverage  adds  greatly  to  the  natural  strength  of  the  body.  Another  important  feature  is 
the  width  of  the  body,  which  is  so  great  that  the  plow  is  held  firmly  to  its  proper  course,  and  all 
trembling  avoided.  The  popularity  of  these  beams  is  fully  attested  by  the  fact  that  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  of  them  have  been  sold. 


LIBRARY 

Of    irtE 

UNIVERSI'IV  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


241 


The  shovel  attachments  constitute  the  latest  and  best  improvements  for  cultivators.  The 
shank  or  sleeve  is  attached  to  the  iron  beam  of  the  cultivator  by  a  rivet  about  which  it  may 
revolve,  and  is  kept  in  place  by  a  wooden  pin.  Should  the  shovel  strike  an  obstruction,  this  pin 
breaks,  and  the  shovel  turns  back  and  slides  over  it  without  damage.  These  goods  have  been 
before  the  public  about  six  years,  and  have  a  very  wide  reputation  that  is  rapidly  increasing. 
The  management  of  the  business  has  always  been  economical  and  efficient,  and  to  this,  combined 
with  the  universal  superiority  of  the  products,  must  be  attributed  its  remarkable  success. 

In  1873  the  enterprise  was  incorporated,  under  the  state  laws  of  Illinois,  as  The  Chicago  Steel 
Works.  The  directors  are  Catharinus  P.,  John,  Ebenezer,  Edward  H.  and  John  H.  Buckingham. 
The  two  latter  gentlemen  are  the  sons  of  C.  P.  Buckingham,  and  hold  respectively  the  positions 
of  superintendent  and  secretary  of  the  works,  being  both  well  qualified  by  experience  and  educa- 
tion for  the  posts  they  most  creditably  fill.  The  president  of  this  concern  is  General  C.  P.  Buck- 
ingham. He  is  a  native  of  Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  was  born  March  14,  1808.  His  father,  Ebenezer 
Buckingham,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Ohio.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  General 
Rufus  Putnam,  of  revolutionary  fame,  who  was  the  first  chief  engineer  of  the  United  States  army, 
and  the  first  man  to  head  an  emigration  for  Ohio. 

C.  P.  Buckingham  was  appointed  a  cadet  to  West  Point  by  President  Monroe,  and  entered  the 
academy  there  when  seventeen  years  of  age.  One  year  later  he  was  appointed  assistant  professor 
of  mathematics,  and  for  two  years,  besides  prosecuting  his  studies,  spent  several  hours  each  day 
in  teaching.  At  the  expiration  of  four  years  he  graduated,  ranking  second  in  mathematics,  phi- 
losophy and  engineering,  and  sixth  in  general  merit.  Among  his  classmates  were  General  R.  E. 
Lee,  Joseph  E.  Johnson,  O.  M.  Mitchell,  Thomas  A.  Davis,  James  Barnes,  Thomas  Swords  and 
others  of  less  celebrity. 

In  1829  Mr.  Buckingham  was  commissioned  by  President  Jackson,  second  lieutenant  in  the 
3d  United  States  artillery,  and  soon  afterward  joined  a  party  engaged  in  surveying  Green  River, 
Kentucky,  with  a  view  to  rendering  the  same  navigable.  He  spent  the  following  winter  in  Wash- 
ington, completing  the  maps  of  this  survey,  and  in  September,  1830,  after  a  four  months'  furlough, 
was  ordered  to  West  Point  as  acting  assistant  professor  of  natural  philosophy.  He  served  in 
that  capacity  for  one  year,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  left  the  United  States  service  and  returned 
to  civil  life.  In  1833  he  was  called  to  the  chair  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  at  Ken- 
yon  College,  Gambler,  Ohio,  a  position  which  he  filled  with  credit  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and 
upon  retiring  from  the  same  he  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the  institution.  Professor  Buckingham 
removed  thence  to  Mount  Vernon',  Ohio,  and  in  1849  became  senior  proprietor  of  the  Kokosing 
Iron  Works  of  that  place. 

In  1856. he  removed  temporarily  to  Chicago,  spending  two  years,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Sturges,  Buckingham  and  Company,  in  the  construction  and  establishment  of  the  grain  houses 
of  that  firm,  located  on  the  premises  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad,  and  known  as  the  Central 
Elevators.  At  the  expiration  of  that  period  of  time  (in  1858),  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the 
enterprise  to  his  partners,  who,  however,  continued  the  business  under  the  old  name  until  Octo- 
ber, 1866,  when  General  C.  P.  Buckingham's  two  younger  brothers,  John  and  Ebenezer  Bucking- 
ham, acquired  the  business  and  property,  changing  the  firm  name  to  J.  and  E.  Buckingham.  He 
then  returned  to  his  home  in  Ohio,  and,  resuming  the  management  of  his  business,  remained 
there  till  the  opening  of  the  civil  war. 

Shortly  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  he  was  tendered  the  assistant  adjutant-generalship  of 
Ohio,  by  Governor  Denison,  and  on  repairing  to  Columbus  and  reporting  for  duty,  was  at  once 
appointed  commissary-general  of  Ohio.  After  the  commissary  department  of  the  state  had  been 
thoroughly  organized,  General  Carrington,  adjutant-general  of  the  state,  being  commissioned  in 
the  regular  army,  General  Buckingham  succeeded  to  the  office  that  was  made  vacant.  A  com- 
plete record  of  his  labors  while  filling  this  office  would  fill  volumes.  Let  it  suffice  to  state  that 
before  the  expiration  of  a  year  he  had  equipped  and  organized  forlhe  three  years'  service  in  the 
arm)',  eighty  thousand  men.  General  Buckingham  continued  in  office  under  Governor  Todd, 
25 


242  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

and  held  the  position  until  1862.  April  i,  1862,  he  was  proffered  and  accepted  the  office  of  brig- 
adier-general of  volunteers  and  assistant  adjutant-general  of  the  United  States  army,  with  a 
special  service  in  the  war  department.  In  the  following  July,  in  company  with  the  secretary  of 
state,  he  was  detailed  to  visit  the  various  state  authorities,  the  object  being  to  arrange  for  and 
facilitate  the  business  of  recruiting.  After  conferring,  in  company  with  Mr.  Seward,  with  the 
governors  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  General  Buckingham  went  alone  to 
Cleveland,  and  there  met  the  governors  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  and  in  July, 
1862,  upon  his  suggestion,  the  provost  marshal's  bureau  was  established.  In  October  of  the  same 
year  he  was  ordered  to  Columbus,  Indianapolis  and  Rock  Island,  to  select  sites  for  government 
arsenals  and  his  reports  and  suggestions  respecting  the  same  were  strictly  adhered  to. 

In  November,  1862,  at  the  time  General  George  B.  McClellan  was  moving  south  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Antietam,  the  war  department  at  Washington  having  determined  to  remove  that  gentleman 
from  his  post  of  commander,  and  substitute  General  Burnside,  General  Buckingham  was 
detailed  to  perform  this  delicate  task.  In  order  to  reach  these  gentlemen  and  notify  them  of 
their  orders,  General  Buckingham  was  forced  to  use  a  locomotive  of  the  Orange  railroad,  running 
from  Alexandria  to  Manassas  Gap,  as  his  motive  power.  This  road  had  not  been  used  for  some 
time,  and  a  great  portion  of  its  route  was  supposed  to  be  infested  by  the  enemy.  After  a  most 
romantic,  and  yet  tedious  ride,  they  being  continually  compelled  to  stop  to  hew  their  wood,  and 
draw  their  water,  no  provisions  having,  under  the  circumstances,  been  made  for  the  expedition, 
the  general  reached  Manassas  Gap  at  night  of  the  very  day  on  which  General  Burnside  had 
quitted  that  place.  Taking  to  horse,  he,  about  noon  of  the  next  day,  reached  Burnside,  and 
delivered  to  him  his  orders,  and  at  eleven  P.M.  succeeded  in  doing  likewise  to  General  George  B. 
McClellan,  thus  transferring  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

In  February,  1863,  at  the  request  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs,  of  the  United  States 
senate,  he  drew  up  a  bill,  providing  for  a  conscription  law  which  was  acted  upon,  and  adopted 
without  any  material  alterations.  Such  in  brief  is  an  outline  of  the  life-history  of  C.  P.  Bucking- 
ham, a  man  who  has  both  created  for  himself  a  prominent  place  in  the  industrial  history  of  the 
Northwest,  with  which  he  has  for  many  years  been  closely  identified,  and,  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  his  illustrious  ancestry,  has  risen  to  a  high  rank  in  the  military  annals  of  his  country. 
He  is  preeminently  a  self-made  man,  of  whom  it  may  justly  be  said  labor  omnia  vincit. 


FREDERICK  W.   LEE,  M.D. 

TISKILWA. 

*HE  subject  of  this  biographical  notice  is  a  son  of  Frederick  W.  and  Rebecca  (Richards)  Lee, 
and  was  born  in  Guilford,  New'Haven  county,  Connecticut,  June  10,  1834.  Both  parents 
were  born  in  that  state,  his  father  at  Guilford  and  his  mother  at  Norwich.  Frederick  had  an 
academic  education  in  his  native  town;  in  1857  came  to  Sandwich,  Illinois,  and  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  with  Doctor  Merriam,  and  his  mother  dying  the  next  year,  he  returned  to 
Guilford.  He  there  resumed  his  medical  studies,  and  was  attending  lectures  when  the  civil  war 
began.  He  enlisted  in  the  loth  Connecticut  infantry,  and  at  the  end  of  three  months  was  dis- 
abled by  sickness,  and  was  discharged.  He  soon  reenlisted,  this  time  in  the  2oth  Connecticut,  as 
hospital  steward,  and  served  altogether  about  two  years. 

In  1865  he  finished  his  studies,  received  his  diploma,  and  came  that  year  to  Illinois,  locating 
at  first  in  Aurora,  where  he  remained  for  two  or  three  years,  and  then  settled  in  Harmon,  Lee 
county.  In  the  latter  place  he  resided  for  eleven  or  twelve  years,  and  had  a  good  business.  He 
also  became  very  much  interested  in  politics,  and  was  for  five  or  six  years  chairman  of  the 
republican  central  committee  of  the  town. 

Wishing  to  be  in  a  larger  place,  Doctor  Lee  removed  to  Tiskilwa  in  November,  1880,  and  is 
here  building  up  a  remunerative  practice.  He  has  not,  we  believe,  changed  his  political  senti- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  243 

ments,  but  seems  to  have  dropped  active  politics,  and  is  attending  very  closely  to  his  professional 
duties.  Latterly  he  has  practiced  both  allopathy  and  homoeopathy,  with  a  growing  preference 
for  the  latter  school.  He  is  a  diligent  student,  and  keeps  well  read  up  in  medical  science. 

The  doctor  is  a  third  degree  Mason,  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  a  man  of  sterling  integrity.  He  is  of  Puritan  stock,  and  cherishes  Puritan  ideas  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  first  day  of  the  week  and  of  the  importance  of  a  holy  life,  ideas  which  cannot 
be  too  prevalent  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

Before  leaving  the  East  the  first  time,  in  October,  1856,  Doctor  Lee  was  married  to  Miss  Lucy 
A.  Abell,  of  East  Hampton,  Middlesex  county,  Connecticut,  and  they  have  six  children  living,  and 
lost  their  first-born  child,  Sadie  R.,  in  New  Haven,  when  the  father  was  in  the  army,  and  their 
youngest,  Sadie  Y.,  at  Tiskilwa  in  1881.  The  oldest  living  child,  Gracie  M.,  is  the  wife  of  Charles 
W.  Fitch,  machinist,  Chicago,  and  the  others  are  at  home,  their  names  being  Addie  A.,  Charles 
F.,  Ernest  W.,  Mary  D.,  and  Kittie  C.  A  few  years  ago  the  father  of  Doctor  Lee  came  to  Illinois, 
and  is  living  with  his  son  at  Tiskilwa,  being  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  yet  quite  robust  for  a  man 
of  that  number  of  years.  He  has  been  an  active  Christian  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  was 
old  enough  to  take  his  father's  place  a  short  time  as  a  substitute  in  the  war  of  1812-14. 


JOHN  A.  J.   KENDIG. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN  A.  J.  KENDIG  was  born  December  14,  1834,  at  Bloomsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  His  fore- 
fathers, however,  were  uniformly  of  Lancaster  county  since  1709,  when  the  pilgrim,  Martin 
Kendig,  led  his  flock,  a  colony  of  about  three  hundred,  from  Bern,  Switzerland,  to  settle  there. 
He  was  a  Mennonite  bishop;  purchased  2,000  acres  of  land  for  himself,  a  like  amount  for  Le  Fevre, 
and  afterward  recrossed  the  Atlantic  in  the  interest  of  the  settlement,  but  returning  with  addi- 
tional members  to  it.  Through  the  industry  of  these  people  Lancaster  rose  in  importance,  till  in 
1799  it  became  the  capital  of  the  state.  Lancaster  was  among  the  first  to  take  firm  stand  against 
English  aggression,  and  July  9,  1774,  passed  by  a  unanimous  vote  resolutions  of  independence, 
seven  articles  of  which  were  embodied  by  Tefferson  in  the  grand  declaration  of  independence. 
His  mother's  father  was  John  Wertman,  colonel  of  a  cavalry  regiment  in  the  war  of  1812.  [See 
"  Rupp's  History  of  Lancaster  County,  A.D.  1844,"  pages  74,  76,  78,  79,  81,  85,  90,  378  and  456; 
also  "  History  of  the  Religious  Denominations  of  America."]  Mr.  Kendig's  parents  settled  in 
Ashland,  Ohio,  in  1839.  During  his  fifteenth  summer  he  cradled  eleven  acres  of  oats  in  two  days, 
plowed  ten  acres  in  three  days,  and  pitched  nine  tons  of  hay  from  the  wagon  to  the  mow  in  one 
day.  He  practically  assumed  the  responsibilities  of  business  at  ten  years  of  age.  During  the 
following  six  years  the  farm  and  merchandising  so  prospered  that  his  father  was  not  quite  willing 
to  spare  such  an  energy  from  the  enterprise;  but  the  young  man  had  fixed  his  heart  on  the  high 
school.  With  all  the  cares  of  business  he  had  so  used  the  spare  hours  and  the  three  winter  months 
of  school  that  he  was,  upon  examination,  given  a  certificate  to  teach  a  common  district  school. 
During  the  term,  this  young  school-master  taught  that  the  figure  of  the  planet  we  inhabit  is 
round.  The  directors  took  exception  to  such  a  heresy.  A  debate  ensued,  in  which  Mr.  Kendig, 
by  forty  verses  ot  Scripture  eloquently  presented  by  the  deacons,  was  defeated,  and  he  was  actu- 
ally compelled' to  desist  from  teaching  this  doctrine. 

At  seventeen  he  entered  the  high  school  of  Ashland,  where  he  attracted  the  notice  of  W.  B. 
Allison,  now  in  the  United  States  senate  from  Iowa.  There  were  self-denials  and  another  term 
of  teaching  before  he  was  fully  prepared  for  college.  He  entered  Kenyon  College  with  the  class 
of  '59.  After  the  severe  struggle  of  the  first  term  the  faculty  appointed  him  superintendent  of 
the  college  buildings,  in  which  work  he  was  enabled  to  make  return  for  his  tuition.  President 
Andrews,  pleased  with  his  attention  so  far,  permitted  him  to  look  after  his  garden,  horse,  market- 
ing and  accounts,  and  to  sit  at  his  table  as  a  member  of  his  family.  This  was  valuable  in  another 


244  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL 

respect.  To  the  august  president's  dinners  were  invited  the  noblest  men  of  the  country.  Gov- 
ernor Salmon  P.  Chase  made  the  address  on  commencement  day,  and  gave  to  twenty-eight  gradu- 
ates their  diplomas.  He  graduated  thus  in  1859,  but  during  his  senior  year  began  the  study  of 
law  under  Doctor  Francis  Wharton,  author  of  "  Wharton's  Criminal  Law,"  etc.,  who  was  then  of 
Kenyon  faculty,  in  the  chair  of  literature.  He  came  at  once  to  Chicago,  continuing  his  law 
studies  in  the  office  of  Jesse  B.  Thomas;  was  admitted  in  1861,  and  in  the  autumn  Miss  Abby  E. 
Gates,  the  sister  of  Mrs.  President  Andrews  and  daughter  of  the  late  Simon  S.  Gates,  and  Mr, 
Kendig  were  married.  In  the  following  year  he  received  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  from  his 
alma  mater.  He  was  an  earnest  Sunday  school  teacher,  and  was  superintendent  for  three  years, 
He  has  been  a  delegate  to  three  diocesan  conventions.  In  an  eloquent  speech  in  the  last  he  pre- 
vented a  collision  between  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  in  the  Cheney  trial.  Through 
the  influence  of  Professor  Joseph  Haven,  whose  intimate  acquaintance  he  enjoyed  for  twelve  years, 
Mr.  Kendig  joined  the  English  literature  class  of  Chicago  under  the  professor's  direction.  Upon 
the  death  of  Doctor  Haven  the  class  chose  Mr.  Kendig  its  leader,  and  so  annually  thereafter  for 
seven  years.  In  this  connection  he  wrote  a  bold  philosophical  pamphlet  entitled,  "  Intellect  or 
Character,"  which  attracted  distinguished  consideration,  and  was  published  under  a  resolution  of 
the  class. 

These,  in  addition  to  his  professional  labors,  gave  some  impression  of  fatigue.  Accordingly, 
June  i, .1878,  accompanied  by  his  highly  accomplished  wife,  he  began  a  journey  which  extended 
around  the  world,  and  some  account  of  which  he  has  given  in  "  Sketches  of  Travel  —  the  East,  the 
Far  East,  and  Some  of  the  By  Paths  Thither."  The  first  edition  was  exhausted  in  ten  days.  He 
dwells  at  greater  length  on  India,  Japan  and  China.  The  facts  in  the  two  chapters  on  the  latter 
country  are  justly  regarded  the  most  valuable  statement  on  the  Chinese  question  which  has  yet 
appeared.  Mr.  Kendig  holds  the  Shinto  religious  system  to  be  second  only  to  the  Christian,  and 
shows  that  the  rate  of  illiteracy  of  the  United  States  is  twenty  per  cent,  while  the  rate  under  the 
Shinto  religion  in  Japan  is  but  ten  per  cent.  His  lecture  of  ten  years  ago  delivered  in  Chicago 
and  other  places  in  northern  Illinois,  "Who  Wrote  Shakespeare,"  also  more  recently  his  lecture  on 
"  Here  and  There  in  the  Land  of  the  Book,"  are  well  remembered.  On  the  first  ballot  in  the 
spring  of  1883  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Kenyon  College  Alumni  Association.  Attention 
has  been  drawn  to  a  portion  of  his  opening  address  before  the  annual  banquet  of  the  association, 
in  which  he  says:  "The  fruits  of  the  association  are  being  gleaned,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  more 
intimate  acquaintance  which  has  sprung  up  between  the  members.  There  is  one  question  in 
regard  to  education  which  is  of  growing  importance,  and  which  will  demand  attention  from  all 
the  educatioual  institutions  in  the  country,  and  that  is,  that  attention  is  given  to  cunning  rather 
than  to  character.  In  our  institutions  of  learning  intellect  is  properly  considered,  yet  it  is  but 
one  division  of  the  mind.  That  which  cultivates  us  in  what  is  right  or  wrong,  in  the  artistic  and 
in  the  beautiful,  is  too  largely  ignored.  This  remark  is  applicable  to  our  immediate  surroundings 
as  citizens." 

In  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Kendig's  professional  career,  some  incidents,  from  one  so  alone  as  he 
was,  are  worthy  of  mention.  He  had  deposited  a  considerable  sum  with  the  Bank  of  Hoffman 
and  Ghelpcke  when  the  stump-tail  times  came.  He  withdrew  his  accounts,  sold  the  depreciated 
bills  for  eighty  cents  on  the  dollar,  lodged  the  gold  in  a  vault,  and  quietly  waited  for  greenbacks 
to  more  than  lift  him  out.  In  1862  he  and  his  bride  were  boarding  with  the  widow  of  Thomas 
Stewart,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Chicago  "Tribune,"  and  he  found  that  while  Stewart  was 
dying  of  consumption  in  Texas  he  had  been  foreclosed  under  a  mortgage  on  a  valuable  farm  in 
Crystal  Lake,  Illinois,  and  that  if  a  second  mortgage  could  be  purchased,  the  farm,  on  account  of 
error,  might  be  redeemed.  He  borrowed  the  necessary  money  to  purchase  the  second  mortgage 
to  get  himself  into  a  lawsuit,  but  in  the  sequel  he  had  the  farm,  which  he  sold  to  C.  H.  Dole,  who 
has  made  it  the  handsomest  farm  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  for  enough  to  pay  every  cent  of  the 
mortgage  and  interest,  to  hand  the  widow  $1,450,  and  to  retain  a  moderate  fee  for  himself. 

Residing  in  the  twentieth  ward  in  the  war  times,  and  it  being  apparent  that  three-quarters  of 


UNITED    STATES  KIOGKAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


245 


the  population  were  foreign-born,  and  that,  therefore,  a  draft  for  soldiers  on  the  basis  of  the 
whole  would  take  about  all  the  natives,  he  undertook  to  get  British  protection  before  the  draft, 
and  have  all  alien  names  stricken  from  the  muster  roll.  At  length  the  British  consul,  J.  Edward 
Wilkins,  was  disposed  to  review  his  proceedings.  He,  therefore,  after  some  correspondence  with 
Provost  Marshal  General  Fry,  had  a  draft  of  fact  adopted  by  the  general  government,  which 
eliminated  the  consul  as  well  as  the  fee  to  the  British  exchequer.  His  argument  in  the  Robinson 
will  case  is  well  remembered;  his  success  in  the  twenty-eight  ejectment  cases,  which  resulted  in 
locating  Fourteenth  street,  as  well  as  his  adjustment  of  the  much  involved  title  of  the  lands  which 
now  in  perfect  title  constitute  Ravenswood  and  Rogers  Park,  received  encouraging  mention.  Mr. 
Kendig  and  the  late  G.  W.  Thompson  were  office  companions  for  twelve  years. 

While  Mr.  Kendig  is  not  now  frequently  before  the  courts,  he  is,  after  twenty-one  years  close 
attention  to  professional  duty,  in  the  possession  of  a  commanding,  lucrative  and  altogether  envi- 
able practice.  His  modest  home  is  a  very  model  of  all  that  that  sacred  name  indicates. 


WILLIAM    KERNS. 

MOLINE. 

WILLIAM  KERNS,  a  resident  of  Moline  for  nearly  thirty  years,  is  a  son  of  Simon  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Ocheltree)  Kerns,  and  was  born  in  East  Marlborough,  Chester  county,  Pennsylva- 
nia, July  4,  1820.  His  father  was  born  in  the  same  place,  and  his  mother  in  Newcastle  county, 
Delaware.  The  great-grandfather,  Thomas  Kerns,  came  from  Ireland  ;  married  in  Chester 
county,  and  there  his  son,  William  Kerns,  for  whom  our  subject  was  named,  was  born.  The 
family  were  Quakers,  and  hence  took  no  part  in  the  rebellion  against  England  in  1775.  Doctor 
Robert  Bines,  the  maternal  grandfather  of  Elizabeth  Ocheltree,  was  a  surgeon  in  the  continental 
army. 

Mr.  Kerns  received  an  ordinary  English  education,  to  which  he  added  more  or  less  in  after 
years  by  private  study;  moved  with  the  family  to  Salem,  Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  in  1834,  and 
was  engaged  in  farming  until  thirty-three  years  of  age.  In  May,  1842,  he  married  Miss  Beulah 
Shinn,  of  Salem,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1853  brought  his  family  to  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
after  prospecting  a  short  time  in  Iowa,  settled  in  Moline. 

Mr.  Kerns  brought  a  team  with  him  from  Ohio,  and  was  ready  for  any  kind  of  work  at  which 
he  could  make  an  honest  living.  He  commenced  by  teaming  at  whatever  he  could  get  to  do,  and 
among  other  things  helped  to  deliver  the  ties  on  seven  miles  of  the  west  end  of  the  Chicago  and 
Rock  Island  railroad,  then  being  nearly  completed.  Before  leaving  Ohio  he  had  partially  learned 
the  carpenter  trade  of  his  father,  who  was  a  mechanic  as  well  as  farmer,  and  he  did  more  or  less 
at  that  business  for  a  few  years. 

Mr.  Kerns  was  clerk  of  the  village  corporation  of  Moline  from  1858  to  1861,  and  postmaster 
from  the  last  date  to  1869,  with  the  exception  of  a  short  time  during  the  early  part  of  the  admin- 
istration of  President  Johnson.  In  1865  he  became  connected  with  Candee,  Swan  and  Company, 
afterward  the  Moline  Plow  Company,  working  in  the  shops,  and  traveling  at  times  in  its  inter- 
ests, collecting  accounts,  and  always  attending  to  its  legal  business,  which  was  very  important, 
and  he  remained  in  that  connection  until  February,  1881.  For  the  greater  part  o'f  the  time  from 
February,  1867,  till  he  closed  his  relationship  with  the  company,  he  had  charge  of  the  defense  of 
some  of  the  most  important  suits  that  have  ever  been  commenced  in  Illinois,  involving  as  they 
did  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  most  of  them  being  brought  for  alleged  infringements  of 
patents  and  trade-marks.  In  these  the  company  was  very  fortunate,  never  having  a  decree  against 
it.  Mr.  Kerns  is  just  now  acting  as  executor  and  trustee  of  the  late  Robert  K.  Swan,  who  was  one 
of  the  originators  of  the  Moline  Plow  Company,  and  an  esteemed  friend  of  Mr.  Kerns. 

Mr.  Kerns  has  lived  a  somewhat  quiet,  unobtrusive  life,  holding  no  office,  we  believe,  since  he 
left  the  postoffice.  He  has  always  been  deeply  interested  in  politics,  and  was  a  free  soiler  from 


246  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.     ' 

the  time  that  slavery  began  to  be  a  prominent  question  in  politics.  He  indorsed  the  Buffalo 
platform  in  1848,  and  voted  for  Van  Buren  and  Adams  that  year;  for  John  P.  Hale  in  1852,  and 
with  the  republican  party  since  its  formation,  excepting  in  1872. 

Mr.  Kerns  has  long  been  a  strong  advocate  of  temperance;  has  himself  always  been  a  man 
of  excellent  habits,  and  hence,  as  might  be  expected,  is  well  preserved.  His  integrity  has  never 
been  questioned  by  people  who  know  him. 

As  the  fruits  of  the  marriage  already  mentioned,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kerns  have  had  four  children, 
all  sons,  losing  two  of  them.  Anson,  the  third  child,  was  taken  sick  when  the  family  were  immi- 
grating to  Illinois,  and  died  at  Massillon,  Ohio;  George  H.,  the  eldest  son,  was  killed  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Stone  River,  December  31,  1862;  Simon  A.  is  married,  and  connected  with  the  Buford  Plow 
Company,  at  Rock  Island,  residing  at  Moline,  and  Charles  Sumner  is  a  student  at  Eastman's 
Commercial  College,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York. 


CAPTAIN    JOHN    M.    ADAIR. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN  M.  ADAIR,  who  has  charge  of  the  department  of  indexes  and  archives  in  the  office  of 
the  secretary  of  state,  is  a  native  of  Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania,  dating  his  birth  May  11, 
1840.  His  parents  were  Samuel  H.  and  Susan  (Ottenbarger)  Adair.  When  he  was  eight  years 
old  the  family  moved  to  Carroll  county,  in  this  state,  where  he  remained  on  his  father's  farm 
until  seventeen  years  of  age,  when  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Mount  Carroll.  In  that  situa- 
tion he  was  found  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  his  patriotic  instincts  led  him  to  offer  his  services 
to  his  country.  He  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  E,  45th  regiment  Illinois  infantry;  was  mus- 
tered in  at  Mount  Carroll.  September  14,  1861,  and  was  promoted  to  first  sergeant  in  November 
following,  and  to  second  lieutenant  on  the  first  day  of  the  following  month.  His  regiment  was 
at  first  in  the  army  of  the  Mississippi,  under  General  Grant,  and  participated  in  the  capture  of 
Fort  Donelson,  and  in  both  days'  fight  at  Pittsburgh  Landing.  During  the  summer  of  1862  our 
subject  was  stationed  at  Jackson,  Tennessee,  his  regiment  being  detailed  to  guard  the  railroad 
lines  which  communicated  with  General  Grant's  army  and  furnished  transportation  for  supplies. 
Early  in  November  the  regiment  broke  camp  at  Jackson,  and  participated  in  the  Mississippi 
campaign  to  Oxford,  under  General  Grant,  and  about  that  time  our  subject  was  promoted  to  first 
lieutenant  of  his  company. 

The  gallant  45th  participated  in  the  memorable  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg,  being 
attached  to  Logan's  division  of  McPherson's  i7th  army  corps,  and  during  that  siege  Lieutenant 
Adair  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain,  vice  Fisk,  promoted.  The  summer  of  1863  found  him 
on  detached  service  as  assistant  provost  marshal  at  Vicksburg,  having  charge  of  river  transpor- 
tation, etc.  In  the  autumn  following  that  regiment  veteranized;  the  next  spring  had  a  furlough 
of  thirty  days,  and  Captain  Adair  being  relieved  from  his  post  of  duty  already  mentioned,  returned 
to  Carroll  county  with  the  veterans. 

In  April,  1864,  he  and  the  regiment  returned  to  duty,  being  attached  to  the  ijth  army  corps, 
General  F.  P.  Blair,  commander,  General  McPherson  having  been  placed  in  command  of  the 
army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  shared  in  the  dangers  and  glories  of  the  Atlanta  campaign. 

The  health  of  Captain  Adair  failing,  a  little  before  the  close  of  the  war  he  resigned;  returned 
to  Mount  Carroll,  and  was  deputy  circuit  clerk  until  1868,  serving  meantime,  during  the  previous 
winter,  as  assistant  secretary  of  the  state  senate.  In  the  summer  of  1868  he  purchased  an  inter- 
est in  the  "  Carroll  County  Gazette,"  at  Lanark,  and  was  its  joint  publisher,  with  J.  R.  Howlett, 
till  the  spring  of  1871,  serving  meantime,  in  the  session  of  1869,  as  enrolling  and  engrossing  clerk 
of  the  senate.  On  disposing  of  his  interest  in  the  "Gazette,"  he  purchased  the  Mount  Carrol! 
"  Mirror,"  and  conducted  it  with  ability  until  the  summer  of  1874,  when,  in  July,  he  left  newspa- 
per life  to  take  his  present  position  in  the  index  department  of  the  secretary  of  state's  office. 


UNITED    STATES  KIOCKAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


247 


That  position  he  has  held  steadily  from  that  date,  with  the  exception  of  the  winter  of  1881,  when 
he  was  chief  clerk  of  the  secretary  of  the  state. 

Most  of  these  facts  in  regard  to  Captain  Adair  we  glean  from  the  "  History  of  Sangamon 
County,"  in  which  work  it  is  further  stated  that  until  he  took  charge  of  the  department,  the  files 
"  were  in  utter  confusion,  and  the  records  without  the  means  of  reference.  Out  of  this  disorder 
and  confusion,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "system  and  order  have  been  wrought,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  any  state  in  the  Union  has  a  better  system  of  indexes  and  records  than  Illinois."  The 
writer  of  this  sketch  has  long  known  Captain  Adair,  and  the  thoroughness  of  his  work  in  this 
branch  of  the  state  department  is  an  index  of  the  thoroughness  of  any  labor  which  he  undertakes. 
Nothing  slip-shod  passes  out  of  his  hands. 

He  married,  in  November,  1878,  Rebecca  T.,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Elizabeth  Halderman, 
of  Mount  Carroll,  now  both  deceased.  Mr.  Halderman  was  the  founder  of  the  city  of  Mount 
Carroll,  in  1840,  and  was  actively  engaged  in  business  there  from  that  time  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  June,  1880.  Mrs.  Adair  was  born  in  Mount  Carroll,  and  until  her  marriage  knew  no 
other  home. 

REV.   FRANKLIN  B.   IVES,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

FRANKLIN  BENEDICT  IVES,  physician  and  preacher,  is  a  son  of  Almon  Ives,  farmer  and 
practical  surveyor,  and  Nancy  (Tomlin)  Ives,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Ellery,  Chautau- 
qua  county,  New  York,  April  30,  1823.  His  father  was  born  in  Vermont,  and  descended  from  an 
old  Connecticut  family.  His  grandfather,  Enos  Ives,  was  one  of  the  minute  men  at  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  and  his  paternal  grandmother  was  a  relative  of  General  Ethan  Allen,  so  that  he  came 
of  good  patriotic  fighting  stock. 

In  1834  Almon  Ives  emigrated  from  western  New  York  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  what  is  now 
Kendall  county,  Illinois.  He  died  in  1865  at  Amboy,  Illinois,  his  wife  dying  four  years  earlier. 

Our  subject  worked  on  his  father's  farm  until  twenty  years  of  age,  receiving  an  academic  edu- 
cation; studied  medicine  with  his  uncle,  Isaac  Ives;  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  at  Rush 
Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  after  practicing  a  year  or  two  at  Lamoille,  Bureau  county,  took  a 
third  course  of  lectures  at  Rush,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1850. 

Doctor  Ives  was  in  practice  a  short  time  at  Pavilion  and  about  four  years  at  Lamoille;  then 
removed  to  Princeton,  and  while  there,  in  1854,  was  ordained  and  became  the  pastor  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  giving  his  whole  time  to  pastoral  work. 

Doctor  Ives  went  thence  to  Tiskilwa,  where  he  remained  for  twelve  years,  preaching  and 
practicing  medicine  most  of  the  time.  While  there  he  organized  and  by  Divine  aid  built  up  a 
church  of  two  hundred  members.  He  also  organized  the  Berean  Church,  at  Westfield,  fifteen 
miles  from  Tiskilwa,  which  soon  had  fifty  or  sixty  members,  and  has  always  been  self-sus- 
taining. He  also  reconstructed  the  Baptist  Church  at  Dover,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
it  fairly  on  its  feet  and  self-supporting. 

In  1870  Doctor  Ives  returned  to  Princeton,  building  and  dedicating  a  $10,000  house  of  wor- 
ship, and  doing  some  office  and  general  work  as  a  physician.  During  his  first  two  years  at 
Princeton  he  divided  his  time  between  that  place  and  Earlville,  where  he  also  built  a  church,  both 
houses  being  dedicated  substantially  free  from  debt. 

After  doing  two  men's  work,  physician  and  minister,  for  many  years,  Doctor  Ives  had  to  finally 
relinguish  his  pastorate  on  account  of  the  state  of  his  health.  He  settled  in  Chicago  in  1875,  and 
is  here  attending  very  closely  to  medical  practice  in  general,  yet  making  a  specialty  for  the  last 
seven  or  eight  years  of  diseases  of  the  lower  bowels,  such  as  piles,  fistula,  irritable  ulcers,  strict- 
ures, etc.  By  special  study  of  this  class  of  diseases  he  has  acquired  great  skill,  and  is  having 
eminent  success.  But  the  doctor  loves  preaching  too  well  to  wholly  abandon  it.  Many  of  his 
Sundays  are  spent  in  the  country,  and  he  has  served  Baptist  churches  at  Waukegan,  Crystal  Lake, 


248  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Wilmette  and  Oak  Park  regularly  for  several  months  at  a  time,  the  church  at  Oak  Park  for  sixteen 
months.  He  is  a  sound,  earnest  and  able  preacher,  and  greatly  esteemed  by  his  very  large  circle 
of  friends.  He  holds  his  connection  with  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  this  city. 

Doctor  Ives  married  in  October,  1847,  Miss  Frances  Luce,  of  Pavilion,  Kendall  county,  Illi- 
nois, and  they  have  four  children,  one  son  and  three  daughters:  Frank  is  an  attorney  at  law,  Chi- 
cago; Alice  is  the  wife  of  F.  W.  Breed,  a  prominent  shoe  manufacturer,  Lynn,  Massachusetts, 
and  Nellie  and  Frances  May  are  at  home.  The  former  is  a  stenographer  —  an  expert  in  the  art. 


ROSWELL  B.   MASON. 

CHICAGO. 

MR.  MASON,  ex-mayor  of  Chicago,  is  a  native  of  New  Hartford,  Oneida  county,  New  York, 
where  he  was  born  September  19,  1805.  He  is  the  fifth  child  in  a  family  of  seven  sons 
and  six  daughters,  of  whom  five  are  living  at  this  time,  April,  1883  His  ancestors  were  a  remarka- 
bly vigorous  and  long  lived  race.  His  grandfather,  Levi  Mason,  lived  to  the  great  age  of  ninety- 
eight,  and  his  father,  Arnold  Mason,  to  the  age  of  eighty-four.  He  is  himself,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight,  strong  and  well,  and  engaged  in  active  business,  and  worthily  illustrates  his  family 
characteristics.  Levi  Mason,  originally  a  resident  of  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  removed  with 
his  family  at  an  early  day  to  western  Massachusetts,  and  settled  at  Cheshire,  in  Berkshire  county. 
He  was  a  soldier  of  the  revolution,  and  did  his  duty  faithfully  and  fearlessly  in  that  great  struggle. 
Arnold  Mason,  his  eldest  son,  when  he  came  to  manhood,  journeyed  westward  along  the  fertile 
Mohawk  Valley,  and  established  himself  on  a  farm  in  the  county  of  Oneida,  in  the  state  of  New 
York.  He  was  a  captain  in  our  army  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  many,  incidents  of  that  contest  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  distinctly  remembers.  Until  about  thirteen  years  of  age  Mr.  Mason  spent 
his  winters  in  the  common  district  school  and  his  summers  on  the  farm.  He  then  entered  the 
academy  at  New  Hartford,  where  he  remained  for  two  years  more.  In  the  summer  of  1821  his 
father  took  a  contract  to  furnish  stone  for  the  locks  on  the  Erie  canal,  nine  miles  above  Albany, 
and  during  that  summer  and  the  following  winter  Mr.  Mason,  then  a  boy  of  sixteen,  drove  a  team 
employed  in  hauling  stone  a  distance  of  twenty  miles.  This  work  made  him  acquainted  with 
Edward  F.  Gay,  the  assistant  engineer  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  canal  from  Albany 
to  the  crossing  of  the  Mohawk  River.  In  the  spring  of  1822  this  gentleman  offered  him  a  situa- 
tion as  rodman  in  his  engineering  party.  Mr.  Mason  accepted  this  position,  and  it  proved  to  be 
the  beginning  of  his  life's  work  as  a  civil  engineer.  He  remained  with  Mr.  Gay  until  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Erie  canal  work,  in  the  fall  of  1823.  In  the  spring  of  1824  he  went  with  Major 
Beach,  the  chief  engineer,  and  E.  F.  Gay,  his  assistant,  to  the  Schuylkill  canal,  with  headquarters 
at  Reading,  Pennsylvania.  In  the  latter  part  of  August  this  employment  was  terminated  by  sick- 
ness, and  he  returned  to  his  home  at  New  Hartford.  Recovering,  however,  soon  after,  he  joined 
an  engineering  party  organized  by  Holmes  Hutchinson,  of  Utica,  New  York,  to  make  a  survey  of 
a  canal  from  Lake  Champlain,  through  the  northern  counties  of  New  York,  to  the  Saint  Law- 
rence River,  at  Ogdensburgh.  This  undertaking  was  finished  late  in  the  fall,  and  he  spent  the 
winter  in  Utica,  making  maps  and  estimates  for  the  proposed  improvement.  In  the  spring  of 
1825  he  rejoined  his  old  employers,  Major  Beach  and  E.  F.  Gay,  on  the  Morris  canal,  in  New 
Jersey,  making  headquarters  for  some  time  at  Morristown.  After  a  few  months  Mr.  Gay  resigned 
his  position  as  principal  assistant  engineer,  and  Mr.  Mason  took  his  place.  He  was  connected 
with  this  work  for  six  years  continuously,  and  during  the  latter  part  of  that  period  was  chief 
engineer  and  superintendent  of  the  canal.  In  the  spring  of  1831  he  once  more  joined  Mr.  Gay, 
and  as  his  principal  assistant  was  engaged  in  the  construction  of  the  Pennsylvania  canal,  or  that 
part  of  it  extending  from  Huntingdon  to  Hollidaysburgh,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Allegheny  Moun- 
tains. On  September  6  of  this  year  he  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  L.  Hopkins,  daughter  of 
Royal  Hopkins,  of  Parsippany,  New  Jersey.  After  a  wedding  tour  to  his  parents'  home  in  New 


H  C.  Ciinp«r  Jr.  &   Co. 


UNIVERSIT 


UNITED   STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


25' 


Hartford,  he  took  his  bride  to  Williamsburgh,  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  line  of  the  canal  on  which 
he  was  engaged,  where  he  remained  till  near  the  close  of  the  year  1832.  The  work  being  then 
completed  he  returned  to  New  Jersey,  and  spent  the  winter  at  his  father-in-law's  home,  in  Par- 
sippany.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1833  he  was  appointed  by  the  Morris  Canal  and  Banking  Com- 
pany superintendent  of  the  Morris  canal,  extending  from  Newark  across  New  Jersey  to  Easton, 
in  Pennsylvania.  He  retained  this  position  for  four  years,  or  until  the  spring  of  1837,  when  he 
took  charge  of  the  construction  of  a  feeder  from  the  Pompton  River,  and  of  a  large  reservoir  at 
Long  Pond,  one  of  its  sources. 

The  winter  of  1836-7  was  spent  in  making  a  survey  for  the  Housatonic  railroad,  extending 
from  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  to  New  Milford,  and  up  the  Housatonic  Valley  to  the  north  line  of 
the  state,  at  North  Canaan.  The  era  of  canals  was  passing  away,  and  the  more  wonderful  one  of 
railroads  had  begun.  The  first  locomotive  engine  ever  built  was  manufactured  and  used  on  an 
English  tramway  in  the  very  year  in  which  Mr.  Mason  was  born,  1805.  It  was  only  an  experi- 
ment, and  the  driving-wheels  were  cogged  to  prevent  slipping.  In  1830  the  locomotive  was  first 
made  with  plain  wheels,  and  came  into  practical  use  on  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  railway. 
In  the  spring  of  1829  rail,  iron  and  locomotives  were  imported  from  England  by  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Company  for  a  road  from  their  coal  mines  to  Honesdale.  In  1828  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  railroad  was  begun;  in  1830  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk,  from  Albany  to  Schenectady, 
was  built.  In  the  legislative  session  of  1830-1  not  fewer  than  twelve  railroad  companies  were 
incorporated  in  Pennsylvania,  mostly  for  operation  in  the  coal  regions.  The  Housatonic  railroad 
was  one  of  the  longest  and  earliest  built  of  any  of  the  primitive  roads  of  our  country.  Work 
began  on  it  in  the  spring  of  1837,  under  the  management  of  Mr.  Mason,  who  had  been  appointed 
chief  engineer.  In  the  spring  of  1838  he  moved  to  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained 
as  engineer  and  superintendent  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  or  until  1848,  meanwhile  extending  the 
road  to  West  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  to  a  connection  with  the  Boston  and  Albany  railroad, 
at  the  state  line  near  that  place.  During  the  year  1847  he  was  consulting  engineer  of  the  Nauga- 
tuck  railroad,  extending  from  Bridgeport  to  Waterbury,  in  Connecticut.  In  the  spring  of  1848 
he  became  chief  engineer  of  the  New  York  and  New  Haven  railroad,  which  was  completed  in 
the  fall  of  1849,  when  he  was  appointed  its  superintendent,  and  held  that  office  for  the  next  two 
years.  During  the  year  1850  he  also  had  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Vermont  Valley  rail- 
road, from  Brattleboro  to  Bellows  Falls. 

Mr.  Mason  came  west  in  the  spring  of  1851,  and  took  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Illinois 
Central  railroad,  which  he  completed  in  October,  1856.  After  its  completion  he  resigned  his 
position  as  chief  engineer,  and  took  charge  as  contractor  of  a  road  running  west  seventy  miles 
from  Dubuque,  Iowa,  In  the  spring  of  1857  he  moved  his  family  to  Dubuque,  where  he  remained 
till  the  failure  of  the  company  compelled  him  to  abandon  the  enterprise,  after  completing  forty 
miles  of  the  road  and  partly  grading  the  balance.  He  resumed  his  residence  in  Chicago  in  the 
spring  of  1859.  The  year  previously  he  had  taken  with  Magill  and  Denton  a  contract  to  grade 
forty-two  miles  of  the  Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  railroad,  from  the  north  line  of  Iowa  to 
Owatonna,  Minnesota.  Work  continued  on  this  road  till  the  spring  of  1859,  when  this  company 
also  failed,  and  the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  In  that  year  he  took,  in  company  with  Magill, 
Denton,  Kieth  and  Snell,  a  contract  to  grade  twenty  miles  of  the  Racine  and  Mississippi  railroad, 
near  Freeport,  which  was  completed  in  a  few  months. 

In  1860  he  became  superintendent  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  railroad,  and  in  1861  was 
appointed  comptroller  of  the  land  department  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  which 
position  he  retained  till  August  i,  1867.  He  then  took  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Dunlieth 
and  Dubuque  bridge,  which  was  completed  in  December,  1868.  While  at  the  head  of  the  land 
department  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad,  in  1865,  he  and  William  Gooding  were  appointed  by 
the  legislature  of  Illinois  members  of  the  board  of  public  works  in  Chicago,  on  behalf  of  the 
state,  to  take  charge  of  the  lowering  of  the  summit  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal.  He  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  this  place  till  November,  1869,  when  he  resigned  the  office  to  enter  upon 
26 


252  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

the  duties  of  mayor  of  Chicago,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  for  two  years.  His  administration 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  purest  and  most  satisfactory  Chicago  had  ever  known.  Toward  its  close 
occurred  the  most  memorable  event  in  the  history  of  the  city,  the  great  fire  of  October,  1871. 
He  discharged  the  onerous  responsibilities  so  suddenly  placed  upon  him  by  this  terrible  catastro- 
phe with  a  wisdom  and  energy  which  won  universal  admiration  and  praise.  From  the  court- 
house, burning  over  his  head,  he  sent  telegrams  to  Milwaukee,  Detroit  and  other  points  for  all 
the  fire  engines  they  could  spare,  and  not  till  the  great  bell  on  its  roof  came  crashing  down 
through  its  floors  to  the  ground,  and  the  structure  was  a  mass  of  smoke  and  flame,  did  he  leave 
his  post.  When  it  was  seen  that  the  city  was  doomed  a  single  sentence  from  his  pen  went  east- 
ward over  the  wires,  and  was  cabled  to  every  part  of  the  civilized  world:  "Before  morning  one 
hundred  thousand  people  will  be  without  food  and  shelter.  Can  you  help  us?" 

That  appeal  and  the  noble  response  which  came  to  it  from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  where  civil- 
ized men  dwell,  has  become  historic.  As  never  before,  the  diverse  and  antagonistic  races  of  men 
felt  that  they  all  belonged  to  a 'common  brotherhood,  having  one  father,  Adam,  and  one  Maker, 
God.  But  when  the  generous  contributions  of  food,  clothing  and  money  came  pouring  in  from 
every  quarter,  it  became  a  question  of  the  gravest  character  how  best  to 'manage  their  distribution 
to  the  needy.  Vigorous  efforts  were  made  to  place  this  matter  in  the  charge  of  the  city  common 
council,  and  ingenious  arguments  were  used  to  show  that  it  legally  belonged  to  that  body  alone. 
But  there  was  in  the  city  an  organization  known  as  the  Relief  and  Aid  Society,  of  the  highest 
character  and  efficiency,  with  all  of  the  machinery  requisite  for  the  proper  transaction  of  this 
most  important  work.  After  careful  deliberation  Mayor  Mason  decided,  upon  his  own  responsi- 
bility, to  intrust  to  that  society  all  moneys  and  supplies  received  by  him  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  of  Chicago.  That  act  proved  one  of  the  wisest  of  his  administration,  for  the  ability  and 
integrity  with  which  that  society  discharged  its  great  trust  has  become  a  matter  of  history. 

One  other  act  rendered  necessary  by  the  chaotic  state  of  affairs  was  harshly  criticised  by  some 
in  authority  at  the  time,  whose  powers  they  fancied  he  had  usurped,  but  its  wisdom  has  been 
fully  justified  by  the  cooler  judgment  of  later  times.  Immediately  after  the  fire,  before  the  embers 
had  ceased  to  smoke,  while  the  unprotected  vaults  and  safes  of  the  ruined  city  invited  the  attempts 
of  the  Unscrupulous,  Mayor  Mason  received  telegrams  from  all  parts  of  the  country  advising  him 
that  the  thieves  and  thugs  of  the  country  were  pouring  in  unbroken  streams  toward  Chicago. 
They  had  scented  the  plunder  afar  off,  and  were  flocking  like  buzzards  to  their  prey.  The  city 
police  were  partly  demoralized,  and  they  were  too  few  in  number  to  protect  the  exposed  property. 
What  must  be  done  ?  What  could  be  done  but  to  invoke  the  supreme  power  under  which  we 
live,  and  call  in  that  authority  which  was  created  to  protect  the  lives  and  property  of  citizens 
when  all  ordinary  sources  of  safety  were  inadequate?  Mayor  Mason  did  invoke  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  land  in  the  person  of  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  army  of  the  United  States, 
Philip  Sheridan,  who  at  once  placed  the  city  by  proclamation  under  martial  law.  Although  but  a 
few  companies  of  United  States  soldiers  were  actually  stationed  in  Chicago,  yet  the  magic  of  the 
name  of  Philip  Sheridan,  and  the  knowledge  that  all  marauders  would  be  summarily  dealt  with 
by  military  instead  of  civil  law,  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  evil-doers  and  made  the  city  as 
peaceful  as  a  country  village. 

Mayor  Mason,  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  his  office,  enforced  the  city  ordinances  with- 
out fear  or  favor,  but  showed  a  proper  compassion  for  those  betrayed  into  evil  ways  who  desired 
to  reform.  At  one  time,  when  the  bridewell  was  crowded  to  repletion  with  petty  criminals,  two 
and  three  in  a  single  cell,  he  gave  to  one  of  the  aldermen  authority  to  examine  into  their  cases 
and  release  the  most  inoffensive  of  the  number.  He  did  so,  and  about  seventy  were  given  their 
liberty.  This,  too,  has  been  criticised,  but  the  act  was  as  creditable  to  the  head  as  to  the  heart  of 
his  Honor,  who  proved  that  he  understood  fully  the  power  of  kindness,  and  trusted  more  to  gen- 
tleness and  admonition  than  to  severity  to  reform  petty  criminals. 

In  1873  he  was  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Illinois  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Illinois  Indus- 
trial University,  and  in  1878  was  reappointed  by  the  succeeding  governor  to  the  same  office,  and 
has  just  completed  a  term  of  ten  years  as  such  trustee. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  253 

Mr.  Mason  is  a  republican  in  politics,  but  was  elected  to  the  mayoralty  on  an  independent 
ticket.  He  is  a  member,  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination,  and  is  one  of  the  elders  of  the  Fourth 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago.  He  was  one  of  the  original  incorporators  of  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  Northwest,  which  was  organized  February  16,  1857,  and  has  held 
the  offices  of  director  and  trustee  almost  continuously  to  the  present  time.  He  is  now  president 
of  the  board  of  directors.  For  the  last  fifteen  years  he  has  been  president  of  the  Chicago  South 
Branch  Dock  Company,  and  attends  regularly  to  its  business  affairs. 

He  is  the  father  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  now  living  except  his  eldest 
son,  George  Arnold  Mason,  who  was  killed,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  by  a  railroad  accident  in 
the  year  1855.  His  other  children  are  all  married  and  settled  in  life,  and  he  has  twenty-five 
grandchildren. 

A  man  of  simple  and  temperate  habits,  his  faculties  are  unimpaired,  and  his  usefulness  unaf- 
fected by  the  lapse  of  years.  He  enjoys  a  serene  and  happy  old  age,  conscious  of  duty  well  done 
in  all  the  relations  of  life,  sure  of  the  respect  and  affection  of  all  who  know  him,  and  held  in  the 
highest  esteem  by  the  community  in  which  he  dwells. 


NATHANIEL    B.    GOULD. 

CAMBRIDGE. 

NATHANIEL  BARTLETT  GOULD,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Cambridge, 
is  a  son  of  Amos  Gould,  Jr.,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Piermont,  New  Hampshire,  March 
31,  1828.  He  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Zaccheus  Gould,  who  was  born  in  England  about  1589, 
and  came  to  this  country  about  1638,  settled  finally  in  Topsfield,  Massachusetts,  and  there  died 
about  1670.  His  wife,  Phebe  Gould,  died  in  1663,  leaving  six  children,  five  daughters  and  one 
son,  who  all  married  and  had  families.  The  Goulds  in  this  country,  who  trace  their  pedigree 
directly  back  to  Zaccheus  Gould,  are  quite  numerous,  and  honorably  represent  the  various 
branches  of  industry  and  the  learned  professions.  An  incomplete  sketch  of  the  posterity  of 
Zaccheus  Gould  was  published  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1872.  Amos  Gould,  Sr.,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  was  a  revolutionary  soldier,  and  after  the  close  of  the  war  moved  from 
Massachusetts  to  Canaan,  New  Hampshire.  He  married  Rebekah  Perly,  and  had  thirteen 
children — a  large  family.  Amos  Gould,  Jr.,  married  Nancy  Harris  Bartlett,  a  native  of  Canaan, 
New  Hampshire,  and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  early  Massachusetts  colonists,  and  they  had  a 
family  of  nine  children,  six  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  yet  living  but  one  daughter.  The 
mother  is  also  living.  The  father  died  at  Moline  in  1864.  Three  of  the  sons  reside  in  Moline, 
and  three  in  Cambridge. 

Nathaniel  B.  Gould  received  an  ordinary  district-school  education,  and  was  engaged  in  farm- 
ing in  New  Hampshire  until  the  spring  of  1851,  when  he  came  to  Moline,  Illinois,  and  for  five 
years  was  engaged  in  traveling  for  John  Deere.  In  1856  Mr.  Gould  settled  in  Cambridge,  and 
was  here  engaged  in  hotel  keeping,  in  company  with  an  older  brother,  Amos  Gould,  until  1861, 
when  he  went  on  a  farm.  For  nine  or  ten  years  he  gave  his  time  almost  exclusively  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  and  indirectly  is  still  thus  engaged.  For  the  last  decade  or  more  he  has  given 
his  attention  largely  to  the  improvement  of  his  village  property,  and  attending  to  the  interests 
of  the  corporation.  He  has  been  supervisor  of  the  township  of  Cambridge  for  more  than  a 
dozen  years,  and  was  chairman  of  the  court-house  building  committee,  which  had  the  expend- 
ing of  about  $75,000.  The  building  was  completed  in  1880.  Mr.  Gould  has  also  been  a  school 
director  for  nine  or  ten  years,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other  man  in  Cambridge  devotes  more 
time  to  educational  and  other  matters  of  general  benefit  to  the  community,  he  being  thoroughly 
imbued  with  enterprise  and  public  spirit.  He  is  quite  active  in  the  Henry  county  agricultural 
board. 

On  the  organization  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Cambridge,  in  July,  1881,  he  was  made  its 


254  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

president,  and  that  position  he  still  holds.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  pronounced  and  unwa- 
vering, and  believes  that  the  mission  of  the  party  is  not  yet  fully  completed.  Mr.  Gould  is,  we 
believe,  connected  with  no  Christian  organization,  but  is  friendly  to  the  churches  generally,  and 
contributes  liberally  to  the  support  of  the  gospel. 

He  was  married  November  24,  1859,  to  Miss  Mary  Jane  Jennings,  daughter  of  Levi  Jennings, 
of  Cambridge,  and  they  have  had  two  daughters,  Nellie  L.  and  Katie,  M.,  a  bright  and  prom- 
ising girl  of  sixteen,  now  taking  a  preparatory  course  in  St.  Mary's  Seminary  for  young  ladies. 
Nellie  died  in  her  sixteenth  year,  February  23,  1879,  and  her  demise  was  a  heavy  blow,  not 
only  to  her  family,  but  to  all  the  younger  people  in  her  large  circle  of  friends.  She  was  an 
amiable  young  lady,  of  more  than  ordinary  promise,  a  bright  scholar,  and  was  preparing  to 
enter  Vassar  College. 


A 


AARON    G.    KARR. 

BLOOMINGTON. 
ARON  G.  KARR,  lawyer,  and  professor  in  the  law  department  of  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  Uni- 


versity, is  a  native  of  this  county,  his  birth  being  dated  at  what  is  now  Heyworth,  August 
23,  1839.  His  father,  William  Karr,  was  born  in  Sussex  county,  New  Jersey,  and  his  mother, 
Rachel  Garrison,  in  Kenton  county,  Kentucky.  Aaron  was  educated  in  the  model  school  of  the 
Normal  University,  Illinois;  studied  his  profession  in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Chicago;  was  graduated  June  30,  1869,  and  after  practicing  two  years  in  that  city,  in  company 
with  Robert  H.  Forrester,  settled  in  Bloomington  (1871),  where  he  has  had  a  successful  run  of 
business.  For  some  time  his  younger  brother,  Henry  L.  Karr,  was  in  partnership  with  him,  but 
has  removed  to  Gunnison,  Colorado. 

Our  subject  occupies  the  chair  of  common  law  and  equity  pleadings  in  the  law  department  of 
the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  and  is  filling  it  with  decided  success.  He  is  a  close  student  and 
a  growing  man.  One  of  the  trials  which  drew  the  attention  of  the  people  to  his  talents  and  skill 
in  managing  criminal  cases  was  that  of  the  People  vs.  Aimer,  the  defendant  having  assaulted 
Awe,  a  Bloomington  saloon-keeper,  with  intent  to  kill.  Aided  by  his  brother,  he  managed  this 
case  with  such  ability  as  to  receive  the  highest  compliments  of  the  best  judges  in  such  matters. 
The  press  of  Bloomington  has  since  then,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  praised  his  efforts  in  the 
courts  of  justice.  "He  is  recognized  as  a  reliable  and  sagacious  practitioner,  and  when  his  ser- 
vices are  once  secured  by  clients,  they  cling  to  him  with  confidence.  With  his  fellow-attorneys 
he  stands  in  excellent  repute."  So  says  a  local  paper. 

His  politics  are  democratic,  but  he  does  not  give  to  them  so  much  time  as  to  make  it  a  detri- 
ment to  his  profession. 

ISAAC  W.   GARVIN,   M.D. 

SYCAMORE. 

ISAAC  WATTS  GARVIN,  for  nearly  forty  years  a  physician  and  surgeon  in  De  Kalb  county, 
Illinois,  and  still  in  active  practice,  is  a  native  of  Butternuts,  Otsego  county,  New  York,  his 
birth  bearing  date  March  17,  1820.  His  father  was  Rev.  Isaac  Garvin,  an  Episcopal  clergyman, 
born  in  Dunbarton,  New  Hampshire,  and  his  mother  was  Lucy  Bostwick,  a  native  of  Delaware 
county,  New  York.  The  family  moved  from  Butternuts  to  Weathersfield,  New  York,  and  subse- 
quently to  Buffalo,  where  Rev.  Isaac  Garvin  died  thirty  years  ago.  His  widow  died  about  1872. 
Doctor  Garvin  finished  his  literary  training  at  Franklin  Academy,  Delaware  county,  New 
York;  studied  medicine  with  Doctor  H.  H.  Bissell,  of  Buffalo;  attended  his  first  course  of  lectures 
at  Geneva.  New  York;  practiced  medicine  two  years  at  North  Java,  Wyoming  county,  New  York, 
commencing  in  1842;  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  from 
which  institution  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1844;  came  to  Genoa,  De  Kalb 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


255 


county,  that  year,  and  practiced  there  till  1861,  when  he  moved  to  Sycamore,  which  has  since  been 
his  home  and  the  central  field  of  his  radiations.  His  practice  has  always  been  general  and  good, 
and  attended  with  marked  success.  He  has  held  very  few  .civil  offices,  and  has  given  his  time 
almost  exclusively  to  his  profession.  He  is  a  member  of  the  County  Medical  Society,  and  was  its 
president  one  term. 

In  politics  he  was  originally  a  democrat,  and  a  warm  admirer  of  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
bnt  broke  away  from  that  party  in  1860  and  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  is  still  attached  to 
the  republican  party. 

He  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  order,  a  Congregationalist  in  religious  bias,  a  regular 
attendant  on  Christian  worship  when  at  home,  a  liberal  contributor  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel 
and  collateral  causes,  and  a  man  of  unblemished  character. 

The  doctor  was  first  married  at  North  Java,  New  York,  in  June,  1843,  to  Louisa  Hughes,  who 
died  the  next  year,  and  the  second  time  in  January,  1848,  to  Miss  Lucinda  Sherman,  of  Burling- 
ton, Kane  county,  Illinois,  having  had  by  her  five  children,  of  whom  only  two,  both  sons,  are  now 
living:  Edward  C.  is  in  a  commission  house  at  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  and  Frank  Hamilton  is 
attending  the  public  schools  of  Sycamore. 


T 


OLIVER  LOWNDES  DAVIS. 

DANVILLE. 

HE  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  native  of  New  York  city,  was  born  December  20,  1819,  the  son 
of  William  Davis  and  Olivia  (Thompson)  Davis.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Saratoga,  New 
York,  and  after  removing  to  New  York  city,  was  for  many  years  engaged,  with  varying  success, 
as  a  shipping  merchant.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a  native  of  Connecticut.  Oliver  received 
his  early  education  in  the  select  schools  of  New  York,  and  afterward  studied  at  Hamilton  Acad- 
emy, and  still  later  at  an  academy  in  Canandaigua,  New  York.  After  closing  his  studies  in 
school,  he  entered  the  service  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  which  was  founded  by  John  Jacob 
Astor,  and  which  was  at  that  time  under  the  presidency  of  Ramsey  Crookes.  He  continued  with 
this  company  until  1841,  when,  having  determined  to  make  his  home  in  the  West,  he  removed  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  at  Danville,  his  present  home. 

Early  in  life  he  had  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  he  could  enter  the  legal  profession,  and 
now,  in  keeping  with  his  long  cherished  desire,  he  placed  himself  under  the  tuition  of  Isaac  P. 
Walker,  and  began  the  study  of  law.  By  close  application  and  untiring  diligence,  he  made  rapid 
and  permanent  progress  in  his  studies,  and  December  15,  1842,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Open- 
ing an  office  on  his  own  account,  he  continued  his  studies  in  connection  with  his  practice,  and 
soon  established  himself  in  an  extensive  and  lucrative  business,  and  became  widely  known  as  an 
able  advocate  and  an  honorable,  high-minded  lawyer. 

In  1861,  upon  the  formation  of  the  twenty-seventh  circuit  court,  Mr.  Davis  was  elected  judge, 
and  commissioned  March  27  of  that  year.  July  i  following,  he  was  again  commissioned,  and 
held  the  office  until  July  10,  1866,  when,  owing  to  the  meagerness  of  the  salary,  he  resigned,  and 
resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  continued  with  marked  success  until  1873,  when 
he  was  elected  judge  of  the  fifteenth  circuit  court.  This  office  he  held  until  1879,  when  he  was 
elected  and  commissioned  judge  of  the  fourth  circuit  court,  an  office  which  he  still  holds.  Dur- 
ing this  time  (September  25,  1877)  he  was  appointed,  by  the  supreme  court,  one  of  the  judges  of 
the  appellate  court,  an  office  to  which  he  was  reappointed  June  14,  1879,  and  again  June  to,  1882. 
Throughout  his  wide  acquaintance  Judge  Davis  is  known  for  his  legal  acumen,  and  honesty  and 
purity  of  motive,  while  his  equitable  rulings  and  true  gentlemanly  bearing  have  secured  to  him 
the  high  esteem  of  all  who  know  him.  As  a  lawyer  he  has  honored  his  profession,  while  as  a 
judge  he  holds  the  unqualified  respect  of  both  bench  and  bar. 

In  politics  Judge  Davis  was  originally  a  democrat,  but  upon  the  organixation  of  the  republi- 


256  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

can  party,  he  became  identified  with  that  body.  He  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  in  1851, 
and  again  in  1857.  Aside  from  this  he  has  declined  political  preferment,  finding  more  satisfac- 
tory occupation  in  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession.  In  his  religious  views  he  is  a  Presbyte- 
rian, having  united  with  that  church  in  1870. 

Judge  Davis  was  married  December  5,  1844,  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Cunningham,  a  daughter  of 
Hezekiah  Cunningham  and  Mary  (Alexander)  Cunningham,  of  Vermilion  county,  Illinois,  where 
she  was  born.  Her  father  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  her  mother  of  Georgia,  in  the  history  of 
which  state  many  members  of  her  family,  which  is  traced  back  through  a  long  line  of  illustrious 
ancestors,  have  been  prominent  actors.  Of  ten  children  that  have  been  born  to  Judge  and  Mrs. 
Davis  six  are  now  living. 

ORVILLE    F.    BERRY. 

CARTHAGE. 

ORVILLE  FRANK  BERRY,  of  the  firm  of  Sharp  and  Berry  Brothers,  and  grand  master  of 
the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  for  the  state  of  Illinois,  dates  his  birth  at  Table 
Grove,  McDonough  county,  this  state,  February  16,  1852,  his  parents  being  Lee  and  Martha  (Mc- 
Connell)  Berry.  We  learn  from  the  "  History  of  Hancock  County  "  that  his  father  was  for  years 
a  prominent  man  in  McDonough  county;  that  he  was  deputy  sheriff  and  sheriff;  that  he  was  a 
captain  of  militia  during  the  Mormon  excitement  and  outbreak,  and  that  he  closed  a  life  of  emi- 
nent usefulness  at  Table  Grove  in  1858.  The  widow  died  two  years  later. 

Orville  finished  his  education  at  the  Fountain  Green  high  school;  read  law  at  Carthage  with 
Mack  and  Baird,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  supreme  court  in  January,  1877.  He  formed 
a  partnership  with  Judge  Thomas  C.  Sharp,  sketched  on  other  pages  of  this  work,  and  a  year 
later  his  younger  brother,  Melvin  P.  Berry,  was  taken  into  the  firm,  the  name  of  which  we  have 
already  given.  Melvin  P.  Berry  was  born  at  Table  Grove,  1853;  educated  at  Carthage  College; 
read  law  with  Mack  and  Baird,  of  Carthage,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February,  1879. 
The  firm  of  Sharp  and  Berry  Brothers  is  one  of  the  leading  law  firms  in  the  county,  and  does  a 
large  business  in  the  several  state  and  federal  courts.  Mr.  Berry  is  an  indefatigable  worker  in 
the  interests  of  his  clients,  and  is  a  growing  man. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  republican  party,  being  chairman  of 
both  the  senatorial  and  county  committees  in  this  district.  He  takes  a  great  interest  in  poli- 
tics, and  makes  a  large  number  of  speeches  during  every  canvass,  there  being  probably  no  more 
effective  worker  in  the  county,  and  is  now  mayor  of  the  city  of  Carthage. 

Mr.  Berry  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  order,  and  at  the  head  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen  in  the  state,  being  widely  known,  and  a  young  man  of  much  influence.  He 
was  married  in  Fountain  Green  township,  in  March,  1873,  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Barr,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  they  have  buried  three  children  and  have  two  living,  Clarence  and  Frank. 


JOSEPH    KIRKLAND. 

CHICAGO.   . 

JOSEPH  KIRKLAND,  lawyer,  and  son  of  William  Kirkland,  A.M.,  at  one  period  professor  in 
Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  New  York,  and  of  Caroline  M.  (Stansbury)  Kirkland,  author,  was 
born  at  Geneva,  New  York,  January  7,  1830.  The  progenitor  of  the  family  in  this  country  was 
John  Kirkland,  a  member  of  the  colony  that  settled  in  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  in  1635.  Joseph 
Kirkland,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  general  of  militia  in  the  war  of  1812-14,  the  first 
mayor  of  Utica,  New  York,  and  a  nephew  of  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland,  a  missionary  to  the  Six 
Nations  of  Indians  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  John  Thornton  Kirkland,  D.D.,  a 
son  of  the  above,  and  a  cousin  of  General  Joseph  Kirkland,  was  president  of  Harvard  College, 
1810-1828. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  257 

Mr.  Kirkland  was  educated  partly  in  common  schools  and  largely  at  home,  and  in  1835  the 
family  came  as  far  west  as  Pinckney,  Livingston  county,  Michigan,  where,  we  believe,  Mrs.  Kirk- 
land  wrote  her  first  and  famous  work,  "A  New  Home;  Who'll  Follow  ? "  which  raised  her  at  once 
to  an  honorable  place  among  the  female  authors  of  the  country.  That  volume  was  followed  by 
"  Western  Clearings,"  and  other  works  popular  thirty  and  forty  years  ago,  and  still  having 
admiring  readers.  Later  in  life  Mrs.  Kirkland  edited  the  "  Union  Magazine,"  a  very  well  known 
periodical,  which  had  a  wide  circulation.  Mrs.  Kirkland  died  in  New  York  city  in  1864,  and  her 
husband  at  Newburgh,  New  York,  in  1847. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  clerk  in  New  York  city  for  several  years;  came  to  the  West 
in  1856,  and  was  auditor  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad.  On  the  breaking  out  of  civil  war,  he 
enlisted  in  company  C,  I2th  Illinois  infantry;  served  until  1863,  being  promoted  to  second  lieu- 
tenant, captain  and  major,  and  participating  in  the  engagement  at  Rich  Mountain,  the  siege  of 
Yorktown,  and  the  battles  of  Hanover  Court-house,  Games'  Mill,  Malvern  Hill,  Antietam,  and 
Fredericksburgh.  He  received  no  wound  himself,  but  at  the  last  named  battle  had  his  horse 
shot  from  under  him.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

After  the  war  Major  Kirkland  was  for  some  years  engaged  in  coal  mining  in  Vermilion  coun- 
ty, Illinois,  and  Fountain  county,  Indiana.  From  1875  to  1878  he  was  deputy  collector  of  internal 
revenue,  Chicago.  He  studied  law  in  this  city,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  January,  1880,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  firm  of  Bangs  and  Kirkland,  his  partner  being  Hon.  Mark  Bangs,  whose  sketch 
and  portrait  appear  in  this  work. 

Major  Kirkland  is  an  independent  republican,'but  we  cannot  learn  that  he  has  been  very  active 
in  politics.  He  married,  in  1863,  Miss  Theodosia  Burr  Wilkinson,  of  Syracuse,  New  York,  and 
they  have  four  children. 

JAMES    M.    GARLAND. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JAMES  MAURICE  GARLAND,  merchant,  and  member  of  the  Illinois  house  of  representa- 
tives for  the  thirty-fifth  district,  embracing  Sangamon  county,  is  a  native  of  Springfield, 
dating  his  birth  September  26,  1835.  His  father  was  Nicholas  A.  Garland,  born  in  Albermarle 
county,  Virginia,  in  1806,  and  belonging  to  an  old  Virginia  family.  The  great-grandfather  of 
James  took  up  arms  against  King  George  III,  and  bravely  fought  for  the  independence  of  the 
colonies.  When  the  father  of  our  subject  became  of  age,  he  inherited  a  dozen  or  more  slaves  in 
his  part  of  the  estate,  and  having  conscientious  scruples  on  the  subject  of  holding  them  in  bond- 
age, he  brought  them  to  Illinois,  gave  them  their  freedom,  and  stipulated  to  pay  them  a  certain 
amount  of  wages. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Mary  Phillips,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  D.D.,  of  Bed- 
ford county,  Virginia,  a  noted  preacher  and  physician  for  more  than  fifty  years.  He  died  at  Lib- 
erty, Virginia,  some  years  before  the  civil  war.  Mrs.  Garland  was  the  mother  of  eight  children, 
of  whom  James  M.  was  the  third.  He  finished  his  education  in  the  high  school  of  Springfield, 
his  studies  embracing  some  of  the  higher  mathematics,  Latin,  etc.,  and  at  nineteen  years  of  age 
he  became  a  clerk  for  E.  B.  Hawley,  who,  four  or  five  years  later,  took  him  into  partnership. 
That  business  connection  lasted  about  ten  years,  when,  in  1869,  Mr.  Garland  bought  out  his  part- 
ner, and  since 'then  has  been  alone  in  trade.  He  keeps  a  general  stock  of  dry  goods,  and  is  doing 
a  good  business,  being  among  the  leading  men  in  his  line  in  the  city.  Mr.  Garland  is  a  straight- 
forward, fair  dealer,  scorning  all  the  tricks  of  the  trade,  and  increasing  his  patrons  and  friends 
from  year  to  year. 

Mr.  Garland  was  a  member  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors  for  Capital  township  for  three 
terms,  and  in  that  position  he  made  a  good  record,  and  his  usefulness  as  a  public  functionary  was 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  people,  ultimately  paving  the  way,  no  doubt,  to  his  elevation  to  his 
present  seat  in  the  legislature.  Sangamon  county  is  democratic,  and  it  was  a  bold  step  on  the 


258  UNITED   STATES  fSIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

part  of  Mr.  Garland  to  allow  his  name  to  go  before  a  republican  convention,  as  a  candidate  for 
the  house.  But  his  friends  probably  knew  his  strength  quite  as  well  as  he  did.  They  put  him 
forward  in  November,  1880,  and  elected  him,  and  he  is  making  a  first-class  working  member.  In 
the  first  session  in  which  he  was  a  member,  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  committees  on  inaugu- 
ration ceremonies  and  on  visiting  state  institutions,  and  a  member  of  the  committees  on  corpora- 
tions, finance,  railroads  and  insurance.  He  seconded  the  nomination  of  General  Horace  H. 
Thomas  for  speaker  of  the  thirty-second  general  assembly,  and  his  speech  made  on  that  occasion, 
though  short,  was  well  worded  and  decidedly  neat  and  happy.  General  Thomas  is  a  native  of 
Vermont,  and  Mr.  Garland's  reference  to  the  Green  Mountain  boys,  a  title  of  honor  wherever 
liberty  is  loved  and  right  is  respected,  was  timely  and  taking.  Happy,  also,  was  the  speaker's 
reference  to  Chicago,  as  furnishing,  in  General  Thomas,  her  first  presiding  officer  in  this  house, 
she  being  the  splendid  metropolis  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  of  the  rich  Northwest.  Mr.  Gar- 
land was  the  father  of  the  bill  for  the  appropriation  to  complete  the  Lincoln  monument,  and  of 
the  bill  for  the  bureau  of  labor  statistics.  Mr.  Garland  cast  his  first  vote  for  John  C.  Fremont,  in 
November,  1856,  having  reached  his  majority  a  few  weeks  before,  and  has  always  voted  the 
republican  ticket.  He  married,  in  February,  1858,  Mary  E.  Hawley,  daughter  of  Eliphalet  B. 
Hawley,  and  they  have  seven  children  living,  three  sons  and  four  daughters,  and  lost  one  son  in 
infancy. 

HON.  JAMES  McCOY. 

FULTON  CITY. 

THE  oldest  lawyer  in  Fulton  City,  and  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  Whiteside  county,  Illinois, 
is  James  McCoy,  a  native  of  Greenbrier  county,  Virginia.  He  is  a  son  of  William  McCoy 
and  Nancy  (Hannah)  McCoy,  and  was  born  September  22,  1816.  The  McCoys  were  originally 
from  Scotland,  and  settled  at  first  in  Maryland,  moving  thence  to  Virginia.  James  received  an 
academic  education  in  Monroe  county,  Virginia;  read  law,  and  when  nearly  of  age  turned  his 
steps  westward,  believing  that  in  this  part  of  the  country  were  the  best  openings  fora  young  man, 
having  the  legal  profession  in  view.  He  reached  Fulton  in  May,  1837,  was  smitten  with  the 
beauty  of  the  site  for  a  town,  then  little  more  than  a  site,  and  concluded  to  make  this  his  home 
for  life,  though  he  did  not  settle  down  immediately.  April,  1839,  he  went  to  Ohio,  and  married 
on  the  twenty-third  of  that  month  Miss  Elizabeth  Russell,  of  Champaign  county,  formerly  of 
London  county,  Virginia,  returning  to  Fulton  in  the  following  October. 

In  1840,  when  Fulton  had  become  a  village  of  perhaps  300  inhabitants,  Mr.  McCoy  entered 
in  earnest  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  has  since  given  very  close  attention, 
when  not  engaged  in  public  duties.  His  practice,  as  we  learn  from  the  "  History  of  Whiteside 
County,"  has  taken  in  all  the  courts  of  Illinois  and  adjoining  states,  and  the  district,  circuit  and 
supreme  courts  of  the  United  States. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  known  Mr.  McCoy  for  a  score  of  years,  and  cheerfully  bears  tes- 
timony to  his  high  moral  as  well  as  legal  character  and  standing.  His  record  in  all  respects  is 
an  honor  to  the  profession.  He  has  been  a  leader  in  movements  tending  to  build  up  the  home  of 
his  adoption;  was  prominent,  not  to  say  foremost,  in  the  enterprise  brought  forward  in  1851 
to  connect  the  Mississippi  River  with  the  lakes  by  rail,  and  took  conspicuous  part  in  securing 
the  river  terminus  at  Fulton  City;  was  a  director  and  the  first  president  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Rock  River  Junction  railroad,  now  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  Company,  one  of  the 
roads  having  the  above  mentioned  object  in  view,  and  it  was  mostly  due  to  his  untiring  efforts 
that  the  bill  to  incorporate  a  company  to  build  a  road  from  Lyons,  Iowa,  to  Council  Bluffs, 
same  state,  was  secured.  When,  in  1857,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  giving  the  county  court 
concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  circuit  court,  he  was  elected  judge  of  Whiteside  county,  and 
resigned  at  the  end  of  two  years.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  constitutional  convention  in  1869  and 
1870  to  form  a  new  constitution,  in  which  body  his  legal  mind  and  sound  judgment  were  very 


•*•! 


UNITED  s r. //•/•; .s-  rtrocKAPiircAi.  DICTIONARY.  26i 

serviceable  in  securing  the  incorporation  with  the  new  state  charter,  of  many  of  its  very  best 
features. 

Judge  McCoy  has  always  taken  much  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  was  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Illinois  Soldier's  College,  located  at  Fulton  'City;  held  that  position  while  the  col- 
lege retained  that  name,  and  has  also  held  it  since  the  institution  took  the  name  of  Northern  Illi- 
nois College.  No  man  in  Fulton  City  has  a  deeper  interest  in  its  educational,  material  and  social 
welfare  than  the  judge. 

He  is  a  republican,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  which  renominated  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  (1864),  and  was  a  presidential  elector  in  1868. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCoy  have  six  children  living,  and  have  buried  one  son.  Melvina  is  the  wife  of 
Robert  E.  Logan,  of  Union  Grove;  William  J.  is  a  lawyer,  married  to  Marie  Aylsworth,  and  liv- 
ing in  Morrison,  Illinois;  Albert  Russell  married  Fannie  Congar,  and  is  a  lawyer  in  Clinton,  Iowa; 
Addison  W.  is  married  to  Georgiana  Freeman,  and  is  a  physician  in  Wichita,  Kansas;  Augustine 
is  at  home,  and  Edward,  the  youngest,  is  a  lumber  merchant  in  Sioux  Rapids,  Iowa. 


HENRY  C.  DONALDSON,  M.D. 

MOKRISON. 

HENRY  CHAPMAN  DONALDSON,  the  oldest  medical  practitioner  in  Whiteside  county, 
was  born  in  Guilford,  Chenango  county,  New  York,  April  19,  1825.  His  father  was  Rev. 
Asa  Donaldson,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  who  was  born  in  Munson,  Hampshire  county,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1788;  married  Delia  Allen,  at  Burlington,  Otsego  county,  New  York,  in  1812;  was 
licensed  to  preach. by  the  Union  Association  in  Madison  county,  New  York,  in  1817  ;  commenced 
his  ministry  at  Guilford  in  1818,  and  was  installed  in  May  of  the  following  year.  He  was  pastor 
at  Guilford  between  thirteen  and  fourteen  years;  removed  to  Mansfield,  Tioga  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  1832;  served  the  Presbyterian  church  there  until  the  autumn  of  1839;  removed  to 
Bureau  county,  this  state  ;  began  a  pastorate  at  Dover,  that  county,  in  October,  1839,  and  con- 
tinued it  for  seventeen  years,  and  died  at  Chariton,  Iowa,  in  1876,  in  his  eighty-eighth  year,  liter- 
ally "  full  of  years."  His  whole  life  was  faithfully  spent  in  the  service  of  his  master. 

It  is  a  family  of  remarkable  longevity  on  both  sides.  The  mother  of  Rev.  Asa  Donaldson, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Abigail  Ellenwood,  died  at  the  a'ge  of 'ninety-nine  years  ;  her  husband  at 
the  age  of  ninety-three,  and  Asa's  only  brother,  Eli  Donaldson,  at  ninety-three.  Asa  Donaldson 
had  five  sisters,  most  of  whom  died  between  seventy  and  eighty,  and  at  least  one  of  them  exceeded 
four  score  years. 

Henry  C.  Donaldson  was  the  seventh  child  in  a  family  of  twelve  children,  all  but  one  of  whom 
lived. to  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  two  of  the  sons  chose  their  father's  sacred  calling.  All 
of  the  children  were  active  members  of  either  the  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  church  ;  all 
reared  families,  and  all  but  three  are  living  at  the  present  time. 

Our  subject  received  an  ordinary  English  education  ;  studied  medicine  at  Dover,  Illinois,  with 
Doctor  William  Robinson  ;  practiced  first  at  Prophetstown,  Whiteside  county,  commencing  in 
1847  ;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  from  which  institution  he  received  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1850,  and  after  practicing  one  more  year  at  Prophetstown,  moved 
to  Como,  in  the  same  county.  Twelve  years  later  he  settled  in  Morrison  (May,  1863).  Thirty- 
five  years'  constant  practice  in  Whiteside  county  has  brought  him  in  contact  with  at  least  three 
generations  of  its  inhabitants,  and  he  is  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  its  limits.  His  old  patrons 
have  unbounded  confidence  in  his  skill,  and  will  go  a  long  way  to  call  him  rather  than  try  a  new 
man.  At  no  period  of  his  life  has  his  practice  been  better  than  at  present,  and  his  profession  has 
been  a  complete  success. 

Doctor  Donaldson  is  one  of  two  men,  who,  in  1851,  originated  the  Whiteside  County  Medical 
Society,  of  which  he  was  an  early  secretary,  and  has  been  its  president  several  times,  holding  that 
27 


262  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

office  now  (1882).  He  was  also  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Rock  River  Medical  Society,  which 
embraces  Lee,  Ogle  and  Whiteside  counties,  and  of  which  he  has  also  been  an  officer.  He  is  also 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  and  was  a  delegate  some  years  ago  to  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association,  holding  the  same  position,  under  appointment,  at  this  time.  He  is  cor- 
oner of  Whiteside  county,  and  serving  his  second  year. 

The  doctor  is  a  member  of  the" Congregational  church,  and  has  been  a  trustee  for  the  last 
fifteen  years  or  more.  He  is  also  deacon,  and  a  thorough-going  Christian  worker,  being  county 
secretary  of  the  Illinois  State  Sunday  School  Association.  Doctor  Donaldson  married,  at 
Prophetstown,  in  January,  1849,  Miss  Bethiah  Ellithorp,  a  native  of  Saratoga  county,  New  York, 
and  they  have  had  four  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  burying  one  of  the  latter.  Ira  B., 
the  elder  son,  is  a  banker  at  Norfolk,  Nebraska  ;  Lizzie  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  W.  L.  Duffin,  of 
Guttenberg,  Iowa,  and  Earl  S.  is  reading  medicine  with  his  father.  The  elder  daughter,  who 
died,  Evelyn,  was  the  first  wife  of  Doctor  Duffin,  mentioned  above,  and  died  in  June,  1878.  We 
learn  from  the  sermon  preached  at  her  funeral,  that  she  was  "accomplished  in  mind  and  heart, 
a  perfect  lady  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word.  She  understood  how,  as  few  do,  to  lead  the  circle 
of  her  friends  into  the  channels  of  pure  and  purifying  conversation.  Her  deportment  on  all 
occasions  was  alike  pleasant,  cheering,  natural,  and  as  such,  she  will  serve  as  a  model  worthy  of 
imitation."  She  was  very  active  in  Christian  labor,  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church, 
and  a  prime  mover  in  organizing  a  Sunday  school  in  the  German  town,  in  Iowa,  where  her 
husband  was,  and  still  is,  in  practice,  and  where  she  died. 


HON.   THOMAS    C.    SHARP. 

CARTHAGE. 

THOMAS  COKE  SHARP,  the  oldest  newspaperman  in  Hancock  county  still  in  .the  editorial 
chair,  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Solomon  Sharp,  a  pioneer  Methodist  preacher  in  the  Philadelphia 
conference,  and  was  born  in  Mount  Holly,  New  Jersey,  September  25,  1818.  His  mother  was 
Jemima  Budd,  a  native  of  Burlington  county,  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Sharp  was  educated  at  Dickinson 
College,  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  taking  the  scientific  course;  entered  the  law  school  at  the  same 
place  in  1837,  and  during  a  year  and  a  half,  while  pursuing  his  legal  studies,  supported  himself 
by  teaching  a  high  school.  He  also  filled  the  place  of  the  tutor  in  mathematics  in  the  college  for 
six  months. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  April,  1840,  and  the  next 
August  we  find  him  in  a  law  office  of  his  own  in  Quincy,  this  state.  The  next  month  he  took 
down  his  shingle,  and  hung  it  out  at  Warsaw,  in  this  county.  Being  at  that  time  a  little  deaf, 
the  next  year  he  laid  aside  his  law  books,  and  t^ook  to  journalism.  He  purchased  the  "  Western 
World  "  of  D.  N.  White,  Mr.  White's  foreman,  James  Gamble,  joining  Mr.  Sharp  in  the  venture, 
and  not  long  afterward  they  changed  the  name  to  the  "Warsaw  Signal,"  the  former  name  being 
too  high-sounding  and  pretentious  to  suit  the  taste  of  Mr.  Sharp.  Before  the  close  of  1841  he 
found  himself  sole  proprietor  of  the  paper;  but  it  had  so  heavy  a  debt  upon  it  that  in  1842  he 
gladly  surrendered  it  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  White. 

In  September  of  that  year  Mr.  Sharp  married  Mrs.  Hannah  G.  Wilcox,  widow  of  J.  R.  Wilcox, 
and  she  died  in  1879,  leaving  three  children  by  her  second  husband.  For  a  year  and  a  half  Mr. 
Sharp  tried  farming,  when,  being  satisfied  that  his  forte  did  not  lie  in  that  direction,  in  February, 
1844,  he  resuscitated  the  "Signal,"  which  took  the  place  of  the  Warsaw  "Message."  The  Mor- 
mon war  of  words  was  now  raging  in  Hancock  county,  and  Mr.  Sharp  was  the  "  Jupiter  Tonans  " 
of  the  anti-Mormon  press.  He  thundered  away;  the  clouds  thickened;  war  came  in  reality; 
Joe  and  Hiram  Smith  were  killed  at  Carthage,  June  27,1844.  Mr.  Sharp  and  others,  innocent 
of  the  charge  of  firing,  were  tried,  and  nobody  connected  with  the  war  was  hung.  A  full  account 
of  our  subject's  connection  with  the  Mormon  affray  may  be  found  in  Gregg's  "History  of  Han- 
cock County,"  to  which  the  reader  is  referred. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  263 

The  Mormons  left  Nauvoo  in  the  autumn  of  1846,  when  Mr.  Sharp  sold  the  ''Signal,"  and  for 
awhile  engaged  in  out-door  business  for  his  health.  He  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  con- 
vention in  1847;  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1851;  the  first  mayor  of  Warsaw  in  1853;  held 
that  office  at  sundry  times,  five  years  in  all;  started,  in  1854,  the  Warsaw  "Express,"  a  neutral 
paper,  devoted  largely  to  railroad  interests;  sold  out  in  fifteen  months;  changed  his  politics  from 
an  anti-Nebraska  democrat  to  a  republican,  and  in  1856  was  the  candidate  of  that  party  for  con- 
gress in  a  strong  democratic  district,  and  made  an  able  but  unsuccessful  canvass. 

In  1864  he  took  charge  of  a  Union  paper  called  the  Warsaw  "New  Era";  sold  out  the  next 
year,  and  the  paper  came  to  Carthage,  taking  the  name  of  the  Carthage  "Gazette"  (June,  1865). 
In  the  autumn  of  that  year  Mr.  Sharp  was  elected  county  judge,  and  he  then  moved  to  Carthage. 
He  held  that  office  four  years,  and  was  defeated  for  reelection,  the  democrats  having  gained  the 
ascendancy  in  the  county.  Resuming  the  practice  of  law,  he  followed  it  exclusively  for  a  short 
time,  and  was  then  persuaded  to  return  to  journalism,  taking  editorial  charge  of  the  "Gazette" 
at  the  close  of  1869,  and  purchasing  the  paper  in  June  of  the  next  year,  still  continuing  his  law 
practice.  From  that  date,  with  the  exception  of  a  little  more  than  one  year,  he  has  had  the  edi- 
torial control  and  management  of  the  paper,  which  he  makes  a  powerful  exponent  of  republican 
principles. 

Since  1878  he  has  been  practicing  law  in  company  with  ().  F.  Berry,  and  since  1879  with  M. 
P.  Berry,  the  three  constituting  the  leading  firm  at  the  county  seat.  A  resident  of  Hancock 
county  for  more  than  forty  years,  Judge  Sharp  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  its  history,  with 
which  he  is  also  intimately  identified.  A  sound  lawyer,  a  trenchant  writer,  and  an  honest  man, 
he  has  a  host  of  friends  in  the  county,  and  their  number  is  increasing  much  more  rapidly  than 
his  years. 

CHARLES  HAY,  M.D. 

WARSA  W. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  oldest 
physicians  and  surgeons  in  Hancock  county.  He  is  a  native  of  Fayette  county,  Kentucky, 
a  son  of  John  and  Jemima  (Coulton)  Hay,  and  was  born  February  7,  1801.  He  belongs  to  a  fam- 
ily somewhat  noted  for  its  longevity,  his  father  living  to  be  ninety  years  old,  and  a  sister  of  his 
father  to  one  hundred  and  four.  Adam  Hay,  grandfather  of  Charles,  was  in  the  revolutionary 
army.  The  Hay  family  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  pro- 
genitor being  of  remote  Scotch  descent,  yet  coming  from  the  province  of  Alsace,  Germany,  to 
this  country. 

Our  subject  was  educated  by  a  private  tutor,  Samuel  Wilson,  who  was  also  the  tutor  of  Henry 
Clay,  Joseph  C.,  R.  J.  and  John  C.  Breckenridge,  and  other  prominent  men  of  Kentucky  and  the 
South;  read  medicine  with  Doctor  William  H.  Richardson,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky;  attended 
lectures  at  Transylvania  Medical  School,  same  city,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medi- 
cine in  1829.  Doctor  Hay  located  in  Salem,  Indiana,  where  he  was  in  practice  for  twelve  years. 
While  there,  in  October,  1831.  he  was  married  to  Miss  Helen  Leonard,  a  native  of  Bristol, 
Rhode  Island.  They  celebrated  their  golden  wedding  October  12,  1881.  While  in  Indiana  the 
doctor  edited  the  Salem  "  Whig"  for  five  years. 

In  the  aututnn  of  1841  he  came  into  this  state,  and  settled  at  Warsaw,  where  he  was  in  the 
eminently  successful  practice  of  his  profession  until  about  1877,  when  he  retired,  and  is  now  living 
a  quiet  and  contented  life  with  the  companion  of  his  younger  years.  Mrs.  Hay  is  a  woman  of 
fine  mental  qualities  and  great  force  of  character,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  David  A.  Leonard,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Brown  University,  a  Baptist  minister  and  a  splendid  Greek  scholar.  She  had  two  sisters, 
Mrs.  Farnham  and  Mrs.  Merryweather,  who  were  superior  scholars  and  great  linguists,  and  she 
has  two  sisters  living  in  Warsaw,  Mrs.  Grover  and  Mrs.  Hinch. 

Doctor  Hay  has  been  a  very  useful  citizen  outside  of  his  profession.     He  was  the  leader  in 


264  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

founding  the  Warsaw  public  library,  of  which  he  is  still  one  of  the  directors;  was  a  member  of 
the  board  of  education  several  years,  and  for  a  long  time  was  overseer  of  the  town  poor,  holding 
the  latter  office  until  he  absolutely  declined  to  serve  any  longer.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Oak- 
land Cemetery,  Warsaw,  and  has  always  shown  a  commendable  spirit  of  enterprise. 

For  a  long  period  Doctor  Hay  was  a  member  of  the  Hancock  County  Medical  Society,  and 
occasionally  read  an  essay  before  that  body.  A  paper  which  he  wrote  on  the  Asiatic  cholera  in 
1833  was  published  in  the  Transylvania  "Journal  of  Medicine,"  and  attracted  a  good  deal  of 
attention. 

Doctor  Hay  joined  the  Freemasons  soon  after  coming  to  Warsaw,  but  has  never  gone  higher 
than  the  third  degree.  He  is  a  veteran  in  the  temperance  cause,  and  an  earnest  worker  in  the 
general  interests  of  humanity. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hay  have  four  children  living,  and  have  buried  two,  the  oldest  and  youngest. 
Edward  Leonard,  the  first  born,  died  at  Salem,  Indiana;  aged  eight  years.  Augustus  Leonard,  the 
olde.st  child  living,  is  a  captain  in  the  United  States  army,  and  was  in  the  service  during  the  hitter 
part  of  the  civil  war.  Mary  P.  is  the  widow  of  Major  A.  C.  Woolfolk,  a  lawyer  by  profession.  He 
was  in  the  service  of  his  country  from  1861  to  1866,  being  quartermaster  at  Cairo  most  of  the 
time.  He  died  in  Colorado  in  1880  of  a  disease  contracted  in  the  army,  and  his  widow  brought 
his  remains  to  Warsaw,  and  they  lie  in  Oakland  Cemetery.  She  resides  with  her  parents.  Colonel 
John  Hay  is  well  known  as  President  Lincoln's  private  secretary;  as  secretary  of  the  legation  to 
Paris  under  Minister  Bigelow;  charge  d'affaires  to  Vienna  in  place  of  John  L.  Motley;  secretary 
of  legation  to  Madrid  under  General  Sickles,  etc.  In  the  civil  war  he  was  on  the  staff  of  General 
Gilmore,  and  breveted  colonel.  Charles  E.  Hay,  the  youngest  child  living,  was  a  lieutenant  on 
the  staff  of  General  Hunter,  and  breveted  captain  at  the  close  of  the  rebellion,  and  is  now  a  gen- 
eral merchant  at  Springfield,  this  state,  and  connected  with  the  rolling  mills  of  that  city.  Helen 
J.,  the  youngest  child  of  all,  was  married  to  H.  O.  Whitney,  of  Keokuk,  Iowa.  He  went  through 
the  four  years  war  for  the  Union.  She  died  in  Warsaw  in  1873,  and  also  sleeps  in- Oakland  Ceme- 
tery. The  whole  family  of  sons  and  sons-in-law  were  in  the  service  of  their  country  —  a  band  of 
noble  patriots  all.  The  sons  are  all  men  of  fine  talents  and  excellent  literary  taste,  brilliant  as 
well  as  patriotic.  If  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi  was  proud  of  her  sons,  Mrs.  Hay  ought  to  be. 


JOHN   B.  DAVISON,  M.D. 

MOLINE. 

T  OHN  BEST  DAVISON,  who  belongs  to  the  older  class  of  medical  men  in  Rock  Island  county, 
J  is  a  native  of  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania,  his  birth  being  dated  June  n,  1826.  His 
parents  were  Thomas  W.  and  Mary  (Best)  Davison,  both  natives  of  that  state.  The  son  received 
an  academic  education  at  Ligonier,  in  his  native  county;  studied  his  profession  for  three  years 
with  Doctor  Thomas  Richardson,  of  Greensburgh,  the  shire  town  of  Westmoreland  county; 
attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  Jefferson  College,  Philadelphia;  commenced  practice  in  1852  in 
Indiana  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  in  that  county  and  Westmoreland  until  1858,  when  he  came 
into  this  state  and  located  at  Camden,  now  Milan,  Rock  Island  county. 

In  1862  Doctor  Davison  went  into  the  army  as  first  assistant  surgeon  of  the  goth  Illinois 
infantry,  the  Irish  legion,  Colonel  O'Meara,  of  Chicago,  commander.  The  surgeon  did  not  go 
into  the  field,  and  our  subject  performed  the  duties  of  surgeon  during  the  six  or  seven  months 
that  he  was  with  the  regiment.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  broke  completely  down  while  in  Mis- 
sissippi, and  was  obliged  to  resign.  Returning  to  Rock  Island  county,  Doctor  Davison  resumed 
practice  at  Milan.  In  1867  he  went  to  Philadelphia;  took  another  course  of  lectures  in  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine.  In  1869  he  removed  from  Milan 
to  Moline,  in  the  same  county,  and  in  a  very  short  time  built  up  a  remunerative  practice.  In  Sep- 
tember of  the  following  year  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nettie  H.  Edwards,  daughter  of  William  H. 
Edwards,  of  Moline. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  known  Doctor  Davison  since  about  the  time  he  settled  there,  and 
while  his  practice  is  general,  and  he  makes  a  specialty  of  no  one  branch,  he  has  many  difficult 
cases  in  surgery  and  a  very  liberal  share  of  practice  in  obstetrics.  His  standing  in  all  respects  is 
first-class. 

Doctor  Davison  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a  Knight  Templar  in  Masonry,  a  member  of 
Everts  Commandery,  No.  18,  Rock  Island,  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
Church.  His  moral,  like  his  professional,  standing  is  excellent.  He  holds  a  membership  in  the 
State  Medical  Society  and  in  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  is  known  to  the  profession 
outside  the  state  of  Illinois.  The  doctor  has  done  some  work  in  connection  with  the  Moline 
school  board,  but  has  shunned  office  as  much  as  he  could  consistently  with  his  duties  as  a  citizen. 


CHARLES  W.  GRIGGS. 

CHICAGO. 

C~  HARLES  WADSWORTH  GRIGGS,  lawyer,  of  the  firm  of  Bonney,  Fay  and  Griggs,  dates 
his  birth  at  West  Troy,  New  York,  December  17,  1843,  his  parents  being  Ira  and  Alida  Mabie 
(Exceen)  Griggs.  His  father  was  a  machinist,  whose  ancestors  were  from  Connecticut.  The 
pedigree  of  his  mother  is  traced  directly  back  to  Holland,  and  the  family  in  this  country  were 
among  the  early  settlers  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  New  York.  Our  subject  finished  his  literary 
education  in  the  Utica  (New  York)  Academy;  came  to  Chicago  in  1858;  read  law  with  C.  C.  Bon- 
ney, who  is  elsewhere  sketched;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  on  reaching  his  majority,  December  17, 
1864,  and  immediately  taken  into  business  with  his  preceptor,  under  the  firm  name  of  Bonney 
and  Griggs.  In  1869  J.  E.  Fay  was  associated  with  them,  under  the  style  of  Bonney,  Fay  and 
Griggs.  It  is  one  of  the  most  reputable  law  firms  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  every  member  standing 
high  in  his  profession,  and  bearing  in  all  respects  an  irreproachable  character. 

Mr.  Griggs  enjoys  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  lawyer.  His  mind  is  judicial  in  its  constitution, 
his  knowledge  accurate,  and  his  judgment  well-balanced.  He  is  inclined  to  be  over  cautious  and 
to  underrate  the  value  of  his  own  services.  His  absolute  integrity  and  thorough  reliability  have 
given  him  a  valuable  clientage,  and  the  qualities  above  described  have  enabled  him  to  achieve 
success  in  the  profession  without  the  graces  of  oratory,  which  are  so  great  an  aid  to  many  lawyers. 

Mr.  Griggs  is  an  independent  republican,  but  we  cannot  learn  that  he  ever  dabbles  in  politics 
or  would  be  regarded  as  a  partisan.  One  thing  is  certain,  he  would  not  support  a  tainted  nomi- 
nee of  any  party. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church,  now  known  as  the  American  Reformed 
church,  and  is  a  man  of  solid  Christian  character.  Mr.  Griggs  is  a  man  of  fine  social  qualities, 
and  his  manners  are  thoroughly  polished.  He  married  in  1870  Emma,  daughter  of  Edward  Wal- 
ter, of  Chicago*,  and  they  have  three  children. 


ALFRED  W.  ARMSTRONG,   M.D. 

KIRKWOOD. 

ALFRED  WEIR  ARMSTRONG,  one  of  the  older  class  of  medical  men  in  Warren  county, 
and  a  gentleman  of  excellent  standing  in  his  profession,  was  born  near  Knoxville,  east  Ten- 
nessee, January  22,  1807.  His  father,  John  Armstrong,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Knox  county,  same 
state,  and  his  grandfather,  Robert  Armstrong,  was  from  Ireland.  Alfred's  mother,  before  her 
marriage,  was  Nancy  Weir,  also  a  native  of  Tennessee.  He  received  a  classical  education  at 
East  Tennessee  University,  Knoxville,  taking  the  full  course;  taught  the  Latin  language  one  year 
in  the  same  institution,  and  Latin,  together  with  some  of  the  English  branches,  two  years  in  the 
male  seminary,  same  place.  During  this  period  he  was  also  engaged  in  the  reading  of  medical 
works;  then  studied  two  years  with  Doctor  Mclntosh;  attended  medical  lectures  at  Drake's  Insti- 


266  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

• 

tute,  Cincinnati;  was  licensed  to  practice,  and  commenced  at  Knoxville,  May  i,  1836,  but  con- 
cluded not  to  remain  there.  A  few  weeks  later  he  went  to  Rutledge,  Grainger  count}',  Tennessee, 
and  after  being  there  two  years  was  appointed  deputy  surgeon  of  the  army  for  Cherokee  immigra- 
tion, holding  that  position  one  year.  He  continued  to  practice  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Cherokee 
agency  until  1844,  when  he  moved  to  Crawfordsville,  Indiana.  There  he  practiced  most  of  the 
time  for  thirteen  or  fourteen  years.'  While  there  he  attended  a  course  of  lectures  in  Rush  Medi- 
cal College,  Chicago,  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  February,  1848.  Immedi- 
ately afterward,  partly  for  his  health,  he  spent  one  season  in  Texas. 

In  1858  Doctor  Armstrong  came  into  Illinois,  and  settled  at  Young  America,  now  Kirkwood, 
where  he  has  been  ever  since,  excepting  a  year  spent  in  California  (1873-4)  and  a  year  in  Arkan- 
sas (1877-8).  Failing  to  be  pleased  with  the  climate  of  either  of  those  states,  he  returned  to 
Illinois.  He  has  been  in  general  practice,  and  in  his  younger  years  did  an  extensive  business. 
Latterly  he  has  sought  to  avoid  long  rides,  and  his  calls  are  mainly  in  and  near  the  town.  His 
neighbors  speak  very  highly  of  his  skill  as  a  physician  and  of  his  character  as  a  man.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  doctor  reads  the  medical  periodicals  with  the  zest  of  earlier  years,  and  keeps  well  posted 
on  the  progress  of  medical  science.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Military  Tract  Medical  Society,  and 
is  well  known  among  the  fraternity  of  his  profession  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  is  now  and 
for  a  number  of  years  has  been  president  of  the  board  of  health  of  Kirkwood,  but  has  held  very 
few  offices  of  any  kind,  giving  his  time  to  his  profession.  His  politics  are'democratic. 

Our  subject  was  first  married  in  Tennessee  in  1836  to  Miss  Margaret  Fulkerson,  a  native  of 
Virginia.  She  had  four  children,  and  died  in  1845.  One  child  died  before  her,  and  the  other 
three  children  have  since  joined  her  in  the  world  of  spirits.  He  was  again  married  in  the  autumn 
of  1847,  in  Indiana,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Westfall,  of  that  state,  and  they  have  three  children:  William 
D.,  a  dentist,  Kirkwood;  Sarah  Louisa,  wife  of  Samuel  F.  Allen,  Kirkwood,  and  Martha  M.,  who 
is  at  home. 

LAWRENCE   C.  EARLE. 

CHICAGO. 

T  AWRENCE   C.  EARLE,  artist,  is  a  grandson  of  Edward  Earle,  a  British  officer  who  retired 

I j  on  half  pay,  and  came  to  this  country  in  the  early- part  of  the  present  century,  and  a  son  of 

John  E.  Earle,  who  was  a  jobber  in  dry  goods,  velvets,  and  broadcloths  in  New  York  city  at  the 
time  of  Lawrence's  birth,  November  n,  1844.  His  mother  was  Mary  (Dorset)  Earle,  a  native  of 
that  city.  In  1857  the  family  moved  to  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  where  the  father  was  engaged 
extensively  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen  cloths  until  his  death  in  1874.  Mrs.  Earle  is  still  living, 
and  resides  with  her  son  in  Chicago. 

Our  subject  received  an  academic  education,  including  the  classics  ;  aided  his  father  awhile  in 
the  manufacturing  business,  and  in  1872  went  to  Munich  to  study  his  profession.  There  he 
remained  nearly  three  years,  returning  at  the  close  of  1874,  making  his  home  in  Chicago,  and 
attending  very  diligently  to  his  studies  and  work  as  an  artist.  In  the  autumn  of  1880  Mr.  Earle 
went  to  Florence  and  Rome,  and  spent  a  year  or  more  in  the  study  of  water  colors,  returning 
well  satisfied,  we  believe,  with  his  progress  in  the  art.  He  makes  figure  painting  a  specialty. 
Mr.  Earle  is  a  man  of  great  strength  of  character,  having  a  fine  sense  of  honor,  a  scrupulous 
regard  for  all  moral  obligations  and  a  lofty  conception  of  his  duties  in  life.  In  social  intercourse 
he  is  graceful  and  attractive,  his  artistic  training  and  extensive  travels  having  made  him  a  most 
enjoyable  as  well  as  an  improving  companion.  He  is  always  welcomed  in  the  most  cultivated 
and  discriminating  circles  of  society,  and  wins  enduring  friendships  wherever  he  goes. 

As  an  artist  he  has  always  been  a  pains-taking  and  laborious  worker,  and  though  he  executes 
with  a  rapidity  that  is  very  unusual,  and  that  seems  marvelous  to  those  not  accustomed  to  it,  he 
nevertheless  seems  to  be  ever  striving  to  improve  his  methods,  and  consequently  shows  a  steady 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  26j 

growth  in  the  excellence  of  his  productions.  In  former  years  he  worked  almost  entirely  in  oil 
colors,  but  in  later  years  he  has  been  quite  enthusiastic  in  his  water  color  work,  and  his  versatil- 
ity and  aptitude  are  so  great  that  he  seems  equally  effective  in  both  materials.  Having  always 
been  a  devoted  sportsman  and  successful  hunter,  his  tastes 'have  always  been  in  the  direction  of 
game  animals  and  hunting  scenes,  and  many  of  his  game  pictures  are  equal  to  anything  of  the 
kind  ever  produced  in  America. 

COLONEL  WILLIAM  H.  FULKERSON. 

JERSEYVII.LE. 

*l  T  7ILLIAM  HOUSTON  FULKERSON,  a  native  of  Claiborne  county,  Tennessee,  born  Sep- 
V  V  tember  9,  1834,  has  the  best  stock  farm  in  Jersey  county  and  one  of  the  best  in  Illinois. 
He  came  here  in  1866,  and  commenced  with  320  acres,  two  miles  north  of  Jerseyville,  the  county 
seat,  and  subsequently  enlarged  his  farm  to  620  acres.  He  has  other  farms  in  this  county,  but 
Hazeldell,  the  homestead,  is  strictly  a  stock  farm,  with  a  fine  brick  house,  a  gem  of  architectural 
beauty  and  comfort,  standing  a  few  rods  west  of  the  public  road,  with  model  outbuildings,  cow 
barn,  horse  barn,  etc.,  standing  still  farther  back  from  the  road.  Everything  about  the  premises 
indicates  wise  planning  and  convenience,  and  the  comfort  of  beast  as  well  as  man. 

In  "Glosser's  Guide  and  Gazetteer  of  the  Chicago,  Alton  and  Saint  Louis  Railroad"  we  find 
the  following  reference  to  this  famous  stock  farm : 

"The  large  herd  of  blooded  cattle  found  here  comprises  some  of  the  choicest  and  most  beauti- 
ful animals  in  America  —  Continental  Europe  and  the  states  of  Kentucky,  Vermont  and  Vir- 
ginia largely  contributing  to  the  colonel's  grazing  fields  and  stables  of  thoroughbred  short-horns. 
Hazeldell  is  noted  for  its  charming  situation,  and  the  genuine  hospitality  accorded  strangers, 
whether  on  business  or  for  the  purpose  of  sight-seeing.  Well  set  back  from  the  old  state  road, 
on  a  gradual  rise  of  ground,  is  Colonel  Fulkerson's  conspicuous  residence  —  conspicuous  for  its 
architectural  symmetry  and  its  middle  tower,  from  which  is  afforded  an  extended  and  unobstructed 
view  of  the  stock-raising  and  wheat-growing  fields  of  one  of  the  richest  agricultural  sections  in 
the  United  States. 

The  house  is  a  model  of  convenience  and  comfort,  being  lighted  with  gas  and  heated  by  hot 
air.  It  is  luxuriously  furnished,  and  contains  a  well-selected  library.  The  colonel's  reception  room 
bears  unmistakable  evidence  as  to  the  superiority  of  his  stock  in  trade.  Scores  of  blue  and  red 
ribbons,  gold  and  silver  medals,  awards  from  the  various  national,  state  and  county  fairs,  is  con- 
clusive of  the  old  adage,  that  'blood  will  tell.'  In  fact,  everything  in  and  about  the  premises 
indicates  taste,  refinement  and  wealth.  The  colonel  is  the  happy  possessor  of  a  very  interesting 
family,  having  married  a  most  estimable  lady,  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Russell,  of  Hawkins  county, 
Tennessee.  The  result  of  this  happy  union  is  five  children,  three  boys  and  two  girls,  playful  and 
intelligent,  exhibiting  evidences  of  a  careful  tutorship. 

Such  is  a  brief  insight  into  the  Hazeldell  stock  farm  and  the  home  of  Colonel  William  H. 
Fulkerson,  a  gentleman  who  is  singularly  fortunate  in  knowing  how  and  having  the  nerve  to  prop- 
erly utilize  and  enjoy  wealth.  He  is  equally  singularly  fortunate  in  that  he  has  all  friends  and 
no  enemies.  A  man  of  temperate  habits,  cool  brain,  fluent  in  conversation,  industrious  and  truth- 
ful in  all  things,  his  exemplary  life  is  well  worthy  the  study  of  the  rising  youth." 

At  first  Colonel  Fulkerson  made  a  specialty  of  fine  horses,  but  he  now  keeps  only  about  thirty, 
while  he  has  a  round  hundred  short-horn  cattle,  including  the  finest  lot  of  heifers  the  writer  ever 
saw  on  anyone  farm.  Mr.  Fulkerson  is  proud  of  his  cattle,  his  horses,  his  Poland,  China  and  red 
Berkshire  pigs,  his  Angora  goats,  and  he  has  a  right  to  be,  for  he  has  made  the  raising  of  thor- 
oughbred stock  a  study,  and  it  is  among  the  best  of  its  kind  in  this  great  state. 

Our  subject  is  as  full  of  enterprise  as  his  barns  are  of  stock  or  his  house  of  premium  ribbons. 
He  has  two  good  orchards;  raises  an  abundance  of  small  fruit;  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Alton  Horticultural  Society;  was  president  of  the  Jersey  county  fair  in  1881-2;  was  county  judge 


268  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

at  one  period;  at  another,  the  general  manager  of  the  Jersey ville  branch  of  the  Wabash  railroad, 
and  in  public  spirit  and  push  is  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  this  part  of  the  state. 

The  colonel  is  a  son  of  the  late  James  Fulkerson,  M.D.,  who  was  also  a  farmer,  and  sprang 
from  an  old  Virginia  family.  His  grandfather  was  Colonel  Peter  Fulkerson,  who  commanded 
troops  in  the  continental  army,  and  his  mother  was  Frances  Patterson,  a  sister  of  General  Patter- 
son, who  was  in  the  second  war  with  England,  the  Mexican  war  and  the  late  civil  war,  and  who 
died  in  Philadelphia  in  1882. 

The  colonel  himself  was  educated  at  West  Point,  and  has  himself  done  some  fighting.  He 
was  in  the  Mormon  war  of  1858-9,  having  charge  of  a  government  supply  train,  and  in  the  late 
civil  war.  He  rose  from  a  private  in  company  A,  63d  Tennessee  infantry  (Confederate),  step  by 
step,  to  the  command  of  the  regiment,  and  was  twice  wounded.  He  had  a  brother-in-law  killed 
who  was  in  Stuart's  famous  black  horse  cavalry,  and  the  horse  which  that  brother  rode,  now 
thirty-one  years  old,  is  on  the  farm  of  our  subject. 

Prior  to  that  unpleasantness  Colonel  Fulkerson  was  in  the  mines  of  California  and  in  British 
America,  and  afterward  lived  on  the  plains,  doing  anything  honorable  that  turned  up. 

The  colonel  has  a  well  selected  library,  much  larger  than  one  is  accustomed  to  see  in  a  farm- 
house; is  well  read  on  other  subjects  besides  cattle  breeding  and  horticulture;  has  traveled  over 
no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  United  States  and  a  small  part  of  Canada,  and  is  decidedly  enter- 
taining in  conversation.  In  hospitality  it  is  enough  to  say  that  he  was  reared  at  the  South. 


JOHN    DEERE. 

MOLINE. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of  that  class  of  citizens  usually  styled 
self-made  men.  John  Deere  was  born  at  Rutland,  Vermont,  February  7,  1804.  His  parents 
were  William  Ryland  and  Sarah  (Yates)  Deere,  his  father  being  a  native  of  England,  his  mother 
of  English  parentage.  They  immigrated  to  Canada,  and  afterward  settled  in  Vermont. 

His  early  educational  advantages  were  limited.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  apprenticed  to 
Captain  Benjamin  Lawrence,  at  Middlebury,  Vermont,  to  learn  the  blacksmith's  trade,  and  when 
twenty-three  years  old  he  was  married  to  Demarius  Lamb.  Having  become  master  of  his  trade  he 
commenced  business  on  his  own  account,  and  conducted  it  with  varying  success  at  different  towns 
in  Vermont,  until  the  year  1837,  when  he  decided  to  remove  to  Illinois,  and  selected  Grand 
Detour,  Ogle  county,  as  his  future  home,  and  immediately  resumed  his  former  occupation. 

Recognizing  that  the  urgent  need  of  the  country  was  a  better  quality  of  plows,  he  set  himself 
to  the  task  of  improving  upon  the  cast-iron  and  wooden  mold-board  plows  then  in  use.  Pro- 
curing from  Chicago  some  saw-plate  steel  he  hammered  out  upon  his  anvil  the  first  cast-steel 
plow  that  was  ever  made,  and  the  only  kind  that  would  cleave  without  carrying  the  alluvial  soils 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  A  plow  that  would  not  clog  was  before  unknown  to  the  Illinois  farmer, 
and  from  that  time  down  to  the  present  his  resources  have  been  continually  taxed  to  supply  the 
demand  for  the  then,  as  now,  famous  John  Deere  plows,  and  as  fast  as  capital  and  credit  accumu- 
lated, the  business  was  extended.  The  hard  times  that  succeeded  the  commercial  revulsion  of 
1837  gave  an  impetus  to  immigration,  and  the  West  began  to  settle  rapidly.  With  characteristic 
enterprise  and  energy  he  extended  his  trade  to  remote  points,  by  adopting  a  system  of  wagon 
transportation  and  delivering  his  plows  to  various  agencies  for  distribution  to  the  farmer.  To 
better  accommodate  a  widely  extended  and  continually  increasing  trade,  he  sold  out  his  shop  in 
Grand  Detour  and  removed  in  1847  to  Moline,  Illinois,  where  a  water  power  had  been  partially 
developed,  and  where  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries  afforded  cheaper  and  better  facili- 
ties for  freighting  raw  material  to  the  factory,  and  transporting  finished  plows  to  the  various  river 
towns,  and  for  dfstributing  to  distant  settlements.  Having  rented  here  more  extensive  works, 
the  first  year's  product  amounted  to  one  thousand  plows.  The  manufacture  of  steel  in  this  country 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

was  at  that  time  in  its  infancy,  and  inferior  in  quality  to  the  foreign  product,  so  that  it  became 
necessary  to  look  to  England  for  steel  of  the  requisite  quality,  and  the  first  steel  for  mold-boards 
and  shares  was  imported  in  1847  by  John  Deere. 

Having  been  the  first  to  open  this  avenue  of  supply,  he  and  his  associates  have  ever  since  been 
the  largest  consumers  of  steel  for  the  manufacture  of  plows  in  this  country;  and  it  is  but  just  to 
American  steel  manufacturers  to  say  that  for  many  years  American  steel  has  taken  precedence 
over  the  foreign  article.  The  pioneer  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  plows,  he  has  continued  to 
occupy  the  leading  position,  and  the  name  and  fame  of  the  John  Deere  plow  extends  to  every 
state  in  the  Union.  So  great  has  been  his  success  that  other  firms  have  attempted  to  appropriate 
the  name  by  which  his  plows  are  known. 

In  1868  the  firm  was  incorporated  under  the  style  of  Deere  and  Company,  with  John  Deere, 
president,  Charles  H.  Deere,  vice-president  and  treasurer,  and  Stephen  H.  Velie,  secretary. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Lowell  (Massachusetts)  "Morning  Mail"  thus  writes  in  regard  to  the 

great  plow  town  of  the  Northwest: 

MOLINE,  ILLINOIS,  August  14,  1882. 

EDITOR  "  MORNING  MAIL:  "  By  plow  town  your  correspondent  means  a  town  where  plows  are  made.  There  are 
many  such  towns  in  the  West.  Chicago  is  one  of  them.  One  firm  there  —  Furst  and  Bradley  —  employ  something  like 
500  men  in  making  steel  plows.  There  is  a  much  larger  establishment  at  South  Bend,  Indiana,  and  a  few  other  plow 
factories  of  fair  size  are  found  in  that  state. 

Rock  Island,  Canton,  Monmouth.  Peru  and  half  a  dozen  other  towns  in  Illinois  are  doing  a  creditable  business  in 
this  line,  but  the  great  plow  town  of  the  Northwest  is  Moline,  three  miles  from  Rock  Island,  and  on  the  Illinois  side 
of  the  great  grandsire  of  waters.  Here  a  round  1,000  men  are  employed  the  year  round  in  making  steel  plows.  One 
firm,  the  Moline  Plow  Works,  monopolizes  700  of  these  men.  John  Deere,  the  grand  mogul  of  steel  plows  on  this  con- 
tinent, was,  in  his  younger  years,  a  Vermont  blacksmith.  He  came  into  the  land  of  prairies  nearly  fifty  years  ago, 
and  in  1838  began  to  make  plows  at  Grand  Detour,  on  the  Rock  River. 

In  1847  Mr.  Deere  came  to  Moline.  Here,  at  the  start,  he  built  a  small  shop, — large  then,  for  steel  plows  were  a 
new  thing  in  those  days, —  and  began  operations  on  a  moderate  scale,  enlarging  from  time  to  time  as  his  orders 
increased.  Prior  to  1876  he  had  enlarged  his  premises  three  or  four  times;  that  year  he  added  more  than  fifty  per  cent, 
and  in  1881  put  up  another  mammoth  brick  structure  three  stories  high.  The  total  floor  area  of  the  several  buildings 
is.  by  actual  measure,  eight  and  three-quarters  acres,  and  in  them  are  consumed  annually  1,785  tons  of  steel,  4,150  tons 
of  bar  and  pig  iron,  450  tons  of  malleable  iron,  2,500  tons  of  Pennsylvania  coal  and  coke,  1,000  tons  of  grindstone, 
300  barrels  of  oil  and  varnish,  thirty-five  tons  of  emery,  and  2,100,000  feet  of  oak  and  ash  timber.  In  these  several 
shops  are  five  turbine  water  wheels  and  a  Crawley  engine  of  500  horse  power. 

The  700  men  employed  by  John  Deere  and  Company  have  made  for  the  market  of  1882  no  less  than  97,000  plows, 
which  find  their  way  into  all  civilized  countries  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  where  such  plows  are  in  use.  The  other 
plow  company  here  put  something  like  70,000  plows  on  the  market  annually. 

John  Deere,  the  father  of  steel  plows,  is  seventy-eight  years  old,  being  born  in  1804,  and  he  is  still  quite  young,  even 
sprightly.  He  is  a  temperate  man,  a  Christian,  a  pillar  of  the  Congregational  Church,  brimful  of  social  cheer,  and 
looks  to-day  as  though  he  might  serve  as  one  of  the  pall-bearers  to  the  nineteenth  century. 


HENRY  S.   GREENE. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

HENRY  SACHEVERELL  GREENE,  attorney-at-law,  and  lately  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Hay,  Greene  and  Littler,  was  born  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  July  12,  1833,  his  parents  being 
James  Greene,  and  Margaret  (Forester)  Greene.    At  six  years  of  age  Henry  came  to  Canada  West, 
now  Ontario,  and  was  reared  at  Port  Hope,  county  of   Durham,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario, 
receiving  a  fair  English  education. 

In  1857  he  came  to  this  state,  read  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Weldon,  of  Clinton;  was  admitted 
to  practice  January,  1860;  became  a  partner  of  Hon.  C.  H.  Moore,  of  that  place,  and  practiced  in 
that  connection  for  six  years.  During  the  last  half  of  that  period  Mr.  Greene  was  attorney  for 
the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad  Company  for  Logan  and  McLean  counties,  resigning  that  position 
on  removing  to  Springfield  in  July,  1868.  From  that  date  the  law  firm  of  Hay,  Greene  and  Lit- 
tler held  the  same  position  for  that  railroad  company  until  January  i,  1881,  when  the  partnership 
28 


372  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

was  dissolved.  For  several  years  prior  to  its  dissolution,  this  firm  had  charge  of  the  legal  -busi- 
ness of  the  W abash  Railway  Company  in  this  part  of  the  state,  as  we  learn  from  the  "History  of 
Sangamon  County."  From  the  same  source  we  also  learn  that  for.  several  years  Mr.  Greene  has 
been  the  general  counselor  for  the  Wabash,  Saint  Louis  and  Pacific  Railway  Company  for  Illinois, 
in  which  state  it  owns  and  controls^by  lease  1,300  miles  of  railway  lines,  and  he  is  also  consulting 
counsel  for  outside  business  of  the  company,  controlling  in  all  no  less  than  3,000  miles  of  road. 

For  two  years  prior  to  the  consolidation  of  the  American  Union  and  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Companies,  Mr.  Greene  was  counsel  for  the  former  company, and  attended  to  its  extensive  litiga- 
tion with  the  latter.  So  rapidly  has  the  legal  business  of  our  subject  extended,  and  so  large  has 
it  become  in  connection  with  corporations,  that  he  has  been  obliged  almost  entirely  to  withdraw 
from  general  practice  at  the  bar;  and  his  duties  outside  of  the  state,  we  are  informed,  are  larger 
than  those  in  it.  In  civil  practice,  to  which  he  confines  himself,  he  is  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers 
in  central  Illinois.  No  man  at  the  bar  in  this  part  of  the  state  makes  a  clearer  or  abler  argument 
on  a  legal  proposition. 

While  the  civil  war  was  in  progress  in  1863,  Governor  Yates  appointed  Mr.  Greene  attorney 
for  the  eighth  judicial  district  (embracing  DeWitt,  Logan  and  McLean  counties),  and  he  was 
subsequently  elected  to  this  same  office.  Before  the  expiration  of  the  latter  term,  Mr.  Greene  was 
elected  to  the  legislature,  by  the  republican  party,  and  in  1867  resigned  his  office  of  state's  attor- 
ney, to  aid  in  making  and  amending  laws,  serving  one  regular  term,  and  two  special  terms  in  the 
general  assembly.  The  business  of  legislating,  however,  was  not  congenial  to  him,  and  before  the 
expiration  of  his  term  he  removed  from  his  district,  and  since  that  time  he  has  never  been  active 
in  politics,  or  a  candidate  for  any  office. 

While  a  resident  of  Ogtario,  in  1854,  Mr.  Greene  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Elizabeth 
Hogle,  a  native  of  that  province,  and  of  New  Hampshire  parentage,  and  they  have  one  daughter 
and  one  son. 


D 


GENERAL  DANIEL   DUSTIN. 

SYCAMORE. 

ANIEL  DUSTIN,  a  county  official,  and  one  of  the  leading  men  of  De  Kalb  county,  dates 
his  birth  at  Topsham,  Orange  county,  Vermont,  October  5,  1820,  his  parents  being  John  K. 
and  Sally  (Thompson)  Dustin.  The  Dustin  family  was  originally  from  Massachusetts,  and  is 
traced  directly  back  to  Hannah  Dustin,  the  famous  heroine  of  Haverhill,  Massachusetts  (1697). 
Daniel  received  a  district  school  education  ;  worked  on  his  father's  farm  during  the  busy  season 
until  twenty  years  old  ;  taught  school  five  terms  ;  studied  medicine  at  Topsham  and  Corinth, 
Vermont ;  attended  lectures  at  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  received 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1846,  and  after  practicing  at  East  Corinth  about  three  years, 
went  to  California,  where  he  remained  for  eight  years,  being  in  practice  for  five  years,  and  keep- 
ing a  general  and  drug  store  the  rest  of  the  time.  While  in  that  state  he  was  a  member  of  the 
legislature  for  Nevada  county,  in  1855-6. 

In  1858  Mr.  Dustin  came  to  Sycamore,  and  was  engaged  in  the  drug  business  until  he 
enlisted  in  the  8th  Illinois  cavalry,  which  was  organized  at  Saint  Charles,  Kane  county,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1861,  our  subject  being  placed  in  command  of  company  L.  Three  months  afterward  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major.  This  regiment  was  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  in 
March,  1862,  joined  the  general  advance  on  Manassas,  in  General  Sumner's  division.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  spring  of  that  year,  at  four  different  times  it  drove  the  enemy  across  the  Rappahan- 
nock.  In  May  of  that  year  it  was  assigned  to  the  light  cavalry  brigade,  General  Stoneman 
commanding.  The  regiment  did  important  service  at  Games'  Hill  dispatch  station,  and  Malvern 
Hill,  by  skirmishing  with  the  enemy  ;  remained  on  picket  on  the  James  River,  while  the  army 
lay  at  Harrison's  Landing;  led  the  advance  on  the  second  occupation  of  Malvern  Hill,  and,  with 
Benson's  battery,  United  States  artillery,  bore  the  brunt  of  the  fight,  and  brought  up  the  rear  of 
our  retreating  forces  at  Barrett's  Ford  and  Chickahominy. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOCRAPHKAL   DICTIONARY. 


273 


In  August,  1862,  Major  Dustin  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  1051)1  Illinois  infantry,  and  was 
mustered  in  with  his  regiment  on  the  second  of  the  next  month,  at  Dixon,  Illinois.  His  regiment 
was  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  in  the  spring  of  1864  was  brigaded  with  the  load  and 
1 29th  Illinois,  the  yoth  Indiana  and  the  79th  Ohio,  with  which  regiments  it  remained  during  the 
war,  the  same  being  in  the  ist  brigade,  3d  division  of  the  aoth  army  corps.  Immediately  after 
the  Atlanta  campaign,  Colonel  Dustin  was  placed  in  command  of  the  2d  brigade  of  the  same 
division  and  corps,  and  remained  in  command  of  that  brigade  until  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion. 
He  accompanied  General  Sherman  in  his  grand  march  to  the  sea,  his  brigade  bearing  its  full 
share  of  the  hardships  of  that  memorable  campaign  to  Savannah,  and  through  the  Carolinas. 
After  the  battle  of  Averysboro,  North  Carolina,  where  the  enemy  were  driven  from  their  position, 
our  subject  was  brevetted  brigadier-general,  a  promotion  which  his  coolness,  dash  and  bravery 
in  that  engagement  had  well  merited. 

General  Dustin's  brigade  took  part  in  the  grand  review  at  Washington,  May  24,  1865,  and 
was  mustered  out  of  the  service  June  7.  General  Dustin  has  a  spotless  military  record,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  gallant  officers  sent  from  De  Kalb  county.  With  the  exception  of  three  or 
four  years,  since  returning  to  Sycamore,  he  has  been  kept  in  some  county  office,  having  been 
county  clerk  and  county  treasurer  before  accepting  his  present  position,  that  of  clerk  of  the  cir- 
•cuit  court,  and  ex-officio  recorder.  He  is  a  conscientious  and  perfectly  reliable  man,  and  faith- 
fully discharges  the  duties  of  every  post  assigned  to  him.  In  politics  he  is  a  staunch  republican. 

General  Dustin  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason,  and  has  held  various  offices  in  the  order,  such 
as  master  of  the  Sycamore  Lodge,  high  priest  of  the  chapter,  head  of  the  Sycamore  Commandery, 
and  grand  commander  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  His  religious  connection  is  with  the  Congrega- 
tional Church,  in  which  he  has  held  different  offices,  being  clerk  at  the  present  time. 

He  was  first  married,  in  1847,  to  Miss  Isabella  Taplin,  of  East  Corinth,  Vermont,  she  dying  in 
1850,  leaving  three  children,  and  the  second  time  in  California  in  1855,  to  Miss  Elmira  E.  Pauly, 
by  whom  he  has  one  child. 


w 


HON.  WILLIAM    B.    DODGE. 

WAUKEGAN. 

ILLIAM  BURLING  DODGE,  the  oldest  hardware  merchant  in  Waukegan,  and  one  of 
its  leading  citizens,  dates  his  birth  at  Canoga,  Seneca  county,  New  York,  August  6,  1824. 
His  father,  Reuben  D.  Dodge,  merchant,  was  at  one  period  a  member  of  the  New  York  house  of 
representatives,  and  subsequently  of  the  senate  of  that  state,  and  his  grandfather,  Stephen  Dodge, 
was  a  captain  in  the  war  of  1812-14.  This  branch  of  the  Dodge  family  were  pioneer  settlers  in 
Madison  county,  New  York.  The  wife  of  Reuben  Dodge  was  Mary  Burling,  who  was  also  a 
native  of  the  state  ot  New  York. 

Our  subject  received  a  good  English  education,  finishing  it  at  the  Canandaigua  Academy,  and 
in  1843  came,  with  the  family,  to  Lake  county,  Illinois,  settling  on  a  farm  at  Libertyville,  where 
William  remained  until  1846,  when  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Waukegan.  Two  years  later 
(1848)  he  commenced  the  hardware  business,  and  has  followed  it  steadily  for  thirty-four  years, 
the  first  half  of  that  period  or  more  alone.  For  the  last  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  G.  B.  Wat- 
rous  has  been  in  partnership  with  him,  and  in  January,  1876,  his  only  son  and  only  child,  William 
H.  Dodge,  was  taken  into  the  firm.  Two  years  after  starting  in  business  Mr.  Dodge  married 
(November  27,  1850)  Harriet  S.  Getty,  daughter  of  Adams  Getty,  of  Waukegan,  and  they  have 
had  only  the  one  son  mentioned,  a  promising  young  man,  of  excellent  business  habits. 

Mr.  Dodge  having  been  a  resident  of  Lake  county  nearly  forty  years,  and  in  business  all  but 
the  first  five  years,  is  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  the  county,  and  very  highly  esteemed  for  the 
probity  of  his  character,  his  prompt  and  straightforward  business  habits,  and  his  readiness  to 
serve  the  public  in  any  position  where  it  is  deemed  advisable  to  place  him.  He  filled  the  office  of 


274  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY, 

city  supervisor  from  1867  to  1874,  when  he  declined  to  serve  any  longer.  During  that  period  he 
represented  Lake  county  one  term  in  the  Illinois  legislature,  and  in  the  spring  of  1877  was  elected 
mayor,  and  by  continuous  reelections  was  kept  at  the  head  of  the  municipality  of  Waukegan  for 
four  years,  discharging  his  duties  with  great  satisfaction  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Dodge  is  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  republican  party,  which  he  helped  organize  in  this  state 
near  the  close  of  1854,  and  he  has  stood  by  its  colors  with  unwavering  fidelity.  He  is  a  Master 
Mason;  also  an  Odd-Fellow;  and  at  one  time  held  the  office  of  noble  grand  in  the  latter  order, 
the  lodge  in  Waukegan  being  now  extinct.  He  is  a  member  of  Christ  Episcopal  Church,  and  has 
filled  for  many  years  the  office  of  vestryman;  also  at  one  time  that  of  warden.  Nobody  who 
knows  him  doubts  the  sincerity  of  his  faith  or  the  purity  of  his  life. 


JOHN    A.  JONES. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THAT  branch  of  the  Jones  family  from  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  John  Albert  Jones, 
descended,  was  from  Wales,  Edward  Jones,  M.D.,  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject, 
coming  to  this  country  at  the  time  William  Penn  came  over.  He  it  was  who  began  the  settle- 
ment of  Marion,  near  Philadelphia.  Evan  Jones,  son  of  Edward,  was  also  a  physician.  Evan 
had  five  sons,  John,  James,  Evan,  Thomas  and  Edward,  the  last  and  youngest  being  the  father  of 
our  subject.  John  Jones,  M.D.,  attended  lectures  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  Metz,  France,  and 
was  professor  of  surgery  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  tutor  of  more  than  one  emi- 
nent physician.  He  was  President  Washington's  family  physician,  and  a  surgeon  in  the  revolu- 
tionary army,  which  latter  position  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health.  Subsequently  he  wrote 
a  work  on  "Gun-shot  Wounds,"  which  at  one  period  was  high  authority  among  the  medical  fra- 
ternity. James  and  Evan  Jones  were  merchants  in  New  Orleans,  in  colonial  days.  The  former 
who  was  subsequently  recorder  of  the  city  of  New  York,  was  killed  in  a  duel  with  Judge  Livings- 
ton, and  the  latter  came  very  near  being  killed  in  a  duel  with  the  colonial  governor  of  Louisiana. 
It  happened  in  this  wise.  The  governor  was  an  austere,  overbearing  man,  and  the  leading  men 
of  New  Orleans  signed  a  round  robin  for  his  removal.  The  governor  went  on  board  the  vessel 
which  was  to  take  the  document  to  England,  seized  it,  showed  it  to  every  man  whose  name  was 
on  the  paper,  and  every  one  denied  his  signature  but  Mr.  Jones.  Him  the  governor  challenged. 
They  met  with  swords,  and  Mr.  Jones  was  so  disabled  as  to  be  laid  up  for  months.  Thomas 
Jones  was  a  physician  in  New  York  city,  and  his  daughter  Catherine  was  the  second  wife  of 
Governor  De  Witt  Clinton. 

Edward  Jones,  the  father  of  our  worthy  clerk  of  the  United  States  circuit  court,  was  a  native 
of  the  Empire  State,  and,  born  in  1754,  was  the  first  chief  clerk  in  the  United  States  treasury 
office,  being  appointed  by  Alexander  Hamilton  in  1790,  and  serving  in  that  position  for  thirty- 
nine  consecutive  years.  When  Mr.  Hamilton  left  the  office  he  gave  Mr.  Jones  a  highly  compli- 
mentary letter,  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  family.  Edward  Jones  married  Louisa  Maus,  a 
native  of  Pottsgrove,  Pennsylvania.  Her  paternal  ancestors,  as  we  learn  from  the  "  History  of 
Sangamon  County,"  were  officials  of  note,  both  in  England  and  this  country.  Our  subject  has 
certificates  given  to  different  members  of  the  Maus  family  connections,  extending  from  William 
and  Mary  in  1691,  down  through  the  reigns  of  the  three  Georges  to  1804,  the  commission  after 
1776,  of  course,  being  by  American  officers. 

John  Albert  Jones  was  born  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  May  29,  1806.  He  commenced  his 
classical  studies  at  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia,  under  Doctor  Carnahan.  afterward  presi- 
dent of  Princeton  College  ;  was  three  years  in  the  Jesuit  College,  in  the  same  place  ;  eighteen 
months  under  the  instruction  of  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  and  was  graduated  at  Columbia 
College,  District  of  Columbia,  class  of  1825,  and  received  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  in  course. 

Mr.  Jones  left  school  with  impaired  health,  and  in  1835  came  to  Illinois.     Settling  in  Tazewell 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  275 

county,  he  edited  the  "  Pekin  Gazette,"  which  afterward  took  the  name  of  the  "  Tazewell  Tele- 
graph," a  whig  paper,  the  pioneer  journal  in  that  county.  During  this  period  Mr.  Jones  also 
served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  In  October,  1837,  he  was  appointed,  by  Judge  Jesse  B.  Thomas, 
clerk  of  the  circuit  court  of  that  county,  and  in  1841  was  reappointed  by  Judge  S.  H.  Treat.  The 
next  year  he  was  made  master  in  chancery  of  that  court. 

Under  the  new  constitution  of  1848,  as  we  learn  from  the  history  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Jones 
was  elected  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  and  four  years  later  (1852)  was  reflected,  and  served  four 
years  longer.  On  leaving  that  office,  on  motion  of  his  early  and  abiding  friend,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  supreme  court,  he  having  been  engaged  for  years  in  the 
study  of  law. 

In  March,  1861,  immediately  after  forming  his  cabinet,  Mr.  Lincoln  appointed  Mr.  Jones  super- 
intendent of  commercial  statistics  of  the  United  States  at  Washington,  to  which  place  our  subject 
moved.  There  he  remained,  faithfully  attending  to  his  duties,  until  May,  1866,  when  he  resigned, 
came  to  Bloomington  and  took  his  present  office  by  appointment  of  Judge  Davis,  late  acting  vice 
president  of  the  United  States,  this  appointment  being  sanctioned  by  Judge  Treat,  in  July,  1867. 
He  then  settled  in  Springfield,  and  has  been  master  in  chancery  since  1868. 

Mr.  Jones  is  a  member  of  Saint  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  man  of  pure  moral  character. 
In  June,  1840,  he  married  Ann  Maria  Major,  of  Bloomington,  Illinois,  daughter  of  William  T. 
Major,  of  Christian  county,  Kentucky,  and  they  have  buried  their  youngest  child,  and  have  two 
sons  and  three  daughters  living. 

Mr.  Jones  is  a  hale  old  gentleman,  very  active  for  a  man  of  his  age  ;  possesses  a  clear  and 
remarkable  memory  ;  is  full  of  reminiscences  of  the  olden  times  ;  abounds  in  good  cheer,  and  is 
the  life  of  the  home  and  social  circle.  Mr.  Jones  had  two  brothers,  James  and  Edward.  The 
former  was  a  graduate  of  Columbia  College,  and  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1831 
settled  in  New  Orleans,  where  he  aided  in  founding  the  Medical  University,  in  which  he  occupied 
a  chair,  dying  in  October,  1873.  Edward  had  a  classical  and  military  education,  studied  law, 
practiced  at  Pekin,  Illinois  ;  was  in  the  Black  Hawk  and  Mexican  wars,  and  died  at  Pekin  in 
1857- 

ABRAM    HOLDERMAN. 

SENECA. 

IS  the  son  of  Abram  and  Charlotte  (O'Neal)  Holderman.  His  father  was  by  descent  a  Penn- 
sylvania Dutchman,  and  his  mother  of  Irish  blood.  Abram  Holderman,  Sr.,  was  born  in 
Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  when  eighteen  years  old  removed  to  Ross  county,  Ohio,  where 
he  married.  They  were  a  prosperous  and  prolific  pair,  and  seven  sons  and  seven  daughters  grew 
upon  the  household  tree.  Eleven  of  the  family  reached  maturity,  and  ten  of  them  married  and 
raised  families  of  their  own.  The  total  number  of  their  children  was  101.  Abram,  Sr.,  was  an 
extensive  farmer  and  stock-raiser  in  Ohio,  and  used  to  drive  large  herds  to  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  markets.  In  July,  1831,  he  took  the  western  fever,  and  came  into  Illinois  prospecting. 
There  were  no  white  settlements  in  this  part  of  the  state  at  that  time,  and  upon  reaching  Door 
Prairie,  Indiana,  he  hired  an  Indian  to  pilot  him  through.  He  had  no  definite  idea  where  he 
wanted  to  go.  but  came  seventy  miles  into  the  Indian  country  before  stopping.  They  rode  on 
horseback  through  pathless  prairies,  slept  in  their  blankets  when  night  overtook  them,  with  their 
saddles  for  pillows,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  a  lovely  grove,  in  the  midst  of  broad 
prairies,  invited  his  possession,  a'nd  he  stuck  his  stakes. 

The  land  had  been  surveyed  a  couple  of  years  previously,  and  he  selected  eighty  acres  of  tim- 
ber on  what  proved  to  be  seminary  lands.  Returning  for  his  family,  he  made  ready  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  started  for  the  land  of  promise.  One  great  Pennsylvania  wagon,  drawn  by  four 
horses,  one  common  two-horse  wagon,  and  one  large  ox  wagon,  contained  his  family  and  his 
household  stuff.  Himself,  wife  and  nine  children,  three  wagons,  eleven  horses,  nineteen  head  of 


2/6  UNITKD    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

blooded  cattle  and  three  yoke  of  oxen  formed  the  grand  cavalcade.  Like  his  ancient  namesake, 
"he,  with  all  his  goods  possessed,  turned  his  footsteps  toward  the  West."  But  while  he  could 
not  boast  of  as  many  wives,  he  had  more  children  and  almost  as  much  substance  as  Jacob  him- 
self, the  father  of  the  twelve  patriarchs. 

The  journey  was  an  immense  undertaking  in  those  days,  when  roads  and  bridges  existed  only 
as  a  result  of  a  far-off  civilization,  but  it  was  full  of  excitement  and  pleasing,  as  well  as  painful, 
incidents.  They  had  to  ford  and  sometimes  to  swim  the  streams,  and  flounder  through  the 
sloughs,  in  which  they  were  often  mired,  but  they  had  plenty  of  help,  and  always  conquered. 
Their  route  lay  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  they  had  Chicago  in  mind  as 
one  stopping,  point;  but,  failing  to  get  through  as  expected,  night  overtook  them  when  about 
twelve  miles  out.  Their  provisions  being  exhausted,  they  all  went  supperless  to  bed,  and  their 
teams  as  hungry  as  themselves.  Mornitfg  came,  and  no  breakfast,  but  they  were  sustained  by 
visions  of  plenty  in  the  young  city  twelve  miles  away,  and  started  early  for  the  land  of  promise 
and  a  square  meal.  Imagine  the  feelings  of  that  hungry  crowd  when  two  bushels  of  oats,  at  $4 
per  bushel,  and  a  solitary  loaf  of  brown  bread,  was  all  the  embryo  city  could  produce  to  feed 
eleven  persons,  eleven  horses,  and  a  herd  of  cattle.  The  frugal  mother  had  a  little  Ohio  butter 
left  in  a  jar,  and  one  slice  of  bread  and  butter  each  sufficed  to  stay  their  hunger  till  they  could 
escape  such  inhospitable  shores,  which  they  did,  as  Lot  escaped  from  Sodom,  in  haste  and  with- 
out looking  behind  them.  Twelve  miles  more  through  mud  and  water,  ankle  deep  and  upward, 
brought  them  to  Widow  Berry's  Point.  Here  they  struck  supplies,  fed  and  rested  till  the  follow- 
ing day.  Forty-seven  dollars  paid  their  little  bill  and  laid  in  supplies  for  the  rest  of  the  journey, 
now  only  about  fifty  miles  further.  To  Plainfield,  the  nearest  town,  was  thirty  miles,  which  they 
reached  that  night,  without  further  incident  than  the  inevitable  floundering  through  bottomless 
quagmires  which  about  every  day  brought  them. 

Another  twenty  miles,  and  Kellogg's  Grove  was  reached,  between  which  and  the  new  home 
lay  the  forbidden  depths  of  Big  Slough.  Here  the  whole  party  mired  down,  and  it  took  two  days 
of  hard  work  to  get  the  wagons  through  to  hard  ground,  one  by  one,  with  all  the  force  they  could 
muster.  But  the  end  was  reached  at  last,  in  October,  1831,  and  for  two  weeks  the  party  found 
shelter  in  the  cabin  of  hospitable  Edmund  Weed.  Another  eighty  acres  of  the  choice  timber  was 
immediately  added  to  the  former  purchase.  Two  small  cabins  had  been  erected  on  it  by  the 
former  owner,  in  one  of  which  the  family  wintered.  Mr.  Holderman  and  one  of  the  boys  went 
with  a  team  to  the  Vermilion  River,  where  they  succeeded  in  buying  twenty-six  bushels  of  wheat 
and  ninety  pounds  of  an  animal  somewhat  resembling  the  modern  hog,  but  called  by  the  boys 
prairie  shark.  They  succeeded  also  in  buying  a  fine  fat  steer,  whose  carcass,  frozen  solid,  fur- 
nished the  family  with  fresh  meat  all  winter. 

Before  spring,  however,  the  flour  was  all  gone,  and  for  six  weeks  the  family  lived  on  pounded 
corn,  so  poor  the  horses  refused  to  eat.  it.  With  the  opening  of  navigation  the  father  went  to 
Saint  Louis,  purchased  seed  corn,  groceries  and  provisions,  amounting  to  about  $400,  and  had 
them  brought  by  a  keel-boat  as  far  as  Ottawa.  The  stuff  made  five  wagon-loads,  and  consumed 
four  days  in  transportation  from  Ottawa.  On  the  morning  of  May  17,  which  was  the  day  follow- 
ing the  safe  arrival  of  the  last  load  of  their  summer  supplies,  a  friendly  Indian,  by  the  name  of 
Peppers,  came  with  a  hasty  message  from  Shawbenee  that  eighty  of  Blackhawk's  Indian  braves 
were  on  the  war-path,  and  that  their  only  hope  was  an  immediate  flight  to  Ottawa.  Five  families 
had  by  this  time  gathered  around  Holderman 's  Grove  in  a  fine,  compact  settlement,  and  they  all 
collected  at  Holderman's  in  hot  haste  for  defense  or  instant  flight.  It  was  near  night,  and  dread- 
ing lest  they  should  meet  the  treacherous  redskins  on  the  journey  through  the  darkness,  they 
resolved  to  await  the  coming  of  the  following  day.  Peppers  had  reported  that  Hollenbeck  and 
family,  who  had  settled  on  Fox  River,  were  murdered,  as  he  had  heard  the  report  of  guns  after 
he  left  them,  but  it  afterward  proved  erroneous.  Hollenbeck  was  absent,  and  the  boys  had  fired 
off  their  guns  to  reload  with  a  fresh  charge,  and  the  whole  family  had  secieted  themselves  in  the 
brush.  Before  day  Holderman,  Cummings  and  Kellogg  went  out  with  their  horses  toward  Hoi- 


UNITED    STATES   RIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  277 

lenbeck's  to  reconnoiter.  At  daybreak  they  came  in  sight  of  the  savages,  who,  after  murdering 
the  family,  as  their  friends  supposed,  were. making  merry  with  the  whisky  and  tobacco  which 
Hollenbeck  had  on  hand.  A  sentry  posted  on  the  cabin  roof  dropped  to  the  ground  at  sight  of 
the  three  horsemen,  and  the  whole  band,  forty  strong,  vanished  like  rabbits  in  their  burrows. 
Only  one,  peeping  from  behind  the  corner  of  the  house,  sought  to  engage  the  white  men  in  a 
parley,  while  others,  skulking  through  the  ravine,  got  in  range  from  their  ambush  and  fired  upon 
them.  This  stampeded  the  little  party,  without  further  injury  than  a  few  bullet  holes  through 
coat  and  hat,  but  the  whole  howling  band  of  savages  were  instantly  in  full  pursuit.  Although 
well  mounted,  they  had  little  ammunition,  and  soon  realized  that  they  were  leading  the  savages 
upon  their  defenseless  families,  to  their  certain  destruction.  A  shrewd  manceuver  alone  saved 
them.  Reaching  a  rise  of  ground,  with  the  Indians  in  full  sight,  at  the  suggestion  of  Holderman 
the  party  suddenly  halted,  and  Holderman,  swinging  his  hat  and  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
seemed  to  be  signaling  a  reserve  force  to  come  on.  This  bold  action  convinced  the  Indians  that 
a  large  party  were  beyond  their  sight,  and  taking  counsel  of  their  fears,  they  beat  a  hasty  retreat 
and  left  the  neighborhood. 

By  preconcerted  arrangements,  the  families  kept  a  lookout,  and  on  a  signal  from  the  return- 
ing scouts,  the  horses  were  hitched  to  the  wagons,  the  women  and  children  and  a  few  hastily 
gathered  supplies  were  bundled  in,  and  when  the  party  reached  them  all  was  in  readiness  for 
flight.  The  sleeping  children  were  snatched  from  their  beds,  and  some  of  them  tossed  into  the 
wagons  in  their  night-clothes.  A  speedy  trip  to  Ottawa  saved  their  lives,  for  the  outwitted  sav- 
ages, on  discovering  that  they  were  not  followed,  returned  and  wreaked  their  vengeance  on  Hol- 
derman's  summer  supplies,  destroying  what  they  could  not  carry  off,  and  driving  away  all  the 
stock  in  the  neighborhood.  However,  they  only  got  them  as  far  as  the  Fox  River,  when,  in 
attempting  to  get  them  across,  the  cattle  escaped  and  returned  home.  After  a  few  weeks  spent 
in  Ottawa,  where  they  helped  to  build  a  rude  log  fort,  the  company  went  to  Pekin,  Illinois,  and 
did  not  find  their  way  back  to  their  homes  till  the  following  August,  when  the  war  was  over. 

After  this  the  settlement  prospered  and  grew  rich.  Holderman  followed  his  former  occupa- 
tion of  cattle-raising  and"  farming,  and  grew  rich  too.  He  at  one  time  sent  a  drove  of  313  head 
of  fine  fat  cattle  to  Philadelphia,  in  care  of  his  sons,  Barton  and  Abram,  Jr.,  then  a  lad  of  eighteen 
years.  They  got  312  of  them  through,  and  sold  at  $52.50  a  head,  more  than  doubling  their  money 
after  paying  all  expenses. 

Abram  remained  with  his  father  until  twenty-three  years  old,  when  Abram,  Sr.,  gave  him  a 
a  plow,  a  harness,  and  the  use  of  all  the  land  he  could  work,  with  the  advice:  "Earn  your  own 
money,  and  you  will  know  how  to  prize  it;  but  if  you  want  any  help'  at  any  time,  come  to  me." 
Hiring  $700  of  William  Hoge,  afterward  his  father-in-law,  he  joined  forces  with  his  elder  brother, 
Barton,  and  worked  a  farm  of  240  acres  in  the  town  of  Felix,  owned  by  their  father.  This  is  the 
farm  afterward  bought  by  Samuel  Holderman.  At  the  end  of  two  years  the  brothers  settled  up 
and  divided,  and  Abram  received  in  cash  his  share  of  the  profits,  $1,800.  He  then  married  Miss 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  William  Hoge,  who,  coming  from  Virginia,  had  reached  the  country  two 
weeks  before  the  Holdermans,  and  settled  on  Nettle  Creek. 

Immediately  after  their  marriage,  which  took  place  May  6.  1847,  they  settled  at  Holderman's 
Grove,  and  lived  in  one  of  his  father's  houses,  who  had  by  this  time  bought  nearly  all  of  his 
neighbors'  farms.  Here  they  lived  two  years  longer,  till  1849,  and  then  moved  on  to  a  quarter 
section  of  land  he  had  bought  near  Seneca,  at  $3  per  acre.  Considering  his  antecedents,  it  was 
inevitable  that  he  should  go  to  raising  cattle,  and  he  at  once  bought  all  the  young  cattle  he  could 
pay  for.  From  this  time  on,  the  history  of  his  life  is  a  repetition,  from  year  to  year,  of  substan- 
tially the  same  events.  He  multiplied  his  flocks  and  herds  till  the  free  range  was  fenced  up,  and 
then  bought  land  to  pasture  them.  Then  more  cattle,  and  again  more  land.  Fenced  his  land  in 
the  winter,  and  broke  prairie  in  the  summer.  Worked  what  he  wanted  to  comfortably,  but  always 
rented  the  greater  part  of  it.  And  so  his  landed  estate  increased,  till  now  it  lies  along  the  canal 
and  the  Rock  Island  railroad  a  distance  of  seven  miles  east  and  west,  and  his  herds  are  well  nigh 


278  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

countless.  Including  the  portions  of  his  four  grown  children,  he  is  the  owner  of  about  7,000 
acres  of  the  choicest  land  in  the  valley  of  the  Illinois  River. 

He  is  the  father  of  eight  children:  seven  sons,  three  of  whom  died  in  childhood,  and  one 
daughter.  To  four  of  them,  who  are  of  age,  he  has  given  about  2,000  acres  of  his  land  in  nearly 
equal  parts.  James  A.,  his  eldest  son,  married  Virginia  Bashaw,  and  has  three  children.  He  has 
settled  on  his  farm  of  650  acres,  and,  like  his  ancestors,  is  a  successful  farmer  and  stock  man. 
The  others  are  unmarried. 

Mr.  Holderman  is  a  republican,  but  takes  no  interest  in  politics  outside  of  his  own  town. 
There  are  but  eighty  voters  in  his  town,  and  they  manage  their  matters  in  a  very  original  man- 
ner. On  election  day  they  all  gather  at  the  polls,  appoint  a  committee  to  name  tWe  candidates, 
and  make  their  election  unanimous;  yet,  strange  to  say,  they  have  hard  work  to  get  the  officers 
chosen  to  accept  the  honors  conferred.  Mr.  Holderman  has  been  school  director  twenty-five 
years,  road  commissioner  twenty,  and  supervisor  five  or  six  times,  till  he  positively  won't  take  it 
any  more.  He  is  fond  of  company,  and  generally  keeps  a  dozen  or  fifteen  hunting  dogs  and  as 
many  horses.  Fox  and  coon  hunting  is  his  greatest  diversion,  and  he  greatly  enjoys  a  grand  hunt 
over  his  immense  estate  with  a  party  of  his  friends  from  Chicago  and  elsewhere.  He  is  known 
all  over  Illinois  as  Abe  Holderman,  the  coon  hunter,  and  has  led  many  a  party  headlong  into  the 
ditch  when  after  coons  in  the  dark.  His  schooling  in  youth  was  practically  limited  to  a  six 
months'  term,  but  he  mastered  old  Daball's  arithmetic  in  that  time,  and  no  man  in  the  state  can 
beat  him  when  he  sits  down  to  figure,  which  he  usually  does  before  he  trades. 

Although  now  past  sixty  years  of  age,  he  is  as  active,  strong  and  hearty  as  most  men  at  forty. 
His  wife,  now  fifty-five,  is  more  feeble,  but  both  yet  enjoy  life  with  much  zest.  With  such  an 
immense  estate  about  them,  neighbors  are  a  luxury,  and  schools  and  churches  only  found  in 
town;  but  the  family  are  exceedingly  friendly  and  hospitable,  and  enjoy  a  visit  immensely;  their 
latch-string  is  always  found  hanging  outside. 


JOSHUA  C.   KNICKERBOCKER. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

JOSHUA  C.  KNICKERBOCKER  was  born  in  Gallatin,  Columbia  county,  in  the  state  of  New 
York,  September  26,  1837,  and  is  of  remote  Holland  extraction,  although  his  ancestors,  pater- 
nal and  maternal,  were  for  several  generations  natives  of  Columbia  and  Dutchess  counties  in  the 
Empire  State. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1844,  his  father,  David  Knickerbocker,  with  his  family,  joined  the 
tide  of  western  emigration,  and  removed  to  Alden,  in  McHenry  county,  in  the  state  of  Illinois, 
where  he  settled  upon  a  farm  which  he  continued  to  occupy  and  cultivate  until  his  decease,  which 
occurred  February  22,  1874,  his  relict,  Susanna  Knickerbocker,  dying  August  12,  at  the  same  place 
in  that  year.  The  children  consisted  of  four  in  number,  all  of  whom  survive:  Isaac  D.  Knicker- 
bocker, who  resides  on  the  old  homestead  in  Alden,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Mrs.  Hannah  M. 
Bowman,  wife  of  Prentice  Bowman,  of  La  Porte  City,  Iowa,  and  John  J.  Knickerbocker,  a  well 
known  member  of  the  Chicago  bar. 

Judge  Knickerbocker  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  at  the  academy  in  Alden.  In 
the  winters  of  1856,  1858  and  1859  he  engaged  in  teaching  district  schools  and  in  prosecuting  his 
private  studies  in  the  more  advanced  branches  of  education.  Having  determined  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  law,  he  removed  to  Chicago  in  March,  1860,  and  at  once  commenced  a  course  of  legal 
study.  In  March,  1862,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  opened 
an  office  at  No.  14  Metropolitan  Block,  and  at  once  entered  upon  a  remunerative  practice.  In 
common  with  many  others,  he  suffered  the  misfortune  of  having  his  office,  including  a  valuable 
law  library,  burned  in  the  great  fire  of  Octobers,  9,  1871.  He  was  joined  in  business  by  his 
brother,  John  J.  Knickerbocker,  in  1867,  and  thus  was  formed  the  well  known  law  firm  of  J. 


. 

' 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  28l 

C.  and  J.  J.  Knickerbocker,  which  continued  until  December,  1877,  when  it  was  dissolved  by  the 
election  of  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  to  the  office  of  probate  judge  of  Cook  county.  Judge 
Knickerbocker  was  elected  supervisor  of  the  first  ward  of  Chicago  in  1864,  for  one  year,  alderman 
of  the  first  ward  in  1865,  for  two  years,  and  reelected  in  1867  for  a  like  term.  In  1868  he  was 
nominated  for  representative  in  the  twenty-sixth  general  assembly,  and  in  a  close  and  doubtful 
district  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  more  than  two  thousand.  In  1869  he  was  nominated  by 
acclamation  by  the  republican  county  convention  for  county  judge,  but,  owing  to  [reconcilable 
complications,  the  whole  ticket  suffered  defeat.  In  1875  he  was  appointed  by  the  governor  a 
member  of  the  state  board  of  education,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  late 
Doctor  John  H.  Foster,  reappointed  in  1877  and  in  1883  for  a  term  of  six  years.  While  at  the  bar 
Judge  Knickerbocker  devoted  himself  largely  to  probate  business,  a  department  of  the  law  to 
which  he  had  devoted  much  study,  and  which  was  congenial  to  him,  and  in  October,  1877,  he  was 
nominated  for  the  important  office  of  probate  judge  of  Cook  county,  with  little  effort  on  his  part, 
while  a  contest  for  the  nomination  was  made  by  several  able  competitors,  who  made  a  vigorous 
and  protracted  personal  canvass.  He  was  elected  and  organized  the  present  probate  court  of 
Cook  county,  December  3,  1877,  under  the  act  of  the  general  assembly  passed  and  approved  in 
April  of  that  year.  In  October,  1882,  he  was  renominated  for  probate  judge  by  acclamation,  and 
was  reelected. 

No  man  enjoys  a  more  extensive  and  favorable  acquaintance  with  the  people  of  Cook  county 
than  Judge  Knickerbocker.  All  the  public  and  private  trusts  committed  to  his  charge  have  been 
executed  with  promptness  and  fidelity.  In  the  councils  of  the  city  and  state  his  official  influence 
and  action  have  ever  been  in  the  interests  of  good  government. 

The  court  over  which  he  presides  has  jurisdiction  over  the  estates  of  all  deceased  persons,  and 
over  the  persons  and  estates  of  all  infants,  lunatics,  idiots,  spendthrifts  and  drunkards  in  Cook 
county,  and  adjudicates  annually  upon  more  property  than  all  the  other  courts  of  Cook  county 
combined.  To  administer  the  delicate  and  sacred  trusts  of  such  an  office  requires  learning,  indus- 
try, vigor  an'd  patience.  We  believe  we  express  the  universal  opinion  when  we  say  these  trusts 
have  never  been  more  promptly,  impartially  and  satisfactorily  executed  than  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Judge  Knickerbocker. 


D 


DANIEL    D.   MERIAM. 

QUJNCY. 

ANIEL  DODGE  MERIAM,  a  prominent  lumber  merchant,  is  a  son  of  David  and  Betsy 
(Conant)  Meriam,  and  was  born  in  Brandon,  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  February  9,  1821, 
being  the  youngest  child  by  a  second  wife.  His  father  was  born  January  28,  1760,  and  the  day 
before  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  enlisted  in  the  war  for  independence,  taking  part  in  the  engage- 
ments at  Dorchester  Point,  Bennington,  the  capture  of  Burgoyne,  etc.  He  was  a  hatter  by  trade, 
and  a  farmer,  a  deacon  of  a  Congregational  church  forty-eight  years,  and  died  at  Brandon,  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1849.  Betsy  Conant  was  a  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Conant,  adjutant-general  during  the 
revolutionary  war.  She  died  June  3,  1842.  Both  families  were  among  the  early  settlers  in  the 
New  England  colonies. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of  his  native  state ;  was 
engaged  in  farming  until  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  when  he  came  to  the  West,  and  for  two  years 
was  in  mercantile  business  at  Berlin,  Green  Lake  county,  Wisconsin.  He  then  identified  himself 
with  the  lumbering  interests  of  that  state,  and  in  June,  1857,  settled  in  Ouincy,  and  opened  a 
lumber  yard.  Shortly  afterward  he  discontinued  his  connection  with  the  manufacturing  branch 
of  his  business,  and  has  since  given  his  whole  time  and  attention  to  the  purchase  and  sale  of  lum- 
ber, making  a  success  in  that  line.  He  is  a  man  of  first-class  business  tact  and  talents,  straight- 
forward and  reliable. 

Mr.  Meriam  is  a  republican,  of  whig  antecedents,  but  not  an  office  seeker.  Indeed  we  cannot 
29 


282  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

learn  that  he  has  ever  held  any  kind  of  a  civil  or  political  office.  He  occasionally  attends  county 
and  state  conventions,  and  works  earnestly  for  the  success  of  the  nominees  of  his  party,  but  will 
do  nothing  for  his  own  political  advancement,  having  no  ambition  in  that  direction.  In  1861  he 
was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  receiver  of  the  United  States  Land  Office  at  Olympia, 
Washington  Territory,  but  did  not  accept  the  office.  He  joined  an  Odd-Fellow's  lodge  at  Bran- 
don in  1850  ;  has  held  a  few  positions  in  the  order,  and  belongs  to  the  encampment. 

He  is  a  member  of  no  church,  but  usually,  we  belieye,  attends  the  Baptist,  of  which  his  first 
wife  was  a  member.  He  was  first  married,  July  6,  1842,  to  Miss  Sarah  W.  Spencer,  daughter  of 
Deacon  Ezra  Spencer,  of  Pittsford,  Rutland  county,  Vermont.  She  died,  July  9,  1880,  leaving 
three  children:  Cassius  M.,  who  is  of  the  firm  of  D.  D.  Meriam  and  Son  ;  Albert  Spencer,  a  lum- 
ber dealer  in  Quincy,  and  Ella  G.,  who  is  married  to  C.  A.  Bronnaugh,  of  O,uincy.  Mr.  Meriam 
was  married  the  second  time,  March  i,  1881,  to  Mrs.  E.  T.  Hall,  widow  of  Doctor  Eli  Hall,  late  of 
Rockford,  Illinois,  and  daughter  of  Doctor  Josiah  C.  Goodhue,  of  the  same  city. 


LYMAN   H.   DAVIS,  M.D. 

WOODSTOCK. 

EMAN  HALL  DAVIS,  the  oldest  medical  practitioner  at  Woodstock,  and  one  of  the  best 
known  men  in  McHenry  county,  was  born  in  the  village  of  Amber,  town  of  Otisco,  Onon- 
daga  county,  New  York,  June  13,  1822.  He  is  of  Welsh  descent.  His  grandfather,  John  Davis, 
was  a  surgeon  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  his  father,  Jonathan  S.  Davis,  was  a  farmer,  stock 
driver,  general  speculator,  and  a  prominent  man  in  the  county  mentioned,  serving  for  several 
years  as  its  sheriff.  He  died  at  Amber  in  1853.  His  wife  was  Sarah  Carter,  whose  father  was  a 
blacksmith  in  the  revolutionary  army.  She  died  in  1834. 

Lyman  finished  his  literary  studies  at  Homer  Academy;  commenced  his  medical  studies  at 
Lafayette;  continued  them  at  Syracuse,  and  finished  at  the  Geneva  Medical  College,  taking  four 
courses  of  lectures,  and  being  graduated  in  February,  1843. 

Doctor  Davis  first  practiced  for  a  term  of  four  years  at  Homer,  in  company  with  Doctor  Web- 
ster, a  noted  physician;  removed  thence  to  Lakeville,  Livingston  county,  and  there  remained 
until  the  spring  of  1852,  when  he  left  his  native  state,  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  at  Woodstock, 
then  little  more  than  the  nucleus  of  a  village.  The  country  was  not  very  thickly  settled  then; 
physicians  were  not  abundant,  and,  geographically  speaking,  he  had  a  very  extensive  ride  from 
the  start,  extending  not  only  over  a  large  part  of  McHenry  county,  but  sometimes  into  adjoining 
counties,  including  Walworth  county,  Wisconsin.  In  the  course  of  time,  as  villages  sprang  up, 
and  medical  men  multiplied,  his  rides  became  more  restricted  in  extent,  but  not  in  number. 
Occasionally,  however,  even  now,  the  doctor  has  professional  calls  in  the  Badger  State,  and  does 
not  like  to  disappoint  families,  however  distant,  whose  physician,  in  many  instances,  he  has  been 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  is  not  only  widely  known,  but  greatly  esteemed  alike 
for  his  medical  skill  and  his  usefulness  as  a  citizen. 

Doctor  Davis  was  alderman  of  Woodstock  when  it  was  a  village,  and  has  served  as  mayor  one 
or  two  terms  since  it  became  a  city.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Fox  River  Medical  Association,  and 
a  few  of  his  papers  read  before  the  fraternity  have  been  published  in  medical  periodicals,  but  we 
believe  he  does  not  write  a  great  deal  for  the  press.  The  doctor  has  not  very  strong  lungs,  and 
has  to  guard  against  overwork  and  exposure  in  our  northern  climate  For  nearly  thirty  years  he 
has  been  accustomed  to  spend  his  winters  at  the  South  or  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  thus  he  keeps 
himself  comparatively  well  toned  up  the  year  round. 

While  a  resident  of  Lakeville,  New  York,  Doctor  Davis  held  the  office  of  postmaster,  and  at 
Geneseo  he  was  made  a  Freemason,  and  is  a  master  in  the  order.  The  year  after  commencing 
his  practice  (1844)  he  married  Eliza  Delamater,  daughter  of  Peter  Delamater,  of  Tomkins  county, 
New  York,  and  she  died  in  August,  1881,  leaving  three  children:  Sarah  C.,  the  elder  daughter,  is 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  283 

the  wife  of  Ira  Slocum,  stock  and  grain  dealer  at  Woodstock;  Katie  E.,  the  other  daughter  and 
youngest  child,  is  living  with  her  sister,  and  Frank  Buell,  son-in-law,  is  a  thrifty  farmer,  living 
near  town.  As  a  physician  and  business  man  Doctor  Davis  has  been  greatly  prospered,  and  was 
pecuniarily  placed  in  very  comfortable  circumstances  years  ago.  Besides  considerable  property, 
mostly  in  buildings  in  the  city,  he  has  three  or  four  hundred  acres  adjoining  and  partly  in  the 
corporation,  of  which  he  is  making  a  first-class  stock  farm. 

At  the  time  of  our  writing  this  sketch  the  doctor  is  feeling  a  good  deal  at  sea,  the  death  of  his 
most  estimable  wife  making  it  necessary  that  he  should  break  up  housekeeping;  which  he  has 
done.  She  was  a  woman  of  excellent  domestic  habits,  an  affectionate  wife  and  mother,  and  a 
very  active  worker  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  At  the  time  of  her  death  a  local  paper  thus 
spoke  of  her: 

"Seldom  has  our  community  been  more  saddened,  and  multitudes  of  devoted  friends  stirred 
to  deeper  grief,  than  at  the  announcement  on  the  evening  of  July  14  that  this  estimable  lady,  so 
widely  known  and  beloved  by  all,  had  passed  away  forever  from  our  midst.  Endowed  with  great 
energy  of  character  and  strength  of  will,  which  were  assiduously  devoted  to  the  accomplishment 
of  every  good  work,  united  with  an  affectionate  heart  and  most  genial  manners,  no  one  in  all 
the  circle  of  her  social  intercourse  forgets  her  attractive  influence,  and  the  genial  sunshine  of 
encouragement  and  hope  which  she  never  failed  to  shed  upon  those  around  her.  Her  friendship 
for  all  the  religious  denominations  of  our  city  was  a  marked  feature  of  her  character,  but  her 
strongest  attachments  were  with  the  church  of  her  early  youth,  the  Presbyterian,  with  which  she 
identified  herself  immediately  upon  her  arrival  in  Woodstock,  and  whose  prosperity  engaged  her 
best  energies  and  most  earnest  desire  up  to  the  closing  days  of  her  life.  Her  labor  of  love  in  this 
respect  is  attested  to  by  the  grief  of  the  entire  church  over  her  loss.  In  her  family,  as  a  devoted 
wife  and  most  affectionate  mother,  her  self-forgetfulness  was  ever  prominent  in  ministering  to  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  the  home  circle.  But  a  greater  self-forgetfulness  was  that  exhibited 
during  her  long  protracted  illness,  when,  in  her  anxious  solicitude  for  the  health  and  comfort  of 
those  nearest  and  dearest  to  her,  she  allowed  neither  weariness,  sickness  nor  pain  of  her  own  ever 
to  cast  a  cloud  upon  the  peace  or  joy  of  those  whom  she  bore  so  tenderly  upon  her  heart.  And 
when  at  last,  in  peaceful  resignation  and  with  no  anxiety  save  in  the  behalf  of  others,  she  fell 
asleep  in  Jesus,  it  was  but  to  realize  her  own  unwavering  hope,  and  add  another  to  the  roll  of 
those  who,  'through  faith  and  patience,  inherit  the  promises.'" 


HON.    ALFRED    M.    JONES. 

WARREN. 

A  LFRED  MILES  JONES,  United  States  marshal  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  dates 
l~\  his  birth  at  New  Durham,  New  Hampshire,  February  5,  1837.  His  father,  Alfred  S.Jones, 
a  farmer  most  of  his  life,  is  descended  from  an  old  New  Hampshire  family,  whose  progenitor  in 
this  country  was  from  Wales,  and  from  whom  Paul  Jones  was  also  a  descendant,  and  his  mother, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Rebecca  Miles,  was  also  of  New  Hampshire  birth,  and  is  a  relative  of 
the  Adams  family  of  Quincy,  Massachusetts.  Both  parents  are  yet  living,  their  home  being  at 
Warren,  Jo  Daviess  county,  this  state.  Before  Alfred  was  two  years  old  the  family  moved  to 
Vermont,  and  when  he  was  nine,  to  Hebron,  McHenry  county,  Illinois.  He  learned  his  letters 
out  of  a  Baptist  hymn-book,  long  before  he  was  old  enough  to  go  to  a  school;  finished  his  educa- 
tion at  the  Rockford  Academy;  taught  a  district  school  the  winter  he  was  eighteen,  and  in  April, 
1857,  settled  in  Warren,  where  he  was  in  business  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mr.  Jones  cast  his  first  vote  for  president  in  1860,  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  has  always  been 
a  stanch  republican.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1872,  for  the  tenth  representative  dis- 
trict, and  in  that  session  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  contingent  expenses.  He  was 
reelected,  and  at  the  second  session,  when  the  democrats  and  grangers  were  in  the  majority,  was 


284  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

chairman  of  the  house  republican  caucus,  and  leader  of  his  party  in  that  body.  After  the  state 
had  been  lost  to  the  republicans  for  two  consecutive  elections,  in  1878  Mr.  Jones  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  republican  state  central  committee,  and  his  party  triumphed.  He  was  assigned  the 
same  post  in  1880,  and  the  hosts  whom  he  led  were  again  victorious.  He  believes  with  all  his 
heart  that  the  best  interests  of  the  country  require  the  continued  dominance  of  his  party,  and  no 
man  in  the  state  labors  more  earnestly  and  effectively  to  that  end.  His  services  to  the  party  have 
been  repeatedly  recognized  by  its  men  in  power.  In  1877  he  was  appointed,  by  Governor  Cullom, 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  penitentiary,  and  was  made  secretary  of  the  board.  In  1879  he 
was  appointed,  by  President  Hayes,  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  the  third  district,  and  his 
present  office  of  marshal  he  received  at  the  hands  of  the  lamented  Garfield  onlv  a  few  weeks 
before  the  assassin's  bullet  laid  him  on  his  death-bed. 

In  every  position  in  which  Mr.  Jones  has  been  placed  he  has  shown  himself  eminently  fitted 
for  it,  he  being  not  only  capable,  but  active,  prompt  and  trustworthy.  He  has  the  fullest  confi- 
dence of  the  public  generally,  as  well  as  of  his  own  party.  In  Jo  Daviess  county,  where  he  is  best 
known,  he  has  a  host  of  friends,  and,  we  believe,  no  enemies. 

Mr.  Jones  is  a  Master  Mason,  a  member  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  church,  and  a  man  the  purity 
of  whose  life  is  unquestioned.  He  married,  in  October,  1857,  Emeline  A.,  daughter  of  Jesse 
Wright,  of  Warren,  Illinois,  and  they  have  two  children.  Mr.  Jones  is  six  feet  and  three  and  a 
half  inches  in  height,  and  equally  as  tall  in  nobility  of  character.  There  is  nothing  low  or  stoop- 
ing in  his  composition.  He  carries  his  conscience  as  he  does  his  watch  —  is  never  without  either, 
and  always  comes  to  time  in  social  and  moral,  as  well  as  in  civil  and  political,  duties. 


H 


HON.   HIRAM    H.  CODY. 

CHICAGO  AND  NAPERVILLE. 

IRAM  HITCHCOCK  CODY,  a  native  of  Vernon  Centre,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  was 
born  June  n,  1824,  the  son  of  Hiram  Cody  and  Huldah  (Hitchcock)  Cody.  His  paternal 
grandparents,  Samuel  Cody  and  Susannah  Cody,  were  among  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Oneida 
county.  The  former  was  a  soldier  in  the  revolutionary  army  ;  the  latter,  with  pardonable  pride, 
traced  her  lineage  to  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  His  maternal  grand- 
parents, David  Hitchcock  and  Mercy  Gilbert  Hitchcock,  formerly  of  Connecticut,  but  during 
many  years  residents  of  Hamilton,  Madison  county,  New  York,  were  universally  respected  for 
their  many  virtues.  For  several  generations  back,  his  ancestors  have  all  been  Christian  people, 
identified  with  either  the  Methodist  Episcopal  or  Congregational  churches.  His  father  was  a 
man  of  unusual  mental  and  physical  vigor,  with  a  good  degree  of  self-culture,  and  known  for  his 
frankness  and  independence  in  thought  and  action.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  earnest,  decided 
Christian  character,  superior  culture  and  refined  tastes.  Of  his  four  sisters,  all  of  whom  were 
ladies  esteemed  for  their  intelligence  and  excellent  traits  of  character,  only  the  youngest  is  now 
living.  The  eldest  and  youngest  were  married  successively  to  his  wife's  eldest  brother,  Doctor 
S.  P.  Sedgwick,  formerly  professor  in  Bennett  Medical  College,  of  Chicago.  The  second  sister 
was  the  wife  of  Hon.  E.  O.  Hills,  of  Bloomingdale,  Illinois,  and  the  third  was  married  to  Mr. 
Samuel  Talcott,  of  Rockton,  Illinois. 

His  early  education  was  thorough,  and  was  conducted  with  the  design  that  he  should  enter 
the  legal  profession  ;  and  in  all  his  instruction  this  purpose  was  kept  in  view,  and  being  well 
known  to  him,  made  a  very  deep  impression  upon  his  hopes  and  aspirations  for  the  future.  His 
father,  however,  determined  to  remove  with  his  family  to  the  West,  when  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age.  This  circumstance,  though  it  seemed  at  the  time  to 
interfere  seriously  with  his  plans  for  the  future,  proved  to  him  a  blessing  in  disguise,  by  inducing 
his  removal  to  the  West,  and  settlement  in  Illinois. 

In  1843,  with  his  father's  family,  he  removed  to  Lisbon,  Kendall  county,  Illinois,  whither  many 


UNIVERSITY'S  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  287 

of  his  old  townsmen  had  preceded  him.  One  year  later  the  family  settled  at  Bloomingdale,  Du 
Page  county. 

In  August,  1847,  Mr.  Cody  removed  to  Naperville,  having  been  elected  clerk  of  the  county 
commissioner's  court  of  Du  Page  county.  Two  years  later,  upon  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
of  1848,  he  was  nominated  by  acclamation,  and  in  1849  elected,  the  first  county  clerk  of  the 
county,  thus  serving  as  clerk  six  years,  during  which  time,  aside  from  his  official  duties,  he  vigor- 
ously applied  himself  to  the  study  of  law,  and  finally,  in  June,  1851,  realized  the  long  cherished 
hopes  of  his  earlier  years,  by  being  admitted  to  the  bar.  Upon  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office 
he  went  before  the  convention,  and,  though  a  majority  of  the  delegates  favored  his  renomination, 
he  voluntarily  withdrew  his  name,  his  purpose  being  to  retire  from  public  life,  and  devote  himself 
to  the  study  and  practice  of  his  profession.  Aside  from  these  he  has  held  no  offices  by  virtue  of 
a  political  party  vote.  Politically,  his  views  were  democratic,  but  when  the  voice  of  treason  was 
heard,  and  efforts  were  making  to  sever  the  union  of  states,  discarding  party  prejudices,  he 
thought  only  of  his  country's  welfare.  His  earnest  efforts  and  eloquent  appeals,  in  behalf  of  the 
Union  cause,  will  ever  be  remembered  by  his  fellow-citizens  ;  and  it  was  to  these  that  Du  Page 
county  was  largely  indebted  for  her  brilliant  record  made  during  the  war. 

In  1861,  in  a  convention  assembled  without  distinction  of  party,  he  was  nominated,  and  after- 
ward almost  unanimously  elected,  county  judge  of  Du  Page  county.  In  1869,  at  a  time  when  the 
citizens  of  his  county  were  nearly  equally  divided  upon  the  question  pertaining  to  the  removal  of 
the  county  seat,  he  was  the  candidate  of  the  anti-removal  division  for  delegate  to  the  constitu- 
tional convention,  then  about  to  be  held.  The  election  of  1867  was  claimed  to  have  resulted  in 
favor  of  removal  by  a  majority  of  about  one  hundred  ;  yet,  notwithstanding  this,  and  also  the 
fact  that  the  vote  of  his  county  was  three-fourths  republican,  and  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Bryan,  a  gen- 
tleman well  known  in  business  circles  throughout  the  state,  and  especially  in  Chicago,  was  the 
opposing  candidate,  Judge  Cody  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  between  one  and  two  hundred.  In 
the  convention  he  was  one  of  the  most  useful  members,  and  his  service  therein  was  exceedingly 
valuable  and  efficient.  Feeling  bound  by  the  will  of  those,  who,  irrespective  of  party,  had  elected 
him,  no  less  than  by  his  own  inclination,  he  acted  with  the  small  number  of  independents,  who, 
in  the  convention,  really  held  the  balance  of  power,  which  they  so  used,  alternating  the  election 
of  officers  between  the  two  parties,  that  party  spirit  was  more  nearly  banished  from  that  assem- 
bly than  from  any  deliberative  legislative  body  that  ever  convened  in  Illinois.  In  the  convention 
he  was  chairman  of  the  important  committee  on  revision  and  adjustment,  and  with  characteristic 
energy,  vigilance  and  foresight,  so  conducted  the  work  of  the  committee  that  upon  the  day,  and 
at  the  hour  fixed  for  final  adjournment,  its  report  was  found  complete,  something  new  in  the  his- 
tory of  such  conventions.  The  appreciation  of  the  committee's  services  was  clearly  attested  by  a 
unanimous  vote  of  thanks,  which  was  the  only  one  of  the  kind  given  to  any  committee  during 
the  entire  session.  Aside  from  this,  the  record  of  the  convention,  the  flattering  notices  of  the 
Springfield  papers,  and  the  personal  testimony  of  his  fellow-members,  furnish  abundant  evidence 
of  the  ability  which  he  displayed  in  this  responsible  and  honorable  position.  Upon  the  resigna- 
tion of  Hon.  S.  Wilcox,  judge  of  the  fourth  judicial  circuit  of  Illinois  (composed  of  the  counties 
of  Kane,  Du  Page  and  Kendall),  in  the  fall  of  1874,  the  minds  of  his  fellow-citizens  at  once  fixed 
upon  Judge  Cody  as  his  successor.  A  district  convention  for  nomination  having  been  called,  a 
mass  convention  was  at  once  held  in  Du  Page  county.  About  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  most 
substantial  me'n  in  the  county,  irrespective  of  party,  composed  this  convention,  which  was  the 
largest  of  its  kind  ever  held  in  the  county.  When  from  this  body  a  delegation  comprising  men 
whose  personal  appearance,  superior  abilities,  and  genuine  merit  made  them  a  tower  of  strength, 
were  selected  to  present  the  name  of  a  candidate  from  Du  Page  county,  they  needed  no  formal 
instructions  as  to  who  it  should  be,  but  went  into  the  district  convention  with  a  unanimity  and 
moral  force  that  insured  success,  and  secured  the  nomination  of  Judge  Cody,  who,  September 
8,  was  elected  by  the  largest  majority  ever  given  in  the  circuit,  every  town  in  his  own  county  giv- 
ing him  a  majority.  In  the  three  south  towns,  which  had  been  his  home  since  1847,  out  of  a 


288  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

total  of  ten  hundred  and  twenty-one  votes,  ten  hundred  and  seven  were  cast  for  him,  thus  show- 
ing that  where  he  was  best  known,  his  abilities  were  most  highly  appreciated. 

During  his  term  as  circuit  judge,  in  1877,  the  appellate  court  of  Illinois  was  established,  and 
the  counties  of  Lake,  McHenry,  De  Kalb  and  Boone  were  combined  with  the  old  fourth  circuit, 
forming  the  twelfth  judicial  circuit  of  the  state,  the  law  making  this  change  providing  also  for 
three  judges  in  each  of  the  thirteen  circuits  of  the  state. 

In  1879  a  republican  convention  made  a  party  nomination  for  judges,  the  circuit  having  a 
republican  majority  of  over  twelve  thousand,  which  of  course  terminated  Judge  Cody's  official 
service,  although  the  people  throughout  the  circuit,  without  organization  in  his  favor,  voted  for 
him  in  such  numbers  that  he  lacked  but  about  two  thousand  votes  of  being  reelected.  This 
unexpectedly  large  voluntary  indorsement  of  the  people,  irrespective  of  party,  under  the  circum- 
stances, gave  substantial  evidence  of  popular  appreciation. 

Judge  Cody  immediately  formed  a  business  connection  in  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  that 
time,  been  practicing  law,  retaining  his  residence,  however,  at  Naperville,  in  Du  Page  county. 
The  firm  of  which  he  is  a  member,  Gary,  Cody  and  Gary,  is  widely  known,  and  stands  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  profession. 

In  the  fall  of  i88t>,  the  democratic  senatorial  convention  for  the  fourteenth  district,  against 
his  protest,  nominated  Judge  Cody  for  state  senator,  an  honor  which  he  peremptorily  declined. 
Soon  after  this,  in  the  same  year,  he  was  unexpectedly  and  unanimously  nominated  a  candidate 
for  congress  by  the  democrats  of  the  first  congressional  district.  His  professional  engagements 
compelled  him  to  decline  this  nomination  also,  and  devote  himself  to  the  large  and  continually 
increasing  business  interests  confided  to  his  care.  For  the  same  reason,  when  the  congressional 
districts  had  been  changed,  and  in  1882,  he  was  unanimously  nominated  for  the  same  position  in 
the  eighth  district,  he  again  declined,  though  he  believed  at  the  time,  and  his  friends  insist  they 
now  know,  that  his  election  was  certain.  Though  he  is  still  called  a  democrat,  he  is  thoroughly 
and  absolutely  independent  in  his  views,  taking  little  or  no  part  in  party  politics. 

As  a  judge  he  was  peculiarly  free  from  prejudices,  and  his  thorough  investigation  of  the  law, 
his  clear  perception,  and  his  careful,  deliberate  and  correct  opinions  have  made  for  him  a  most 
enviable  reputation.  During  his  whole  term  as  county  judge,  no  appeal  was  taken  from  his  decis- 
ions. When  he  began  his  labors  as  circuit  judge,  by  reason  of  the  illness  of  his  predecessor, 
there  was  an  immense  accumulation  of  unfinished  business.  He  quietly  but  persistently  dis- 
charged his  responsible  duties,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term  left  all  the  dockets  in  his  circuit  in  far 
better  condition  than  they  had  been  for  many  years.  Of  the  cases  appealed  during  his  term 
more  than  eighty  per  cent  were  affirmed  by  the  supreme  court. 

As  a  lawyer  he  has  ever  been  noted  for  his  care  and  skill,  and  faithfulness  to  his  clients.  Pos- 
sessing fine  abilities  as  a  public  speaker,  his  clear  voice,  distinct  articulation,  well  chosen  lan- 
guage and  earnest  sincerity,  rendered  him  a  popular  and  successful  advocate.  As  a  citizen,  he  is 
loyal  and  true,  and  has  been  .especially  faithful  to  the  interests  of  the  community  in  which  he 
lived.  As  a  man,  Judge  Cody  possesses  most  admirable  qualities.  Warm  and  sympathetic  in  his 
friendships,  courteous,  affable,  social  and  genial,  he  possesses  that  plain  style,  and  matter-of-fact 
directness  of  purpose,  and  that  modest  and  unobtrusive  manner,  to  be  expected  in  one  who,  like 
him,  has  an  utter  contempt  for  all  shams  and  mere  pretense.  His  aim  in  life  has  been  to  unfold 
his  nobler  manhood,  and  to  make  the  highest  use  of  his  powers  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men, 
and  this  with  an  unselfishness  that  his  friends  are  inclined  to  consider  an  injustice  to  himself. 

He  was  married,  December  31,  1846,  to  Miss  Philomela  E.  Sedgwick,  daughter  of  Parker 
Sedgwick,  M.D.,  formerly  of  Lowell,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  but  since  1843  a  resident  of  Du 
Page  county,  Illinois,  where  he  is  widely  known  as  an  eminent  and  successful  physician.  Of  his 
eight  sons  one  is  a  minister,  three  are  lawyers,  and  four  are  physicians.  Mrs.  Cody  is  a  lady  of 
intelligence  and  refinement,  esteemed  for  her  earnest  piety,  and  her  true  womanly  qualities,  a 
devoted  wife  and  fond  mother. 

They  have  from  early  life  been  members  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Naperville,  in  which 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  289 

for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  judge  has  been  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  school.  Their 
eldest  son,  Hiram  S.,  was  admitted  to  practice  law  in  September,  1877,  and  died  in  March,  1879, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four  years.  During  his  brief  practice  at  the  bar,  he  gave  unmistakable 
promise  of  brilliant  success  as  a  lawyer,  while  in  every  other  respect  his  future  was  equally  prom- 
ising. 

There  are  remaining  three  sons  and  five  daughters,  constituting  a  family  circle  of  culture, 
refinement  and  intelligence,  and  making  a  home  in  which  the  judge  may  well  be  said  to  be  a 
contented  and  happy  man. 

Such  is  a  simple  outline  of  his  life  history,  to  which  little  need  be  added.  The  character  of 
the  positions  which  he  has  held  is  a  faithful  test  of  his  ability.  This,  and  the  substantially  unan- 
imous indorsement  of  an  intelligent  people,  with  whom  he  has  lived  for  over  thirty  years,  speak 
of  his  genuine  merit  and  worth,  in  language  that  cannot  be  misunderstood.  In  representing  the 
interests  of  others  he  has  been  singularly  fortunate  and  happy,  and  as  a  reward  of  his  rare  hon- 
esty of  purpose,  his  undoubted  fairness  to  opponents,  he  is  the  favorite  of  a  whole  people.  If  we 
search  for  the  secret  of  his  success,  we  shall  find  it,  not  alone  in  his  native  abilities,  but  also  in 
his  sterling  integrity,  his  loyalty  to  principle,  and  his  firm  determination  to  be  absolutely  honor- 
able and  manly  in  all  his  endeavors. 


WILLIAM    F.   BAYNE,  M.D. 

MA  COMB. 

WILLIAM  FIELDING  BAYNE,  a  medical  practitioner  in  McDonough  county  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  was  born  in  Shelby  county,  Kentucky,  January  2,  1827.  His  father,  William 
Bayne,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  of  Scotch  descent,  and  married  Barbara  Blankenbaker,  who  was 
of  Holland  descent,  and  whose  father  spent  four  years  in  the  continental  army,  fighting  for  inde- 
pendence. In  1831  William  Bayne  moved  from  Kentucky  to  Adams  county,  this  state,  and  was 
engaged  in  cultivating  the  soil  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Hancock  county,  in  1854.  The 
widow  died  in  1869. 

The  subject  of  this  biographical  notice  farmed  till  he  had  reached  his  majority,  then  worked 
a  while  at  the  carpenter's  trade,  studying  medicine  at  the  same  period,  giving  his  entire  time  dur- 
ing the  winters  to  that  branch  of  science.  He  then  read  one  full  year  with  Doctor  George  H. 
Young,  of  Columbus,  Adams  county  ;  attended  lectures  in  the  Eclectical  Medical  Institute,  Cin- 
cinnati ;  commenced  practice  at  Barry,  Pike  county,  and  the  next  year  (1854)  settled  in  Macomb. 
Here  he  was  in  active  and  successful  practice  when  civil  war  burst  upon  the  land.  August  2, 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  company  B,  loth  Missouri  infantry:  was  commissioned  captain,  and  had 
command  of  the  company  for  two  years,  when  his  health  broke  completely  down,  and  he  resigned. 
To  improve  his  health  the  doctor  now  took  a  trip  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1864  resumed  practice  at  Macomb.  In  October,  1869,  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  and  took  a  course 
of  lectures  in  the  Eclectic  Medical  College  of  Pennsylvania,  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
medicine  in  February  1870. 

Latterly  Doctor  Bayne  has  made  a  special  study  of  chronic  diseases,  and  diseases  of  women, 
and  he  has  a  large  office  and  city  practice,  seldom  going  into  the  country.  He  is  a  studious  man 
in  medical  science,  and  has  an  excellent  reputation  for  skill  and  success.  He  has  reported  a  few 
important  cases  for  medical  journals,  but  never  writes  merely  for  the  sake  of  appearing  in  print. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  National  Eclectic  Medical  Association  since  1870,  and  often  attends 
its  annual  meetings.  He  is  known  outside  the  state  of  Illinois. 

The  doctor  served  at  one  period  as  a  member  of  the  local  school  board,  and  was  its  president 
one  year;  was  alderman  some  years  ago  ;  mayor  in  1878-9,  and  is  again  (1882)  serving  as  alder- 
man. He  takes  considerable  interest  in  municipal  matters,  and  is  willing  to  devote  some  time  in 
trying  to  advance  them. 


290  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  early  life  Doctor  Bayne  was  a  whig,  and  is  now  a  republican,  taking  a  good  deal  of  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  his  party.  In  religion  he  is  a  Methodist,  and  has  been  either  a  trustee  or  stew- 
ard nearly  all  the  time  since  a  resident  of  Macomb.  He  is  also  an  Odd-Fellow  ;  has  passed  the 
several  chairs  in  the  subordinate  lodge,  and  the  encampment,  and  has  occasionally  represented 
the  local  lodge  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State. 

Doctor  Bayne  was  first  married,  in  1851,  to  Miss  Martha  A.  Herndon,  of  Columbus,  Adams 
county,  she  dying  of  child-birth  a  short  year  afterward,  the  child  also  dying  three  or  four  months 
later.  In  1854  he  married  Lydia  Jane  Fream,  of  Schuyler  county,  Illinois,  and  she  is  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  only  three  of  them  now  living.  One  of  the  deceased,  William  A.  Bayne,  a 
married  man  and  worthy  citizen,  was  killed  by  accident  on  the  railroad  in  September  1881.  The 
living  are  Charles  Ellsworth,  George  Grant  and  Nellie  May. 


CHAUNCEY    B.    DEAN. 

BEL  VIDE  RE. 

BAINBRIDGE  DEAN  is  a  son  of  Bainbridge  N.  and  Lydia  (Smith)  Dean,  and 
was  born  in  De  Kalb  county,  Illinois,  January  23,  1848.  His  father  was  from  the  state  of 
Maine,  where  the  family  early  settled,  the  progenitor  being  from  England.  The  great-grand- 
father of  Chauncey  served  through  all  the  long  war  for  independence,  and  came  out  without 
receiving  even  a  scratch. 

Our  subject  received  only  a  common  school  education;  studied  law  in  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan, reading  also  with  Hon.  Jesse  S.  Hildrup,  of  Belvidere,  during  vacations,  and  is  a  graduate 
of  the  law  department  of  the  university  mentioned,  class  of  '73.  Mr.  Dean  practiced  his  profession 
one  year  in  Denver,  Colorado;  then  returned  to  Belvidere,  and  is  doing  business  in  the  courts  of 
his  circuit  and  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  at  Chicago.  He  is  a  sound  lawyer,  a 
studious  and  growing  man  in  his  profession,  and  as  county  judge  he  is  prompt  in  business,  and 
popular  among  the  people. 

Mr.  Dean  was  elected  county  judge  in  November,  1877,  and  in  accordance  with  the  revised 
constitution,  his  term  did  not  expire  until  the  close  of  1882;  in  the  fall  of  1882  he  was  reelected 
without  opposition  for  a  term  of  four  years.  When  the  city  charter  of  Belvidere  went  into  opera- 
tion, in  the  spring  of  1881,  Judge  Dean  was  elected  city  attorney,  and  still  holds  that  office.  He 
fills  official  posts  with  decided  credit  to  himself  and  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  people. 
He  is  of  the  republican  school  of  politics,  and  a  third  degree  Mason. 

In  June,  1873,  immediately  after  his  graduation  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  Judge  Dean  was 
married  to  Frances  K.,  daughter  of  Henry  W.  Kellogg,  of  that  city,  and  they  have  one  son  and 
one  daughter. 


T 


ROBERT   LINDBLOM. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

HE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Sweden,  November  17,  1844.  His  father,  Nils  Lind- 
blom,  was  a  merchant  in  the  interior  at  Loviseberg,  named  after  his  wife,  C.  Lovisa  (Tolf) 
Lindblom,  who  died  in  1853,  and  was  followed  a  year  later  by  her  husband,  leaving  a  family  of 
five  boys,  of  whom  Robert  was  the  third.  He,  with  his  two  older  brothers,  was  sent  to  a  private 
tutor,  and  after  four  and  a  half  years'  constant  study,  without  one  single  holiday,  entered  the 
commercial  and  agricultural  college  of  Labbetorp,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1860,  and  moved 
to  Orebro,  where  he  entered  upon  the  profession  of  civil  engineer,  but  after  two  years'  service  in 
the  office  of  C.  F.  Froman,  he  concluded  to  abandon  the  profession,  and  engage  in  commercial 
pursuits.  After  several  minor  engagements,  he  finally  accepted  a  position  in  the  office  of  Eric 
Soderlindh,  the  wealthiest  and  most  extensive  grain  merchant  in  Orebro,  where  he  remained 


En6  by  E  C, Williams  &  Brn.N.Y" 


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UNITl-:n   STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


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until  early  in  1864,  and  left  to  accept  a  position  in  Orebro  Enskilda  Bank,  vacated  by  his  friend, 
Fnrsslund,  who  had  tendered  his  services  to  Denmark  in  its  struggle  with  Prussia.  The  war  soon 
ended,  and  his  friend  returned.  The  position  in  the  bank  was  one  of  the  most  coveted  in  the 
province,  and  while  Lindblom  wanted  it,  he  also  knew  that  his  friend  would  like  it  back,  but  was 
too  delicate  to  ask  it,  so  Lindblom  concluded  all  at  once  to  hand  in  his  resignation  in  favor  of  his 
friend,  and  announced  his  intention  to  go  to  America,  which  he  speedily  did,  and  landed  in  New 
York,  November  17,  1864,  on  his  twentieth  birthday.  After  a  year's  hard  struggle  in  the  metrop- 
olis, he  left  for  the  West,  with  but  three  dollars  in  his  pocket,  and  no  ticket. 

It  is  characteristic  of  his  subsequent  thrift  that  when  he  arrived  in  Milwaukee,  his  capital  had 
increased  to  ten  dollars.  He  did  not  remain  in  Milwaukee,  but  went  at  once  to  the  little  town  of 
Otsego,  in  Columbia  county,  Wisconsin,  where  he  obtained  employment  in  a  country  store. 
Straws  show  which  way  the  wind  blows,  and  trifles  mark  the  character  of  men.  Mr.  Lindblom 
could  not  stoop  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  that  business,  and  was  discharged  for  being 
more  truthful  than  discreet.  He  returned  to  Milwaukee,  and  in  January,  1866,  commenced  to 
work  for  L.  J.  Higby  and  Sons,  in  one  of  their  many  warehouses,  at  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day. 

His  employers  were  not  long  in  discovering  the  value  of  their  man,  and  advanced  him  step  by 
step,  through  all  the  departments  of  the  elevator  and  freight  business,  until  he  was  made  cashier 
in  their  general  office.  This  position  Mr.  Lindblom  retained  until  his  employers  moved  to  New 
Orleans.  After  occupying  the  same  position  for  a  time,  under  the  Saint  Paul  Railroad  Company, 
he  accepted  a  position  as  head  man  in  the  commission  house  of  VanKirk  and  McGeoch,  in  1868, 
and  remained  until  1873,  when  his  employers  disposed  of  their  grain  business,  and  Mr.  Lindblom 
formed  the  commission  house  of  Shroeder  and  Lindblom.  The  new  firm  had  small  means,  but  a 
large  amount  of  push  and  ability,  and  even  the  first  year  took  rank  as  one  of  the  leading  houses 
in  Milwaukee,  making  $80,000  in  commission.  Prosperity  continued  until,  by  accident,  and  with- 
out any  intention  to  speculate,  Shroeder  and  Lindblom  became  jointly  interested  with  VanKirk 
and  McGeoch  in  a  large  wheat  transaction,  in  1875,  which  resulted  in  the  famous  November  cor- 
ner, and  subsequent  collapse  of  both  firms  in  1876.  Not  long  after  the  firm  dissolved,  and  Homer 
Germain  went  in  with  Mr.  Lindblom,  the  new  firm  name  being  Germain  and  Lindblom.  Shortly 
afterward,  Mr.  Shroeder  left  Milwaukee,  and  Mr.  Lindblom  alone  had  to  shoulder  their  joint 
papers.  In  1878  Mr.  Lindblom  came  to  Chicago,  and  opened  a  house,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Lindblom  and  Germain,  retaining  also  the  Milwaukee  house  In  this  new  and  large  field,  Mr. 
Lindblom  at  once  became  a  prominent  actor,  but  the  constant  drain  upon  his  earnings,  caused  by 
payments  of  the  old  firm's  papers,  made  his  capital  insufficient  for  his  growing  business,  and  he 
concluded  to  make  connections,  whereby  he  could  give  his  trade  the  benefit  of  larger  capital. 
Lindblom  and  Germain  dissolved,  and  soon  after  Mr.  Lindblom  formed  connection  with  Mr. 
Nichols  and  Company,  where  he  had  ample  scope  for  his  energy.  His  success  since  then  has  been 
phenomenal. 

In  the  spring  of  1881  he  revisited  his  old  home  in  Sweden,  and  with  his  wife,  made  the  tour 
of  the  continent.  His  old  employer,  Mr.  Soderlindh,  still  occupied  the  old  villa,  just  outside  of 
Orebro,  where  he  had  spent  his  summers  for  thirty  years.  The  old  gentleman,  in  his  eighty- 
second  year,  and  his  estimable  wife,  were  here  surrounded  by  their  nine  children,  just  as  Mr 
Lindblom  left  them  seventeen  years  ago,  and  into  this  family  were  now  admitted  Mr.  Lindblom's 
American  wife,  and  the  French  wife  of  the  oldest  son,  neither  of  whom  could  speak,  but  soon 
learned,  the  Swedish  language. 

On  his  return  to  Chicago,  in  the  fall  of  1881,  Mr.  Lindblom  formed  a  partnership  with  his  old 
partner,  Mr.  Nelson  VanKirk,  under  the  firm  name  of  Robert  Lindblom  and  Company.  The 
career  of  this  house  has  been  something  remarkable.  Their  customers  are  among  the  wealthiest 
men,  east  and  west.  Their  views  are  sought  for,  and  published,  as  authorities.  They  have  been 
connected  with  several  large  transactions,  every  one  of  which  has  been  successful,  and  they  will 
not  be  connected,  in  any  respect,  with  any  deal  not  based  on  real  merit.  Mr.  Lindblom  attributes 
30 


2g4  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

his  success  to  two  causes.  First,  he  has  never  betrayed  a  confidence,  or  a  client,  and,  second,  he 
always  tells  the  truth,  and  by  so  doing,  mystifies  the  traders  on  the  board. 

Politically,  he  is  a  liberal  republican,  but  not  a  partisan.  He  has  held  several  positions  of 
honor  in  the  party,  among  them  that  of  secretary  of  the  central  republican  club,  of  Milwaukee, 
but  has  never  sought,  or  accepted,  office.  He  has,  however,  taken  the  stump  on  several  occasions, 
and  is  regarded  as  an  earnest  and  logical  speaker.  In  1872  he  started,  and  edited,  a  daily  news- 
paper, in  Milwaukee,  in  company  with  A.  A.  Singer.  It  was  called  the  "Daily  Guide,"  and  was 
originally  intended  as  a  campaign  paper,  to  forward  the  election  of  Harrison  Ludington,  as 
mayor.  It  became  the  official  organ  of  the  city,  in  recognition  of  its  services  in  electing  the  first 
republican  mayor  of  Milwaukee,  subsequently  passed  into  other  hands,  and  was  finally  absorbed 
by  the  "Daily  News."  In  religion,  Mr.  Lindblom  is  a  liberal  in  its  true  and  religious  sense.  He 
was  reared  a  Lutheran,  but  has  grown  beyond  the  narrow  confines  of  sectarian  creeds,  yet  toler- 
ating all. 

In  1874  Mr.  Lindblom  was  married  to  Miss  Hattie  L.  Lewis,  the  daughter  of  the  late  James 
Lewis,  and  Mary  D.  (Campbell)  Lewis,  his  wife,  who  were  among  the  oldest  settlers  of  Milwau- 
kee. The  ceremony  took  place  at  the  residence  of  the  bride,  in  the  very  house  where  she  was 
born.  His  brother,  Oscar  Lindblom,  was  also  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  L.  Lewis,  a  sister 
of  Hattie,  at  the  same  time  and  place. 

Mr.  Lindblom  is  six  feet  tall,  of  fair  complexion  and  nervous  temperament.  He  decides 
promptly,  and  acts  without  hesitation.  This  dash  makes  him  at  times  appear  reckless,  and  yet 
there  are  few  men  on  the  Board  of  Trade  as  conservative  as  he  is.  He  simply  does  promptly 
what  he  knows  he  wants  to  do,  and  if  he  has  any  choice  at  all  he  would  rather  be  in  the  minority 
than  the  majority.  He  has  unbounded  confidence  in  himself,  and  possesses  the  magnetism  to 
inspire  this  confidence  in  others.  One  of  his  competitors  remarked  that  "Bob  Lindblom  makes 
me  think  I  am  right,  when  I  know  I  am  wrong."  He  is  still  a  very  young  man,  with  all  the  pos- 
sibilities of  education,  experience,  capital  and  a  good  name  before  him.  His  constitution  is  not 
robust,  but  by  a  regular,  happy,  domestic  life,  he  husbands  his  strength,  and  may  becom'e  as  old 
as  he  is  prominent. 

WILLIAM    PRENTISS. 

MA  COMB. 

THE  state's  attorney  for  McDonough  county,  with  whose  name  we  head  this  sketch,  was  born 
in  Davenport,  Iowa,  September  19,  1848,  his  parents  being  William  Prentiss,  senior,  and 
Elizabeth  (Gapen)  Prentiss.  His  father  was  born  in  Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  in  1815  ;  was  a 
graduate  of  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  Cincinnati,  and  died  at  Vermont,  Fulton  county,  this 
state,  in  January,  1854.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  born  in  Green  county,  Pennsylvania; 
married  James  Manley,  after  her  first  husband's  death,  and  is  living  in  Macomb.  Mr.  Manley 
was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1871-2-,  and  is  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  this  county.  Mr. 
Prentiss  attended  common  schools  during  the  winter  season  until  fifteen  years  of  age,  farming 
the  rest  of  the  year  in  Fulton  and  McDonough  counties.  He  attended  the  seminary  at  Cherry 
Grove,  near  Abingdon.  a  term  or  two  ;  went  to  the  normal  school,  near  Bloomington,  intending 
to  take  a  full  course  in  the  model  department,  but  broke  down  in  health  in  two  months,  and  was 
obliged  to  leave.  Not  long  afterward  he  entered  Knox  College,  Galesburgh,  taking  Latin,  and 
following  the  scientific  curriculum,  proposing  to  go  through  college,  but  his  health  gave  way  in 
two  years,  and  in  the  spring  of  1 869  he  went  to  Mankato,  Blue  Earth  county,  Minnesota,  with  dubi- 
ous prospects  of  ever  regaining  his  health.  He  bought  wild  land  in  Cottonwood  county,  and 
opened  a  farm,  teaching  school  during  the  winters.  While  in  Minnesota  he  was  superintendent 
of  schools  in  Cottonwood  county  for  three  years.  He  also  commenced  the  study  of  law,  being 
his  own  preceptor. 

Mr.  Prentiss  continued  to  farm  until  late  in  the  autumn  of  1875  ;  taught  school  the  following 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


295 


winter,  and  the  next  spring,  his  health  being  restored,  he  returned  to  McDonough  county.  He 
read  law  with  Hon.  J.  S.  Bailey,  of  Macomb,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  June,  1878.  He  is  of 
the  firm  of  Prentiss  and  Baily,  his  partner  being  Jacob  L.  Baily.  They  do  business  in  the  several 
courts  of  the  state;  have  a  remunerative  practice,  and  stand  as  well  as  any  firm  in  the  county. 
Mr.  Prentiss  is  studious  and  ambitious,  and  that  class  of  men  are  sure  to  grow,  unless  health  fails. 
He  has  made  a  promising  start  in  professional  life,  and  his  friends  predict  for  him  an  honorable 
future. 

In  November,  1878,  Mr.  Prentiss  was  elected  state's  attorney  to  fill  an  unexpired  term,  and 
was  reflected  in  1880.  His  present  term  will  expire  with  December,  1884.  He  was  mayor  of 
the  city  from  May,  1881,  to  June,  1882.  In  every  official  position  which  he  has  held,  he  has  shown 
marked  promptness  and  faithfulness,  and  good  executive  talents. 

In  politics  his  affiliations  are  with  the  democratic  party,  though  we  believe  he  is  not  regarded 
as  very  radical.  While  in  Minnesota,  and  a  farmer,  he  joined  the  grangers,  and  was  master  of  a 
lodge  of  that  order.  He  is  a  Freemason. 

December  24,  1872,  Mr.  Prentiss  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Helen  McCaughey,  of  Fulton 
county,  this  state,  and  they  have  three  children,  all  sons,  James  Manley,  Jackson  McCaughey  and 
William.  Mr.  Prentiss  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Macomb  Callendar  Clock  Company,  and  does  all 
he  can  to  encourage  local  industries  calculated  to  build  up  the  city. 


ROBERT  E.   LOGAN. 

MORRISON. 

ROBERT  EMMET  LOGAN,  a  prosperous  farmer  and  stock-raiser  in  Whiteside  county,  is 
a  son  of  Robert  and  Polly  (Rowe)  Logan,  and  was  born  in  Bath,  Steuben  county,  New  York, 
February  13,  1828.  Both  parents  were  also  natives  of  that  state,  and  his  father,  a  farmer,  was 
in  the  second  war  with  England.  The  son  was  educated  at  the  Bath  Academy,  and  the  Elmira 
high  school;  learned  the  cabinet-maker's  trade,  and  worked  at  it  in  New  York  until  1855,  when  he 
went  to  Davenport,  Iowa,  where  he  was  the  foreman  of  a  furniture  factory. 

Two  or  three  years  afterwod  Mr.  Logan  moved  into  this  state;  taught  school  between  one  and 
two  years  at  Portland,  Whiteside  county,  and  then  opened  a  cabinet  shop  in  the  same  place.  In 
1860  he  was  appointed  deputy  sheriff  of  Whiteside  county,  under  Robert  G.  Clendenin,  and  in 
1862  was  elected  sheriff,  which  office  he  held  two  years.  When  Hon.  Richard  J.  Oglesby  was  in 
the  gubernatorial  chair,  Mr.  Logan  was  appointed  (1865)  penitentiary  commissioner;  was  reap- 
pointed  at  the  end  of  two  years,  and  was  then  (1858)  elected  to  the  same  position  by  the  people, 
the  office  having  become  elective. 

In  1864  Mr.  Logan  bought  a  farm  of  240  acres,  at  Union  Grove,  three  and  a  half  miles  west  of 
Morrison;  and  he  is  now  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  and  stock-raising,  being  quite  an  enter- 
prising stock  feeder,  and  doing  a  thrifty  business.  He  was  vice-president  of  the  Whiteside  County 
Central  Agricultural  Society  from  1875  to  1877,  and  has  been  its  president  during  the  last  five 
years.  He  is  a  man  of  unusual  executive  ability,  and  makes  an  excellent  presiding  officer.  Mr. 
Logan  is  a  republican  of  the  most  pronounced  kind,  and  is  a  man  of  much  influence  in  the  party. 
For  a  score  of  years  he  has  attended  all  the  county,  district  and  state  conventions,  and  is  often 
chairman  of  the  county,  and  sometimes  of  the  district  conventions.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
national  convention  held  in  Chicago  in  1880,  and  by  instructions  of  his  district,  voted  steady  for 
Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne  for  the  presidential  nominee.  He  was  also  a  presidential  elector  that  year 
on  the  Garfield  and  Arthur  ticket. 

He  gave  the  ox,  the  fattest  one  in  his  whole  large  herd,  that  was  roasted  at  the  barbecue,  held 
at  Morrison  that  year,  ex-Governor  Oglesby  being  the  orator  on  that  occasion.  Samuel  Johnson 
or  some  other  Englishman  argues  that  he  who  drives  fat  oxen  should  himself  be  fat,  and  if  Mr. 
Logan  is  not  fat,  he  has  a  portly  build,  and  noble  bearing,  and  walks  like  one  of  the  kings  of  the 
soil. 


396  VNITF.n    STATES  RIOGRArillCAI.    DICTIONARY. 

He  is  popular  among  his  townsmen  and  in  the  county,  and  has  been  supervisor  of  his  town 
for  seven  consecutive  years,  and  chairman  of  the  board  at  least  two  or  three  years.  He  is  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason.  For  years,  when  residing  in  Morrison,  he  was  quite  active  in  temperance, 
and  prominent  in  the  Order  of  Good  Templars,  being  grand  worthy  commander  three  years,  and 
grand  worthy  marshal  two  years. 

He  married  February  23,  1864,  Malvina,  daughter  of  Hon.  James  McCoy,  of  Fulton  City, 
Whiteside  county,  and  they  have  four  children,  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  most  of  them 
attending  school. 

HON.   AUGUSTUS    G.    HAMMOND. 

W  YOMING. 

A  UGUSTUS  GIDEON  HAMMOND,  son  of  Gideon  and  Nancy  (Chandler)  Hammond,  and 
L~\.  one  of  the  leading  merchants  in  Wyoming,  is  a  native  of  Essex  county,  New  York,  dating 
his  birth  at  Westport,  January  27,  1834.  The  progenitor  of  the  Hammond  family  in  this  country 
was  from  Wales,  and  settled  in  Connecticut,  his  descendants  scattering  over  most  of  the  northern 
states.  Gideon  Hammond  was  a  farmer  and  lumber  dealer,  a  volunteer  at  the  battle  of  Platts- 
burgh,  and  a  member  of  the  New  York  legislature  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years. 

Augustus  received  an  academic  education  at  Westport,  New  York,  Waukesha,  Wisconsin,  and 
Farmington,  Illinois,  coming  west  in  1848,  and  settling  in  Wyoming  in  1850.  After  finishing 
his  education,  he  taught  school  five  or  six  winters,  and  farmed  the  rest  of  the  year.  Subsequently 
he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  agricultural  pursuits  until  1865,  when  he  opened  a  store  in 
Wyoming,  and  has  since  confined  himself  to  merchandising.  For  a  while  he  traded  alone;  was 
then  in  company  with  C.  S.  Payne,  and  later  with  Sylvester  F.  Otman.  Since  1878  he  has  been 
of  the  firm  of  Hammond  and  Walters,  his  partner  being  John  W.  Walters.  They  are  doing  prob- 
ably the  heaviest  business  of  any  merchants  in  town,  and  no  mercantile  house  in  the,  county  has 
a  more  honorable  standing. 

Mr.  Hammond  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  treasurer  of  the  school  board  in  1862,  and 
still  holds  the  latter  office.  In  the  autumn  of  1874  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  and  served  one  term,  being  on  the  committees  on  education,  insurance  and  drain- 
age. His  politics  are  republican,  and  he  is  an  earnest  worker  in  the  interests  of  the  party.  In 
the  Masonic  order  he  has  taken  the  third  degree. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Hammond  was  Cecelia  B.  Wynkoop,  from  Chemung  county,  New  York,  they 
being  married  in  October,  1853.  They  have  three  children:  Harry  A.,  cashier  of  Scott  and  Wrig- 
ley's  Bank,  Wyoming  ;  Will  W.,  a  lawyer,  in  partnership  with  Judge  Henry  B.  Hopkins,  of  Peoria, 
and  Mary  Louisa,  who  is  at  home. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  older  class  of  merchants  in  Wyoming,  and  has  always 
borne  a  high  character  for  honesty  and  fair  dealing.  His  record  is  without  a  blemish. 


HON.  GEORGE   KIRK. 

WAUKEGAN. 

ONE  of  the  most  public  spirited  and  thoroughgoing  business  men  of  the  city  of  Waukegan  is 
George  Kirk,  who  represents  the  counties  of  Lake  and  McHenry  in  the  state  senate.  He  is 
a  son  of  the  late  Samuel  Kirk,  a  woolen  manufacturer,  and  was  born  in  Cairo,  Greene  county,  New 
York,  February  9, 1824.  His  grandfather  came  from  England,  and  both  father  and  grandfather  died 
in  the  Empire  State.  The  mother  of  George,  before  her  marriage,  was  Elizabeth  Crabtree.  The 
family  moved  from  Greene  to  Dutchess  county  when  our  subject  was  quite  young,  and  he  was  edu- 
cated in  a  common  school  near  where  Vassar  College  now  stands;  worked  with  his  father  during 
part  of  his  teens;  learned  the  trade  of  a  machinist  in  Poughkeepsie;  came  to  the  West  as  far  as 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


297 


Chicago  in  1843,  and  helped  to  build  the  machinery  which  dredged  out  Chicago  harbor.  For 
four  months  during  his  first  summer  in  Chicago  he  was  the  only  machinist  at  work  in  that  city, 
the  few  other  shops  of  the  kind  being  closed  for  repairs  or  for  some  other  reason,  the  times  being 
extremely  dull. 

Mr.  Kirk  continued  to  work  at  his  trade  in  Chicago  till  the  summer  of  1847,  when  he  settled 
in  Waukegan,  started  a  foundry  and  machine  shop,  and  for  several  years  was  engaged  in  making 
reapers,  mowers  and  threshing  machines,  the  pioneer  manufacturer  of  agricultural  machines  in 
the  place.  Since  1855  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  laths  and  shingles, 
being  at  first  alone,  then  of  the  firm  of  Kirk  and  Adams,  and  now  of  the  firm  of  George  K. 
Adams  and  Company.  They  are  doing  a  thrifty  business. 

For  twenty-two  years,  while  furnishing  lumber  supplies,  Mr.  Kirk  was  also  in  the  pork  packing 
business,  and  at  the  same  time  doing  a  great  deal  of  building,  he  having  put  up  some  of  the  best 
stores  and  other  buildings  in  the  city  of  Waukegan.  He  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
enterprise,  and  never  seems  to  be  happier  than  when  most  busy  in  aiding  to  build  up  and  beautify 
the  pleasant  city  in  which  he  lives. 

Mr.  Kirk  is  very  highly  esteemed  as  a  citizen,  and  has  had  various  offices  thrust  upon  him,  such 
as  alderman,  supervisor,  etc.,  in  which  he  has  rendered  services  much  more  valuable  to  the  public 
than  remunerative  to  himself,  but  he  seems  to  be  willing  to  bear  his  share  of  such  burdens.  In 
1880  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  to  represent  the  counties  already  mentioned,  and  he  carries 
his  practical  and  most  excellent  business  habits  into  legislative  as  well  as  his  own  private  business. 
He  is  chairman  of  the  committees  on  state  buildings  and  grounds  and  visiting  state  charities. 
He  represents  a  strong  republican  district,  and  the  party  has  no  occasion  to  be  disappointed  in 
its  selection. 

He  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason,  member  of  Waukegan  Lodge,  No.  76.  He  married  in  1849  Jane 
Adams,  daughter  of  Daniel  Adams,  of  Waukegan.  and  sister  of  George  K.  Adams,  and  they 
have  lost  one  son  and  have  four  children  living. 


GRANT    GOODRICH. 

CHICAGO, 

FOR  forty-seven  years  the  name  of  Grant  Goodrich  has  been  a  familiar  and  prominent  one  in 
the  city  of  Chicago.  He  came  May  14,  1834,  when  the  city  could  boast  of  but  seven  frame 
dwelling  houses  and  a  population  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  souls,  exclusive  of  its  garrison. 
As  a  business  man,  a  lawyer,  a  judge  of  the  superior  court,  as  a  broad-minded  philanthropist  and 
reformer,  as  an  earnest  Christian  gentleman,  as  an  energetic,  thoroughgoing  enterprising  western 
man  and  representative  Chicagoan,  he  has  been  well  known  and  highly  esteemed  throughout  the 
West  for  nearly  half  a  century;  and  now  at  the  age  of  nearly  his  allotted  threescore  years  and 
ten,  but  with  eye  still  bright,  form  straight  as  an  arrow,  mind  active  and  clear  as  in  the  best  years 
of  his  manhood,  he  is  living  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  a  well  deserved  and  honorably  earned 
competence,  and  looks  upon  the  village  of  his  boyhood,  now  grown  great  and. famous,  with  a  sort 
of  fatherly  interest  and  affection  pleasant  to  behold.  He  is  still  as  jealous  of  her  honor,  as 
anxious  for  her  welfare,  as  interested  in  her  progress,  as  when  he  was  an  active  participant  in  her 
affairs,  and  will  doubtless  be  engaged  in  planning  some  scheme  for  the  moral  or  material  advance- 
ment of  her  citizens  till  the  latest  hour  of  his  life.  He  may  be  justly  regarded  as  not  only  one 
of  the  oldest,  but  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  useful  of  her  citizens,  and  of  the  record  of  his 
useful  and  well  spent  life  neither  his  children  nor  his  fellow-citizens  will  ever  be  ashamed. 

Grant  Goodrich  was  born  in  Milton,  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  August  7,  1811.  Under 
the  administration  of  Madison,  a  hasty  and  ill-advised  declaration  of  war  against  England  had 
been  promulgated  June  18  preceding.  The  country  was  in  a  ferment  of  hasty  preparation,  which 
the  sober  judgment  of  history  now  decides  was  as  ill-advised  and  unnecessary  as  it  was  precipi- 


2Q8  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

tate.  The  country  was  new  and  the  people  poor,  schools  were  scarce,  and  parents  were  unable  to 
give  their  children  more  than  the  common  rudiments  of  an  education,  so  that 'Gideon  Goodrich 
was  unable  to  give  his  family  of  eight  sons  and  one  daughter  the  advantages  his  youngest  son, 
and  the  only  remaining  representative  of  his  father's  family  now  living,  has  conferred  upon  his 
own  children.  But  Mr.  Goodrich  comes  of  old  and  energetic  New  England  stock,  who  for  cen- 
turies have  been  accustomed  to  self-reliance,  whose  sons  have  carved  out  their  own  fortunes  in 
new  fields,  and  have  learned  how  to  compel  circumstances  to  bend  to  their  will  and  yield  the  best 
results  possible. 

William  Goodrich,  the  earliest  representative  of  the  family  in  America,  emigrated  from  Eng- 
land to  this  country  in  1630,  only  ten  years  after  the  Mayflower  landed  the  pilgrim  fathers  on 
Plymouth  Rock.  With  his  brother  Thomas  he  settled  in  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  in  1636. 
From  thence  they  removed  to  Rocky  Hill,  Connecticut,  where  some  members  of  the  family  have 
continued  to  reside  till  the  present  day.  Gideon  Goodrich  was  married  to  Eunice  Warner,  of 
Wethersfield,  New  York,  and  soon  afterward  removed  to  Milton,  same  state,  where  their  chil- 
dren were  all  born.  Having  purchased  large  tracts  of  land  in  Ripley,  Chautauqua  county,  New 
York,  the  family  moved  there  in  1817,  when  Grant  was  but  six  years  old.  Being  a  man  of  great 
energy  and  spirit,  and  specially  active  in  promoting  education,  Mr.  Goodrich  hired  a  private 
tutor,  and  for  two  years  his  own  and  his  neighbors'  children  received  instruction  under  his  own 
roof.  When  ten  years  old  Grant  went  to  live  with  his  sister,  at  Westfield,  where  he  studied  the 
higher  English  branches  and  the  classics  under  the  tuition  of  J.  C.  Center,  a  lawyer  of  that  place. 

Having  already  lost  three  brothers  with  consumption,  and  symptoms  of  the  dread  disease 
showing  themselves  in  him,  it  was  thought  best  for  him  to  suspend  study  and  enter  upon  a  more 
active  out-door  life;  so,  after  two  years  spent  in  Westfield,  he  took  a  few  trips  on  one  of  the  ves- 
sels of  an  older  brother,  who  had  established  himself  at  Portland  Harbor,  Lake  Erie,  as  a  ship 
owner  in  the  lake  trade.  His  father  had  in  the  meantime  also  removed  with  his  family  to  Port- 
land Harbor.  The  pure  air  of  the  lake  and  manual  exercise  greatly  improved  his  health,  so  that 
he  remained  on  the  lakes  for  two  years,  thus  effectually  removing  all  predisposition  to  consump- 
tion, and,  as  the  event  proved,  laying  the  foundation  fora  green  old  age.  The  practical  knowledge 
thus  gained  of  the  business  has  since  been  of  good  service  to  him  in  the  practice  of  law.  At  the 
expiration  of  his  nautical  career  he  returned  to  Westfield,  where  he  completed  his  education  in 
the  academy.  Upon  leaving  this  institution,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Dixon  and  Smith,  where  he  remained  till  1834,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago.  He  did  not  at  first 
establish  himself  in  business  here,  but  spent  considerable  time  in  traveling  through  the  state. 
Being  thoroughly  posted  in  the  location  and  value  of  farm  lands  in  northern  Illinois,  he  returned 
to  Chicago  and  opened  a  law  office,  in  connection  with  which  he  engaged  extensively  in  real 
estate  operations. 

Until  1837  the  emigration  to  this  part  of  the  state  was  very  rapid.  In  1836  alone  public  lands 
to  the  value  of  $5,000,000  were  entered  in  Illinois.  Speculation  was  rife,  and  real  estate  in  Chi- 
cago reached  prices  it  never  permanently  commanded  for  thirty  years  thereafter.  Governor 
Ford,  in  his  history,  makes  the  humorous  statement  that  the  staple  article  of  Illinois  export  was 
at  that  time  town  plats.  Town  lots  in  Chicago  and  hundreds  of  other  cities  in  Illinois,  most  of 
which  existed  only  on  paper,  were  purchased  at  the  East  unsight  and  unseen  by  speculators,  just 
as  mining  property  is  now  purchased  in  Colorado  or  Wyoming. 

But  the  crash  came  in  1837,  and  Mr.  Goodrich  went  under  with  pretty  nearly  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  the  state.  He  had  put  his  name  to  accommodation  paper  for  his  friends  during  the  sun- 
shine, and  the  storm  engulfed  him  to  the  amount  of  $60,000.  Many  took  advantage  of  the  bank- 
rupt law,  but  Mr.  Goodrich  manfully  shouldered  the  burden  which  took  eighteen  of  the  best  years 
of  his  life  to  discharge. 

In  1842  Illinois  was  in  the  dust.  Her  treasury  was  empty;  her  credit  destroyed.  Her  name 
was  a  world-wide  reproach.  She  was  bankrupt  —  hopelessly.  She  knew  not  what  to  do.  She 
was  overwhelmed  in  debt  and  had  no  property.  Her  people  were  in  debt  far  beyond  their  moans 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  2QQ 

of  payment.  Her  statesmen  were  weak  and  cowardly.  They  had  involved  the  state  in  all  her 
trouble,  and  had  not  the  courage  to  take  the  consequences  nor  the  wisdom  to  extricate  her.  It 
only  needed  a  demagogue  bold  enough  to  avow  the  purpose,  and  the  dishonor  and  shame  of  open 
repudiation  would  have  completed  the  dire  misfortune.  But  the  hand  of  Providence  seemed 
especially  to  have  raised  up  a  man  whose  wisdom,  firmness  and  integrity  was  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion, and  Governor  Thomas  Ford  gathered  to  his  support  the  bravest  and  truest  men  of  the  state, 
who,  resolutely  turning  their  backs  upon  the  evil  suggestion  of  repudiation,  soon  devised  the 
means  to  extricate  themselves  and  the  state  from  the  bottomless  pit  of  bankruptcy  and  despair 
into  which  the  reckless  spirit  of  speculation  had  plunged  them.  During  all  these  evil  and  dis- 
heartening days  there  was  no  more  active  supporter  of  public  honesty  than  Grant  Goodrich.  He 
encouraged  by  his  own  private  example  the  policy  he  eloquently  advocated  in  public  affairs  — 
the  payment  of  every  dollar  of  the  public  debt,  both  principal  and  interest.  It  is  a  matter  of  con- 
gratulation that  he  has  lived  to  see  the  year  1883  and  the  state  of  Illinois  free  from  debt,  with  an 
untarnished  reputation  and  a  full  treasury. 

In  the  fall  of  1835  Mr.  Goodrich  became  associated  in  the  law  business  with  the  late  Judge 
Giles  Spring,  and  this  partnership  continued  until  Mr.  Spring  was  elected  judge  of  the  county 
court  of  Cook  county  in  1851.  In  1854  he  formed  a  partnership  with  W.  W.  Farwell,  afterward 
circuit  judge  of  Cook  county,  and  in  1856  Sidney  Smith,  who  has  also  since  been  elected  judge  of 
the  superior  court,  entered  the  firm,  which  was  thereafter  known  as  Goodrich,  Farwell  and  Smith. 
It  formed  a  very  strong  team,  and  soon  acquired  an  extensive  practice  throughout  this  and  the 
adjoining  states;  but  in  1857  Mr.  Goodrich's  health  tailed  from  overwork  of  a  naturally  slender 
constitution,  and  upon  the  advice  of  his  physician  he  went  to  Europe,  and  remained  until  the 
spring  of  1859.  Upon  his  return  he  was  elected  one  of  the  judges  of  the  superior  court,  and  held 
the  position  for  over  four  years,  when  he  again  resumed  his  old  place  in  the  firm  of  Goodrich, 
Farwell  and  Smith.  In  1874  he  finally  retired  from  general  practice,  confining  his  attention  only 
to  the  most  important  cases. 

In  educational  and  religious  affairs  Mr.  Goodrich  has  been  for  many  years  an  earnest  and 
effective  worker.  In  connection  with  Doctor  J.  Evans,  Orrington  Lunt,  J.  K.  Bottsford,  William 
Wheeler  and  Philo  Judson,  he  is  the  founder  and  patron  of  the  Northwestern  University,  at 
Evanston,  which,  since  its  foundation  in  1853,  has  been  in  a  most  flourishing  condition,  and 
hardly  excelled  by  any  educational  institution  in  the  West. 

He  has,  since  1832,  been  a  most  zealous  Methodist,  and  to  his  wisdom,  more  than  any  other's, 
is  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  this  city  indebted  for  its  possession  of  the  valuable 
and  productive  property  at  the  corner  of  Clark  and  Washington  streets,  known  as  the  Methodist 
church  block.  In  an  early  day  this  church  owned  a  lot  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  on 
Clark  and  eighty  on  Washington,  upon  which  they  erected  a  suitable  house  of  worship,  and 
when,  in  1858,  the  inevitable  question  of  removal  further  up  town  came  before  the  congregation, 
he  opposed  it  with  great  energy  and  success,  and  advocated  the  erection  of  a  business  block  upon 
the  site  of  the  church,  using  two  of  the  upper  stories  for  religious  worship.  His  plan  finally  pre- 
vailed, and  was  carried  out,  and  although  the  original  structure  was  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  of 
1871,  it  was  rebuilt  at  a  cost  of  $125,000,  and  still  remains  the  only  house  of  worship  in  the  heart 
of  the  city.  For  many  years  the  income  from  rentals  in  the  block  was  $32,000  per  year,  all  of 
which,  by  the  terms  of  the  original  charter,  has  been  devoted  to  the  aid  of  weak  sister  churches 
and  the  purchase  of  lots  and  erection  of  churches  in  Chicago,  with  the  exception  of  the  small  sum 
of  $2,000  annually,  which  was  set  apart  for  the  support  of  its  own  ministry. 

In  politics  Mr.  Goodrich  was  originally  a  whig,  but  became  one  of  the  earliest  champions  of 
the  free-soil  party,  and  with  it  was  afterward  absorbed  into  the  great  anti-slavery  republican 
party.  He  was  a  member  of  the  union  defense  committee  during  the  war,  and  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  the  war  measures  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  an  evidence  of  his  genuine 
anti-slavery  sentiments,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  he  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Freedman's  Aid 
Society.  He  has  always  been  an  earnest  temperance  man,  but  never  an  advocate  of  prohibition, 


3OO  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL.    DICTIONARY. 

believing  it  practically  impossible  to  accomplish  and  impolitic  to  attempt.  And  when,  in  1854, 
the  legislature  passed  a  prohibitory  law,  and  submitted  it  to  the  people  for  ratification,  although 
it  was  voted  down  by  the  state  at  large,  yet  so  effective  had  the  temperance  work  been  in  Chicago 
that,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  people  generally,  the  city  gave  it  a  good,  rousing  majority. 

Mr.  Goodrich  was  married  in  1836  to  Juliet  Atwater,  of  Westfield,  New  York,  by  whom  he 
has  had  five  children,  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  His  children  are  all  living  with  the  exception 
of  one  very  promising  young  man,  Charles  H.  Goodrich,  who,  after  completing  his  education  at 
Stuttgart,  Germany,  studied  law  in  the  office  of  his  father,  entered  into  partnership  with  his 
brother,  Walter  G.  Goodrich,  and  after  a  short  practice  of  only  six  months  was  taken  down  with 
typhoid  fever,  and  to  the  overwhelming  grief  of  his  parents,  relatives  and  friends,  died 'at  the  age 
of  twenty-six.  His  daughter,  May  Florence  Maguire,  after  being  happily  married  and  settled  in 
Saint  Louis,  has  returned  a  widow  to  the  paternal  mansion.  Of  his  remaining  sons  one  is  a 
manufacturer  in  Boston,  Massachusetts;  one  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  this  city,  and  one 
in  the  real  estate  business. 

The  great  fire  devoured  $60,000  of  Mr.  Goodrich's  fortune  at  an  age  when  men  generally  look 
for  repose  from  their  labors.  With  remarkable  energy  he,  however,  began  at  once  to  repair  its 
damages,  and  succeeded  in  doing  so  beyond  his  most  sanguine  hopes,  but  only  at  the  expense  of 
his  health,  for  in  1876  it  once  more  gave  way  under  the  unusual  strain,  and  for  several  years  his 
only  effort  to  do  business  has  been  as  an  amusement,  or  rather  as  a  necessary  relief  to  his  still 
active  mind. 

DANIEL    K1MBALL    PEARSONS. 

CHICAGO. 

A  FEW  years  ago  the  financial  condition  of  Chicago  was  deplorable.  Extravagance  had  so 
outrun  income  that  an  indebtedness  largely  in  excess  of  the  constitutional  limit  had  been 
incurred.  To  meet  the  deficiency  thus  created,  the  city  had  issued  certificates  of  indebtedness, 
the  legality  of  which  was  disputed  in  the  courts.  Meanwhile,  large  numbers  of  these  certificates 
had  been  taken  by  eastern  bankers  and  others,  and  the  holders  had  become  alarmed  at  the  situa- 
tion. Hard  times  were  stalking  gloomily  through  the  land,  and  capital  was  averse  to  almost 
every  new  proffer  of  investment,  and  solicitous  for  its  securities  everywhere.  Chicago  was 
soon  to  need  more  money,  and  had  particular  necessity  for  the  maintenance  of  its  good  financial 
name. 

At  this  juncture  there  appeared  among  the  bankers  of  New  York  an  earnest,  straightforward 
sort  of  man,  just  in  from  the  West.  He  was  known,  personally  or  by  reputation,  to  some  of  them, 
and  was  not  long  in  making  himself  understood  by  the  others.  He  had  come,  officially,  as  a 
member  of  his  city's  common  council,  and  privately,  as  a  capitalist  and  man  of  honor  like  them- 
selves, to  assure  them  that  Chicago  was  going  to  pay  its  debts.  He  pledged  his  individual  word, 
and  that  of  his  city,  that  no  matter  who  might  be  in  power,  no  matter  how  courts  might  decide, 
no  matter  how  long  financial  depression  might  brood  over  the  nation,  Chicago  was  sure  to  meet 
its  certificates  of  indebtedness,  principal  and  interest,  promptly  on  time,  dollar  for  dollar.  The 
eastern  financiers  believed  the  man,  and  believed  in  the  city  he  represented.  Their  fears  were 
allayed,  and  he  returned  home.  His  word  to  them  was  so  well  kept,  and  his  predictions  so  well  ' 
verified,  that  some  time  later,  when  Chicago  needed  a  little  ready  money,  the  same  man  moved 
around  among  local  capitalists,  and  easily  raised  half  a  million  dollars.  This  he  did,  despite  the 
fact  that  the  courts,  in  the  interim,  had  decided  the  much  discussed  certificates  to  be  practically 
waste  paper  —  illegal  promises  to  pay,  which  the  city  might  repudiate  if  it  pleased,  but  which  the 
city  never  did. 

The  man  who  made  these  two  memorable  journeys  was  Daniel  Kimball  Pearsons,  and  so  pro- 
nounced was  their  effect  upon  the  financial  standing  of  Chicago,  that  when  Mr.  Pearsons  retired 
from  the  council,  two  years  later,  a  committee  of  citizens  waited  upon  him,  and  in  a  series  of 


Cnj     brE    EWllh.m,  SBrNT 


,,-..     0?f«£ 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


303 


handsomely  engrossed  resolutions  testified  their  appreciation  and  that  of  the  city  for  his  effective 
work  in  this  and  other  important  public  matters.  As  the  resolutions  said,  Mr.  Pearsons  held  his 
office  "  with  the  approval  and  plaudits  of  his  entire  constituents,  regardless  of  party  affiliation." 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Bradford,  Vermont,  April  14,  1820,  of  sterling  old  Green 
Mountain  stock.  His  maternal  descent  is  of  the  Israel  Putnam  family,  his  mother's  maiden  name 
being  Hannah  Putnam,  daughter  of  John  Putnam.  The  latter  was  a  revolutionary  soldier,  the 
entire  Putnam  family  seeming  to  have  participated  in  that  war.  Mr.  Pearsons'  father,  John 
Pearsons,  was  a  farmer,  who  moved  to  Vermont  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago.  Mr.  Pearsons' 
mother,  at  the  present  writing,  is  still  living,  in  full  mental  vigor  and  fair  health,  an  energetic 
New  England  lady,  eighty-six  years  old.  She  has  been  the  mother  of  nine  children,  five  of  whom 
are  now  alive.  It  is  remembered,  with  satisfaction  to  herself  and  pride  to  her  descendants,  that 
she  once  spun  and  wove  the  clothing  for  her  entire  family,  and  could  teach  the  ever  healthful 
need  of  work  by  practical  example. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen,  Mr.  Pearsons  began  keeping  school.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  almost 
everybody  of  after  note  who  has  lived  in  New  England  has,  at  some  time  in  early  life,  been  a 
school  teacher.  Examine  the  record  of  any  prominent  man  from  down  east,  and  you  are  sure  to 
find  that  he  was  once  a  village  pedagogue.  After  five  winters  as  monarch  of  the  ferule  and  spell- 
ing book,  Mr.  Pearsons  entered  Dartmouth  College.  He  remained  in  this  college  two  years, 
pursuing  a  course  of  medical  study  afterward  at  Woodstock.  After  graduating,  and  living  for  a 
time  in  his  native  state,  he  removed  to  Chicopee,  Massachusetts,  a  thriving  manufacturing  town 
near  Springfield.  Here  he  soon  made  for  himself  a  fairlv  large  and  successful  practice,  which  he 
relinquished  in  the  year  1857,  with  genuine  sorrow  alike  to  his  friends  and  himself.  But,  though 
destiny  was  marking  out  a  new  and  vastly  broader  field  of  action  for  him,  he  was  now  indelibly 
fixed  in  the  minds  and  upon  the  tongues  of  his  acquaintances  as  "  Doctor,"  and  by  that  term  is 
familiarly  known  to-day  to  his  family,  as  well  as  to  his  old-time  friends,  among  whom  the  writer 
of  this  sketch  is  glad  to  be  classed. 

In  1857  the  grandly  growing  West  had  so  attracted  Mr.  Pearsons'  attention  that  he  disposed 
of  his  practice  in  Chicopee,  and  went  to  farming  in  Ogle  county,  Illinois.  A  farm  life  always 
had  its  charms  for  him,  and  has  continued  to  fascinate  him  more  or  less  to  this  day.  To  own 
half  a  dozen  or  more  well  stocked,  thrifty  farms,  has  been  a  staple  recreation  with  him  much  of  the 
time  for  years,  and  even  in  this  present  year  of  grace  his  address  is  as  likely  to  be  "at  the  farm," 
near  Elgin,  as  at  the  hotel  in  Chicago.  But  the  original  Ogle  county  country  life  was  rather  too 
contracted  for  Mr.  Pearsons,  and  he  soon  settled  in  this  city,  going  into  the  real  estate  business. 
First  taking  the  agency  for  a  large  amount  of  farm  property,  he  afterward  assumed  charge  of  the 
Sturgis  and  other  outside  estates.  It  was  not  long  before  he  had  sold  out  these  lands,  with  satis- 
faction and  profit  both  to  himself  and  his  principals,  and  was  handling  larger  tracts  for  even  more 
prominent  parties.  He  sold  land  for  the  Illinois  Central  railroad,  Michael  Sullivan,  the  farmer 
king,  and  others,  his  sales  in  Illinois  alone  amounting  to  over  one  million  acres.  These  large 
sales  gave  him  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  West  and  its  farmers,  and  in  1860  he  began  loaning 
money,  chiefly  as  agent,  upon  farm  lands.  This  soon  grew  into  a  very  extensive  business,  and 
for  twelve  years  he  loaned  an  average  of  more  than  $1,000,000  annually.  This  large  sum,  divided 
among  hundreds  of  western  farmers,  was  of  undoubted,  if  not  incalculable,  benefit  in  the  improve- 
ment of  the  great  country  tributary  to  Chicago.  The  loans  were  placed  so  as  to  benefit  alike  the 
borrower  and  the  lender,  and  while  Mr.  Pearsons  is  to-day  admired  and  respected  by  those  to 
whom  the  money  was  lent,  he  is  no  less  secure  in  the  esteem  of  the  lenders,  whose  interests  he  at 
all  times  watched  and  conserved.  Indeed,  his  care  and  judgment  in  the  matter  of  securities  was 
something  remarkable.  The  writer  chances  to  know  of  an  illustration  in  point.  Among  the 
parties  for  whom  Mr.  Pearsons  acted  was  a  large  eastern  insurance  company.  When  the  panic 
of  1873,  and  the  weary  years  succeeding  it,  came,  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  this  com- 
pany was  organized  was  compelled  to  make  a  strict  examination  into  the  condition  of  all  the 
state's  insurance  securities.  Of  course,  in  the  terrible  grinding  down  of  values  which  had 


304  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

occurred,  much  depreciation  of  security  had  taken  place,  and  in  most  instances  something  to 
criticise  was  discovered.  But  with  the  loans  made  by  Mr.  Pearsons  all  was  found  secure,  and  of 
ample  value  to  insure  the  payment  of  the  indebtedness,  and  of  the  immense  quantity  of  securities 
examined,  those  placed  by  him  were  specially  praised  as  being  desirable  and  satisfactory. 

In  1877  Mr.  Pearsons  retired  from  the  loaning  business,  so  far  as  acting  for  other  capitalists 
was  concerned,  his  own  affairs  having  assumed  such  extensive  proportions  as  to  require  his  whole 
attention.  He  was  now  the  possessor  of  very  large  and  valuable  timber  tracts  in  Michigan,  the 
owner  of  several  .farms  in  Illinois  and  elsewhere,  a  director  of  the  Chicago  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Chicago  City  Railway  Company  and  other  leading  institutions,  and  of  course  a  prominent 
stockholder  in  them  all.  He  had  twice  been  elected  alderman  from  the  first  ward,  by  far  the 
most  important  political  district  of  the  city.  His  election  had  both  times  been  compassed  by 
a  union  of  the  best  elements  of  all  parties,  and  was  wholly  nonpartisan.  His  services  in  the 
council  as  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  have  already  been  referred  to,  and  were  of  a  charac- 
ter and  value  not  easily  overestimated.  About  the  time  of  his  voluntary  retirement  from  local 
political  life,  Mr.  Pearsons  also  began  to  withdraw  from  active  participation  in  the  more  arduous 
of  his  business  enterprises,  relinquishing  several  of  his  corporation  directorships,  although  retain- 
ing and  even  increasing  his  monetary  interest  in  them.  But  he  was  desirous  of  gradually  work- 
ing his  affairs  into  such  a  condition  that  he  might  henceforth  have  the  easy  comfort  of  a  life  not 
too  severely  hampered  by  business.  To  this  end  he  began  investing  in  choice  Chicago  residence 
property,  chiefly  in  the  northern  division  of  the  city.  Where  this  newly  purchased  property  was 
not  already  improved,  he  immediately  erected  fine  residences,  and  in  a  short  time  was  the  owner 
of  some  fifty  elegant  houses  and  flats,  which  he  still  retains. 

Having  thus  seen  his  western  possessions  grow  from  the  solitary  farm  in  Ogle  county  until 
they  now  amount  to  a  certainly  very  agreeable  aggregate  sum,  so  well  invested  that  the  returns 
constitute  one  of  the  most  comfortable  incomes  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Pearsons  is  devoting  the  larger 
share  of  his  time  to  travel  and  recreation,  interspersed  with  quiet  but  systematic  acts  of  benevo- 
lence. He  is  already  considerable  of  a  traveler,  having  visited  Europe  twice,  Cuba,  and  all  of 
the  American  states  except  California;  and  is  likely  to  hereafter  see  something  more  of  other 
lands.  His  charity  is  of  the  unostentatious  order,  but  if  his  right  hand  does  not  always  know 
what  the  left  is  doing,  it  is  not  because  the  latter  is  idle.  Most  of  the  charitable  institutions  of 
the  city  count  him  among  their  steady  contributors,  while  the  founding  of  libraries  in  country 
towns,  the  assisting  of  worthy  young  men  and  women  to  obtain  educations,  and  the  dispensing 
of  large  sums  in  private  acts  of  benevolence,  are  good  deeds,  known  perhaps  to  more  of  his  friends 
than  he  is  aware  of. 

Mr.  Pearsons  was  married  many  years  ago,  to  Miss  Marietta  Chapin,  of  the  western  Massa- 
chusetts Chapin  family,  —  a  family,  perhaps  the  most  extensive  and  distinguished  of  any  in  that 
part  of  the  state,  and  one,  indeed,  that  is  known  and  respected  in  most  of  the  leading  business 
and  social  circles  throughout  all  New  England. 

In  concluding  this  brief  epitome  of  a  characteristic  American  business  man's  characteristic 
life,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  say  that,  although  not  a  regular  communicant  of  any  church,  he  has 
always  been  a  great  believer  in  the  worth  of  religious  influences,  and  a  stanch  supporter  of  church 
societies.  The  First  Presbyterian  of  this  city  has  for  many  years  past  found  him  among  its 
attendants,  while  other  churches  are  not  unfamiliar  with  his  presence  and  contributions. 

Mr.  Pearsons  is  unconventional  in  manner,  his  life-long  personal  independence  manifesting 
itself  in  an  absence  of  all  affectation.  He  calls  things  always  by  their  right  names,  and  to  him  a 
spade  is  never  anything  else  but  a  spade.  Thoroughly  domestic  in  his  tastes,  the  society  of  wife 
and  a  few  of  the  friends  whom  he  really  likes  suits  him  better  than  more  diversified  and  mixed 
social  enjoyments.  He  has  never  been  a  club  or  secret  society  man 

Though  a  firm  believer  in  the  illimitable  future  of  Chicago  and  the  West,  and  a  permanent 
citizen  here  for  the  remainder  of  his  days,  Mr.  Pearsons  still  remembers  with  love  and  admiration 
his  native  New  England  state.  He  was  among  the  founders  of  the  Vermont  Society  in  Illinois, 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  305 

and  one  of  its  first  presidents.  Perhaps  his  methods  and  record  are  as  typical  of  Chicago  suc- 
cess as  could  well  be  indicated.  Men  of  sturdy  New  England  antecedents  and  breeding,  trans- 
planted to  the  West,  have  probably  done  more  than  any  other  one  class  of  people  to  advance  in 
its  marvelous  progress  this  part  of  the  world.  The  eagerness  to  do  real  hard  work;  the  integrity 
to  know  and  fearlessly  pursue  the  right;  the  judgment  to  foresee  the  magnificent  possibilities  of 
the  country,  and  take  advantage  of  them  in  advance;  the  prudence  to  economize  and  earn  wealth 
before  spending  it;  —  these  are  the  qualities  exhibited  in  the  western  race  for  success  by  men  like 
Mr.  Pearsons,  and  are  the  qualities  that  have  helped  make  the  growth  of  Chicago  and  its  con- 
tiguous country  the  marvel  of  modern  civilization. 


WILLIAM  S.   PEARCE. 

WA  UKEGAN 

WILLIAM  SAMUEL  PEARCE,  the  oldest  apothecary  in  Waukegan,  if  not  the  oldest  in 
Lake  county,  and  a  verv  substantial  citizen,  is  a  native  of  Essex,  England,  his  birth  bear- 
ing the  date  of  January  26,  1824.  His  parents  were  Rev.  James  B.  Pearce,  a  most  worthy  man, 
dying  when  William  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  Mary  (Westrup)  Pearce,  who  died  in  1848. 
Our  subject  received  his  education  under  his  father,  who  for  many  years  was  the  principal  of  a 
classical  school  at  Maidenhead,  Berks:  learned  the  apothecary's  business  in  the  old  country,  and 
before  leaving  the  old  world,  traveled  through  every  county  of  England,  principally  on  foot,  and 
also  through  France,  Germany,  Belgium,  Switzerland  and  Italy,  mostly  in  the  same  primitive 
style  of  transportation.  Like  Bayard  Taylor,  when  a  young  man  Mr.  Pearce  wanted  to  see  some- 
thing of  Europe  and  its  people,  and  thought,  we  presume,  he  could  do  it  to  the  best  advantage 
afoot.  His  travels  in  all  were  about  four  thousand  miles. 

In  1847  Mr.  Pearce  came  to  this  country,  and  after  traveling  and  prospecting  for  six  months, 
located  on  a  farm  three  miles  from  Warrenville,  Du  Page  county,  Illinois,  where  he  remained 
about  two  years,  and  then,  in  the  spring  of  1849,  returned  to  England,  reaching  there  just  after 
his  mother's  death,  and  having  the  sad  comfort  of  visiting  her  newly  made  grave.  Both  parents 
sleep  in  the  cemetery  at  Maidenhead. 

In  the  autumn  of  1849  Mr.  Pearce  returned  to  this  country,  and  for  a  short  year  was  in  the 
drug  business  in  Chicago,  in  company  with  Doctor  Hagemann,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  went 
to  the  farm  in  Du  Page  county.  About  twelve  months  later  he  concluded  to  abandon  farming, 
and  attend  to  business  with  which  he  was  more  familiar,  and  which  was  more  congenial  to  his 
tastes;  so  he  returned  once  more  to  Chicago,  and  resumed  the  trade  of  a  druggist,  adding  that  of 
medical  practice,  he  having  become  quite  well  read  in  the  profession. 

In  the  spring  of  1855,  Mr.  Pearce  settled  in  Waukegan,  and  he  has  been  an  apothecary  here 
since  that  date,  being  one  of  the  best  known  merchants  of  his  class  in  this  part  of  Illinois.  He 
has  held  very  few,  if  any,  civil  offices,  and  has  lived  a  quiet,  yet  very  industrious  life.  Minding 
his  own  business,  and  putting  mind  into  his  business,  he  has  made  it  a  success.  In  doing  so,  no 
merchant  in  the  place  has  made  a  cleaner  record,  he  always  having  a  scrupulous  regard  to  fair 
dealing  in  all  his  transactions.  Gains  ill  gotten  would  afford  men  like  Mr.  Pearce  no  comfort 
or  satisfaction.  He  has  never  aimed  to  do  an  extensive  business,  and  his  accumulations  are  not 
equal  to  those  of  some  of  his  neighboring  tradesmen,  but  they  are  all  the  result  of  strictly  honor- 
able traffic  through  a  long  series  of  years. 

Twice  since  coming  to  this  city,  Mr.  Pearce  has  visited  the  old  country,  and  the  graves  of  his 
parents,  whose  virtues  he  sacredly  cherishes.  He  has  relatives  still  living  in  Middlesex  and 
Berkshire. 

Mr.  Pearce  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  has  held  various  offices  in  the  Masonic  order.  He  mar- 
ried in  Kane  county,  Illinois,  in  1853,  Miss  Mary  Grace  Copp,  a  native  of  Bristol,  England,  and 
of  twelve  children,  the  result  of  this  union,  nine  are  yet  living,  the  others  dying  in  infancy.  The 


306  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

eldest  son,  William  W.,  is  a  druggist  with  his  father,  and  most  of  the  others  are  securing  their 
education. 

Mr.  Pearce  first  saw  Waukegan  (then  Little  Fort)  from  the  deck  of  a  steamer,  which  halted  here 
long  enough  for  him  to  climb  the  high  bank.  He  was  impressed  with  the  beauty  and  healthful- 
ness  of  the  site,  and  since  settling  here  has  not  been  disappointed  in  regard  to  his  first  impression, 
having  never  been  confined  to  his  bed  a  single  day  in  Waukegan.  With  the  exception  of  one  day 
in  Chicago,  when  he  had  a  touch  of  the  cholera  (1854),  he  has  not  been  laid  up  for  forty  years. 
His  habits  are,  and  always  have  been  excellent. 


JULIUS    M.   HUMMEL. 

SANDWICH. 

JULIUS  MONTGOMERY  HUMMEL,  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  self-reliant  and  successful 
business  men  in  De  Kalb  county,  is  a  son  of  Peter  F.  and  Bathsheba  A.  (Eastabrooks)  Hum- 
mel, and  was  born  in  the  township  of  Somonauk,  five  miles  from  the  city  of  Sandwich,  January 
u,  1841.  Both  parents  were  born  in  the  eastern  states,  the  Hummels  being  of  German  pedi- 
gree. Forty  years  ago  this  part  of  Illinois  was  sparsely  settled;  school-houses  were  "like  angels' 
visits,  few  and  far  between,"  there  being  no  house  of  the  kind  within  three  miles  of  the  farm  on 
which  Julius  first  heard  the  bob-o-links  sing,  and  the  result  was  that  he  never  went  to  school  three 
months  in  his  life.  He  early  succeeded,  however,  in  conquering  the  rudimentary  branches,  and  if 
he  ever  had  that  disease  so  chronic  among  boys,  not  to  mention  grown  up  people,  called  laziness, 
he  soon  conquered  that  too. 

His  father,  a  mechanic  in  early  life,  came  to  this  state  with  moderate  means,  settled  on  a  claim, 
and,  having  a  large  family  of  children,  had  a  hard  struggle  to  give  them  a  comfortable  support. 
He  went  to  California  in  1849,  and  died  in  the  city  of  Mexico  while  on  his  way  home  in  1851. 
Julius,  one  of  the  younger  children,  and  one  of  the  four  out  of  ten  who  lived  to  grow  up,  was 
sent  from  home  before  his  father's  death,  when  in  fact  not  more  than  eight  years  old,  and  for 
three  years  he  worked  hard,  simply  for  his  bread  and  butter.  He  did  farm  work,  and  as  soon  as  he 
received  wages  sent  his  earnings  to  his  mother,  with  whom  lived  a  younger  brother  and  a  sister. 
His  first  wages  were  fifty  cents  a  day,  he  working  side  by  side  with  full-grown  men  and  doing  as 
good  a  day's  work  as  ihe  best  of  them.  When  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  old,  at  the  proper 
season,  he  used  to  cut  hay  on  his  mother's  land  and  haul  it  to  town,  selling  it  for  three  dollars 
per  ton.  His  wagon  would  hold  only  half  a  ton,  and  the  poor  old  horse,  already  spoken  for  by 
the  crows,  could  haul  only  that  amount.  It  took  him  two  days  to  cut,  cure  and  market  the  half 
ton,  but  the  $1.50  made  him  happy,  for  it  looked  as  large  as  $150  now.  When  sixteen  years  of 
age  Julius  coaxed  his  uncle,  James  L.  Eastabrooks,  to  purchase  him  a  fiddle,  vulgarly  called  violin, 
and  then  he  was  happy  as  a  king,  for  he  saw  in  the  near  future  another  source  of  income.  At 
seventeen  he  commenced  playing  in  public  gratuitously,  and  at  eighteen,  after  working  all  day, 
walked  five  miles,  his  brother,  James  L.  Hummel,  accompanying  him,  fiddled  all  night,  received 
seventy-five  cents,  and  returned  in  ample  season  for  another  day's  work,  losing  no  time,  and  netting 
six  York  shillings,  taking  scrip  for  his  pay,  and  glad  to  get  that.  Subsequently  he  found  his  own 
conveyance, .rode  fifteen  miles,  bore  his  own  expenses,  and  received  $2.50  for  his  night's  work.  A 
little  later  (1860)  he  received  $5  a  night.  About"  the  time  that  civil  war  broke  out  he  formed  what 
was  known  as  Hummel's  band,  which  organization  continued  up  to  the  centennial  year. 

In  1862  James  L.  Hummel  went  into  the  army,  leaving  Julius  to  play  alone,  and  he  now 
charged  $10  a  night,  and  not  long  afterward  $15,  greenbacks  being  plenty  and  cheap.  After  the 
war  closed  he  received  as  high  as  $50  a  night,  and  his  nocturnal  labors,  since  he  was  seventeen 
years  old,  yielded  him  more  than  $7,000.  And  the  best  of  all  is  that  he  never  spent  a  dime  of 
that  money  for  liquor  or  tobacco.  In  a  single  week  in  1867  he  made  $75  in  the  nights,  and  did 
not  lose  an  hour's  work  during  the  daytime. 


LiORARY 

W  THE 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


309 


At  twenty-one  years  of  age  our  subject  took  his  departure  from  single  life,  choosing  Miss 
Martha  J.  Coleman,  commencing  this  alliance  by  borrowing  money  in  order  to  make  a  start,  work- 
ing a  farm  on  shares.  In  1867  he  bought  a  farm  of  100  acres  five  miles  from  Sandwich,  paying 
$300  down,  and  running  in  debt  for  the  balance.  He  improved  it  two  years,  and  then  sold  it  at 
a  large  advance.  Prior  to  this  time,  in  1866,  he  hired  out  to  Baker  and  Dennis,  of  Somonauk, 
who  were  engaged  in  selling  agricultural  implements,  working  for  them  until  he  had  disposed  of 
the  farm,  which  he  improved  mainly  by  proxy.  In  1869  he  started  in  business  for  himself  alone, 
keeping  at  first  agricultural  implements  mainly,  but  adding  to  the  variety  and  extent  for  his  stock 
from  year  to  year,  and  showing  a  wonderful  growth.  He  did  about  $8,000  a  year  at  the  start, 
and  is  now  doing  more  than  $80,000,  all  built  up  in  the  last  fifteen  years.  He  carries  a  $10,000 
stock  of  carriages  alone;  sells  three  hundred  sewing  machines  a  year;  has  a  handsome  sale  of 
pianos,  organs  and  other  musical  instruments. 

In  1881  he  put  up  a  three-story  brick  building  30X112  feet,  used  for  offices,  salesrooms,  stor- 
age, etc.,  with  all  modern  improvements,  including  elevator  and  every  possible  convenience.  His 
carriage  repository  is  equal  to  anything  of  the  kind  in  Chicago.  His  old  warehouse,  which  is 
30x80  feet  and  two  stories  high,  is  packed  with  farm  tools,  implements  and  machinery,  and  still 
he  is  cramped  for  room. 

This  rapid  growth  of  business  and  splendid  success  of  Mr.  Hummel  are  the  results  of  a  plucky 
spirit,  an  indomitable  will,  and  prudent  and  shrewd  management,  coupled  with  a  good  constitu- 
tion and  a  willingness  to  work.  He  is  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  a  business  man  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country.  He  gives  employment  to  fourteen  or  fifteen  men  as  salesmen,  canvassers, 
etc.,  and  no  man  takes  more  pleasure  in  handsomely  compensating  for  labor  faithfully  per- 
formed than  Mr.  Hummel.  He  is  a  square  dealer  with  everybody,  and  is  well  calculated  to 
make  and  retain  friends  and  customers. 

His  great  business  capacities  and  fine  executive  abilities  were  discovered  years  ago  by  his  fel- 
low-citizens, and  he  was  elected  mayor  of  Sandwich,  and  served  four  consecutive  years  (1877- 
1881),  when  he  declined  another  reelection.  He  takes  especial  pride  in  aiding  to  advance  local 
interests  of  every  kind.  He  was  for  some  years  secretary  of  the  Sandwich  fair,  and  a  powerful 
factor  in  building  it  up  to  its  present  prosperous  condition,  it  being  at  first  a  losing  institution, 
and  now  paying  a  thousand  dollars  a  year.  He  is  also  president  of  the  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery,  and 
has  shown  his  public  spirit  by  causing  a  chapel  to  be  erected  and  a  house  to  be  built  for  the 
superintendent,  who  gives  his  whole  time  to  improving  the  grounds  and  keeping  everything  in 
trim.  He  has  been  treasurer  of  the  De  Kalb  county  agricultural  board  for  some  years. 

Mr.  Hummel  is  a  Knight  Templar,  an  Odd-Fellow  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
but  accepts  no  office  in  any  of  these  orders.  The  wife  whom  he  chose  in  1862  died  in  1878,  two 
children  having  previously  died,  and  three  are  still  living.  January  i,  1880,  he  married  Miss 
Lillian  F.  Gregory,  of  Michigan,  and  they  have  two  children. 


HON.  SYLVESTER    F.  OTMAN. 

WYOMING. 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  notice  is  of  German  descent  on  both  sides  of  the  family. 
His  paternal  great-grandfather,  who  spelt  his  name  Ottmann,  came  to  this  country  some 
time  prior  to  the  American  revolution,  and  settled  on  the  Hudson  River.  His  son  Nicholas, 
grandfather  of  Sylvester,  joined  the  continental  armv  when  sixteen  years  old,  and  was  taken  cap- 
tive by  General  Brant  on  the  Wyoming  expedition,  and  held  a  prisoner  in  Canada  until  near  the 
close  of  the  war. 

Sylvester  Francis  Otman  was  born  in  Madison  county,  New  York,  November  5,  1828.  To  the 
ordinary  driil  of  a  district  school  he  added  six  months'  attendance  at  the  Sanquoit  Academy,  and 
taught  school  two  winters  in  his  native  state.  In  1849  he  came  to  Peoria,  and  there  also  taught 
two  terms. 


31O  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  1850  he  settled  in  Wyoming,  and  for  three  seasons  worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade,  which 
he  had  learned  before  coming  to  the  West.  From  1853  to  1861,  a  period  of  eight  years,  he  was 
surveyor  of  the  county  of  Stark.  In  August,  1862,  he  went  into  the  army  as  captain  of  company 
E,  1 1 2th  Illinois  infantry,  and  served  three  years,  being  in  all  the  engagements  of  the  regiment 
without  receiving  a  wound.  During  the  last  six  months  he  was  on  General  Henderson's  staff. 

On  leaving  the  army  Captain  Otman  went  on  his  farm  near  Wyoming,  and  cultivated  it  till 
1869,  when  he  went  into  mercantile  business  with  Albert  King.  Five  years  later  he  formed  a 
partnership  in  the  same  trade  with  Hon.  A.  G.  Hammond,  and  continued  with  him  in  the  mer- 
cantile business  until  June,  1878.  In  1881  he  went  into  the  lumber  trade,  and  has  since  been  one 
of  the  leading  traffickers  in  that  line  in  the  place.  Mr.  Otman  is  a  fair-dealing  business  man,  and 
success  has  attended  his  several  ventures. 

He  has  held  various  local  offices,  such  as  member  of  the  town  board,  justice  of  the  peace  and 
supervisor,  and  has  served  six  years  as  a  member  of  the  legislature,  being  first  elected  in  1866, 
and  again  in  1878,  and  reflected  in  1880.  He  attended  three  regular  and  three  extra  sessions,  and 
carried  his  good  business  habits  and  plain  common  sense  into  legislative  as  well  as  private  business. 
During  the  last  term  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  commerce,  and  did  some  hard  and 
very  important  work.  He  was  the  author  of  several  bills,  mostly  of  a  local  character. 

Captain  Otman  was  originally  a  democrat,  with  free-soil  proclivities,  and  left  that  party  on 
the  formation  of  the  republican.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  has  held  various  offices  in  this 
order. 

He  was  first  married  in  1855  to  Miss  Emma  Denchfield,  of  Wyoming,  she  dying  in  1864,  and 
the  second  time  in  1867  to  Mrs.  Sarah  (Smith)  Denchfield,  having  had  by  the  latter  two  children, 
only  one  of  them  now  living — Arthur  Melvin,  aged  fifteen  years. 


ASHER    BLOUNT. 

MA  COMB. 

SHER  BLOUNT,  lumber  dealer,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Macomb,  and  one  of  the  leading  busi- 
ness  men  of  the  place,  is  a  native  of  Jefferson  county,  New  York,  a  son  of  Ambrose  and 
Betsy  (Wood)  Blount,  and  was  born  in  the  township  of  Ellisburgh,  May  27,  1819.  His  grand- 
father, Asher  Blount,  aided  by  his  musket  in  gaining  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  Ambrose 
Blount  was  a  minute  man  in  1812-14,  but  never  called  into  the  service.  He  was  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut, a  farmer,  a  magistrate  for  several  years,  and  held  other  offices,  dying  at  Pamelia,  Jeffer- 
son county  in  1863.  His  wife  had  died  nearly  thirty  years  earlier  (1834).  They  were  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  and  he  was  at  one  period  a  deacon  of  the  same.  Betsy  Wood  was  a  native 
of  Middletown,  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  and  a  sister  of  Hon.  Reuben  Wood,  many  years  ago 
governor  of  Ohio. 

The  educational  advantages  of  our  subject  were  limited  until  he  had  reached  his  majority, 
when  he  attended  a  select  school,  and  taught  from  three  to  six  months  in  a  year  for  eight  or  ten 
seasons.  He  was  engaged  in  farming,  blacksmithing  and  carriage-making  in  Jefferson  county 
until  1866,  holding  meanwhile  in  succession  the  offices  of  township  inspector  of  schools,  township 
superintendent  of  the  same,  and  township  clerk.  Early  in  the  spring  of  the  year  just  mentioned 
Mr.  Blount  came  to  this  state  and  settled  at  Macomb,  whither  his  younger  brother,  Joseph  W., 
had  preceded  him,  coming  to  Quincy  in  1844  and  to  Macomb  a  few  years  afterward.  The  busi- 
ness of  both  is  lumber,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  period  from  1875  to  1882,  they  have  been 
together  and  are  doing  well.  There  are  no  traders  of  any  kind  in  Macomb  who  are  more  prompt, 
straightforward  and  reliable. 

Asher  Blount  held  the  office  of  town  supervisor  one  term,  and  was  mayor  in  1877  and  again  in 
1882,  holding  that  position  at  the  time  this  sketch  is  written.  He  is  president  of  the  Macomb 
Building  and  Loan  Association,  and  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  public  spirit  and  enterprise. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  31  I 

Mayor  Blount  has  affiliated  with  the  republican  party  since  it  was  formed.  He  is  a  strong  but 
not  a  bitter  partisan,  strong  because  he  believes  in  the  general  policy  of  his  party.  In  religious 
belief  he  is  a  Universalist,  and  a  man  the  purity  of  whose  life  no  one  questions  who  knows  him. 

Mayor  Blount  was  first  married  in  April,  1848,  to  Miss  Roxana  Miles,  of  Jefferson  county.  She 
died  in  June,  1860,  leaving  three  children:  Mary  E.,  wife  of  J.  W.  Hosman,  of  Roodhouse,  Greene 
county;  Frank  J.,  general  business  man,  Macomb,  and  Fred  P.,  who  is  with  Blount  Brothers.  In 
1868  our  subject  was  married  to  Miss  Cynthia  S.  Barnery,  who  was  also  of  Jefferson  county,  New 
York,  and  by  her  he  has  two  children:  Harry  and  Myra,  aged  respectively  twelve  and  ten  years. 

Mayor  Blount  has  a  choice  family  library,  which  he  is  enlarging  from  year  to  year,  taking 
good  care  that  no  member  of  the  household  shall  suffer  for  the  want  of  healthy  mental  pabulum. 


ELBRIDGE  G.  AVER. 

HARVARD. 

T7  LBRIDGE  GERRY  AVER,  the  founder  of  the  village  of  Harvard,  or  Harvard  Junction,  and 
J_!>  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  McHenry  county,  is  a  native  of  Haverhill,  Essex  county, 
Massachusetts,  and  a  direct  descendant  of  John  Ayer,  who  settled  in  that  town,  among  its  pio- 
neers, in  1646.  For  two  centuries  the  Ayers  have  been  among  the  prominent  families  in  that  and 
other  counties  of  the  old  Bay  State,  and  descendants  of  John  Ayer  are  now  found  in  nearly  half 
the  states  of  the  Union,  several  of  them  being  in  Chicago.  The  father  of  Elbridge  was  Samuel 
Ayer,  in  his  day  a  flannel  manufacturer  in  Andover,  near  Haverhill,  and  one  of  the  first  men  in 
this  country  to  make  that  line  of  goods,  and  his  grandfather  was  Daniel  Ayer,  whose  father  and 
one  of  his  (Daniel's)  brothers  took  part  in  gaining  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  Polly  Chase,  a  descendant  of  Aquilla  Chase,  who  was  also  an  early  settler  in 
New  England.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight  children,  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  Elbridge 
being  the  sixth  child  and  youngest  son,  and  born  in  Haverhill  June  25,  1813.  Now  and  then  he 
goes  back  to  the  old  homestead,  eats  pears  from  the  trees  which  were  planted  when  he  was  in  his 
short  clothes, —  and  short  perhaps  even  of  them, —  and  lives  over  again  the  happy  days  of  his 
childhood. 

He  finished  his  education  at  the  famous  old  Bradford  Academy,  when  at  its  head  stood  Pro- 
fessor Greenleaf,  the  mathematician,  and  author  of  a  few  text  books  quite  popular  forty  and  fifty 
years  ago;  learned  the  wool  stapling  business  at  Dedham,  Massachusetts,  and  at  twenty  years  of 
age  went  to  Albany,  whither  his  father  had  preceded  him,  and  became  associated  with  him  in  the 
grocery  and  provision  business. 

About  that  period  (1834)  Mr.  Ayer  married  Mary  D.  Titcomb,  a  native  of  Salem,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  two  years  afterward  then  emigrated  to  the  West,  to  commence  fortune  seeking,  at  first 
in  what  is  now  the  Badger  State.  They  landed  at  Pike  River,  afterward  called  Southport,  and 
now  known  as  the  city  of  Kenosha,  Mr.  Ayer  taking  a  quantity  of  merchandise  with  him,  and 
where  he  was  in  trade  nearly  eleven  years.  There  his  oldest  child,  the  wife  of  Gilbert  R.  Smith, 
of  Harvard,  was  born,  the  first  white  child  born  in  that  place. 

In  1847  Mr.  Ayer  removed  to  Walworth,  Wisconsin,  where  he  continued  the  mercantile  period 
of  his  life  for  ten  years,  serving  also  most  of  the  time  as  postmaster.  In  the  latter  part  of  that 
period  the  Wisconsin  division  of  the  North-Western  railway  was  projected,  and  he  tried  to  get  the 
road  through  his  place,  but  failing,  he  came  to  what  is  now  Harvard.  In  January,  1856,  he  pur- 
chased four  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  in  the  spring  following  laid  out  the  town.  Here  he  has 
resided  from  that  date,  being  at  first  engaged  in  the  mercantile  trade  and  in  taking  care  of  his 
real  estate  and  encouraging  settlements  in  the  place.  In  1858  he  took  charge  of  the  eating  house 
and  hotel,  purchased  it  at  the  end  of  one  year,  enlarged  it  at  that  time  and  subsequently,  and  had 
charge  of  it  in  all  for  eighteen  years,  keeping  one  of  the  best  hotels  and  eating  houses  in  this  part 
of  the  state. 


312  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  1876  Mr.  Ayer  rented  these  premises  to  Marcus  M.  Town,  the  husband  of  his  fourth  daugh- 
ter, Harriet  L.  He  has  three  other  daughters  living  in  town:  Ann,  the  second,  married  to  A.  J. 
Burbank,  who  is  in  the  railway  office;  Julia  A.,  married  to  H.  B.  Minier,  and  the  one  already  men- 
tioned. He  has  five  daughters,  the  other  being  Eva  F.,  the  youngest,  and  wife  of  Arthur  E.  Law, 
of  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota.  He  has  also  two  sons,  Edward  E.,  who  is  dealing  in  ties,  telegraph 
poles  and  posts  in  Chicago,  and  Henry  C.,  who  is  in  his  brother's  employ.  Edward  was  in  Cali- 
fornia when  the  civil  war  was  in  progress,  and  was  the  first  man  who  enlisted  in  that  state,  and 
the  youngest  man  in  the  regiment  —  the  ist  California  cavalry.  He  went  in  as  a  private  and 
came  out  lieutenant. 

Mr.  Ayer  was  originally  a  whig,  and  since  the  demise  of  that  party  has  acted  heartily  with 
the  republicans.  As  a  hotel  keeper  during  the  civil  war  he  had  many  opportunities  to  show  his 
patriotism  and  generosity  and  the  goodness  of  his  heart. 

He  was  the  first  Freemason  made  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  Lodge  No.  7;  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason, 
and  has  held  several  offices  in  the  order.  He  has  also  held  a  few  civil  offices  in  Harvard,  but  has 
never  been  a  seeker  after  such  honors,  contenting  himself  with  simply  bearing  his  share  of  public 
duties  as  a  citizen. 

The  founder  of  the  town,  he  has  always  been  held  in  very  high  esteem  for  his  public  spirit, 
his  genial  disposition  and  his  neighborly  "kindness.  An  old  neighbor  thus  writes  to  us  in  regard 
to  him: 

"Having  known  him  intimately  for  thirty  years,  I  think  he  is  best  known  for  his  benevolence 
and  love  of  justice  and  right.  During  the  war  he  was  a  most  ardent  supporter  of  the  government 
in  all  its  measures.  Frequently,  in  those  troublesome  times,  he  would  furnish  victuals  for  a  whole 
company  of  soldiers  passing  through  Harvard  and  Cairo.  He  then  ran  the  eating  house  at  Har- 
vard, insomuch  that  his  name  and  fame  were  household  words  with  all  western  soldiers  at  the 
front  and  at  home.  He  preeminently  fills  the  ideal  of  Scripture  where  it  says,  'I  was  hungry 
and  ye  gave  me  meat,'  etc." 

HON.  THOMAS  HOYNE,  LL.D. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS  HOYNE,  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers  in  Chicago,  is  a  son  of  Patrick  and  Elleanor 
M.  Hoyne,  who  were  obliged  to  leave  Ireland  about  the  year  1815,  on  account  of  troubles 
in  which  the  father  became  involved  with  the  British  government.  They  sought  an  asylum  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  where  our  subject  was  born  about  February  n,  1817.  He  was  the  eldest  of 
seven  children,  and  at  a  suitable  age  was  sent  to  Saint  Peter's  Catholic  school  in  that  city,  where 
he  remained  until  the  death  of  his  parents,  that  of  his  father  occurring  in  1829,  and  that  of  his 
mother  in  1830.  He  was  left  poor  as  well  as  an  orphan  and  unfriended.  In  the  year  1829  he 
became  an  apprentice  to  a  manufacturer  of  fancy  goods,  traveling  cases  and  pocket-books,  work- 
ing in  that  capacity  for  four  or  five  years  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Hoyne  seems  to  have  early  had  a  strong  desire  for  knowledge,  and  at  that  period,  while 
still  a  mere  youth  working  under  indentures,  he  joined  what  was  known  as  the  Literary  Associa- 
tion, the  membership  of  which  included  several  persons  who  afterward  distinguished  themselves 
in  the  literary  or  political  world,  notably  Hon.  Horace  Greeley  and  his  associate  in  the  publishing 
business,  Mr.  McElrath,  Judges  Manierre  and  Daly,  Hon.  William  B.  Maclay  and  the  Maclay 
family  and  others.  W.  K.  Maclay  was  member  of  congress  for  several  years,  arid  his  father 
founded  the  Baptist  Church  on  Mulberry  street  as  early  as  1800.  It  was  with  men  of  this  class 
that  he  came  in  contact,  and  early  began  to  feel  the  brightening  influence  of  their  keen  intellects. 
In  that  society  Mr.  Hoyne  made  his  dttbut  as  a  debater,  and  acquired  the  happy  art  of  speaking  in 
public.  It  was  no  doubt  the  turning  point  in  life,  the  first  stepping-stone  to  the  stage  on  which 
he  has  acted  a  brilliant  as  well  as  conspicuous  part. 

While  an  apprentice  young  Hoyne  also  attended  two  night  schools,  in  one  of  which  he  made 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  315 

a  specialty  of  English  grammar  and  elocution,  in  the  other,  of  the  classics,  acquiring  a  fair  knowl- 
edge of  Greek  as  well  as  Latin.  For  such  economy  of  time  and  such  industry  he  has  since  reaped 
a  rich  reward. 

At  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship,  in  1835,  Mr.  Hoyne  accepted  a  clerkship  in  a  large  jobbing 
house  for  the  salary  it  would  afford  him  to  liquidate  and  pay  off  the  expense  of  the  schools  he 
was  attending.  In  1836  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  John  Brinkerhoff, 
and  late  in  the  summer  of  1837  came  to  Chicago  to  join  his  old  and  esteemed  friend,  Judge  Man- 
ierre,  who  had  preceded  him  hither  two  years  before,  and  was  serving  the  public  in  the  office  of 
clerk  of  the  circuit  court.  His  old  associate  in  the  New  York  literary  club  was  not  slow  in  mak- 
ing a  place  for  Mr.  Hoyne,  whose  compensation  for  clerical  services'  was  ten  dollars  a  week.  Mr. 
Hoyne  now  found  time  to  devote  to  study.  He  took  up  Latin  again;  commenced  the  study  of 
the  French  language,  and  for  two  years  attended  the  meetings  of  a  literary  society,  in  the  exer- 
cises of  which  he  was  an  active  participant.  InHhe  latter  part  of  1838  he  taught  a  public  school, 
one  of  the  first  organized  in  Chicago,  four  months.  Soon  afterward  he  resumed  his  legal  studies 
in  the  office  of  Hon.  J.  Y.  Scammon,  who  became  his  friend  and  patron,  and  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice late  in  the  autumn  of  1839.  Since  that  date,  with  the  exception  of  a  little  more  than  two 
years  spent  in  Galena,  Illinois  (autumn  of  1842  to  December,  1844),  Mr.  Hoyne  has  resided  in 
Chicago,  and  has  practiced  his  profession,  making  a  brilliant  record  at  the  Cook  county  bar,  as 
well  as  appearing  in  many  cases  in  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  and  the  United  States  supreme 
court  at  Washington.  He  has  great  power  before  a  jury. 

In  1840  Mr.  Hoyne  was  elected  city  clerk  on  the  democratic  ticket,  and  during  most  of  the 
time  for  the  last  forty  years  he  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  political  matters,  sometimes  aiding  to 
shape  the  policy  of  his  party,  or  furnishing  material  for  congressional  consideration.  It  was  Mr. 
Hoyne  who,  in  1841,  wrote  the  memorial  which  was  presented  to  congress,  asking  for  increased 
appropriations  for  the  improvement  of  the  Chicago  harbor.  In  1870  he  was  nominated  by  accla- 
mation for  congress  in  the  Chicago  district,  but  declined  to  run,  when  Hon.  John  Wentworth  was 
nominated  in  his  place  and  beaten  by  Hon.  C.  B.  Farwell. 

Mr.  Hoyne  held  the  office  of  probate  justice  of  the  peace  in  1847,  1848  and  1849,  under  the 
old  constitution,  the  office  which,  under  the  new  constitution  which  went  into  effect  in  the  autumn 
of  1848,  took  the  name  of  county  judge,  at  which  time  his  court  was  suspended. 

Mr.  Hoyne  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  Mexican  war  (1846-47),  but  on  the  passage  of  the 
Wilmot  proviso,  prohibiting  the  extension  of  slavery  in  any  territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  he  became  what  was  then  known  as  a  free-soiler,  and  supported  Van  Buren 
and  Adams  on  the  Buffalo  platform,  in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1848,  and  being  a  presiden- 
tial elector  that  year,  stumped  the  northern  half  of  Illinois.  He  had  previously,  at  a  great  mass- 
meeting  held  in  Chicago,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  chosen  for  the  purpose,  written  an  able 
address  to  the  people  on  the  great  issues  of  the  day,  and  that  address  had  a  very  wide  circulation. 
"  It  was,"*  says  one  writer,  "a  bold,  manly  and  vigorous  protest  against  the  further  encroach- 
ments of  slavery,  and  was  designed  to  affect  the  opinion  of  the  democratic  masses  of  the  state." 
Mr.  Hoyne  continued  his  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  yet  did  not  break  entirely  away 
from  the  democratic  party,  and  in  1853  received  from  President  Pierce  the  appointment  of  United 
States  district  attorney  for  Illinois,  which  appointment  greatly  increased  his  business.  He  sided 
with  Judge  Douglas  on  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bills,  and  the  bill  to  repeal  the  Missouri  com- 
promise (1854),  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  field  of  debate  on  the  democratic  side  in  the  presi- 
dential campaign  of  1856.  Two  years  later  he  advocated  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Le- 
compton  constitution,  in  this  step  taking  sides  with  the  administration  and  against  Judge  Douglas. 
In  1859  Mr.  Hoyne,  without  his  knowledge  or  consent,  was  appointed  United  States  marshal  for 
the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  taking  the  place  of  a  defaulter  (Charles  A.  Pine),  which  office  Mr. 
Hoyne  would  have  declined  at  once,  had  not  Judge  Drummond,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  order 

*See  "  The  Biographical  Encyclopaedia  of  Illinois:"  Philadelphia,  1875.    We  are  indebted  to  the  same  source  for  other 
data  in  this  sketch. 
32 


316  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

and  discipline  in  that  office,  made  a  special  request  upon  him  to  accept  the  place  for  the  short 
period  of  the  unexpired  term  of  his  predecessor.  In  1860  he  superintended  the  census  for  the 
northern  district,  and  was  very  highly  complimented  by  the  superintendent  of  the  census  bureau 
for  his  faithful  services. 

In  literary  as  well  as  political  matters  Mr.  Hoyne  has  acted  a  conspicuous  and  eminently 
praiseworthy  part.  In  1850  he  was  elected  president  of  the  "Chicago  Young  Men's  Association," 
and  subsequently  had  the  rare  honor  of  being  reelected.  When  the  University  of  Chicago  was 
founded  in  1857,  Mr.  Hoyne  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  enterprise;  was  elected  a  member  of  its 
board  of  trustees,  and  continues  to  act  in  that  capacity;  was  a  leader  and  quite  active  in  found- 
ing the  law  department  of  the  university,  paying  $5,000  into  the  fund  for  that  purpose,  and  in 
September,  1859,  in  recognition  of  his  valuable  services  and  generosity  in  this  matter,  the  trustees 
established  a  chair  in  the  faculty  known  as  The  Hoyne  Professorship  of  International  and  Con- 
stitutional Law.  To  Mr.  Hoyne  also  belongs  the  credit  of  securing  the  great  Lalande  prize  tele- 
scope for  the  university,  and  he  was  elected  the  first  secretary  of  the  Chicago  Astronomical  Soci- 
ety, which  position,  we  believe,  he  still  holds.  He  is  a  life  member  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute, 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  and  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  and  has  always  taken  a  great  inter- 
est in  building  up  such  institutions.  His  greatest  work  in  this  connection  has  been  in  aiding  to 
found,  and  in  fostering  the  Chicago  Free  Public  Library,  of  which  he  wrote  a  long  and  valuable 
historical  sketch  in  1877,  and  which  was  published  in  a  pamphlet  of  nearly  a  hundred  pages. 
That  pamphlet  lies  before  us,  and  contains  a  detailed  account  of  the  appeal  of  Thomas  Hughes 
and  his  associates  in  England,  made  immediately  after  the  great  fire  of  October  9,  1871,  to  found 
a  new  library  in  Chicago;  the  public  spirit  which  that  appeal  stirred  up  in  the  hearts  of  the  en- 
terprising men  of  this  city;  the  frequent  public  meetings  held  here  in  the  interest  of  that  cause; 
the  public  address  of  Mr.  Hoyne,  Mayor  Medill  and  others;  the  correspondence  which  Mr.  Hoyne 
carried  on  with  the  promoters  of  this  enterprise  in  the  old  world,  etc.  Mr.  Hoyne's  connection 
with  that  grand  work  of  founding  a  free  public  library  in  Chicago  reflects  the  very  highest  credit 
upon  his  energy,  enterprise  and  truly  philanthropic  spirit.  He  was  not  only  one  of  the  origina- 
tors of  this  eminently  useful  institution,  and  presided  over  the  first  meeting  called  to  organize 
it,  but  was  chosen  president  of  its  first  board  of  directors,  and  resigned  in  1876.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association,  and  was  its  vice-president  in  1874, 
and  one  of  the  committee  on  legal  education  in  1875.  He  has  recently  delivered  an  address 
before  the  association  entitled  The  Lawyer  as  a  Pioneer,  in  which  he  gives  sketches  of  the  early 
Illinois  and  Chicago  bar  (1837-1840).  It  is  to  be  published  in  book  form  by  Fergus  and  Company. 

Mr.  Hoyne  is  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  literary  taste  as  well  as  legal  ability,  and  his  intellectual 
efforts  outside  the  bar  and  the  political  arena  have  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention.  An  address 
which  he  delivered  before  the  graduating  law  class- of  the  University  of  Chicago  in  1869  was 
pitched  on  a  high  key  of  eloquence  and  &  truly  lofty  moral  tone,  and  its  stirring  appeal  to  the 
young  men  before  him,  to  uphold  the  honor  and  dignity  of  their  profession,  could  not  fail  of  hav- 
ing a  salutary  influence  on  all  who  heard  him.  His  Fourth  of  July  oration,  delivered  two  years 
later  at  La  Salle,  Illinois,  on  the  New  Departure,  was  pronounced  a  masterly  effort,  and  its  publi- 
cation and  wide  circulation  raised  Mr.  Hoyne  in  the  estimation  of  many  as  an  orator.  As  a  for- 
ensic speaker  he  certainly  has  but  few  peers  at  the  bar  of  Cook  county,  which  has  from  ten  to 
twelve  hundred  members. 

As  already  intimated,  our  subject  took  an  early  and  deep  interest  in  politics,  and  the  welfare 
of  the  country,  and  that  interest  seems  not  to  have  abated.  During  the  civil  war  his  patriotism 
rose  to  white  heat,  and  no  man  in  Chicago  was  more  earnest  in  trying  to  save  the  Union.  He 
was  a  very  active  member  of  the  Union  Defense  Committee,  and  wrote  the  well  known  appeal  to 
the  people  of  this  state.  He  was  on  the  committee  that  visited  Lincoln  to  urge  a  campaign  down 
the  Mississippi  River  in  1862.  During  that  long  and  trying  period  of  civil  strife  every  emanation 
from  his  pen  or  tongue  had  the  unmistakable  and  thrilling  ring  of  a  true  and  devoted  lover  of  his 
country. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


317 


.  After  the  war  Mr.  Hoyne  sided  with  President  Johnson  against  congress,  and  was  a  delegate 
to  the  conservative  convention  held  at  Philadelphia  in  August,  1866.  He  also  supported  Horace 
Greeley  for  the  presidency  in  1872,  and  was  an  elector  that  year  in  the  first  district.  Two  years 
later  he  acted  with  the  opposition,  so  called,  and  aided  in  drawing  up  the  call  of  the  democratic 
state  committee,  issued  in  this  city,  under  the  eye  of  Mr.  Hoyne,  and  embodying  a  specie  plank, 
free  commerce,  civil  rights,  and  other  live  issues,  and  which  was  received  with  great  frlat  by  the 
leading  journals  of  his  party. 

July  9,  1875,  he  delivered  an  address  before  the  Jeffersonian  Club  of  Chicago,  of  which  he  was 
then  president,  and  on  that  occasion  took  the  ground  that  there  is  sufficient  vital  moral  force  and 
patriotism  in  the  people  to  save  their  free  institutions.  In  that  address  which  he  had  evidently 
prepared  with  great  care,  he  denounced  in  the  strongest  terms  the  tendency  to  corruption  among 
the  politicians  of  the  day,  and  clearly  announced  his  own  political  tenets,  as  embodied  in  the 
club  in  whose  interests  he  was  speaking. 

Mr.  Hoyne  has  always  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  bitterest  enemies  of  corruptionists,  and  has 
been  a  leader  in  trying  to  rout  them.  For  this  purpose  he  was  brought  out  as  a  candidate  for 
mayor  in  the  spring  of  1876,  and  was  triumphantly  elected.  An  account  of  this  election  was  pub- 
lished in  "  The  Alliance,"  of  this  city,  in  April,  1881,  in  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Hoyne,  under  the  heading, 
"The  Men  Who  Have  Built  Chicago,"  and  we  reproduce  it  in  a  condensed  form: 

"There  was  a  time  when  this  great  city,  with  all  its  unexampled  growth  and  prosperity,  was 
in  danger  of  financial  ruin  and  moral  bankruptcy.  In  1876  Chicago  was  awakened  to  the  fact 
that  she  had  long  been  ruled  by  an  unscrupulous  ring  of  thieving  politicians,  which  received  its 
support  from  a  class  of  the  community  not  unlike  that  which  kept  Tweed  in  power  in  New  York 
city  for  so  long  a  time,  and  saddled  that  city  with  a  financial  burden,  and  gave  its  government  a 
notoriety  that  has  passed  into  a  proverb.  We  say  that  Chicago  was  awakened  to  her  danger, 
awakened  only  just  in  time  to  avert  ruin,  awakened  mainly  by  the  efforts  of  the  man  whose  name 
stands  at  the  head  of  this  sketch. 

H.  D.  Colvin  was  mayor  of  the  city  at  the  time.  He  had  inherited  from  preceding  adminis- 
trations a  bequest  of  debt  and  bad  management,  and  was  hedged  about  by  precedents  which  he 
had  not  the  wisdom  or  energy  to  set  aside,  precedents  involving  large  running  expenses,  extrava- 
gant appropriations,  and  a  reckless  financial  policy.  His  administration  began  the  system  of 
meeting  the  illegal  debt  of  the  city  by  an  equally  illegal  issue  of  scrip,  but  was  unequal  to  the 
broad  statesmanship  of  immediate  retrenchment  of  municipal  expenses  and  refunding  the  debt  so 
that  it  might  comfortably  be  carried.  Extravagance  and  incompetence  and  rascality  threatened 
the  city.  Taxation  had  become  too  heavy  to  be  borne.  The  name  of  Chicago,  prosperous  and 
lusty  as  the  city  was,  was  fast  becoming  a-  by-word  for  misrule.  It  was  a  crisis  in  her  history. 
Had  the  reigning  state  of  affairs  continued  there  is  no  manner  of  doubt  but  that  some  other  city 
would  have  become  the  metropolis  of  the  West.  Capital  and  enterprise  do  not  gravitate  to  any 
city  overburdened  with  taxation,  cursed  by  misrule  and  threatened  with  financial  troubles.  There 
is  always  a  man  for  every  emergency,  and  in  Chicago's  hour  of  need  Thomas  Hoyne  came  to  the 
front.  Through  his  efforts  the  Municipal  Reform  Club  was  organized,  and  in  a  very  short  time 
it  succeeded  in  arousing  the  people  to  a  sense  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  them.  An  Ameri- 
can community,  and  especially  a  Chicago  community,  engrossed  with  their  private  business 
affairs,  are  slowly  aroused  to  a  sense  of  public  danger,  but  when  they  are  aroused  no  people  in  the 
world  act  so  quickly  or  so  effectively.  The  Reform  Club  called  a  mass  meeting  of  the  citizens  in 
the  Exposition  building.  Nearly  40,000  men,  of  every  political  faith,  gathered  at  that  meeting, 
which  resolved  to  take  energetic  means  to  abate  the  growing  evil  of  municipal  misrule.  Mr. 
Hoyne  was,  at  the  meeting,  nominated  for  mayor  on  a  reform  platform,  and  in  the  election  that 
followed,  was  nearly  unanimously  elected  to  the^office,  he  receiving  a  majority  of  over  33,000,  the 
largest  ever  given  a  municipal" chief  magistrate  in  Chicago.  There  were  but  eight  hundred  votes 
cast  against  him.  Mayor  Colvin  contested  the  legality  of  the  election  and  appealed  to  the  courts. 
The  circuit  court,  which  really  had  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case,  decided  by  a  vote  of  three  to  two 


318  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

that  the  election  was  illegal.  Mr.  Hoyne  could,  with  every  prospect  of  success,  have  appealed  to 
the  supreme  court,  but  as  his  object  was  to  cleanse  the  city  of  corruption,  and  not  to  secure  honor 
or  place  for  himself,  and  as  the  Colvin  administration  agreed  to  resign  if  another  election  were 
permitted  without  appeal,  Mr.  Hoyne,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  good,  assented,  and,  refusing  to 
allow  the  use  of  his  name,  Monroe  Heath  was  elected  mayor,  and  Mr.  Hoyne  retired  to  private 
life,  after  having  been  de  facto  mayor  for  six  weeks.  But  the  line  of  policy  marked  out  by  his 
inaugural  address  has  been  followed  not  only  by  his  successor,  but  by  the  doughty  Harrison,  and 
Chicago's  prosperity  and  place  in  the  nation  is  doubtless  due  to  the  unselfish  and  wise  action  of 
Mr.  Hoyne." 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Hoyne  was  Leonora  M.  Temple,  daughter  of  the  late  John  T.  Temple,  M.D., 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  settling  Chicago,  their  marriage  being  dated  September  17,  1840,  and  she 
being  the  mother  of  seven  children.  The  eldest  son,  Temple  S.,  occupies  a  chair  in  Hahnemann 
Medical  College,  Chicago;  the  second  son,  Thomas  M.,  is  the  junior  member  of  the  firm  of  Hoyne, 
Horton  and  Hoyne,  and  a  lawyer  of  much  promise;  the  third  son,  James,  is  cashier  of  the  Ger- 
mania  Savings  Bank,  and  the  fourth  son  is  employed  with  the  firm  of  Culver,  Page  and  Hoyne, 
of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Hoyne  is  also  the  granddaughter  of  the  late  Doctor  Staughton,  the  most  emi- 
nent Baptist  divine  of  this  century.  He  founded  Columbia  College,  at  Washington,  District  of 
Columbia,  and  in  1822  delivered  the  address  at  Castle  Garden,  New  York,  upon  the  first  visit  of 
Lafayette  to  America,  after  he  had  aided  Washington  in  accomplishing  the  success  of  the  revolu- 
tion. 


FRANCIS    H.   KALES. 

CHICAGO. 

FRANCIS  H.  KALES  was  born  in  Broome  county.  New  York,  March  23,  1833.  His  grand- 
father came  from  the  North  of  Ireland  about  the  year  1809,  when  his  father  was  tfiree  years 
of  age.  The  family  soon  after  settled  in  Chenango  county,  New  York,  near  the  place  of  his  birth. 
The  father  of  Mr.  Kales  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  legislature,  and  held  several  offices  of 
trust  in  Chenango  county.  Francis  was  fitted  for  college  at  Oxford  Academy,  in  the  state  of 
New  York,  and  in  1851  entered  the  sophomore  class  of  1854  at  Yale.  Ill  health  obliged  him  to 
give  up  his  college  course,  and  in  1852  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  renowned 
as  a  lawyer  and  orator.  He  completed  his  law  studies  with  Mr.  Dickinson  at  Binghamton,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  New  York  bar  in  May,  1855.  In  the  following  June  he  came  to  Chicago  and 
entered  the  office  of  Higgins,  Beckwith  and  Strother.  He  very  quickly  secured  a  general  prac- 
tice in  the  different  branches  of  the  law.  He  was  associated  for  a  time  with  Norman  Williams, 
and  in  1866  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Beckwith,  Ayer  and  Kales.  In  1873  Judge  Beckwith 
retired  from  the  firm  to  accept  the  position  of  general  solicitor  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Rail- 
road Company,  and  Mr.  Kales  continued  the  partnership  with  Mr.  Ayer  until  that  gentleman 
withdrew  to  become  solicitor  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railway  Company.  Mr.  Kales  then  con- 
tinued his  practice  alone  until  1879,  when  he  formed  a  business  connection  with  Perry  H.  Smith,  Jr. 
In  1863  he  married  the  daughter  of  Doctor  N.  S.  Davis,  the  head  of  the  Chicago  Medical  College, 
and  since  1865  has  resided  on  the  North  Side.  Mr.  Kales'  practice  has  been  very  general  in  its 
scope,  embracing  cases  involving  property,  banking  and  corporation  affairs.  He  has  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  law,  and  has  been  successfully  identified  with  many  of  the  largest  property  liti- 
gations in  Chicago  during  the  last  twenty  years.  He  is  distinguished  for  his  ability  to  analyze 
a  case,  for  untiring  devotion  to  his  client's  cause  and  for  a  quickness  of  perception  that  is  unusual. 
He  has  preeminently  a  judicial  mind.  As  a  speaker  he  is  convincing,  ready  and  not  easily  sur- 
prised, and  is  noted  for  clearness  of  statement  and  facility  of  logical  and  concise  expression.  He 
has  a  high  sense  of  professional  honor,  and  never  knowingly  misstates  a  fact  or  proposition  of  law, 
and.  as  a  consequence,  courts  place  great  reliance  upon  his  arguments. 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


321 


Mr.  Kales  is  recognixed  as  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  at  the  Chicago  bar,  ranking  high  by  rea- 
son of  his  brilliant  legal  talents  and  his  unswerving  integrity.  As  a  man  he  has  the  unbounded 
respect  of  the  community,  and  his  social  qualities  are  highly  appreciated. 

Mr.  Kales  is  a  member  of  the  State  and  Chicago  Bar  Associations.  He  was  appointed  Lin- 
coln Park  commissioner  by  the  governor,  but  has  never  sought  or  held  a  political  office. 


THOMAS  S.  CHARD. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS  SEPTIMUS  CHARD  is  the  youngest  and  seventh  son  of  William  and  Mary  Chard. 
His  parents  came  to  America  from  England  in  1832,  making  their  home  first  in  Cleveland, 
and  then  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  where  their  seventh  son  was  born,  August  15,  1844.  William 
Chard  is  still  remembered  as  an  open-hearted,  hospitable  gentleman,  a  lover  of  jests  and  children, 
active  in  all  civic  and  religious  duties.  He  died  in  the  year  1854,  shortly  after  his  election,  by  a 
large  majority,  to  the  office  of  city  comptroller.  Mary  Chard,  once  Mary  Goodman,  was  a  lady 
of  unusual  attainments.  She  had  been  carefully  educated,  and  her  journal,  wherein  she  sketched 
her  impressions  of  continental  Europe,  while,  as  a  young  lady,  accompanying  her  brother-in-law 
and  her  sister,  Sir  James  and  Lady  Williams,  still  shows  the  accurate  and  intelligent  observation 
which  distinguished  her  through  life.  She  was  especially  marked  by  a  fervid  piety,  and  a  gentle 
dignity  of  character,  which  won  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  her.  Her  family  was  of  Puritan 
origin.  One  of  her  ancestors  distinguished  himself  in  Cromwell's  wars.  Another  lay  in  prison 
for  preaching  the  gospel,  at  the  same  time,  and  near  the  same  place,  with  John  Bunyan.  The 
eloquent  and  learned  Doctor  Staughton,  once  chaplain  of  congress,  came  also  of  this  family. 
Mrs.  Chard  died  in  1854,  illustrating  in  her  death,  as  well  as  her  life,  the  religion  she  professed. 
Thomas,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  thus  bereft  of  his  parents  at  the  early  age  of  ten,  developed 
a  taste  literary  and  poetic,  strong  enough  to  lead  him  from  the  usual  out-door  life  of  a  boy  to  the 
companionship  of  books,  and  for  the  next  five  years  he  was  a  constant  and  studious  reader. 
The  year  1855  he  spent  in  Canton,  Ohio,  where  he  attended  the  high  school ;  then  two  years  in 
Buffalo  at  school ;  then  nearly  two  years  in  Clarence,  New  York,  where  he  attended  the  classical 
academy. 

Failing  health  forbade  a  collegiate  course,  and  returning  to  Buffalo  he  found  employment 
in  the  banking  and  transportation  business  until  the  spring  of  1864,  when,  on  invitation  of 
F.  A.  Howe,  junior,  he  came  to  Chicago  to  enter  the  office  of  that  gentleman.  Then  followed 
miscellaneous  employments  until  1867,  when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Lumberman's  Insur- 
ance Company,  of  which  his  uncle,  Thomas  Goodman,  was  president.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  his  career  as  a  fire  underwriter.  In  1870  Mr.  Chard  accepted  the  appointment  of  special  agent 
for  the  western  states  of  the  Fireman's  Fund  and  Union  Insurance  Companies,  two  strong  Cali- 
fornia corporations,  and  at  once  began  the  work  of  planting  agencies  for  them  throughout  this 
field. 

Mr.  Chard  was  in  Louisville  the  Saturday  night  before  the  great  fire  in  Chicago,  and  learning 
of  the  first  fire,  which  preceded  the  memorable  one,  hastened  to  the  city  only  to  learn  that  it  was 
already  half  destroyed.  A  hasty  calculation  showed  him  that  his  companies  must  have  lost  some- 
thing more  than  a  million  dollars,  but,  knowing  his  companies,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  assuring 
the  people  that  every  dollar  would  be  paid.  Subsequent  events  justified  this  confident  state- 
ment. 

In  1872  the  Fireman's  Fund  Insurance  Company  established  an  independent  western  depart- 
ment in  Chicago,  and  placed  Mr.  Chard  in  charge  as  manager.~_  The  business  was  rapidly  and 
successfully  developed  by  the  young  manager,  then  only  in  his  twenty-seventh  year,  and  in  1875 
he  was  invited  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  was  received  with  great  hospitality.  He  returned  to 
Chicago,  after  visiting  the  Yosemite  and  other  natural  wonders  of  the  state.  In  1876  Mr.  Chard's 


322  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

first  wife  died.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Cromwell  Chase,  of  Galena,  Illinois.  That  year  the  Fire- 
man's Fund  Insurance  Company  closed  its  eastern  department,  and  consolidated  all  of  its  eastern 
interests  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Chard  at  Chicago.  October  4,  1877,  Mr.  Chard  married  Adeline 
Peabody  Whitney,  at  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  daughter  of  an  old  and  respected  New  England 
family. 

In  1880  he  again  visited  California,  and  in  September  of  that  year,  became  manager  for  the 
Union  Insurance  Company  of  San  Francisco,  of  their  interests  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In 
1882,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Chard,  he  visited  his  English  relatives,  and  made  the  tour  of  Ger- 
many, Switzerland  and  France. 

Mr.  Chard  is  of  a  fine,  nervous  sanguine  temperament,  with  a  studious,  analytic  and  poetic 
tendency  of  mind.  In  1869  he  presented  his  friends  with  a  small  volume  of  his  poems,  and  in 
1874  duplicated  it  by  another,  entitled,  "Across  the  Sea,"  both  of  which  met  with  a  very  flatter- 
ing reception  at  the  hands  of  the  public.  Absorbing  business  cares  have  since  then  prevented 
further  ventures.  In  religious  matters  Mr.  Chard  is  a  Presbyterian,  though  indifferent  to  the  nice 
distinctions  of  creeds.  He  is  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Professor  Swing,  and  joined  him  in  the 
organization  of  the  Independent  Church  at  McVicker's  Theater,  taking  the  office  of  deacon. 
Since  the  removal  to  Central  Music  Hall,  however,  he  has  returned  to  the  Fourth  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  resumed  his  standing  there.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican. 

There  is  no  more  popular  or  successful  underwriter  in  the  West  than  Thomas  S.  Chard.  He 
is  through  and  through  an  insurance  man,  and  finds  both  his  interest  and  pleasure  in  his  busi- 
ness. He  has  occupied  important  positions  in  the  national  councils  of  underwriters,  and  takes  a 
deep  interest  in  whatever  tends  to  elevate  and  dignify  his  chosen  profession. 


JOHN    B.    CUMMINGS. 

BUSH  NELL. 

JOHN  BOWMAN  CUMMINGS,  the  pioneer  banker  in  Bushnell,  is  a  son  of  James  Cummings, 
a  merchant,  farmer,  etc.,  and  Rachel  (Hall)  Cummings,  and  was  born  in  Cecil  county,  Mary- 
land, January  17,  1824.  Both  parents  were  also  natives  of  that  state.  John  Cummings,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  from  Scotland.  The  grandson  received  a  good  English  education 
in  Maryland  and  Ohio,  moving  to  the  latter  state  in  1837,  soon  after  losing  his  father,  and  remain- 
ing there  three  years.  While  there  he  was  initiated  into  the  art  of  selling  goods. 

In  1840  he  went  to  Centerville,  Butler  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  held  the  situation  of 
clerk  in  a  store  until  1851,  when  he  came  to  Macomb,  in  this  (McDonough)  county.  The  next 
year  he  moved  to  Hancock  county,  and  was  there  and  at  Pontoosuc  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits until  1854,  when  he  returned  to  Macomb,  and  continued  the  same  business.  In  1861  Mr. 
Cummings  was  elected  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  and  held  that  office  four  years,  faithfully  dis- 
charging its  duties. 

In  the  spring  of  1865,  Mr.  Cummings  settled  in  Bushnell,  twelve  miles  northeast  of  Macomb, 
in  the  same  county,  and  started  a  private  bank,  in  company  with  Charles  Chandler,  who  remained 
at  Macomb.  Mr.  Cummings  had  its  entire  management,  and  was  the  first  banker  in  this  place. 
He  made  a  success  of  the  enterprise.  In  1871  the  bank  was  changed  to  the  Farmers'  National 
Bank  of  Bushnell,  and  Mr.  Cummings  was  elected  its  cashier,  a  position  which  he  still  holds.  He 
is  one  of  the  best  financiers  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  a  discreet  and  prudent  manager. 

Mr.  Cummings  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Bushnell  Fire-clay  Tile  and  Brick  Company,  and  takes 
a  good  deal  of  interest  in  building  up  local  enterprises.  When,  in  1868,  Bushnell  received  a  city 
charter,  Mr.  Cummings  was  elected  the  first  mayor,  and  he  has  since  held  that  office  two  or  three 
terms,  making  an  excellent  executive  officer.  He  has  also  been  an  alderman  three  or  four  terms, 
and  has  served  more  or  less  on  the  board  of  education. 

Mr.  Cummings  is  a  republican,  and  in  1878  was  a  candidate  for  nomination  for  state  treasurer, 


UN 1 TED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


323 


an  office  for  which  he  has  peculiar  fitness,  but  he  was  unsuccessful.  Years  ago  he  was  quite  active 
in  politics,  and  is  well  known  among  the  party  leaders  in  Illinois.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason; 
has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  subordinate  lodge  and  encampments  of  Odd-Fellowship,  and 
represented  the  encampment  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Cummings  was  first  married  in  1848,  to  Miss  Evaline  W.  Pearson,  of  Centerville,  Pennsyl- 
vania. She  died  in  1862,  leaving  six  children,  five  of  them  yet  living:  Clarence  P.,  a  stock  raiser 
in  Colorado;  Leonidas  B.,  a  tile  manufacturer  in  Bushnell;  James  E.,  one  of  the  publishers  of 
the  "Gleaner,"  Bushnell;  Charles  C.,  a  stockholder  and  secretary  of  the  Bushnell  Fire-clay  Tile 
and  Brick  Company,  and  Eva,  wife  of  C.  W.  Dickerson,  of  Chicago.  The  second  and  third  sons, 
mentioned  above,  are  also  married.  Mr.  Cummings  was  married  the  second  time  in  1864,  to  Mrs. 
Mary  E.  (Parkinson)  Chambers,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  has  by  her  one  son,  Willie  C.,  who 
is  attending  school. 

Mr.  Cummings  is  an  elder  in  the  Reformed  Church,  and  a  man  of  unquestioned  purity  of  life. 
No  city  can  have  too  large  a  per  cent  of  this  class  of  citizens.  The  youngest  brother  of  our  sub- 
ject, Jesse  Henry  Cummings,  .is  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Macomb.  He  was  born  in 
the  same  town  with  John  B.;  had  a  good  business  education;  came  to  this  county  about  1856; 
has  been  a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Macomb;  is  a  first-class  accountant,  and  has  been  con- 
nected with  the  banking  business  since  1861.  He  has  a  wife  and  three  children. 


o 


TIMOTHY  ROGERS. 

QUINCY. 

NE  of  the  best  known  men  in  Adams  county,  is  Timothy  Rogers,  many  years  a  prominent 
wagon  and  plow  manufacturer  in  Quincy,  and  latterly  a  farmer  and  hotel  keeper.  He  was 
born  in  Tolland  county,  Connecticut,  November  15,  1809,  being  a  son  of  Lee  Lay  Rogers,  and 
Rhoda  (Dinrock)  Rogers.  His  grandfather,  Nathaniel  Rogers,  was  a  member  of  the  continental 
army,  and  a  descendant  of  James  Rogers,  a  relative  of  John  Rogers,  of  martyr  fame,  and  a  pio- 
neer at  New  London.  James  Rogers  was  a  Baptist  minister,  and  shared  in  the  persecutions  of 
that  day.  Rhoda  (Dinrock)  Rogers  was  a  native  of  South  Coventry,  Connecticut. 

Timothy  received  his  mental  drill  in  the  free  schools  of  his  native  state,  learned  the  wagon- 
maker's  trade  at  Manchester,  Connecticut;  married  Miss  Dorothy  Billings,  of  Tolland  county, 
September  6,  1832;  soon  afterward  went  into  business  for  himself,  and  in  1838  came  to  Quincy, 
and  commenced  the  manufacture  of  wagons,  buggies  and  plows,  being  very  successful  in  his  busi- 
ness, turning  it  over  to  two  of  his  sons  several  years  ago.  In  1860  Mr.  Rogers  commenced  keep- 
ing a  hotel,  the  Hess  House,  which  property  had  fallen  into  his  hands.  Afterward  it  took  the 
name  of  Adams  House,  which  was  rented  for  seven  years.  When  he  took  it  into  his  own  hands 
again  he  called  it  the  Occidental  House,  which  is  a  popular  farmer's  hotel. 

In  1876  Mr.  Rogers  built  his  family  tomb,  an  elegant  marble  structure,  eclipsing  everything 
of  the  kind  in  Woodland  Cemetery.  It  was  brought  from  Burlington,  Vermont,  in  a  completed 
state,  and  it  took  thirteen  cars  to  bring  it  to  this  city.  The  pieces  which  form  the  front  of  the  sep- 
ulcher  are  from  five  to  six  feet  in  thickness.  Nearly  all  of  them  on  the  front  elevation  are  hand- 
somely carved,  bearing  emblems,  devices,  etc.,  with  the  name  T.  Rogers  cut  in  relief  over  the 
entrance,  chiseled  and  bronzed  in  gold.  The  lot  on  which  this  vault  stands  is  forty  by  sixty  feet, 
and  the  vault  itself  is  forty  feet  wide  and  forty  feet  high,  being  one  of  the  finest  structures  of  the 
kind  in  the  state.  In  it  are  one  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  arched  brick.  It  has  places  for  one 
hundred  and  twelve  caskets,  and  among  the  remains  deposited  there  are  those  of  his  mother,  a 
sister,  an  infant  child,  his  son,  William  T.  who  died  in  1880,  and  one  or  two  grandchildren. 

A  few  years  ago  Mr.  Rogers  had  a  large  quantity  of  land  fall  into  his  hands  by  loaning 
money,  and  about  the  close  of  the  centennial  year  he  commenced  improving  part  of  it  himself, 
selling  the  rest.  He  has  a  farm  of  about  eleven  hundred  acres,  fourteen  miles  from  Quincy, 


324  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

which  he  keeps  well  fenced,  well  stocked,  and  under  good  improvement,  spending  a  portion  of 
his  time  there,  and  evidently  enjoying  himself  very  much.  Since  1865,  when  two  of  his  sons,  Will- 
iam T.  and  Edward  A.  took  charge  of  the  manufactory,  he  has  taken  the  world  very  comforta- 
bly, having  just  care  and  exercise  enough  to  keep  him  in  good  health  and  prime  spirits.  The 
son's  death  in  1880  was  a  sad  event  to  the  old  gentleman,  for  William  T.  Rogers  was  a  dutiful 
son,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Quincy,  and  mayor  in  1878.  His  associate  in  business,  Edward  A. 
Rogers,  now  carrying  on  the  manufactory  alone,  is  a  first-class  business  man,  and  a  member,  with 
his  wife,  of  the  Baptist  church.  Thaddeus  Rogers,  the  other  son,  and  only  other  child  living,  is 
a  bookseller  and  stationer,  proprietor  of  the  "Daily  News,"  and  one  of  the  aldermen  of  the  city. 
Our  subject  once  held  the  same  office;  and  twice  was  nominated  by  his  friends  for  mayor,  but  he 
would  not  leave  a  cent  at  a  saloon  to  help  his  cause,  nor  take  any  mean  step  to  gain  votes,  and, 
being  a  republican  in  a  strongly  democratic  city,  he  was  defeated  both  times.  Mr.  Rogers  is  not 
a  man  to  cater  to  the  brutal  instincts  of  a  fellow  man  for  the  sake  of  popularity. 


JOHN    VAN    ARMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  enjoys  a  deservedly 
high  reputation  as  a  criminal  lawyer,  yet  probably  nine-tenths  of  his  legal  business  is  in  the 
civil  courts.  He  has,  however,  in  the  last  thirty  years  been  engaged  in  a  large  number  of  impor- 
tant criminal  cases,  which  have  attracted  much  attention,  and  in  which  he  gained  great  distinc- 
tion as  an  advocate.  Mr.  Van  Arman  was  born  at  Plattsburgh,  Clinton  county,  New  York,  March 
3,  1820,  his  parents  being  John  and  Tamar  (Dewey)  Van  Arman.  He  is  of  Holland  descent  on 
his  father's  side,  and  French  on  his  mother's.  His  paternal  grandfather,  John  Van  Arman,  came 
from  the  old  country  before  the  American  revolution;  settled  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  and  lived  to 
be  a  hundred  years  old.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  for  nearly  fifty  years  a  lumberman  on 
Lake  Champlain  and  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Sorel  rivers,  and  died  from  the  effects  of  an  accident 
at  ninety-seven  years  of  age.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Bennington,  being  in  his  sixteenth  year. 
The  maternal  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  a  soldier  in  France  and  the  West  Indies,  and  a  son 
of  his  fought  under  General  Scott  at  Lundy's  Lane. 

John  Van  Arman  was  the  youngest  child  in  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  and  losing  his 
mother  when  five  years  old,  the  family  became  scattered,  and  John  went  to  live  with  a  farmer, 
named  Luther  Stearns.  The  two  did  not  get  along  very  amicably  together,  and  before  John  had 
reached  his  twelfth  year,  without  the  consent  of  anybody  but  himself,  he  suddenly  dissolved  the 
partnership.  He  continued  to  work  by  the  month  or  day  at  anything  which  turned  up,  until  fif- 
teen years  of  age,  when,  by  dint  of  self-instruction,  he  had  prepared  himself  to  teach  a  district 
school.  The  vocation  of  a  teacher  he  followed  during  the  winter  season,  until  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Meantime,  by  the  aid  of  a  classical  teacher,  he  acquired  at  Plattsburgh  acid  Chazy  Village  a 
good  knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  some  knowledge  of  the  Greek  languages.  Mr.  Van  Arman  com- 
menced the  study  of  law  at  Plattsburgh,  under  William  Swetland,  and  finished  at  Troy,  under 
George  Gould,  afterward  judge  of  the  court  of  appeals.  He  went  to  New  York  city,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  immediately  came  westward,  as  far  as  Michigan,  and  settled  in  Mar- 
shall. There  he  practiced  until  1858,  when  he  removed  to  Chicago. 

Mr.  Van  Arman  was  first  brought  info  public  notice  as  a  lawyer  in  1851,  when  he  was 
employed  by  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  Company  in  the  great  railroad  conspiracy  case,  as  it 
was  called,  when  forty  men  were  tried  for  repeatedly  throwing  the  cars  off  the  track,  burning 
depots,  etc.  James  A.  Van  Dyke  and  Mr.  Van  Arman  had  control  of  the  case  for  the  prosecu- 
tion, with  several  other  lawyers  as  assistants,  and  Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  and  perhaps  a  dozen 
others  for  defendants.  The  trial  lasted  four  months;  twelve  persons  were  convicted  and  sent  to 
the  penitentiary,  and  three  others,  under  trial,  died  before  it  ended.  It  was  a  severe  test  of  physi- 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


.V7'.  /  /'A'.V   RfOGK.ir/f/C,IL    tt/CTfO.\'.IKY. 

t-al  endurance,  and  Mr.  Van  Dyke  (lied  only  a  short  time  afterward,  and  it  was  believed  by  some 
of  his  associates  in  the  trial,  that  his  death  was  caused  by  over  exertion  on.  that  memorable  occa- 
sion. Mr.  Van  Arman  stood  up  heroically  through  it  all,  and  his  two  days'  speech  made  on  that 
occasion,  may  be  found  in  the  history  of  that  trial,  which  made  a  volume  of  seven  hundred  or 
eight  hundred  pages. 

In  1858  Mr.  Van  Arman  settled  in  Chicago,  and  Was  of  the  firm  of  Walker,  Van  Arman  and 
Dexter,  until  1862,  when  he  raised  a  regiment  of  infantry,  the  127111  Illinois,  went  into  the  field 
and  remained  about  a  year,  when,  his  health  having  failed,  he  resigned.  He  traveled  a  while  for 
his  benefit,  and  in  the  course  of  a  year  and  a  half  or  two  years,  he  resumed  his  practice  in  this 
city.  He  is  of  the  firm  of  Van  Arman  and  Gordon,  his  partner  being  A.  H.  Gordon. 

Since  becoming  a  resident  of  Chicago,  Mr.  Van  Arman  has  been  engaged  in  several  noted 
criminal  trials,  but  we  shall  mention  only  three  or  four.  One  of  them  was  that  of  Jamperts. 
accused  of  murdering  his  mistress,  and  known  as  the  barrel  case,  because  the  remains  of  the 
woman  were  packed  in  a  barrel.  Mr.  Van  Arman  was  counsel  for  the  defense  and  cleared  Jam- 
perts on  the  second  trial.  Another  was  the  Burch  divorce  case,  in  which  our  subject  was  attor- 
ney for  the  plaintiff,  and  which  case  he  ultimately  won.  Still  another  was  the  case  of  Vanderpool, 
tried  for  the  murder  of  Field.  Mr.  Vanderpool  had  been  tried  and  convicted  in  Michigan,  and 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life,  but  on  a  second  trial  the  jury  could  not  agree,  and  on  a  third 
"he  was  acquitted.  At  the  close  of  the  second  trial,  it  was  so  plain  to  Mr.  Van  Arman  what  the 
result  would  be  that  he  took  no  part  in  it. 

Our  subject  has  been  employed  in  many  other  criminal  trials,  in  which  he  has  acquitted  him- 
self with  great  honor,  and  which  have  extended  his  reputation  as  an  attorney  and  advocate. 
Many  of  the  speeches  made  by  Mr.  Van  Arman  before  a  jury  have  been  published,  and  most  of 
them  are  marked  by  great  strength  of  logic. 

Mr.  Van  Arman  was  attorney  for  four  years  for  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad 
Company,  but  has  never,  we  believe,  held  a  political  office  of  any  kind.  In  the  days  when  Michi- 
gan was  a  democratic  state,  he  was  repeatedly  urged  to  accept  a  nomination  for  congress,  but  he 
steadfastly  refused  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  his  then  political  confreres.  He  left  the  demo- 
cratic party  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war. 

Mr.  Van  Arman  was  joined  in  wedlock  in  March,  1841,  with  Miss  Amanda  Convis,  daughter  of 
General  Ezra  Convis,  speaker  of  the  Michigan  house  of  representatives  at  the  time  of  his  death 
in  1837,  and  they  have  had  three  children,  only  one  of  them,  Helen  Z.,  the  wife  of  James  Bradish 
of  Colorado,  now  living.  Mrs.  Van  Arman  has  a  good  deal  of  artistic  taste,  and  amuses  herself 
more  or  less  in  landscape  and  other  painting.  Her  works  show  decided  talent  in  that  direction. 


WILLIAM   OGLE. 

TOULON. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  is  one  of  the  very  oldest  settlers  in  what  is 
now  known  as  Stark  county,  and  which  Was  formerly  a  part  of  Putnam  county.  He  came 
here  in  the  spring  of  1836,  when  there  were  but  few  families  in  the  county,  and  when  there  were 
a  thousand  deer,  wolves  and  wild  turkeys  to  one  man.  Wild  land  was  so  abundant  and  cheap 
that  it  seemed  like  wasteful  extravagance  for  any  man  to  gormandize  more  than  a  few  hundred 
acres,  as  the  taxes  might  some  day  become  heavy.  Mr.  Ogle  commenced  with  a  quarter  section, 
three  miles  south  of  where  Toulon  now  stands,  to  which  land  he  added  from  time  to  time,  as  his 
courage  and  coffers  increased,  until,  eventually,  he  had  from  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand 
acres.  He  farmed  until  the  autumn  of  1856,  when  he  moved  into  town,  and  has  since  made  his 
home  at  the  county  seat.  Meantime  he  seems  to  be  disposed  to  let  the  world  do  its  own  fretting, 
getting  no  aid  or  encouragement  from  him. 

William  Ogle,  born  in  Butler  county,  Ohio,  November  17,   1810,  is  a  son  of  William  Ogle,  Sr., 
33 


328  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

and  Mary  (Erwin)  Ogle,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  Ogle,  a  revolutionary  patriot,  who  died 
in  Dauphin  county,  Pennsylvania,  a  little  before  the  close  of  the  last  century.  Soon  after  his 
death  his  son  William  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania  to  Butler  county,  Ohio,  where  he  reared 
a  family  of  eleven  children,  our  subject  being  the  fourth  child  and  third  son.  Mary  Erwin  was 
born  near  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  Both  parents  died  in  Butler  county. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  receiving  a  fair  English  education 
in  the  district  schools  of  his  native  county.  Before  leaving  Ohio,  in  August,  1835,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Lucretia  H.  Butler,  a  native  of  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  and  the  next  October  he 
brought  his  young  bride  to  Pekin,  this  state,  reaching  Stark  county,  April  17,  1836.  They  have 
three  children,  Emily  B.,  formerly  the  wife  of  Doctor  Culbertson,  of  Toulon  ;  John  H.,  a  farmer, 
adjoining  the  homestead  on  which  he  was  born,  and  Laura,  the  wife  of  Doctor  Bacmeister,  of 
Toulon. 

Mr.  Ogle  was  the  first  probate  justice  of  Stark  county,  and  when  Toulon  was  laid  out  he  was 
one  of  the  county  commissioners.  He  held  that  office  when  the  first  court  house  was  built,  but 
has  never  been  an  office  seeker.  He  is  a  Master  Mason,  but  of  late  years  has  not  met  with  any 
lodge.  He  is  a  well  informed  man,  free  and  pleasant  in  conversation,  and  quite  entertaining  in 
his  reminiscences  of  early  days  in  Illinois. 


SAMUEL  H.   PETEFISH. 

VIRGINIA. 

SAMUEL  HENRY  PETEFIS.H,  a  leading  banker  in  Cass  county,  and  one  of  the  early  settlers 
in  this  part  of  the  state,  is  a  native  of  Rockingham  county,  Virginia,  and  was  born  April  30, 
1824.  His  grandfather  was  Christian  Petefish,  a  Hessian  soldier,  who  came  to  this  country  to 
serve  for  King  George,  but  deserted  the  English  army,  fought  for  the  independence  of  the  colo- 
nies, and  remained  in  this  country,  settling  in  Virginia.  He  raised  a  family  of  five  children,  four 
of  them  sons.  Jacob,  the  fourth  child  and  youngest  son,  was  the  father  of  our  subject.  He  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Price,  and  they  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  six  sons  and  four  daughters,  our  sub- 
ject being  the  third  son.  Jacob  Petefish  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Cass,  then  a  part  of  Morgau 
county,  in  1835,  and  settled  on  the  three-mile  strip,  six  miles  from  the  village  of  Virginia,  where 
he  died  in  1849.  The  widow  died  in  1854. 

Samuel  was  eleven  years  old  when  he  came  into  this  state,  and  he  here  finished  his  education 
in  a  country  school,  such  as  this  part  of  the  state  afforded  forty-five  and  fifty  years  ago.  His 
knowledge  beyond  the  rudimentary  branches  was  very  limited,  but  with  some  ambition,  and  him- 
self for  tutor,  in  the  end  he  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  mathematics  and  some  inkling  of 
English  grammar.  He  has  been  a  farmer  all  his  life,  and  became  a  stock  dealer  for  his  father 
before  he  had  passed  out  of  his  teens.  In  early  life  he  was  diligent  at  the  plow,  and  has  in  fact 
been  diligent  at  every  kind  of  business  in  which  he  has  engaged.  Great  success  has  attended 
his  industry.  He  has  a  farm  of  560  acres  south  of  town;  another  adjoining  that  one  of  160  acres; 
other  lands  in  Cass  county,  timbered  land  in  Morgan  county,  and  partially  improved  lands  in 
Iowa  and  Kansas. 

In  1867  Mr.  Petefish  moved  into  the  village  of  Virginia,  and  August  i,  1870,  commenced  bank- 
ing, he  being  of  the  firm  of  Petefish,  Skiles  and  Company.  He  is  also  interested  in  two  other 
banking  houses,  those  of  Petefish,  Skiles  and  Mertz,  Chandlersville,  and  Skiles,  Rearick  and 
Company,  Ashland,  both  in  Cass  county.  These  are  all  good,  sound  institutions,  and  doing  well. 
The  first  named  bank  has  had  several  changes  since  the  original  firm  was  organized,  including 
the  death  of  Ignatius  Skiles  in  1873,  and  the  substitution  of  Oswell  Skiles  in  his  place  in  1875. 
The  firm  is  now  composed  of  the  following  gentlemen:  S.  H.  Petefish,  O.  Skiles,  Edward  T.  Oli- 
ver, William  Campbell  and  George  Conover,  all  men  of  good,  stiff  financial  backbone.  As  a 
banker  Mr.  Petefish  is  well  and  favorably  known  all  over  this  part  of  the  country. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRA  THICA  I.   DICTIONARY. 


329 


Mr.  Petefish  was  a  school  director  part  of  the  time  while  on  the  farm,  and  has  served  a  short 
time  in  the  town  board  of  trustees  since  moving  into  Virginia,  but  he  has  never  had  any  leanings 
toward  official  honors. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Petefish  was  Nancy  M.  Hudson,  daughter  of  Peter  and  Melinda  (Hoffman) 
Hudson,  their  marriage  being  dated  March  18,  1848.  They  have  had  eight  .children,  only  two  of 
them  now  living:  Mary  E.,  who  is  the  wife  of  E.  D.  C.  Woodward,  of  Virginia,  and  Louis,  who 
is  at  home.  One  son,  Henry  T.,  was  lost  at  twelve  years  of  age  by  the  burning  of  the  steamer 
Ocean  Spray,  near  Saint  Louis,  in  1858. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  brief  sketch  that  Mr.  Petefish  is  a  marked  success  as  a  business  man. 
From  a  stock  dealer  in  youth  to  a  banker  in  later  life,  to  whatever  plow  he  has  put  his  hands,  he 
seems  to  have  made  it  a  rule  to  look  straight  forward  and  push  on.  And  for  his  perseverance  he 
has  had  liberal  compensation  in  the  accumulation  of  this  world's  goods. 


COLONEL  CHARLES  CHANDLER. 

MA  COMB. 

CHANDLER,  lately  deceased,  and  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  successful 
business  men  that  has  ever  lived  in  Macomb,  was  a  son  of  James  and  Abigail  (Vilas)  Chand- 
ler, and  was  born  in  Alstead,  Cheshire  county,  New  Hampshire,  August  28,  1809.  His  father  was 
also  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  his  mother  of  Massachusetts.  Both  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  the 
mother  dying  in  1854,  aged  seventy-nine  years,  the  father  in  1857,  aged  eighty-six  years.  James 
Chandler  was  a  farmer,  and  reared  his  son  to  habits  of  industry,  giving  him  an  opportunity  to 
develop  his  muscle  in  tilling  the  hard  soil  of  New  England,  and  his  mind  to  some  extent  in  a  dis- 
trict school  during  the  winter  season.  At  nineteen,  by  consent  of  his  parents,  he  went  to  Boston, 
and  spent  two  years  in  learning  to  sell  merchandise;  then  returned  home,  and  at  the  end  of 
another  year  started  for  the  West,  halting  two  years  in  Cincinnati.  In  the  spring  of  1834  he  made 
his  appearance,  in  Macomb,  the  future  field  of  his  enterprise.  His  older  brother,  Thompson 
Chandler,  reached  here  a  few  months  earlier,  and  is  still  living  in  Macomb,  where  he  has  made  a 
highly  honorable  record  as  a  business  man,  countv  judge,  member  of  the  supervisors'  court,  etc. 

Our  subject  began  business  here  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  of  which  his  brother  was  part  owner,  and 
in  two  years  began  to  sell  goods  for  himself.  At  the  end  of  three  years,  seeing,  as  he  rightly 
thought,  a  good  opportunity  to  speculate  in  land,  he  changed  his  business  to  real  estate,  in  which 
he  was  very  successful.  He  bought  land  at  very  low  figures;  it  rose  gradually,  sometimes  rapidly, 
on  his  hands,  and  in  a  few  years  he  was  the  owner  of  extensive  tracts,  which  the  advent  of  rail- 
roads and  other  causes  made  very  valuable.  In  making  his  purchases  of  real  estate  he  showed 
great  foresight  and  judgment,  and  hence  his  grand  success. 

In  1858  Mr.  Chandler  became  a  banker,  and  continued  that  business  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  December  26,  1878.  He  was  a  private  banker  until  1865,  when  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Macomb  was  organized,  and  he  became  its  president.  He  managed  it  with  great  care  and 
ability,  placing  it  on  a  solid  basis,  second  to  that  of  no  other  institution  of  the  kind  in  this  part 
of  the  state. 

Mr.  Chandler  aided  also  in  1865  in  establishing  a  private  bank  at  Bushnell,  which  was  changed 
to  the  Farmers'  National  Bank,  and  he  continued  one  of  its  largest  stockholders  and  directors 
until  his  death. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  a  republican  of  whig  antecedents,  and  always  took  great  interest  in  politics, 
although  he  did  not  seek  office  for  himself.  He  was,  however,  coroner  for  two  years,  a  county 
school  commissioiler  four  years,  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  long  time,  alderman  two  or  three 
years,  and  mayor  one  term.  He  was  a  true  lover  of  his  country,  and  during  the  civil  war  gave 
both  time  and  money  to  help  on  the  cause  of  the  Union.  Too  old  to  go  into  the  service  himself, 
he  did  much  to  encourage  others  to  enlist,  and  was  so  active  and  efficient  that  Governor  Yates 


;^o  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

o  o 

commissioned  him  colonel  of  the  state  militia,  authorizing  him  to  raise  a  regiment  for  home 
service. 

For  some  years  before  his  demise  Colonel  Chandler  was  accustomed  to  spend  his  winters  in  a 
warmer  climate  —  Florida  and  other  gulf  states,  Central  America,  Mexico,  South  .America,  etc. 
He  was  a  man  of  varied  and  extensive  knowledge,  and  an  interesting  converser. 

He  was  married  December  15,  1836,  to  Miss  Sarah  K.  Cheatham,  of  Macomb,  and  she  died  in 
1855,  leaving  three  children,  four  having  preceded  her  to  the  spirit  world.  She  was  an  excellent 
wife  and  mother  and  an  active  Christian  till  her  death.  The  three  living  children  are  Martha 
Abigail,  married  to  Henry  C.  Twyman,  merchant,  Macomb;  Charles  Vilasco,  president  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  Macomb,  and  James  Edgar,  vice-president  of  the  Farmers'  National  Bank 
of  Bushnell. 

Charles  V.  Chandler  is  regarded  as  the  best  business  man  of  his  age  in  Macomb.  He  was  born 
January  25,  1843;  received  an  academic  education;  was  adjutant  of  the  78th  Illinois  infantry; 
held  the  office  of  city  treasurer  for  fourteen  years;  has  held  other  city  offices;  was  assistant  cashier 
of  the  First  National  before  his  father's  death;  is  now  its  president,  and  is  managing  its  business 
with  marked  ability.  He  married  Miss  Clara  A.  Baker,  daughter  of  Judge  J.  H.  Baker,  August 
28,  1866,  and  they  have  five  children. 

A  writer  in  the  "History  of  McDonough  County"  thus  speaks  of  Colonel  Charles  Chandler: 

"  In  personal  appearance  he  was  a  model  of  neatness,  with  a  face  smoothly  shaven,  and  wear- 
ing apparel  always  in  good  taste.  In  the  family  circle  he  was  always  kind  and  indulgent  to  his 
children  and  grandchildren,  treating  them  with  the  tenderness  that  begot  love  in  their  hearts. 
In  public  he  pursued  the  same  course,  treating  all  with  kind  consideration." 

The  older  residents  of  this  city,  with  whom  the  writer  of  this  sketch  has  conversed,  speak  of 
our  subject  with  the  tenderness  of  a  brother,  they  regarding  him  as  a  model  business  man  and  an 
unusually  kind  neighbor. 


W 


HON.  WILLIAM  W.  WRIGHT. 

TO  ULON. 
7ILLIAM    WILBERFORCE    WRIGHT,  son    of   William    Wilberforce    Wright,  Sr.,  and 


Anne  Matilda  (Creighton)  Wright,  was  born  in  Canton,  Fulton  county,  Illinois,  Septem- 
ber 10,  1842.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  and  belonged  to  a  family 
which  settled  in  New  England  in  1665,  and  some  of  whose  members  participated  in  the  struggle 
for  independence.  His  grandfather,  Boyd  Wright,  was  an  old  abolitionist,  as  was  also  his  mater- 
nal grandfather,  John  Creighton.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Scotch-Irish,  coming  to  this 
country  from  the  county  of  Cavan,  Ireland.  William  finished  his  education  at  the  Galva  high 
school,  farmed  with  his  father  near  Toulon,  till  of  age;  commenced  the  study  of  law  at  Toulon 
with  Hon.  Miles  A.  Fuller  in  1862;  went  into  the  army  in  the  summer  of  1864  in  the  I3pth  Illinois 
infantry,  a  hundred  days  regiment,  and  served  nearly- six  months.  His  father  and  his  brother 
Curtis  enlisted  in  1862,  and  the  former  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Resaca,  Georgia,  May, 
1864,  and  died  of  his  wounds  the  next  month  at  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

On  his  return  to  Illinois,  Mr.  Wright  finished  his  legal  studies,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
a  term  of  the  supreme  court,  held  at  Mount  Vernon,  November,  1866,  and  since  that  date  he  has 
been  in  practice  at  Toulon.  An  intimate  acquaintance  of  his  states  that  he  is  a  well  read  lawyer 
and  studious  in  his  profession,  without  show,  but  solid  and  reliable.  He  is  faithful  to  his  clients, 
and  true  to  any  good  cause  which  he  espouses,  whether  in  his  profession  or  outside  of  it. 

Mr.  Wright  was  elected  judge  of  the  county  of  Stark  in  1873,  and  by  repeated  reelections  has 
held  that  office  for  ten  consecutive  years.  The  present  term,  for  which  he  was  elected  in  Novem- 
ber, 1882,  will  expire  in  1886.  He  is  punctual  in  attending  to  probate  and  other  business,  and 
irreproachable  in  his  judicial  character.  No  county  official  has  a  purer  record. 

Judge  Wright  was  master  in  chancery  for  Stark  county  from  1868  to  1873.  His  politics  are 
republican,  and  he  has  a  good  deal  of  influence  in  the  county. 


r \ITKD    STATES  ftfOGKA PIIICAL   DICTIONARY. 


331 


The  judge  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  has  held  different  offices  in  that 
body.  For  some  years  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school.  In  his  legal  profession,  and 
in  all  the  relations  of  life,  he  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  man  of  the  strictest  integrity,  and  of  the 
noblest  instincts. 

Judge  Wright  was  married  May  19,  1875,  to  Mary  H.,  daughter  of  Hon.  Joel  W.  Hopkins,  of 
Granville,  Putnam  count}',  Illinois,  and  they  have  had  three  children,  burying  one  of  them  in 
infancy.  The  living  are  Eleanor  Matilda,  and  William  Wilberforce. 


BENJAMIN  TURNER. 

TOULON. 

AMONG  the  early  men  to  pitch  their  tent  for  life  in  Stark  county,  this  state,  is  Benjamin  Turn- 
er, a  thrifty  farmer,  still  in  prime  health  for  a  man  who  has  passed  his  seventy-fifth  year.  He 
hails  from  Kent  county,  Delaware,  and  was  born  in  Milford,  December  n,  1807,  the  son  of  Reuben 
and  Sarah  (Hayes)  Turner,  both  also  natives  of  that  state.  Benjamin  had  a  fair  business  educa- 
tion, and  in  1834  emigrated  from  Delaware  to  Richland  county  (now  Ashland),  Ohio,  settling  in 
the  town  of  Vermilion,  which  a.t  the  suggestion  of  our  subject,  made  at  a  public  meeting,  was 
changed  to  Savannah,  there  being  another  Vermilion  in  the  state.  Reuben  Turner  was  a  hotel 
keeper  in  Ohio,  and  our  subject  was  postmaster  of  Savannah. 

September,  1839,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  McWilliams,  and  April,  1840,  they  came 
into  this  county,  and  halted  at  LaFayette.  In  October,  1841,  our  subject  settled  in  Toulon,  Mr. 
John  Milier  having  preceded  him,  and  was  then  living  in  a  log  house.  Mr.  Turner  built  the  first 
frame  house  here,  and  has  been  an  industrious  farmer  for  forty-two  years,  success  attending  his 
labors.  He  has  four  farms,  all  within  two  miles  of  Toulon,  and  aggregating  600  acres,  largely 
under  fine  improvement.  Mr.  Turner  has  been  postmaster  of  Toulon  at  three  different  periods,  hi 
all  sixteen  years,  and  was  county  treasurer  from  1849  to  1853.  He  has  always  proved  a  faithful 
official,  competent  and  reliable.  He  has  never  voted  any  but  the  democratic  ticket,  and  rarely 
fails  to  get  to  the  polls.  Mr.  Turner  is  the  oldest  Freemason  in  Toulon,  but  has  never  gone 
above  the  third  degree.  Many  years  ago  he  was  also  an  Odd-Fellow. 

His  first  wife  died  in  1856,  and  the  next  year  he  married  Miss  Ruth  A.  Myers,  a  native  of  Lu- 
zerne  county.  Pennsylvania,  and  a  niece  of  the  late  Rev.  George  Peck,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  has  one  daughter  living  by  his  first  wife,  Sarah  H.,  who  is  at  home,  and  one  son  by 
his  present  wife,  Chester  M.,  a  junior  in  Knox  College,  Galesburgh. 

Mr.  Turner  obtained  a  competency  years  ago,  but  he  still  has  an  oversight  of  his  farms,  taking 
upon  him  just  enough  care  and  exercise  to  keep  healthy.  We  cannot  learn  that  he  was  ever 
afraid  of  work,  and  if  indolence  was  in  the  Turner  family,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  inherited  any 
of  it. 


T 


CHARLES  DUNHAM. 

GENESEO. 

HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  descended  from  the  sturdy  and  patriotic  military  stock  of  New 
England,  his  grandfather,  Job  Dunham,  and  two  or  three  brothers  of  Job,  using  their  flint- 
locks on  various  battlefields  of  the  revolution.  The  Dunhams  are  an  old  Massachusetts  family, 
members  of  it  being  still  prominent  there  as  well  as  in  other  states.  Jarvis  N.  Dunham,  a  leading 
insurance  man  and  banker  at  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  Henry  Dunham,  an  attorney  and  politician 
in  Stockbridge,  same  state,  and  R.  W.  Dunham,  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Chicago,  are  cous- 
ins of  our  subject,  who  was  born  at  Savoy,  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  January  24,  1840.  His 
father,  for  whom  he  was  named,  and  who  was  a  farmer,  stock  dealer,  and  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts legislature,  was  born  in  Taunton,  that  state.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 


332  UNITED    STATES   fifOCKA  Pff/CA  L    DICTIONARY. 

Ardelia  Jenks,  was  a  native  of  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  her  family  being  prominent  manufact- 
urers in  that  state.  In  his  fourteenth  year  Charles  came  to  Illinois  with  the  family,  and  has  been 
a  resident  of  Henry  county  since  that  age.  He  finished  his  education  in  Lombard  University, 
Galesburgh,  where  he  spent  four  years,  but  did  not  follow  out  fully  the  college  curriculum,  leav- 
ing on  account  of  ill  health.  While  there  he  taught  school  during  the  winter  for  four  terms,  sup- 
porting himself  during  the  whole  period  that  he  was  pursuing  his  studies. 

He  read  law  in  Geneseo  ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  autumn  of  1862,  and  since  that  date 
has  been  in  practice  at  Geneseo,  the  leading  town  in  Henry  county.  A  gentleman  who  has  often 
heard  Mr.  Dunham  plead,  says  that  he  makes  careful  preparation  ;  that  he  has  a  clear,  clean  cut 
intellect ;  is  a  logical  and  earnest  speaker,  and  has  great  influence  with  a  jury.  He  has  the  lar- 
gest number  of  cases  of  any  man  in  the  county,  and  has  also  a  large  practice  in  other  counties, 
and  in  the  federal  as  well  as  state  courts.  He  has  won  his  way  to  the  front  of  the  bar  of  Henry 
county  by  thorough  discipline  and  development  of  good  natural  talents,  and  by  hard  study. 

Mr.  Dunham  represented  Henry  county  in  the  twenty-eighth  general  assembly,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  committee  for  the  revision  of  the  statutes  in  1874,  the  other  members  being  Clark 
W.  Upton,  John  W.  Rountree,  Milton  Hay,  Charles  B.  Steele  and  H.  B.  Hurd. 

Mr.  Dunham  has  never  voted  any  other  than  the  demo.cratic  ticket,  and  is  very  firm  in  his 
views,  as  well  as  prominent  in  the  party.  He  is  usually  a  delegate  to  the  state  conventions  held 
from  time  to  time  ;  was  a  delegate  to  the  last  two  national  democratic  conventions,  held  in  1876 
and  1880,  and  within  a  few  years  has  twice  been  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  congress  in  the 
old  sixth  district,  which  is  very  strongly  republican. 

He  has  great  power  on  the  platform,  as  well  as  before  a  jury  of  his  peers,  and  is  one  of  the 
ablest  political  speakers  in  his  congressional  district.  He  is  a  Master  Mason,  but  is  not,  we 
believe,  very  active  in  the  lodge.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Farmer's  National  Bank  of  Geneseo. 
Our  subject  was  married  in  March,  1862,  to  Miss  Caroline  O.  Laring,  daughter  of  John  H.  Laring, 
a'nd  they  have  one  child,  a  daughter. 


WILLIAM    H.  FRASER,  M.D. 

LA    SALLE. 

WILLIAM  HALLIDAY  FRASER,  physician  and  surgeon,  descendant  of  an  old  Invernes- 
shire  family,  Scotland,  was  born  in  Perth,  Ontario,  March  26.  1839,  his  parents  being 
Archibald  and  Mary  (Halliday)  Fraser.  His  grandfather,  James  Fraser,  came  over  from  Scotland, 
with  a  colony,  in  1815,  and  settled  near  Perth,  where  he  opened  a  farm,  and  there  died.  The 
maternal  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  John  Halliday,  who  was  sent  from  Dumfriesshire,  Scot- 
land, to  Upper  Canada,  in  the  same  year,  as  a  teacher  for  the  same  .colony,  being  under  govern- 
ment pay,  and  was  engaged  in  that  honorable  calling  near  Perth  for  nearly  forty  years,  being  one 
of  a  few  teachers  in  the  province  under  the  pay  of  the  imperial  government."  At  the  end  of  his 
teaching  he  retired  on  half  pa"y,  the  only  teacher,  we  believe,  thus  honored.  He  died  at  the  age 
of  ninety-two  years,  leaving  twelve  children  and  one  hundred  grandchildren.  He  and  his  family 
were  Covenanters,  a  liberty-loving  people,  and  the  mother  of  our  subject,  who  is  still  living, 
warmly  cherishes  the  faith  of  her  ancestors. 

Doctor  Fraser  was  educated  in  the  arts  at  the  normal  school,  Toronto.  He  taught  three  years 
at  Burwick,  Ontario  ;  took  a  full  medical  course  of  four  years  at  McGill  College,  Montreal,  and 
there  received  his  degree  in  the  spring  of  1867.  He  then,  went  to  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  was 
graduated  at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  being  the  first  surgeon  from  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  who  attained  that  distinction.  Thus  thoroughly  equipped  for  medical  and  surgical  prac- 
tice, Doctor  Fraser  returned  home,  and  located  at  first  at  Liverpool,  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  was 
in  practice  for  about  two  years.  While  there  he  married  Miss  Lydia  M.  Waterman,  niece  of 
Hon.  Freeman  Tupper,  of  Milton,  in  his  day  a  prominent  politician  in  Queens  county,  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Dominion  senate. 


t'.Y /'/'/•:/)   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  1870  Doctor  Fraser  came  to  Illinois,  and  practiced  in  Chicago  between  two  and  three  years, 
being  there  at  the  time  of  the  great  fire  in  October  1871.  He  did  a  good  business  for  a  new- 
comer. He  was  elected  surgeon  of  the  Chicago  Caledonian  Club,  holding  that  post  when  he  left 
that  city. 

In  the  summer  of  1873  Doctor  Fraser  settled  in  La  Salle.  Whether  his  reputation  as  a  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  had  preceded  him,  we  cannot  say,  but  his  thorough  medical  training  in  Canada 
and  the  old  country  may  have  been  known  here  ;  one  thing  is  certain,  confidence  in  his  skill  was 
quickly  inspired  among  the  people  of  La  Salle  and  vicinity,  and  he  soon  had  a  fair  practice. 
That  practice  has  continued  to  increase  from  year  to  year,  and  he  has  become  one  of  the  leading 
medical  men  in  this  part  of  the  county.  In  surgery,  which  he  has  made  a  special  study,  he  has 
no  peer  in  the  city  of  La  Salle,  and  he  is  now  reaping  the  benefits  of  the  great  pains  which  he 
took  to  fit  himself  for  his  profession. 

Doctor  Fraser  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Congregational  Church,  of  La  Salle,  and 
esteemed  members  of  the  social  circles  of  the  city.  They  have  seven  children. 


DANIEL  E.  FOOTE,  M.D. 

BEL  VIDERE. 

THE  progenitor  of  that  branch  of  the  Foote  family  in  this  country  from  which  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  descended,  was  Nathaniel,  Foote  who  married  in  England,  about  the  year  1615, 
Elizabeth  Deming,  came  to  this  country  about  1633,  first  settling  at  Watertown,  near  Boston, 
and  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  where  he  died  in  1644,  aged  fifty- 
one  years.  He  left  two  sons,  Nathaniel  and  Robert,  and  four  daughters,  Elizabeth,  Mary, 
Frances,  Sarah  and  Rebecca;  and  from  those  two  sons  many  people  bearing  the  name  of  Foote 
have  descended,  and  are  scattered  all  over  the  country.  A  work  called  "  The  Foote  Family;  or, 
the  Descendants  of  Nathaniel  Foote,"  published  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1849,  shows  that 
representatives  of  the  family  have  filled  every  branch  of  honest  industry,  every  learned  profes- 
sion, and  many  honorable  stations  in  life. 

Hon.  Isaac  Foote,  great-grandfather  of  our  subject,  and  sixth  generation  from  Nathaniel 
Foote,  Jr.,  was  the  son  of  Daniel  Foote  of  Colchester,  Connecticut,  and  at  one  period  resided  in 
Stafford,  same  state,  and  repeatedly  represented  that  town  in  the  general  assembly.  He  was  also 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  a  high  office  in  those  days,  and  a  revolutionary  soldier.  In  1794  he 
removed  to  Sherburne,  now  Smyrna,  Chenango  county,  New  York,  and  while  there  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  and  also  of  the  senate  of  that  state,  dying  in  Smyrna  in  1842. 

Isaac  Foote,  Jr.,  son  of  Hon.  Isaac  Foote,  and  grandfather  of  Doctor  Foote  of  Belvidere, 
was  also  a  prominent  man  in  Smyrna,  holding,  at  different  times,  the  offices  of  constable,  collec- 
tor, deputy  sheriff,  high  sheriff,  etc.  He  was  also  deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  a 
man  of  great  probity  and  purity  of  character,  dying  at  Smyrna  in  1861. 

Justin  Foote,  the  eldest  son  of  Isaac  Foote,  Jr.,  and  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  at  Smyrna 
in  1803  ;  married  Irene  Warner,  daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  Warner  of  Sherburne,  New  York, 
and  they  had  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  was  instantly  killed  at  the  raising 
of  a  saw-mill  in  June,  1834,  part  of  the  frame  falling  on  him. 

Daniel  Elisha  Foote  was  born  in  Otselic,  Chenango  county,  New  York,  April  7,  1828,  and  when 
he  was  quite  young  the  family  moved  to  Smyrna.  After  the  death  of  his  father  he  remained  with 
his  mother  one  year,  and  then  went  to  live  with  his  grandfather,  remaining  with  him  until  he 
commenced  the  study  of  medicine,  receiving  meanwhile  an  academic  education  at  Smyrna  and 
Cortlandville.  He  studied  medicine  with  Doctor  Hyde  of  Cortlandville,  now  professor  of  surgery 
in  the  Medical  College  at  Syracuse,  attended  his  first  course  of  lectures  at  Geneva,  and  is  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Buffalo  Medical  College,  class  of  '51,  the  diplomas  being  presented  to  the  class  by  Mil- 
lard  Fillmore,  then  president  of  the  United  States,  and  chancellor  of  the  University. 


334  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPff/CAL  DICTIONARY. 

Doctor  Foote  practiced  one  year  with  his  preceptor  at  Cortlandvillc,  two  years  at  Newark  Val- 
ley, Tioga  county,  and  in  May,  1854,  settled  in  Belvidere,  which  has  been  his  home  since  that  date. 
While  practicing  in  his  native  state,  he  was  appointed  surgeon  of  the  52d  regiment  of  New  York 
state  militia,  his  commission  having  the  signature  of  Governor  Washington  Hunt. 

On  opening  an  office  in  Belvidere,  Doctor  Foote  gradually  built  up  a  remunerative  practice,  and 
has  always  stood  well  in  the  professioji.  Although  making  no  branch  of  it  a  specialty,  he  has 
had  a  liberal  share  of  surgery,  in  which  he  is  excelled  by  no  man  in  Boone  county.  He  has  been 
a  member  of  the  State  Medical  Society  since  1856,  and  is  a  member  of  the  American  Medical 
Association,  and  in  1876  was  a  delegate  from  Illinois  to  the  International  Medical  Congress, 
which  met  at  Philadelphia. 

The  doctor  has  held  various  local  offices,  such  as  school  director  for  a  number  of  years, 
president  of  the  board  of  trustees  before  Belvidere  had  a  city  charter,  and  ex-officio  supervisor 
of  the  town,  coroner  for  Boone  county  for  several  successive  terms,  etc.  His  politics  are 
republican.  He  has  been  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  was  at  one  period  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  for  ten  consecutive  years. 
He  seems  to  have  inherited,  in  no  inconsiderable  measure,  the  character  of  his  Puritan  an- 
cestors, who  were  an  eminently  religious  class  of  people.  The  doctor  lost,  in  1846,  a  sister, 
Harriet  Elizabeth  Foote,  whose  short  life  was  a  beautiful  example  of  meekness  and  pious 
resignation.  She  died  in  the  .bloom  of  womanhood,  aged  twenty  years,  sweetly  falling  asleep 
"like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch  about  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 
His  other  sister,  Frances  Irene,  also  a  devoted  Christian,  died  a  few  years  afterward.  His  brother 
next  younger  than  himself,  Justin  Hiel,  died  in  Belvidere  in  1856,  and  the  other  brother,  Samuel 
Isaac,  is  in  a  mercantile  house  in  Norwich,  Chenango  county,  New  York. 

Doctor  Foote  married  at  Newark  Valley,  New  York,  July  19,  1853,  Miss  Martha  Elizabeth  Upde- 
graff,  and  they  have  three  daughters.  The  oldest,  Stella  Elizabeth,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Rockford 
Seminary;  Harriet  L.,  of  the  Belvidere  high  school,  and  Mary  I.  is  pursuing  her  studies  in  the 
local  grammar  school.  The  doctor  is  a  warm  friend  of  education,  and  takes  good  care  that  no 
member  of  his  own  family  suffers  from  a  lack  of  it. 

Doctor  Foote  has  in  his  possession  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  Foote  family,  presented  to  James 
Foote  by  one  of  the  English  kings  "for  his  loyalty  and  truth  in  risking  his  own  life  to  save 
the  king's."  

WILLIAM   LAW,  JR. 

CHICAGO. 

MR.  Law  is  a  well  known  member  of  the  Chicago  bar.     He  is  a  native  of  Hancock  county, 
Illinois,  where  he   was  born  January  31,  1841.     He  is  the  son  of  Doctor  William   Law, 
who  is  an  eminent  physician  practicing  in  southern  Wisconsin.     His  parents  were  North  of  Ire- 
land people.     His  family,  early  in  his  life,  moved  from  Hancock  to  Jo  Daviess  county,  afterward 
to  La  Fayette  county,  Wisconsin. 

His  legal  studies  began  in  1859  at  Shullsbury,  La  Fayette  county,  Wisconsin,  in  the  office  of 
Higbee  and  Law,  the  latter  member  of  the  firm  being  an  elder  brother.  After  pursuing  his 
studies  there,  and  also  for  a  short  time  at  Freeport,  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  entered  the 
office  of  the  late  Hon.  James  H.  Knowlton,  a  former  noted  lawyer  of  Wisconsin,  and  having 
passed  the  prescribed  ordeal  of  examination  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  was,  in  1862,  ad- 
mitted by  that  tribunal  to  practice.  With  a  touch  of  the  emigrating  fever  which  seized  many 
other  young  men  and  turned  their  aspirations  in  the  direction  of  the  new  territories,  he,  in  1864, 
directed  his  steps  to  Boise  City,  the  capital  of  Idaho  Territory,  and  had  the  fortune  to  command 
there  a  good  business  and  a  prominent  standing  at  the  bar,  taking  part  in  many  of  the  leading 
and  important  litigations  of  the  Idaho  courts.  He,  for  a  time,  acted  as  United  States  attor- 
ney, and  was  also  for  a  time  clerk  of  the  United  States  district  court.  Spite  of  the  promise  and 


Ce 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


337 


prospects  which  Ihe  territorial  legal  field  afforded,  the  attractiveness  and  fitness  of  Chicago  as  an 
avenue  for  the  exercise  of  professional  ambition  and  success  led  him  to  retrace  his  steps,  and  in 
1866  he  returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  actively  and  ably  practiced  in  all  courts,  and  is 
now  established  as  one  of  the  leading  and  notable  lawyers  of  its  multitudinous  bar.  His  prac- 
tice has  been  varied  and  in  the  several  branches  of  the  law. 

In  person  Mr.  Law  is  rather  stout  and  short,  of  much  robustness  and  vigor  of  physique.  He 
is,  and  his  appearance  is,  that  of  a  gentleman.  His  address  is  prepossessing.  His  manners  are 
easy,  familiar  and  most  agreeable.  He  is  popular  with  his  brethren.  He  is  honorable  and  honest 
in  his  practice,  and  has  the  respect  of  the  court  and  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fellows. 
His  arguments  to  the  court  are  dignified,  sound  and  logical,  while  his  oratory  to  the  jury, 
touched  with  the  fervor  of  his  race,  is  usually  strong  and  telling,  and  often  eloquent. 


ISAAC    THOMAS. 

WYOMING. 

ISAAC  THOMAS,  a  resident  of  Stark  county  since  1844,  is  a  native  of  the  Green  Mountain 
State,  a  son  of  David  and  Hannah  (Dwyer)  Thomas,  and  dates  his  birth  in  Berkshire,  Frank- 
lin county,  January  22,  1809.  His  father  was  of  Welsh  and  his  mother  of  Scotch-Irish  descent. 
David  Thomas  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  born  in  East  Haddam,  Connecticut.  He  served  in  the 
second  war  with  England,  and  took  his  family  to  Kingston,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  when 
Isaac  was  about  thirteen  years  old,  the  latter  finishing  his  education  at  the  Kingston  Academy. 
At  seventeen  years  of  age  our  subject  went  to  work  for  his  uncle,  General  Samuel  Thomas,*  who 
was  a  contractor,  and  with  whom  he  remained  two  years.  He  was  subsequently  a  merchant  for 
fifteen  years  at  Mehoopany,  then  Luzerne,  now  Wyoming  county,  dealing  also  in  lumber  at  the 
same  period.  While  there  he  held  the  office  of  postmaster  under  President  Van  Buren. 

In  1844  Mr.  Thomas  came  to  Wyoming,  bought  a  small  farm,  and  for  a  few  years  was  engaged 
in  cultivating  it.  He  was  also  postmaster  during  the  administrations  of  Polk,  Taylor  and  Fill- 
more.  At  one  period  he  was  employed  in  raising,  and  subsequently  in  collecting,  subscriptions 
for  the  American  Central  railroad,  which  road  proved  a  failure,  and  the  bed  of  which  was  sold  to 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Company.  About  that  time  he  left  his  farm,  built  the  home 
in  which  he  now  lives,  and  moved  into  town.  Here  he  gave  his  attention  to  the  duties  of  justice 
of  the  peace,  an  office  to  which  he  had  been  elected  only  a  year  or  two  after  reaching  Wyoming, 
and  which  he  held  about  thirty  years.  During  that  period  he  married  something  like  fifty  couples, 
among  the  brides  being  a  mother  and  her  daughter.  For  the  last  eight  years  he  has  been  police 
magistrate,  doing  also  considerable  collecting  for  parties  at  the  East  as  well  as  at  the  West,  and 
to  which  business  he  has  paid  more  or  less  attention  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Thomas  is  a  man  of  the  strictest  integrity,  and  attends  punctually  and  faithfully  to  any 
duties  or  trust  confided  to  him.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church  since  a  young 
man,  and  a  class  leader  and  steward  for  a  long  period.  No  man  who  knows  him  doubts  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  profession  or  the  purity  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Thomas  acted  with  the  democratic  party  until  the  fall  of  Sumter,  in  the  spring  of  1861, 
since  which  time  he  has  been  a  firm  republican.  He  has  been  a  Freemason  for  a  long  time,  but 
has  taken  only  three  degrees. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  married  December  19,  1833,  to  Miss  Lydia  A.  Beers,  of  Mehoopany,  and  they 

*  General  Samuel  Thomas  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  a  prominent  contractor  on  canals,  etc.,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  held  the  rank  of  general  of  the  state  militia.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  second  war  with  the  mother 
country,  and  was  at  the  battle  of  Fort  Erie,  near  Buffalo.  He  came  from  the  Wyoming  Valley  to  Spoon  River  in 
1834,  laid  out  the  village,  and  changed  the  name  to  Wyoming.  He  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Stark  county,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature,  and  quite  enterprising.  He  died  in  July,  1879,  aged  ninety-three  years.  He  was  greatly 
respected  in  life  and  sincerely  and  deeply  mourned  in  death. 
34 


338  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

lost  one  daughter,  in  early  infancy,  and  have  nine  children  living:  Jerome  B.  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  54th  Illinois  infantry,  and  is  treasurer  of  the  Soldiers'  Home,  Dayton,  Ohio;  Charles  C., 
also  a  Union  soldier,  is  at  Carbondale,  Illinois;  Mary  W.  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  Pierce,  of  Wyo- 
ming; Lewis  W.,  a  soldier  for  three  years  in  the  civil  war,  is  also  in  Wyoming;  Emma  O.  is  book- 
keeper for  Appleton  and  Company,  Chicago;  William  D.  is  in  Missouri;  Fannie  W.  is  the  wife  of 
Rev.  William  Woolley,  of  Lewiston,  Illinois;  Allen  E.  is  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  Kate  A.  is  a  school 
and  music  teacher  at  home. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  very  active  during  the  civil  war  in  raising  sanitary  stores  and  sending  them 
to  the  hospitals  at  the  South,  and  in  many  ways  showed  that  he  was  an  ardent  patriot. 


JETHRO  MAST  IN,  M.D. 

SHANNON. 

JETHRO  MASTIN,  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  the  village  of  Shannon,  and  a  prominent  citizen 
of  the  place,  is  a  native  of  Harrison  county,  Ohio,  dating  his  birth  May  20,  1825.  His  father, 
James  Mastin,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  the  state  of  Delaware,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Anna  Dewalt,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  state,  and  at  the  West  Bedford  Academy,  Ohio,  where  he  spent  one  term.  He  taught 
school  off  and  on,  for  ten  years,  doing  also  some  farm  work  at  that  period.  He  studied  medicine 
with  Doctor  E.  N.  Knight,  of  Chili,  Ohio;  came  to  Stephenson  county,  Illinois,  in  1857,  and  was 
in  practice  three  miles  from  where  the  village  of  Shannon  now  stands,  until  1862,  when  he  settled 
in  Shannon,  then  in  its  infancy,  and  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession  for  several  years. 
During  the  last  nine  or  ten  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  lumber  and  coal  trade,  and  is  a  suc- 
cessful business  man.  Doctor  Mastin  was  the  first  collector  of  the  township,  holding  that  office 
five  years;  was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace  in  Shannon,  and  is  still  acting;  is  also  one  of  the 
supervisors  of  the  county,  and  has  been  for  the  last  ten  or  eleven  years,  being  also  chairman  of 
that  board  half  of  the  time.  He  held  also,  years  ago,  the  office  of  village  clerk,  village  trustee, 
school  trustee,  etc.  He  has,  from  the  start,  thoroughly  identified  himself  with  every  interest  of  the 
place,  and  done  his  share  in  building  it  up.  No  man  in  Shannon  has  more  fully  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  the  citizens,  or  has  served  them  more  faithfully  in  every  office  of  trust  which  he 
has  held. 

Doctor  Mastin  married  in  1853,  Miss  Catherine  Daugherty,  a  native  of  Belmont  county,  Ohio, 
and  they  have  three  children:  George  C.,  a  school  teacher  and  superintendent  of  schools  for  Car- 
roll county;  James  W.,  a  railroad  conductor,  and  Maggie,  who  is  finishing  her  education. 


JAMES    E.    CHANDLER. 

BUSHNELL. 

TAMES  EDGAR  CHANDLER,  banker,  and  one  of  the  leading  business  men  in  Bushnell,  Mc- 
J  Donough  county,  was  born  in  Macomb,  the  capital  town  of  this  county,  March  20,  1850.  His 
parentage  and  ancestry  may  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  his  father,  Colonel  Charles  Chandler,  on 
other  pages  of  this  work.  His  younger  years  were  given  to  intellectual  pursuits.  He  prepared 
for  college  at  Lake  Forest,  near  Chicago;  entered  Yale  in  1868,  and  left  in  the  sophomore  year,  on 
account  of  ill  health.  In  the  autumn  of  1869  he  became  a  clerk  in  the  private  banking  house  of 
Chandler  and  Cummings,  at  Bushnell,  which  institution  was  reorganized,  in  1871,  into  the  Farm- 
ers' National  Bank  of  the  same  place.  In  this  bank  Mr.  Chandler  was  first  teller,  then  assistant 
cashier,  and  since  the  close  of  1878  has  held  the  position  of  vice-president,  taking  the  place  of  his 
father  on  the  latter's  death.  It  is  a  well  managed  and  safe  institution,  and  has  the  fullest  confi- 
dence of  the  public. 


r  XI  TED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


339 


Mr.  Chandler  has  been  city  treasurer  of  Bushnell  for  six  or  seven  years,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  city  council  four  years.  He  is  sole  proprietor  of  the  Bushnell  Fair  Grounds,  and  president  of 
the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Association  of  Bushnell,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  organiza- 
tions of  the  kind  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  is  also  trustee  of  the  Western  Normal  College, 
an  institution  recently  started  at  Bushnell,  with  promise  of  a  bright  future.  Mr.  Chandler  is  full 
of  energy  and  public  spirit,  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  in  any  enterprise  likely  to  build  up  the 
town.  He  is  an  unswerving  republican,  and  an  indefatigable  worker  in  the  interests  of  his  party, 
being  usually  a  delegate  to  district  and  state  conventions.  During  the  last  four  or  five  years  he 
has  been  the  member  for  McDonough  county  of  the  congressional  committee  of  his,  now  the 
eleventh,  district.  He  has  been  through  Odd-Fellowship  to  the  highest  posts,  and  also  to  the  top 
of  the  local  order  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  married  November  7,  1872,  to  Miss  Ella  C.  Knowland,  of  Bushnell,  and 
they  have  one  son,  Charles,  seven  years  old.  The  family  usually  attend  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


JAMES  W.    DUNCAN. 

OTTA  WA. 

JAMES  WALTER  DUNCAN,  son  of  Nicholas  Duncan,  was  born  in  La  Salle,  January  18,  1849. 
His  father  was  in  early  life  a  builder  and  contractor,  and  later  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  the 
holder  of  other  offices  at  the  time  of  his  death,  he  being  a  prominent  citizen  of  this  city.  Both 
parents  are  dead.  James  received  a  good  English  education;  read  law  at  La  Salle  with  E.  F. 
Bull;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  April,  1871,  and  practiced  at  La  Salle  until  1882,  when  he 
removed  to  Ottawa.  He  is  of  the  firm  of  Duncan  and  O'Connor,  his  partner  being  a  resident  of 
La  Salle,  and  they  having  an  office  in  both  cities.  Their  business  is  very  large  and  growing. 
Mr.  Duncan  is  one  of  the  best  trial  lawyers  in  La  Salle  county,  which  is  the  second  county  in 
population  in  the  state,  and  its  bar  includes  a  good  deal  of  legal  talent. 

While  a  resident  of  La  Salle,  Mr.  Duncan  held  various  offices,  such  as  school  treasurer  of  Peru 
and  La  Salle  (which  are  in  one  congressional  district),  city  clerk,  city  attorney,  and  mayor  for 
three  terms.  In  politics  Mr.  Duncan  is  a  democrat,  and  has  been  heretofore  somewhat  active  in 
his  party;  more  so  than  he  is  at  present.  He  is  very  attentive  to  the  duties  of  his  profession,  in 
which  he  is  making  a  brilliant  record.  He  was  married,  according  to  the  "  Past  and  Present  of 
La  Salle  County,"  November  25,  1872,  to  Miss  Bridget  Cody,  and  they  have  two  children. 


D 


DAVID    F.   DEADERICH. 

QUINCY. 

AVID  FRANKLIN  DEADERICH,  commission  merchant  and  grain  dealer,  and  mayor  of 
the  city  of  Quincy,  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  Tennessee,  June  16,  1840,  his  parents  being 
Hon.  James  W.  Deaderich,  judge  of  the  supreme  court  and  chief  chancellor  of  Tennessee,  and 
Adeline  McDowell.  His  father  was  born  in  Tennessee,  and  his  mother  in  Kentucky.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Doctor  McDowell,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  an  eminent  physician,  to  whose 
memory  a  monument  was  erected  three  or  four  years  ago  by  the  medical  fraternity  of  the  state. 
Judge  Deaderich  and  wife  celebrated  their  golden  wedding  in  November,  1882,  when  seven  chil- 
dren and  a  large  number  of  connections  were  present,  seven  of  them  being  over  eighty  years  of 
age.  The  Deaderich  family  are  of  German  extraction,  the  name  being  originally  written  Died- 
rich.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  seven  brothers,  the  oldest  of  whom  was  a  graduate  of  West 
Point,  and  the  other  six  are  graduates  of  colleges  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  David  early  had 
a  taste  for  agricultural  pursuits,  to  which  he  turned  his  attention  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  after 
having  received  a  fair  business  education.  He  was  thus  engaged  in  east  Tennessee  until  1862, 


340 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


when  he  went  into  the  confederate  army  as  first  lieutenant  of  company  F,  34th  Virginia  cavalry, 
and  commanded  the  company  after  a  short  time,  the  captain  having  lost  his  voice.  He.  was 
wounded  at  Limestone  Gap,  Tennessee,  and  was  twice  taken  prisoner,  being  released  once  in 
exchange  and  once  on  parole,  serving  until  the  confederate  army  surrendered. 

June  16,  1865,  the  day  he  was  twenty-five  years  old,  he  left  east  Tennessee  for  Illinois,  settling 
in  Ouincy.  He  farmed  one  year  five  miles  from  the  city,  then  went  into  the  milling  business 
here,  and  was  thus  engaged  until  1877,  when  he  commenced  the  commission  and  grain  business. 
He  was  alderman  of  the  third  ward  in  1876-7,  and  is  now,  December,  1882,  serving  his  first  year 
as  chief  magistrate  of  the  city.  He  is  a  thorough-going  business  man,  and  makes  an  excellent 
mayor.  His  politics  are  democratic. 

Mayor  Deaderich  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  a  liberal  sup- 
porter of  the  gospel,  and  a  man  of  unblemished  character.  August  2,  1860,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Nannie  Haynes,  of  Washington  county,  east  Tennessee.  They  have  buried  one  son,  and 
have  seven  children  living.  Anna  M.,  the  oldest  daughter,  is  a  graduate  of  Franklin  School, 
Quincy,  and  most  of  the  others  are  attending  the  same  school. 


w 


WILLIAM   A.   PATTERSON. 

CARTHAGE. 

ILLIAM  ALEXANDER  PATTERSON,  merchant,  hotel-keeper  and  farmer,  and  one  of 
the  old  settlers  in  Hancock  county,  is  a  grandson  of  Matthew  Patterson,  a  British  officer. 
He  came  to  America  while  connected  with  the  engineer  corps,  during  the  French  and  Indian  war; 
retired  on  half  pay,  and  settled  in  Putnam  county,  New  York,  where  he  was  still  living  when  the 
colonies  struck  for  independence.  His  son,  Alexander  K.  Patterson,  father  of  William,  a  farmer 
in  early  life,  and  later  a  cattle  drover  in  northern  New  York,  Canada  and  Ohio,  married  Elizabeth 
Palmer,  whose  fatherwas  a  minute  man  in  the  war  of  1775-82,  his  home  being  in  East  Brantford, 
Connecticut.  William  A.  was  the  second  child  in  a  family  of  three  children.  He  was  born  in 
Putnam  county,  New  York,  January  24,  1811;  received  an  education  limited  to  the  rudimentary 
branches,  and  has  taken  care  of  himself  since  he  was  twelve  years  old.  At  that  age  he  became 
a  clerk  in  a  retail  store  in  New  York  city,  and  two  years  later  became  connected  with  a  menag- 
erie, the  proprietors  of  which  all  lived  in  Putnam  county,  and  he  traveled  for  four  years.  He 
then  went  to  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  filled  a  clerkship  in  a  stage  office  for  several  years,  spend- 
ing meantime  the  summer  of  1832  in  Cincinnati. 

Mr.  Patterson  at  length  caught  the  western  fever,  and  March  2,  1836,  left  Somerstown,  New 
York,  on  horseback,  and  in  that  way  traveled  all  the  way  to  the  Mississippi  River.  Crossing  over 
to  Fort  Madison,  Lee  county,  Iowa,  he  remained  there  a  very  short  time,  and  then  recrossed  the 
river  into  Illinois.  That  was  when  Iowa  was  a  part  of  Michigan  Territory,  two  years  before  it 
became  Iowa  Territory,  and  ten  before  it  became  a  state. 

Mr.  Patterson  bought  a  quarter  section  of  land  in  Prairie  township  in  April  of  that  year,  and 
immediately  commenced  improving  it.  In  1839  he  built  a  log  house  sixteen  feet  square,  and  set 
up  housekeeping  alone  in  a  somewhat  primitive  and  rustic  style.  After  awhile  he  had  a  family 
with  him.  In  1842  he  did  a  wiser  thing —  marrying  Mrs.  Georgiana  (Bolts)  Allen,  and  found  hap- 
piness in  cabin  life  until  1847.  His  health  failing,  in  that  year  Mr.  Patterson  moved  into  Car- 
thage, and  gradually  regained  his  health. 

We  learn  from  the  "History  of  Hancock  County"  that  he  was  the  democratic  candidate  for 
sheriff  in  1848,  and  was  defeated  by  less  than  one  hundred  votes.  Two  years  afterward  he  was  a 
successful  candidate  for  the  same  office,  and  held  it  two  years.  He  then  bought,  enlarged  and 
named  the  Patterson  House,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1853  was  elected  county  treasurer,  holding  that 
office  six  years. 

He  continued  in  the  hotel  until  1857,  when  he  sold  out,  and  was  a  merchant  until  1872.     He 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


341 


then  became  proprietor  of  the  Patterson  House  once  more;  managed  it  till  1879,  when  he  again  left 
it,  having  two  years  before  opened  a  store  40X70  feet,  and  which  is  well  stocked  with  groceries 
and  queensware,  and  in  which  line  of  business,  as  in  others,  he  is  making  a  success.  He  again 
took  the  hotel  in  November,  1882,  and  is  carefully  managing  both  branches  of  business.  The 
Patterson  House  is  well  known,  well  kept,  and  doing  well. 

Mr.  Patterson  made  several  purchases  of  land  at  different  periods  in  this  county,  and  has 
always  been  engaged  directly  or  by  proxy  in  cultivating  the  soil.  He  has  a  farm  of  270  acres  near 
town,  and  other  tracts  of  land  in  this  vicinity,  in  all  probably  between  350  and  400  acres.  He  has 
always  been  an  active  man,  willing  to  earn  his  own  living  by  a  generous  amount  of  perspiration, 
and  taking  pleasure  in  seeing  others  do  the  same. 

Besides  the  county  offices  already  named  and  held  by  our  subject  at  an  early  day,  he  has  also 
held  several  town  offices,  such  as  constable,  school  director  and  town  trustee.  He  was  also  at 
one  period  captain  of  a  militia  company,  and  was  called  out  once  or  twice  during  the  Mormon 
troubles,  but  was  not,  we  believe,  in  any  engagement.  Since  the  civil  war  commenced  (in  1861) 
he  has  voted  the  republican  ticket. 

The  fruits  of  the  marriage  which  we  have  mentioned  were  four  children,  two  of  whom  died 
quite  young,  and  George,  a  promising  youth,  in  his  eleventh  year.  Helen  M.,  the  only  child  liv- 
ing, is  the  widow  of  Henry  W.  Draper,  late  a  lawyer  in  Carthage.  She  has  three  children. 

Mr.  Patterson  is  one  of  the  venerable  landmarks  of  Hancock  county,  having  been  a  resident 
here  for  forty-seven  years.  He  is  well  posted  in  the  history  of  the  county,  well  informed  on  some 
other  subjects,  and  quite  agreeable  in  conversation.  He  is  a  friend  to  the  young,  a  well-wisher  to 
everybody,  a  man  of  good  principles,  and  highly  respected  by  all  the  lovers  of  sobriety  and  good 
order.  '_ 

WILLIAM   T.   BEADLES,  M.D. 

BUSH  NELL. 

WILLIAM  THOMAS  BEADLES,  a  prominent  army  surgeon,  and  one  of  the  leading  physi- 
cians and  surgeons  in  Bushnell  since  the  winding  up  of  the  rebellion,  is  a  native  of  this 
state,  and  a  son  of  Joel  and  Thely  (McGee)  Beadles.  His  father  was  reared  in  Danville,  Ken- 
tucky, and  his  mother  was  born  in  Mercer  county,  that  state.  They  were  industrious  members  of 
the  agricultural  class.  The  father  died  in  Fulton  county  in  1843,  and  the  widowed  mother  in 
1852.  William  first  saw  the  light  near  Lewiston,  Fulton  county,  January  23,  1836,  and  when  about 
twelve  years  of  age  began  to  learn  the  tinsmith  trade,  at  which  he  worked  more  or  less  for  five  or 
six  years,  attending  school  during  the  winters. 

Our  subject  spent  two  years  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  part  of  the  time  in  the  literary 
department  and  part  in  the  laboratory  and  medical  department;  attended  lectures  at  the  Missouri 
Medical  College,  Saint  Louis,  and  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  February, 
1860.  He  practiced  two  years  at  Lewiston,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1862  went  into  the  army  as 
assistant  surgeon  of  the  4th  regiment  Illinois  cavalry.  That  part  of  it  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected was  General  Grant's  escort  until  he  went  east.  At  that  time  the  major  of  the  regiment, 
E.  D.  Osband,  organized  the  3d  regiment  United  States  colored  cavalry,  and  Doctor  Beadles 
was  appointed  surgeon.  Part  of  the  time,  during  the  year  1865,  he  was  surgeon-in-chief  of 
cavalry  division  district  west  Tennessee,  and  subsequently  surgeon-in-chief  of  the  district  of 
west  Tennessee,  and  was  not  mustered  out  until  the  spring  of  1866,  being  just  four  years  in  the 
service.  He  saw  some  decidedly  rough  times,  but  we  venture  to  say  he  that  does  not  regret  any 
efforts  put  forth  or  any  hardships  endured  in  trying  to  mitigate  the  sufferings  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers,  who  were  aiding  to  save  the  Union. 

On  leaving  the  army  Doctor  Beadles  settled  in  Bushnell,  where  he  soon  built  up  a  liberal  prac- 
tice, the  four  years'  schooling  at  the  South  having  been  of  great  help  to  him.  Although  in  gen- 
eral practice  he  aims  to  make  a  partial  specialty  of  surgery,  in  which  he  has  had  much  experience, 


342  rxiTi-.n  STATES  BIOGKATJIICAI.  DICTIONARY. 

and  which  he  has  latterly  made  a  special  study.  He  is  surgeon  for  this  section  of  the  Wabash 
railroad,  and  for  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  has  been  United  States  surgeon  for  pensions.  His 
standing  in  the  profession  is  first-class. 

Doctor  Beadles  was  mayor  of  the  city  of  Bushnell  one  year  and  ex-officio  president  of  the 
board  of  education,  all  the  civil  office,  we  believe,  that  he  has  accepted.  He  is  a  republican  of  the 
stiffest  class;  believes  that  the  perpetuation  in  power  of  that  party  is  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
nation,  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  lend  a  helping  hand  during  an  important  canvass. 

He  is  a  Master  Mason,  and  years  ago  was  accustomed  to  attend  some  of  the  meetings  of  the 
lodge.  He  rfbw  prefers  to  be  at  home,  entertaining  his  family  and  studying  fresh  medical  works. 
He  keeps  well  posted. 

The  doctor  was  married  August  26,  1865,  to  Miss  Telitha  Leeper,  of  Kentucky,  and  they  have 
two  children,  Charles  Henry  and  Luanna,  who  are  attending  school.  Doctor  Beadles  usually 
attends  the  Baptist  Church,  where  all  the  family  attend,  his  wife  being  a  member. 


GEORGE   W.  SCOTT. 

WYOMING. 

EORGE  W.  SCOTT  is  a  son  of  Ephraim  Scott,  Jr.,  and  Lydia  (Sherman)  Scott,  and  a 
V_T  grandson  of  Captain  Ephraim  Scott,  who  commanded  a  company  in  the  war  of  1812-14, 
at  Buffalo,  New  York,  when  that  village  was  burned.  He  was  born  at  Fredonia,  Chautauqua 
county,  New  York,  July  21,  1832.  He  is  of  Scotch  descent  on  his  father's  side,  and  of  English  on 
his  mother's.  Both  parents  were  born  at  Ware,  Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts.  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Reuben  Sherman,  a  revolutionary  soldier,  and  a  cousin  of  Roger  Sherman,  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  in  his  posses- 
sion two  commissions,  signed  by  "Caleb  Strong,  Esq.,"  governor  of  Massachusetts,  appointing 
Ephraim  Scott  ensign  of  a  company  of  militia  in  1802,  and  captain  in  1806.  George's  father  died 
when  the  son  was  six  years  old. 

In  his  early  teens  he  went  to  Massachusetts;  finished  his  education  at  Millbury  Academy  ; 
learned  the  trade  of  a  machinist,  and  worked  at  it  several  years.  In  1853  he  came  to  this  state, 
reaching  Peoria,  March  18,  and  having  a  few  hundred  dollars,  the  fruits  of  his  own  industry,  he 
invested  it  in  land  in  Peoria  county,  and  for  seven  or  eight  years  was  engaged  in  farming. 

In  Januarv,  1863,  having  sold  his  farm  in  Peoria  county,  Mr.  Scott  came  to  Wyoming,  and  for 
seven  years  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  in  which  he  was  very  successful.  At  the  end  of 
that  period,  on  account  of  ill  health,  he  retired,  temporarily,  from  active  business.  Having 
regained  his  health,  in  January,  1870,  he  opened,  at  Wyoming,  the  banking  house  of  Scott  and 
Wrigley,  which  had  a  good  business  from  the  start,  and  the  growth  of  which  is  simply  wonderful. 
The  bank  has  always  been  carefully  managed  ;  is  solid  and  popular,  and  has  become  one  of  the 
leading  financial  institutions  of  the  Northwest. 

Mr.  Scott  is  regarded  by  parties  who  know  him  most  intimately,  as  one  of  the  most  energetic, 
stirring  business  men  in  Stark  county.  He  has  always  shown  great  liberality  in  all  enterprises 
calculated  to  build  up  the  place  ;  is  an  efficient  member  of  the  Central  Agricultural  Society, 
whose  beautiful  grounds  are  at  Wyoming  ;  is  a  thoroughly  tried  and  true  man,  and  by  his  strict 
integrity,  and  good  business  tact  and  talents,  has  accumulated  quite  a  fortune. 

Mr.  Scott  is  a  steadfast  and  ardent  republican  ;  a  Knight  Templar,  and  has  taken  the  thirty- 
second  degree  in  the  Scottish  Rite.  He  is  also  an  Odd-Fellow. 

Our  subject  was  married  in  Stark  county,  December  23,  1858,  to  Miss  Mary  C.  Cox,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  and  they  have  lost  one  son  and  one  daughter,  and  have  three  daughters  living.  Mr. 
Scott  shows  his  thoughtfulness  and  liberality  in  educating  his  children.  Jennie  L.,  his  oldest 
living  child,  is  a  graduate  at  Princeton,  and  the  Boston  School  of  Oratory;  Caddie  M.  is  now  in 
Boston,  pursuing  her  studies  in  music,  and  the  youngest  daughter,  Hattie  G.,  is  a  student  in  the 
home  schools. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


343 


Nor  is  Mr.  Scott's  interest  in  education  confined  to  his  own  family.  For  the  last  nine  or  ten 
years,  he  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  board  of  education,  and  he  has  devoted  no  inconsid- 
erable amount  of  time  in  aiding  to  elevate  the  standard  of  the  Wyoming  public  sch'ools.  His 
public  spirit  crops  out  in  many  directions,  and  in  many  ways  he  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  thor- 
ough-going, generous-hearted  man,  one  of  that  class  who  are  a  blessing  to  any  place. 


WILSON   FLEMING,  M.D. 

PORT  BYRON. 

WILSON  FLEMING,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  a  physician  and  surgeon  in  Rock 
Island  county,  was  born  in  Bakerstown,  Allegheny  county,  Pennsylvania,  June  29,  1828. 
His  father,  George  Fleming,  a  carriage-maker  in  early  life,  and  afterward  a  farmer,  was  born  in 
Ireland  in  1800,  and  on  his  way  to  this  country  with  his  family,  in  the  early  part  of  the  second 
war  with  England  (1812),  they  were  chased  by  a  British  cruiser.  The  mother  of  Wilson  was  Mary 
McFarland,  who  was  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage,  and  born  in  Pennsylvania. 

Doctor  Fleming  finished  his  education  at  Washington  College,  Pennsylvania;  studied  medi- 
cine at  Freeport,  in  that  state,  with  Doctor  David  Alter;  attended  lectures  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michi- 
gan, and  Cleveland,  Ohio;  received  his  medical  degree  at  the  latter  place  in  February,  1854,  and 
practiced  at  Bakerstown  until  April  1856,  when  he  went  to  Le  Claire,  Iowa,  opposite  Port  Byron.- 
In  September  of  the  next  year  he  settled  at  his  present  home.  Here  he  soon  built  up  a  good 
business,  and  for  more  than  twenty  years  he  has  had  a  highly  creditable  standing  among  the 
medical  fraternity  of  Rock  Island  county.  The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  known  Doctor  Flem- 
ing since  1863,  and  has  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  he  is  a  skillful  physician  and  surgeon,  and 
has  made  a  success  in  his  profession.  Since  1864  he  has  had  a  drugstore  also,  the  largest  in  town. 

The  doctor  has  held  one  or  two  local  offices,  and  did  some  valuable  work  years  ago  as  a  school 
director,  but  he  has  been  too  busy  in  his  profession  to  think  of  doing  much  work  in"  the  village 
corporation. 

He  is  a  republican  of  whig  antecedents;  is  greatly  interested  in  the  success  of  his  party,  and 
rarely  fails  to  discharge  his  duty  at  the  polls.  He  was  master  of  Philo  Lodge,  No.  436,  of  Free- 
masons, at  Port  Byron,  for  a  dozen  years  almost  in  succession;  is  a  member  of  Barrett  Chapter 
of  Royal  Arch  Masons,  and  a  Knight  Templar  in  Everts  Commandery,  Rock  Island. 

Doctor  Fleming  was  first  married  January  31,  1861,  to  Miss  Myra  Gordon,  of  Erie.  Whiteside 
county,  Illinois,  and  she  died  May  i,  1863,  leaving  one  son,  Wilson  Gordon,  now  a  clerk  at  Port 
Byron;  and  the  second  time  February  28,  1865,  to  Miss  Eliza  J.  Simpson,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Simpson,  an  early  settler  near  Port  Byron,  and  by  her  he  has  also  a  son,  Charles  Sheridan,  who  is 
securing  his  education. 

JOSEPH    V.   HARRIS,   M.D. 

CANTON. 

JOSEPH  VINTON  HARRIS,  one  of  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Fulton  county,  is 
J  a  son  of  Colbert  and  Catharine  Elizabeth  (Crupper)  Harris,  and  was  born  in  Beallsville,  Ohio, 
October  22,  1839.  His  father,  who  was  a  physician  and  farmer,  was  a  native  of  Frederick,  Mary- 
land, born  in  1798,  and  his  mother  was  of  Rectortown,  Virginia,  born  in  1808.  Both  parents  died 
in  Ohio,  the  father  in  1853,  the  mother  in  1869. 

Joseph  received  an  academic  education  at  Fairview,  Ohio;  began  his  medical  studies  at  the 
same  place,  with  Doctor  J.  T.  McPherson,  with  whom  he  remained  three  years,  attending  lec- 
tures at  the  Ohio  Medical  College,  being  engaged  in  his  medical  studies  when  the  civil  war 
began.  November  7,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  651)1  Ohio  infantry  ;  was  appointed  hospital  stew- 
ard, and  attached  to  the  medical  staff,  and  performed  the  duties  of  assistant  surgeon.  He 


344  UNITED   STATES  KIOGKAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

remained  in  active  field  service  with  his  regiment  in  the  states  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama 
and  Mississippi,  until  April,  1864,  when  he  was  assigned  to  duty  as  assistant  surgeon  in  general 
hospital  at  Gallipolis,  Ohio,  remaining  there  until  September,  when  he  was  assigned  to  duty  in 
the  Granger  general  hospital  in  Huntsville,  district  of  north  Alabama.  There  he  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  being  mustered  out  in  May,  1865.  In  the  following  winter  he  opened 
an  office  at  Canton,  and  began  to  practice  medicine.  He  was  connected  with  P.  W.  Plattenburg 
in  the  drug  trade  from  1867  to  1870,  from  which  time  he  has  devoted  himself  closely  to  his  pro- 
fession. 

In  1870  Doctor  Harris  went  to  Chicago,  attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  Col- 
lege, and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  February,  1871.  From  1870  to  1875  he 
held  the  post  of  United  States  examining  surgeon  for  pensions,  under  appointment  of  President 
Gra'nt. 

Doctor  Harris  is  a  close  student ;  keeps  well  read  up  in  his  profession,  and  has  a  first-class 
reputation,  both  for  skill  and  success.  He  has  reported  a  few  cases  of  general  interest  to  the  fra- 
ternity in  the  medical  periodicals  of  the  day;  has  a  membership  in  the  Illinois  State  Medical 
Society,  and  is  a  growing  man  in  his  profession. 

The  doctor  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a  Knight  Templar  and  thirty-second  degree  Mason  of 
the  Scottish  Rite  in  the  Masonic  order,  and  master  of  Morning  Star  Lodge,  No.  734,  also 
an  Odd-Fellow.  October  19,  1865,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ellen  S.  Plattenburg,  of  Canton,  and 
they  have  two  children,  Ellen  E.  and  Joseph  P.  Doctor  Harris  is  thoroughly  devoted  to  his 
profession  ;  makes  liberal  use  of  a  well  selected  library,  and  is  constantly  growing  in  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people. 


N 


IRA    BROWN. 

CHICAGO: 

O  one  at  all  familiar  with  real  estate  operations  in  this  city,  especially  during  the  last  eigh- 
teen years,  can  hear  the  name  of  Ira  Brown  without  having  the  subject  of  city  and  suburban 
property,  more  particularly  the  latter,  brought  conspicuously  to  mind.  The  business  of  "The 
Biographical  Dictionary"  is  to  record  the  progress  of  successful  men,  and  Ira  Brown  comes  under 
that  head. 

Success  in  life  always  receives  a  merited  homage.  The  general  from  his  victories  ;  the  states- 
man wearing  the  laurels  of  triumphant  diplomacy ;  the  orator,  whose  burning  words  have 
charmed,  and  whose  logic  has  convinced  ;  the  artist,  whose  brush  has  touched  the  canvas  with 
life  and  beauty  ;  the  merchant,  who  has  risen  to  princely  affluence  ;  whoever,  indeed,  has  stepped 
above  the  level,  is  sure  of  the  world's  regard,  and  to  a  degree  that  it  becomes  scarcely  distin- 
guishable from  worship.  Nor  is  such  feeling  prompted  by  the  brilliancy  of  the  achievement. 
Men  do  not  worship  the  results  of  life  ;  it  is  the  life  itself  that  becomes  the  idol.  It  is  not  the 
granite  shaft  on  Bunker  Hill  that  awes  us  with  reverence,  but  it  is  the  shadow  of  the  intellect  and 
patriotism,  which  made  that  monument  possible,  that  prompts  us  to  tread  lightly  and  to  speak 
softly  at  its  base.  Whenever  mighty  results  are  apparent,  mighty  intellect  is  discernible  in  the 
background,  and  it  is  upon  it  that  the  eye  centers.  Success  is  methodical.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  chance  victories  in  life,  and,  knowing  this,  however  prone  the  mind  may  be  to  indulge  in 
fancies  to  the  contrary,  it  desires  to  know  something  of  the  man  who  has  baffled  the  difficulties 
which  surround  almost  every  one,  caring  little  for  the  achievements  themselves.  The  obelisk  is 
beautiful,  but  who  built  it?  soliloquized  the  beholder.  The  statue  is  life-like  and  eloquent,  but 
whose  hand  held  the  chisel,  and  whose  mind  directed  its  movements?  The  city  or  village  may 
be  a  Rome  in  architectural  splendor,  and  a  bower  in  natural  beauty,  but  the  mind  turns  from  the 
magnificence  to  learn  something  of  the  founder  and  designer. 

Ira  Brown  must  be  placed  in  the  list  of  Chicago's  most  successful  men,  and  in  view  of  that 
fact,  the  usual  interest  attaches  to  his  life  that  there  does  to  the  lives  of  others,  who  have  been 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  147 

successful,  and  for  the  reasons  already  stated.  When  we  consider  that  Mr.  Brown  successfully 
rode  out  the  financial  storm  of  1873,  and  although  suffering  severe  losses  in  the  shrinkage  of  real 
estate  values,  yet  saved  a  handsome  fortune  therefrom,  and  that,  too,  when  others  similarly  situ- 
ated were  utterly  unable  to  extricate  themselves,  and  were  compelled  to  seek  refuge  in  the  bank- 
ruptcy courts,  his  preeminent  abilities  as  a  business  man  stand  out  in  the  business  community  in 
bold  relief,  his  entire  life,  since  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  has  pointed  in  this  direction.  His  enter- 
prise has  been  restless,  and  really  brilliant.  His  judgment  has  been  unerring,  and  his  foresight 
has  been  distinguished  for  capability  of  penetrating  the  future  with  remarkable  certainty. 

In  1853,  when  a  boy  of  only  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  came  to  Chicago  and  began  life  for  him- 
self, becoming  first  a  clerk  in  one  of  the  hotels,  and  then  proprietor  of  the  house.  Disposing  of 
this  business,  he  entered  upon  a  mercantile  life,  which  some  years  later  he  abandoned  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  his  entire  attention  to  his  large  real  estate  interests,  of  which  he  had  gradually 
become  possessed. 

His  belief  in  the  ultimate  greatness  of  the  city  induced  him,  while  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business,  to  invest  his  spare  capital  in  suburban  property,  and  subsequent  history  has  proven  the 
wisdom  of  such  a  course.  Nothing,  indeed,  could  more  clearly  show  the  characteristic  ability, 
and  keen  perception  of  the  man,  than  this  deliberate  escape  from  land  speculation  in  the  city,  to 
the  quiet  and  beautiful  suburbs  ;  and  it  is  through  the  determined  will  and  untiring  brain  of  Ira 
Brown  that  twelve  or  fifteen  of  our  best  and  most  thriving  suburbs  are  inhabited  by  thousands  of 
Chicago  business  men,  who  sit  under  their  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  and  around  their  firesides,  out 
of  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  city,  in  homes  purchased  of  Ira  Brown,  many  of  them  on  the 
monthly  installment  plan,  a  system  first  introduced  by  him.  At  this  writing  the  value  of  all  this 
property  is  easily  discernible  by  even  the  most  inexperienced,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  estimate  its 
constant  and  rapid  increase  of  value,  while  Chicago  remains  the  great  and  growing  metropolis  it 
now  is.  But  years  ago,  when  much  of  it  was  first  purchased  by  Mr.  Brown,  its  value  was  almost 
nothing,  as  compared  to  its  present  worth,  and  only  two  classes  of  men  would  have  purchased  it 
at  the  price  paid  per  acre,  the  extremely  reckless,  or  the  extraordinarily  sagacious.  Mr.  Brown 
was  of  the  latter.  Reasoning  that  there  would  yet  be  a  demand  for  suburban  homes  by  two 
classes  of  people,  the  rich,  who  would  retreat  before  the  growth  and  inconveniences  of  a  commer- 
cial city,  and  those  whose  means  would  not  permit  them  to  secure  homes  upon  the  high-priced 
lands  of  a  metropolis,  he  fearlessly  invested  his  money,  and  having  sown  the  seed,  sat  down  to 
patiently  wait  for  the  harvest.  Under  the  most  ordinary  circumstances  the  harvest  would  have 
been  by  this  time  a  bountiful  one,  and  a  monument  to  the  sagacity  of  the  mind  that  conceived  it 
possible.  But  fortunately  for  Mr.  Brown,  the  great  fire  of  1871  was  an  extraordinary  circum- 
stance, which,  together  with  the  fire  ordinance  which  resulted,  advanced  the  value  of  -his  acre 
property  about  one  thousand  per  cent.  Had  he  been  other  than  a  fair  and  honorable  man,  dis- 
daining to  take  an  unjust  advantage  of  his  fellow  citizens'  adversity,  he  might  have  asked,  and 
received,  a  much  greater  advance.  But  at  that  time,  and  since,  while  enjoying  a  legitimate  profit 
upon  his  investment,  towns  and  individuals  have  been  universally  benefited  through  his  well 
established  rule  of  business  to  "live  and  let  live." 

Mr.  Brown  has  no  family  but  his  wife,  and  generally  for  rest  and  restoration  spends  three  or 
four  months  out  of  each  year  in  traveling.  Selecting  the  winter  season,  while  real  estate  is  far 
under  the  snow  in  this  northern  clime,  he  is  to  be  found-  under  the  palm  trees  of  Cuba,  or  tented 
somewhere  on  the  flowery  banks  of  the  Saint  John's  River,  in  Florida,  or  on  the  Pacific  coast  in 
California,  and  from  these  lands  of  perpetual  summer  Mr.  Brown  returns  in  the  springtime  with 
renewed  health  and  vigor,  to  receive  the  hearty  congratulations  of  his  hosts  of  friends. 

Mr.  Brown's  purchases  have  been  very  judicious,  and  he  now  owns  perhaps  more  real  estate  in 
suburban  land  than  any  other  dealer  in  Chicago.  He  handles  nothing  but  his  own  property,  and  his 
extensive  business  monopolizes  his  whole  time.  Unlike  the  majority  of  men,  however,  with  such 
large  personal  enterprises  in  progress,  he  never  neglects  to  attend  to  duties  of  a  public  nature,  where 
their  discharge  clearly  devolves  upon  him.  His  willingness  in  this  direction  was  illustrated  by 
35 


248  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

his  devotion  to  the  erection  of  the  Ada  Street  Methodist  Church,  Chicago.  As  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  and  chairman  of  the  building  committee,  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  church 
were  indefatigable,  nor  did  they  cease  until  the  site  of  the  church  was  located,  and  he  had  fur- 
nished the  means  for  the  erection  of  the  present  edifice.  This  church  is  very  largely  indebted  to 
Mr.  Brown  for  its  present  prosperity.  Indeed,  the  Methodist  denomination  in  this  section  owes 
very  much  to  his  public  spirit  and  practical  Christianity,  for  he  was  a  prime  mover  in  locating 
the  grounds  and  inaugurating  the  celebrated  camp  meetings  at  Desplaines.  But  when  some  of 
the  Methodists  of  Chicago,  headed  by  Hatfield,  Gurney  and  Parkhurst  got  jealous  of  their  supe- 
rior in  the  ministry,  Rev.  H.  W.  Thomas,  D.D.,  and  offered  their  services  as  attorneys  and  witnesses, 
being  ready  to  do  anything  that  would  put  him  out  of  the  church,  then  Ira  Brown  was  one  of  the 
first  to  spring  to  the  rescue  of  the  great  preacher,  and  to  be  one  of  twenty  to  hire  Hooley's  thea- 
ter, and  pay  the  salary  of  this  great  and  good  man,  and  to  form  the  People's  Church,  which  is  to- 
day the  largest  congregation  in  Chicago,  many  hundred  going  away  every  Sunday  unable  to  get 
even  standing  room. 

Although  thus  prominently  identified  with  the  development  of  Chicago,  and  ranked  among 
the  most  substantial  citizens,  Mr.  Brown  is  yet  a  young  man.  He  was  born  at  Perrysburgh,  Ohio, 
January  25,  1835,  and  was  educated  at  Defiance  in  that  state,  near  which  place  his  father,  who 
also  bears  the  same  name,  now  resides,  being  the  owner  of  a  fine  stock  farm.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Harriet  Loughborough.  who  was  born  and  married  in  Rochester,  New  York,  and 
comes  from  a  family  which  is  well  and  favorably  known  in  that  state.  William  S.  Loughborough, 
a  brother,  is  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Rochester,  and  Barton  Loughborough,  another  brother,  has 
occupied  the  responsible  position  of  warden  of  the  state  prison  at  Auburn,  for  many  years. 

Both  branches  of  the  family  are  distinguished  for  longevity.  The  paternal  grandmother  of 
our  subject  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  ten  years,  and  his  maternal  grandmother  died 
when  ninety-three  years  old.  His  father  has  already  reached  the  ripe  age  of  eighty  years.  Mr. 
Brown  was  married  January  12,  1862,  at  Chicago,  to  Delphia  K.  Brown,  who  was  a  Louisianian, 
and  the  daughter  of  a  prominent  secessionist.  Miss  Brown's  family  was  temporarily  stopping 
here  at  that  time,  and  the  union  which  was  thus  effected  between  the  North  and  the  South  has 
never  been  a  cause  of  regret  to  the  contracting  parties  or  their  friends.  Mrs.  Brown  is  an  accom- 
plished and  typical  southern  lady,  who  has  always  been  a  sympathetic  wife  of  a  busy'and  success- 
ful husband,  whose  enterprise  has  made  his  name  as  familiar  in  Chicago  as  household  words. 


WILLIAM  P.   PRESSLY. 

• 

MONMOUTH. 

WILLIAM  PATTERSON  PRESSLY,  one  of  that  class  of  men  who  live  for  others  as  well 
as  for  self,  was  born  in  the  Abbeyville  district,  South  Carolina,  March  17,  1811.  His  par- 
ents, David  and  Jane  (Patterson)  Pressly,  were  born  in  Ireland,  and  came  to  this  country  in  youth, 
in  the  same  vessel.  William  lost  his  father  when  the  son  was  not  more  than  four  or  five  years  old, 
he  being  the  youngest  child  in  a  family  of  seven  children.  The  widow  kept  house  only  a  few 
years,  and  William,  who  had  some  property  left  him,  became  a  wanderer,  but  not  a  tramp  nor  a 
spendthrift.  In  his  teens  he  found  his  way  to  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  spent  some  time  in  the  college, 
though  he  did  not  take  a  full  classical  course.  The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  before  him  an  album, 
or  more  properly  called  a  Vade  Mecum,  with  the  name  of  William  P.  Pressly  on  the  first  page,  and 
the  date,  Room  7,  Franklin  Hall,  1830.  It  has  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  pages,  and  is  literally 
filled  with  choice  scraps  of  poetry  and  prose,  culled  from  standard  writers  of  many  ages,  with  here 
and  there  a  sentence  without  any  author's  name  or  quotation  marks,  and  evidently  Mr.  Pressly's 
own  sentiment.  Here  are  two  of  his  mottoes  : 

"Live  so  as  to  be  missed.     Live  by  God's  grace  assisting,  so  that  the  world  will  have  been 
made  better,  and  not  the  worse,  by  your  having  had  a  being  in  it." 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  349 

This  latter  has  evidently  been  the  motto  of  Mr.  Pressly  through  life,  as  will  be  seen  before  we 
finish  this  sketch.  When  about  twenty  or  twenty-one,  he  purchased  land  in  Preble  county,  Ohio, 
and  was  a  successful  farmer  about  twenty  years,  when  his  health  failed,  and  he  changed  to  mer- 
chandising, being  successful  in  both  callings,  He  was  from  the  start  industrious  and  economi- 
cal, taking  care  of  the  little  things,  saving  without  being  miserly,  and  wasting  nothing. 

In  1859  Mr.  Pressly  came  to  Monmouth,  and  farmed  one  year,  as  there  seemed  to  be  nothing 
else  for  him  to  do,  and  idleness  is  not  in  his  constitution.  The  next  year  he  resumed  mercantile 
life,  and  is  still  a  trader,  thrifty  as  ever,  because  as  industrious  and  prudent  as  ever. 

Something  like  twenty  years  ago  he  became  very  much  interested  in  the  success  of  Monmouth 
College,  and  turned  over  to  that  institution  a  tract  of  land  of  more  than  700  acres,  located  in  Iowa. 

In  1870  he  put  up  a  brick  library  block,  and  presented  it  to  the  county  of  Warren.  Part  of 
the  money  made  here  had  come  from  the  patronage  of  farmers  and  other  citizens  of  the  county, 
hence  he  wished  to  have  the  inhabitants  of  the  county  share  in  the  benefits  derived  from  a  public 
library. 

During  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years,  he  has  given  $20,000  to  the  Egyptian  mission  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  church,  to  aid  in  the  education  of  the  young  converts  to  Christianity  in  that 
country.  One  of  Mr.  Pressly's  mottoes  in  the  little  manuscript  volume  to  which  we  have  referred 
is  "  Live  for  others,"  and  certainly  his  example  tallies  with  his  precept. 

Our  subject  was  reared  in  the  United  Presbyterian  church,  and  was  a  member  of  it  for  a  long 
time.  Some  years  ago  he  transferred  his  connection  to  the  Presbyterian  church,  of  which  he  is 
an  elder.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of  Monmouth  College. 

Mr.  Pressly  was  first  married  in  1833  to  Miss  Mary  Gilmore,  of  Preble  county,  Ohio,  and  she 
died  childless  in  1836.  Two  years  later  (1838)  he  was  married  to  Miss  Martha  Miller,  a  Virginian, 
by  whom  he  has  had  four  children,  none  of  them  now  living.  One,  Virginia,  died  in  infancy; 
another,  Sarah,  when  nearly  a  woman  grown;  Henry  K.,  a  soldier,  was  killed  at  Vicksburg  in 
1-863,  and  Mary  Jane,  a  graduate  of  Monmouth  College,  and  a  teacher  there,  an  accomplished 
scholar,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-two. 

Mr.  Pressly,  while  living,  is  grandly  "  proving  by  the  ends  of  being  to  have  been,"  and  it  will 
be  a  long  time  before  the  world  will  be  likely  to  have  a  surplus  of  his  class  of  people. 


HIRAM    D.  FLOWER,  M.D. 

FULTON  CITY. 

HIRAM  DON  FLOWER,  physician  and  surgeon,  son  of  Zephon  Flower,  in  his  day  a  phy- 
sician and  druggist,  and  Margaret  (Glazier)  Flower,  was  born  in  Warsaw,  Wyoming  (then 
Genesee)  county,  New  York,  February  28,  1827.  He  is  of  English  descent  on  his  father's  side, 
and  Scotch  on  his  mother's. 

Hiram  worked  on  a  farm,  and  attended  public  schools  during  the  winter  terms,  until  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  and  finished  his.  literary  education  at  the  Westfield  Academy,  Chautauqua 
county,  New  York,  where  he  spent  four  years  at  his  books.  He  studied  medicine  with  his  father, 
and  Doctors  Garlick  and  Ackley,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  finished  his  medical  education  at  Wil- 
loughby  College,  which  institution  was  afterward  moved  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  he  receiving  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1849. 

Doctor  Flower  commenced  practice  at  Sandusky  City,  remaining  there  two  years,  then 
removed  to  Chicago,  and  was  there  till  March,  1855.  Since  that  date  he  has  been  in  practice  at 
Geneva  and  Fulton,  Illinois,  in  the  latter  place  for  the  last  sixteen  years.  He  was  in  regular 
practice  until  he  left  Chicago,  since  which  time  he  has  given  his  whole  attention  to  surgery,  and 
to  old  diseases,  such  as  club-foot,  crooked  eyes,  cataract,  malignant  tumors,  etc. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  has  known  Doctor  Flower  for  many  years,  and  is  conversant  with 
his  eminent  success  in  different  parts  of  Illinois,  Iowa  and  other  states,  his  field  of  surgical  oper- 


350  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

ations  extending  over  a  wide  area  of  country.  The  cures  which  he  has  effected  are  not  only 
remarkable,  but  absolutely  astonishing,  if  not  astounding.  Having  made  the  class  of  diseases 
just  mentioned  his  exclusive  study  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  would,  naturally, 
become  an  expert  in  them,  but  some  of  his  cures  indicate  a  remarkable  degree  of  proficiency  in 
the  healing  art. 

Doctor  Flower  married,  April  3,  1850,  Miss  Mary  R.  Perry,  daughter  of  Amos  Perry,  M.D.,  of 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  they  have  lost  two  daughters,  and  have  two  sons  and  one  daughter  living. 
Frances  M.,  the  eldest  daughter,  was  the  wife  of  Augustus  Phelps,  of  Fulton  City,  and  died  in 
child-bed  ;  Harriet  E.  was  the  wife  of  William  Wicks,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  and  died  from  the 
same  cause  ;  Don  Rhodolpho,  the  older  son,  is  a  physician  at  Galesburgh,  Illinois  ;  Mary  H.  is 
married  to  Monroe  Smith,  stenographer  in  a  book  store,  Chicago,  and  Ward  Z.  is  a  farmer  at 
Fulton  City.  

THORNTON    H.   FLEMING,  M.D. 

CANTON. 

THORNTON  HENRY  FLEMING,  one  of  the  oldest  medical  practitioners  in  Canton,  Ful- 
ton county,  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Thornton  Fleming,  a  Methodist  minister,  and  Sarah  Cohagan, 
both  natives  of  Virginia,  his  birth  taking  place  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  September  9,  1811.  He 
was  educated  at  Madison  College,  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania,  being  graduated  in  1831  ;  studied 
medicine  with  Doctor  John  B.  Phythian,  of  that  place,  and  Doctor  Thomas  H.  Fowler,  of  Belle- 
ville, Pennsylvania ;  practiced  five  years  in  Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania,  then  attended  lectures 
at  the  Ohio  Medical  College,  Cincinnati,  and  finished  in  1839. 

Doctor  Fleming  came  to  this  county  in  1852,  and  after  practicing  seven  years  in  Liverpool, 
settled  in  Canton  (1859).  He  is  now  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  and  has  made  a  good  record  for 
skill  and  success.  He  has  held  only  one  or  two  offices  of  any  kind,  and  attended  very  closely  to 
his  business.  His  rides  are  still  extensive.  He  is  of  the  firm  of  Fleming  and  Sutton. 

Doctor  Fleming  was  an  anti-slavery  whig,  and  since  1855  has  voted  the  republican  ticket. 
Politics,  however,  never  interfered  with  his  professional  duties,  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  life. 
Doctor  Fleming  was  joined  in  marriage  in  June,  1846,  with  Miss  Mary  Ann  Nutt,  of  Fayette 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  she  died,  February  12,  1882,  leaving  one  son,  Leroy  M.,  a  farmer  in 

Canton  township. 

i 

PERRY  H.  SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 

PERRY  H.  SMITH,  one  of  the  most  notable  members  of  the  legal  fraternity  in  the  city  of 
Chicago,  was  born  at  Augusta,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  March  18,  1828,  his  father  being 
Timothy  Smith,  many  years  a  prominent  business  man  at  Watertown,  Jefferson  county.  At  thir- 
teen years  of  age  Perry  was  prepared  to  enter  college, —  did,  in  fact,  matriculate, —  but  owing  to 
his  age  had  to  wait  another  year,  and  at  eighteen  was  graduated,  his  standing  being  second  in 
his  class.  He  entered  forthwith  the  law  office  of  N.  S.  Benton,  of  Little  Falls,  New  York,  and 
was  admitted  to  practice  March  18,  1849,  it  being  his  birthday  and  the  date  of  his  majority. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Smith  started  for  the  West,-  it  being  regarded  by  him  as 
the  most  inviting  field  in  which  to  find  an  opening  for  a  young  man  of  his  profession,  Appleton, 
Wisconsin,  being  the  point  of  destination.  Wisconsin,  as  a  state,  was  one  year  old,  and  without 
railroads,  and.  indeed,  in  the  northern  part  without  many  roads  of  any  kind.  In  reaching  Apple- 
ton  Mr.  Smith  had  a  walk  of  nearly  a  hundred  miles,  much  of  the  way  through  an  almost 
unbroken  forest,  that  part  having  recently  been  opened  to  settlement  by  a  treaty  with  the  Indians. 
Appleton  had  been  laid  out  on  one  of  the  rapids  of  Fox  River,  and  was  just  getting  a  start. 
Hon.  Amos  Lawrence  had  just  endowed  the  university  which  took  his  name,  and  which  has  since 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  351 

grown  into  a  first-class  institution  of  learning,  and  the  fact  that  such  a  school  had  been  founded 
may  have  been  one  of  the  inducements  which  led  Mr.  Smith,  who  is  a  man  of  decided  culture,  to 
locate  there.  Thirty-two  years  ago  Lawrence  University  was  one  of  the  most  northern  lights  of 
the  country,  but  the  crowding,  ubiquitous  Yankee  and  the  robust  Scandinavian  have  made  open- 
ings in  the  forests  and  planted  towns  hundreds  of  miles  nearer  the  Arctic  seas,  and  Appleton  has 
become  a  city  of  7,000  inhabitants. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Smith  settled  in  the  Badger  State,  Appleton  became  the  seat  of  justice  of  a  new 
county,  and  he  was  appointed  the  first  judge,  being  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  pre- 
sided with  marked  ability  over  a  court,  not  only  of  probate  jurisdiction,  but  likewise  of  general 
and  common  law.  Very  soon  after  reaching  that  post  of  honor  we  find  him  in  the  lower  house 
of  the  state  legislature,  and  a  year  or  two  later  in  the  upper  house,  representing  his  constituency 
in  the  latter  body  for  a  period  of  five  years,  and  becoming  a  prominent  member  on  the  demo- 
cratic side. 

Mr.  Smith  was  chairman  (1855)  of  the  legislative  committee  which  investigated  the  charges 
of  fraud  and  corruption  made  against  the  governor  of  the  state,  and  wrote  the  able  report  of  the 
committee,  which,  it  is  said,  "was  absolutely  decisive  of  the  points  at  issue,  and  sealed  the  politi- 
cal fate  of  the  persons  chiefly  implicated." 

Says  a  writer  in  the  "Alliance"  of  November  28,  1881: 

"The  legislature  was  convened  in  special  session  in  1856  to  pass  finally  on  the  land  grants  made 
to  the  state  by  the  national  government  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  railroads,  and  Mr.  Smith 
was  placed  on  the  special  committee  to  which  the  subject  was  submitted.  The  grant  was  given 
to  a  new  company  organized  by  the  legislature,  with  authority  to  build  a  railroad  from  Fond  du 
Lac  to  _the  state  line.  The  company  was  soon  after  consolidated  with  the  Chicago,  Saint  Paul 
and  Fond  du  Lac  Company,  then  struggling  to  build  a  road  from  Chicago  to  Fond  du  Lac,  and 
in  the  following  year,  1857,  when  but  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  Mr.  Smith  was  chosen  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  company,  and  when  it  was  reorganized  with  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  railroad 
was  chosen  to  the  same  office  in  that  great  road,  and  made  acting  president  until  he  left  the  road 
in  1869." 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Smith's  first  election  as  managing  director  of  the  Chicago  and  North-West-, 
ern  Railway  Company,  he  had  perfected  his  plans  for  his  election  to  the  United  States  senate  by 
the  Wisconsin  legislature,  and  only  upon  most  urgent  and  potent  arguments  from  Hon.  W.  B. 
Ogden,  Samuel  J.  Tilden  and  others  was  he  induced  to  relinquish  his  political  ambition  for  the 
better  furthering  of  the  great  railway  interests  then  committed  to  his  charge. 

Great  success  attended  Mr.  Smith  in  his  various  enterprises  in  Wisconsin,  and  having  accumu- 
lated a  fortune  he  removed  to  Chicago  in  1856,  and  has  since  been  a  resident  of  this  city,  devot- 
ing his  time  to  his  own  private  business,  which  has  assumed  vast  proportions.  His  ventures  in 
railroad,  mining  and  other  interests  in  the  Great  West  have  been  very  fortunate,  and  Midas-like 
everything  he  touches  seems  to  turn  to  gold.  Luckily,  he  is  liberal  in  his  disposition,  as  well  as 
refined  in  his  tastes,  and  no  pent-up  Utica'  or  Chicago  limits  his  generosity.  Years  ago  he  gave 
a  large  sum  with  which  to  build  a  hall  for  the  library  of  his  alma  mater.  His  immense  picture 
galleries  and  private  library,  second  to  nothing  of  the  kind,  we  believe,  in  Chicago,  are  greatly 
admired  by  all  visitors.  The  destitute  and  needy  have  a  warm  place  in  his  heart,  and  his  kindly, 
neighborly  feelings  are  among  the  many  good  features  of  his  character. 

After  the  great  fire  his  first  business  venture  was  the  building  of  the  North  Shore  railroad  of 
Canada,  from  Quebec  to  Montreal,  which  he  managed  with  such  signal  ability  and  success  in  the 
face  of  most  gigantic  obstacles  that  Sir  Hugh  Allen  was  attracted  to  the  enterprise,  and  paid  Mi. 
Smith  a  million  dollars  for  the  privilege  of  carrying  the  work  to  final  completion.  In  later  years 
the  Chicago  division  of  the  Wabash  Railway  Company  and  the  Wabash  grain  elevator  of  Chi- 
cago, with  a  capacity  of  1,650,000  bushels  of  grain  storage,  attest  in  a  measure  the  mental  activ- 
ity and  business  success  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch. 

Mr.  Smith  has  been  a  life-long  democrat,  and  is  a  great  admirer  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  whom 


352  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

he  helped  to  bring  out  for  presidential  candidate  in  1876,  and  who  was  his  first  choice  in  1880, 
but  failed  of  the  nomination,  much  to  the  regret  of  our  subject,  whose  wisdom  and  foresight  are 
seen  in  his  politics  as  well  as  in  his  business  ventures. 

Mr.  Smith  married  in  1851  Miss  Emma  A.  Smith,  daughter  of  Rev.  Reeder  Smith,  of  Apple- 
ton,  Wisconsin,  and  they  have  four  children,  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  A  sketch  of  Perry  H. 
Smith,  Jr.,  a  young  man  of  much  promise,  may  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  volume. 


THOMAS   P.   PIERCE. 

KEWANEE. 

THE  parentage,  birth-place,  etc.,  of  Thomas  Powell  Pierce,  may  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  his 
brother,  John  H.  Pierce,  immediately  following  this.  He  dates  his  birth  October  3,  1838. 
He  received  his  mental  drill  in  a  district  school  near  the  city  of  Aurora,  and  in  his  early  years  was 
engaged  in  farming  in  Kane  county.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  tinsmith  in  Aurora,  worked  at  it  in 
that  city  till  1859,  when  he  came  to  Kewanee,  and  worked  here  awhile  as  a  journeyman,  and  in 
1863  started  a  tin-shop  of  his  own.  Not  long  afterward  he  added  hardware.  He  was  alone  for 
two  seasons,  and  for  one  short  year  was  of  the  firm  of  Tracy  and  Pierce.  In  1867  he  took 
into  partnership  his  younger  brother,  John  H.  Pierce,  and  the  firm  of  Pierce  and  Brother 
continued  for  fourteen  or  fifteen  years.  He  is  now  of  the  firm  of  Pierce  and  Brown,  his 
partner  being  O.  J.  Brown.  Their  store  is  twenty-four  by  one  hundred  feet,  and  they  occupy  two 
stories,  usually  carrying  from  $20,000  to  $25,000  worth  of  stock,  and  doing  about  $40,000  a  year. 

Mr.  Pierce  is  the  oldest  hardware  merchant  in  Kewanee,  and  in  stability  of  character  ng  deal- 
er in  merchandize  in  the  village  stands  higher.  He  has  made  a  success  in  his  business,  and  done 
it  by  honest  dealing,  prudent  management  and  careful  oversight.  In  1880  he  .helped  organize 
the  Union  National  Bank  of  Kewanee,  a  well  managed  institution,  and  was  chosen  its  president, 
a  post  which  he  still  holds.  He  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Haxtun  Steam  Heater  Company, 
and  is  quite  public  spirited. 

Mr.  Pierce  has  served  sundry  times  as  a  trustee  of  the  village,  in  all  six  or  seven  years,  and 
was  supervisor  of  the  township  of  Kewanee  two  years.  His  political  affiliations  are  with  the 
republican  party,  for  the  welfare  of  which  he  sometimes  labors  with  zeal,  he  being  a  man  of  con- 
siderable influence.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  among  the  Freemasons. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Pierce  was  Charlotte  M.  Talcott,  daughter  of  J.  A.  Talcott,  an  early  settler  in 
Henry  county.  They  were  married  in  1864,  and  have  lost  one  child,  and  have  one  son,  William, 
living.  He  is  being  educated  in  the  local  schools. 


JOHN    H.    PIERCE. 

KE  W 'A  NEE. 

JOHN  HENRY  PIERCE,  secretary  of  the  Haxtun  Steam  Heater  Company,  Kewanee,  is  a 
native  of  this  state,  being  born  at  Aurora,  Kane  county,  January  n,  1843.  His  father,  Thomas 
Pierce,  a  farmer,  was  from  Denby,  Wales,  and  his  mother,  whose^naiden  name  was  Ruth  Powell, 
was  a  native  of  Utica,  New  York.  Our  subject  received  an  ordinary  English  education,  and 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  years  of  age  was  in  California,  engaged  in  freighting,  mining,  etc., 
meeting  with  good  success,  and  returning  in  1867.  He  settled  in  Kewanee,  and  engaged  in  the 
hardware  business,  in  company  with  his  older  brother,  Thomas  P.  Pierce,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Pierce  and  Brother. 

He  retained  his  interest  in  the  store  until  two  or  three  years  ago.  Meantime,  in  1872,  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Anderson,  now  Haxtun,  Steam  Heater  Company,  of  which  he  is  secre- 
tary, and  to  the  building  up  of  which  he  is  now  devoting  his  time  and  his  energies,  as  well  as 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  -,  r  , 

most  of  his  capital.  It  was  started  on  a  very  moderate  scale,  and  has  been  enlarged  from  year  to 
year  until  its  buildings,  mostly  solid  brick,  cover  two  acres  of  ground.  The  company  gives 
employment  to  two  hundred  skilled  workmen,  and  is  doing  about  $400,000  per  annum. 

The  Haxtun  steam  heater  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  best  articles  of  the  kind  manufactured 
in  this  country.  Steam  is  no  doubt  the  most  safe,  healthy  and  economical  method  of  heating 
buildings,  and  we  have  before  us  hundreds  of  testimonials  of  parties  who  place  the  Haxtun  heater 
second  to  no  other  in  the  market.  It  has  become  so  popular  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  the 
Kewanee  company  to  fill  its  orders  with  the  promptness  desired.* 

Mr.  Pierce  is  one  of  the  most  stirring  and  thorough  going  business  men  in  Kewanee,  and  is 
president  of  the  board  of  village  trustees.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank,  of 
Kewanee. 

Mr.  Pierce  is  an  unswerving  republican,  and  at  times  is  very  active  in  promoting  the  interests 
of  the  party,  attending  county  and  state  conventions,  etc.  He  was  married  September  6,  1869,  to 
Miss  Sarah  D.  Ingals,  of  Sublette,  Lee  county,  and  they  have  three  children:  Charles  I.,  Frank  E., 
and  Lilly  R. 

AUGUSTUS   ADAMS, 

SAND  WICH. 

AMONG  the  successful  inventors  and  manufacturers  of  Illinois  must  be  classed  the  subject  of 
r\.  this  notice,  Augustus  Adams,  who  was  born  in  Genoa,  New  York,  May  10,  1806.  His  father 
was  Samuel  Adams,  a  merchant,  and  his  mother  Eleanor  Heth.  During  his  boyhood  he  attended 
the  common  school,  but  after  his  father's  death,  which  occurred  when  he  was  eleven  years  old,  he 
was  thrown  almost  wholly  upon  his  own  resources.  He  spent  his  summers  on  a  farm,  devoting 
his  spare  time  to  study,  and  afterward  spent  four  winters  in  teaching. 

Having  accumulated  a  small  capital,  he  started  a  foundry  and  machine  shop,  in  1829,  at  Pine 
Valley,  Chemung  county,  New  York.  Here  he  continued  the  business  till  the  autumn  of  1837. 
In  1838  he  came  west,  and  spent  the  next  winter  at  Elgin,  returning  to  New  York  state  in  the 
spring  of  1839.  In  1840  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Elgin,  and  in  the  spring  of  1841,  with 
James  T.  Gifford  as  partner,  he  established  the  first  foundry  and  machine  shop  west  of  Chicago, 
and  continued  in  the  business  there  till  1857.  He  manufactured,  in  1850,  the  first  harvester  on 
which  the  grain  was  bound  and  carried  together.  He  now  closed  his  business  at  Elgin,  and 
established  himself  at  Sandwich  in  the  manufacture  of  what  is  known  as  Adams'  Corn  Sheller. 

In  addition  to  his  regular  work  he  has  occupied  many  prominent  positions  of  public  trust.  In 
1847  he  was  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  constitutional  convention;  served  as  a  member  of  the 
state  legislature  in  1850,  and  in  1854  was  elected  to  the  senate.  He  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Palmer  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  locate  the  Northern  State  Insane  Asylum.  At  present 
(1882)  he  is  president  of  the  Marseilles  Manufacturing  Company,  and  was  also  the  first  president 
of  the  Sandwich  Manufacturing  Company. 

His  political  opinions  are  republican.  He  is  a  worthy  member  and  trustee  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church,  and  by  his  upright  life  exemplifies  the  virtues  of  the  Christian  character. 

Mr.  Adams  was  married  October  21,  1833,  to  Miss  Lydia  A.  Phelps.  She  died  December  14, 
1867.  He  was  again  married  January  13,  1869,  to  Mrs.  Lucina  M.  (Powell)  Mosher.  Mr.  Adams 
had  nine  children  by  his  first  wife,  eight  sons  and  one  daughter,  losing  the  eldest  son,  Darius, 

*  Mr.  William  E.  Haxtun,  the  inventor  of  the  steam  heater  which  takes  his  name,  is  a  native  of  Dutchess  county, 
New  York,  born  January  20,  1832.  His  father,  Elnathan  Haxtun,  was  a  farmer,  and  to  that  occupation  the  son  was 
reared,  he  receiving  an  academic  education  at  Amenia  Seminary,  Dutchess  county,  and  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 
He  was  a  farmer  in  his  native  county  until  1870,  when  he  came  to  Kewanee.  Giving  considerable  study  to  the  subject 
of  steam  heaters,  after  some  experimenting  he  invented  one  which  has  become  very  popular  in  a  short  time.  In  1874 
he  became  president  of  the  Haxtun  Steam  Heater  Company,  and  his  inventive  talent  and  industry  are  being  well 
rewarded.  He  has  a  wife  and  five  children. 


354  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

several  years  ago,  and  the  daughter,  Amy,  in  infancy.  Joseph  P.,  Henry  A.  and  Walter  G.  Adams 
are  manufacturing  the  Adams  and  French  harvester  at  Sandwich,  and  John  Q.,  Harvey  R.,  Oliver 
R.  and  Charles  H.  Adams  are  manufacturing  agricultural  implements  at  Marseilles,  Illinois.  They 
are  a  family  of  sons  of  whom  any  parent  may  well  be  proud.  Augustus  Adams  retired  from 
active  business,  or  nearly  so,  a  few  years  ago,  and  is  living  a  quiet  life,  holding  at  the  same  time 
an  honorable  social  position. 

JAMES    E.    McPHERRAN. 

STERLING. 

JAMES  EMMETT  McPHERRAN,  lawyer,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Stewart)  McPherran,  was 
born  in  Huntingdon  county,  Pennsylvania,  November  21,  1834.  His  father,  who  was  a  farmer 
and  contractor,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and  was  a  son  of  Andrew  McPherran  who  served  seven 
years  in  the  Continental  army,  and  most  of  the  time  under  Colonel  Morgan  in  the  rifle  corps. 
This  old  patriot  married  Martha  Adams  of  York  county,  Pennsylvania,  a  woman  of  Scottish 
descent.  The  McPherran  family  came  over  from  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  about  1745.  It  is 
proper  to  observe  in  this  connection,  as  illustrative  of  the  indifference  in  which  men  of  that  day 
held  the  orthography  of  names,  that  the  brothers  of  Andrew  McPherran  spelt  their  name 
McFerran. 

The  mother  of  James  was  a  Pennsylvanian;  her  father,  Robert  Stewart,  and  her  mother,  Eliza- 
beth Emmett,  both  of  Antrim,  Ireland,  the  former  a  Scotch  colonist,  the  latter  a  Celt  "to  the 
manor  born,"  emigrated  to  this  country  shortly  after  the  peace  of  1782  and  settled  in  Cumber- 
land county,  Pennsylvania. 

Our  subject  was  fitted  for  admission  to  Harvard  College,  but  the  religious  bearings  of  that 
famous  institution  were  such  as  to  excite  parental  solicitude,  and  accordingly  he  was  matricu- 
lated at  Jefferson  College,  Washington  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  graduated  in  1857.  After 
graduation  he  taught  in  Mississippi,  and  also  in  Illinois,  and  in  the  fall  of  1861  was  graduated 
from  the  Law  Department  of  Chicago  University.  He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Sterling, 
Whiteside  county,  Illinois,  in  1863,  where  he  still  remains,  doing  business  in  all  the  courts,  state 
and  federal.  He  represented  the  eleventh  district  of  the  state  of  Illinois  in  the  legislature  of 
i873-74i  and  contributed  largely  toward  settling  our  present  railway  legislation.  He  has  held 
various  municipal  offices  in  the  city  of  Sterling,  and  has  long  been  intimately  identified  with 
the  educational  interests  of  the  city.  He  has  for  years  been  president  of  the  Sterling  Public 
Library,  an  institution  which,  though  in  its  infancy,  already  contains  over  5,000  volumes  of  well 
selected  books. 

The  legal  profession  consider  Mr.  McPherran  a  good  lawyer.  The  public  regard  him  as 
a  man  of  superior  educational  attainments.  He  is  Presbyterian  by  descent  and  education, 
although  not  a  member  of  the  church.  The  wife  of  Mr.  McPherran  is  Sarah  A.  Withrow,  daugh- 
ter of  Wm.  E.  Withrow  of  Macomb,  Illinois.  They  were  joined  in  marriage  April  20,  1865,  and 
have  four  children,  one  daughter  and  three  sons,  all  attending  school. 


HON.  J.   RUSSELL  JONES. 

CHICAGO. 

JOSEPH  RUSSELL  JONES,  formerly  minister  to  Brussels,  was  born  at  Conneaut,  Ashtabula 
county,  Ohio,  February  17,  1823,  his  parents  being  Joel  and  Maria  (Dart)  Jones.  His  father 
was  born  at  Hebron,  Connecticut,  May  14,  1792,  married  Miss  Dart  in  1815,  and  our  subject  was 
the  youngest  of  four  children.  He  is  the  grandson  of  Captain  Samuel  Jones,  an  officer  in  the 
French  and  Indian  war,  and  the  war  of  independence,  and  who  held  two  commissions  under 
George  II.  The  family  possesses  a  letter  written  by  Captain  Jones  at  Fort  Edward,  and  dated 
August  18,  1758.  His  ancestor,  Colonel  John  Jones,  sat  at  Westminster,  as  one  of  the  judges  of 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


357 


Charles  I,  in  1648.  That  ancestor  married  a  sister  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  was  put  to  death 
October  17,  1660,  on  the  restoration,  Charles  II  being  on  the  throne.  His  son,  Hon.  William 
Jones,  the  progenitor  of  the  family  in  this  country,  came  to  America  with  his  father-in-law,  Hon. 
Theophilus  Eaton,  the  first  governor  of  the  New  Haven  colony. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Hurd)  Dart,  who  had  a  family 
of  fourteen  children,  their  home  being  at  Middle  Haddam,  Connecticut,  where  the  entire  family, 
with  one  exception,  met  in  1854,  to  celebrate  the  sixty-second  anniversary  of  the  venerable 
couple's  marriage. 

Joel  Jones  died  when  Joseph  R.  was  a  little  more  than  a  year  old,  leaving  the  widow  with  a 
young  family,  in  very  moderate  circumstances.  At  thirteen  years  of  age  he  was  placed  in  a  store 
at  Conneaut,  and  his  mother  moved  to  Rockton,  Winnebago  county,  Illinois.  Two  years  later  the 
son  pushed  westward,  taking  passage  on  the  schooner  J.  G.  King,  and  landing  in  Chicago,  August 
19,  1838.  Impatient  to  reach  Winnebago  county,  and  arriving  too  late  at  the  port  for  the  weekly 
stage,  he  was  invited  by  Colonel  Broadhead  and  Judge  Fleming  to  accompany  them  to  Rock- 
ford,  which  was  twelve  miles  from  Rockton.  Remaining  with  the  family  two  years,  and  assisting 
all  he  could,  in  1840  he  went  to  Galena,  with  a  cash  capital  of  one  solitary  dollar.  Mr.  Jones  sup- 
ported himself  for  a  few  months  by  acting  as  clerk  in  a  small  store;  then  entered  into  the  employ 
of  Benjamin  H.  Campbell,  a  prominent  merchant  in  that  lively  town,  receiving  at  first  a  salary  of 
$300  a  year.  His  activity  and  aptness  to  learn  the  business,  soon  secured  for  Mr.  Jones  an  advance 
of  salary,  and  a  little  later  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Campbell.  Those  were  prosperous  times  in 
Galena,  then  the  great  business  center  west  of  Chicago,  and  these  parties  remained  together  until 
1856,  when  the  firm  was  dissolved. 

Ten  years  prior  to  this  date  (1846)  Mr.  Jones  was  appointed  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Galena  and  Minnesota  Packet  Company,  and  he  held  that  important  post  for  a  period  of  fifteen 
years,  discharging  its  duties  with  great  promptness  and  efficiency.  For  a  term  or  two,  during 
that  period,  prior  to  the  dissolution  of  the  whig  party,  he  held  the  office  of  alderman,  and  aided  in 
the  prosecution  of  various  important  improvements  in  the  city. 

In  1860  our  subject  was  elected  to  the  twenty-second  general  assembly  to  represent  the  coun- 
ties of  Jo  Daviess  and  Carroll,  and  in  that  legislative  body  he  showed  himself  to  be  a  thorough 
worker  and  an  influential  business  man.  That  was  his  first  step  in  public  life,  and  brought  him 
into  prominence  in  the  republican  party.  In  March  of  the  next  year  he  was,  by  President  Lincoln, 
appointed  United  States  marshal  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  and  in  [the  autumn  follow- 
ing moved  to  Chicago.  So  faithfully  did  Mr.  Jones  serve  in  that  office  that  he  was  reappointed 
by  President  Lincoln  in  1865,  only  a  few  weeks  before  the  assassination.  From  a  sketch  of  Mr. 
Jones  in  a  work  entitled  the  "Leading  Men  of  Chicago,"  we  learn  that  he  was  one  of  the  trusted 
friends  of  Presi'dent  Lincoln,  who  reposed  in  him  the  fullest  confidence,  and  summoned  him  to 
Washington  for  consultation  on  matters  of  great  public  importance  during  the  war. 

In  1863  Mr.  Jones  and  a  few  other  enterprising  men  purchased  from  the  Chicago  City  Rail- 
way Company  the  city  railway  lines  in  the  west  division,  and  he  was  selected  for  president  of  the 
new  company,  and  held  that  position  until  appointed  by  President  Grant  in  1869  as  minister  to 
Belgium.  From  a  work  published  in  New  York  in  1876,  entitled  "Our  Representatives  Abroad," 
we  take  the  following: 

"Mr.  Jones,  upon  his  appointment  as  minister  to  Belgium,  in  1869,  proceeded  quietly  to  his 
post,  accompanied  by  his  family,  took  possession  of  the  legation  July  21,  and  assumed  at  once,  unos- 
tentatiously but  industriously,  the  mastery  of  the  situation.  One  of  his  first  duties  was  to  make 
an  elaborate  report  upon  the  cereal  productions  of  Belgium,  by  direction  of  the  state  department, 
and  the  manner  in  which  he  did  this  left  nothing  to  be  required.  Shortly  afterward  he  was  called 
upon  to  interpose  his  good  offices  in  behalf  of  an  American  citizen  who  had  been  condemned  to 
imprisonment.  He  did  so  quietly,  and  without  display,  and  succeeded  speedily  in  effecting  his 
countryman's  release.  When  the  difficulty  arose  with  Great  Britain  in  reference  to  the  construc- 
tion of  the  treaty  of  Washington,  no  minister  was  more  active  than  he  in  disseminating  correct 
36 


358  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

information,  and  in  giving  public  opinion  a  turn  favorable  to  our  interests.  On  the  final  extin- 
guishment of  the  Scheldt  dues  he  served  the  government  with  marked  capability  and  intelligence. 
He  has  also  materially  assisted  in  bringing  about  an  understanding  between  Belgium  and  the 
United  States,  which  will  enable  them  to  agree  upon  the  terms  of  an  extradition  treaty,  and  has 
more  recently  furnished  for  the  use  of  the  senate  committee  on  transportation  an  admirable 
report  upon  Belgian  railways  and  canals.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  Mr.  Jones  and  his 
family  have  won  the  respect  and  'affection  of  everybody  who  has  felt  the  influence  of  their  home 
at  Brussels,  or  come  within  the  reach  of  their  kindly  offices." 

On  his  return  from  Belgium  in  1875,  he  was  appointed  collector  of  the  port  of  Chicago,  by 
General  Grant,  and  took  his  old  position  at  the  head  of  the  railway  company,  and  the  success  of 
this  company  is  no  doubt  due  in  a  large  measure  to  his  excellent  management  and  fine  executive 
talents.  Mr.  Jones  was  also  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Northwestern  Horse  Nail  Company  of 
Chicago,  and,  up  to  the  time  he  went  abroad  in  1869,  was  its  president. 

'    He  married  in  1848  Elizabeth  Ann  Scott,  daughter  of  Judge  Andrew  Scott,  of  Arkansas,  and 
he  is  the  father  of  six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters. 

In  business  life,  says  the  writer  from  whom  we  have  already  quoted,  "  Mr.  Jones  has  ever  been 
distinguished  for  liberality  and  strict  integrity,  and  socially,  for  the  largest  hospitality,  and  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  his  friends,  by  whom  he  is  esteemed  and  valued  with  a  warmth  which 
falls  to  the  lot  of  very  few." 


JAMES    H.  ETHERIDGE,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES  HENRY  ETHERIDGE,  a  prominent  physician  of  Chicago,  and  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  Rush  Medical  College,  is  a  native  of  the  Empire  State,  being  born  at  Saint  Johns- 
ville,  Montgomery  county,  March  20,  1844.  His  father,  Doctor  Francis  Etheridge,  was  born  in 
the  town  of  Herkimer,  same  state,  and  was  a  son  of  a  revolutionary  soldier,  and  a  descendant,  in 
the  fourth  generation,  from  English  parents.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Fanny  Easton,  a 
native  of  Connecticut,  and  the  sixth  generation  from  England. 

Doctor  Francis  B.  Etheridge  was  a  practicing  physician  and  surgeon  forty-seven  years.  He 
moved  to  Hastings,  Minnesota,  in  1860,  and  was  a  surgeon  of  a  Minnesota  regiment  during  the 
civil  war,  dying  at  Hastings  in  1871. 

Our  subject  received  most  of  his  education  in  his  native  state,  and  had  some  experience  in 
teaching  a  winter  school.  He  was  prepared  in  mathematics  and  Latin  to  enter  the  junior  year  in 
Harvard  College,-  but  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  the  absence  of  his  father  in  his  country's 
service,  disarranged  the  son's  plans,  and  he  concluded  to  go  no  farther  in  his  classical  studies,  but 
turn  his  attention  to  medicine.  He  read  four  years  with  his  father,  attended  three  full  winter 
courses  at  Rush  Medical  College,  this  city,  and  was  graduated  in  March,  1869.  In  preparing  for 
practice  he  had  taken  a  careful  and  exhaustive  course,  and  on  receiving  his  medical  degree  stepped 
.almost  immediately  into  a  fair  business  in  the  thriving  village  of  Evanston,  near  Chicago,  where 
he  remained  between  one  and  two  years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  made  the  tour  of  Europe, 
walking  the  hospitals  of  some  of  the  largest  cities,  spending  several  months  in  London  alone. 

On  returning  Doctor  Etheridge  settled  in  Chicago,  July  31,  1871,  and  was  this  day  elected  to 
the  chair  of  therapeutics,  materia  medica  and  medical  jurisprudence  in  Rush  Medical  College. 
That  chair  he  still  fills. 

Doctor  Etheridge  has  met  with  unusual  success  as  a  practitioner.  His  urbanity  of  manner, 
pleasant  readiness  of  speech  and  remarkable  self-control  could  not  fail  to  bring  about  such  a 
result.  In  the  branches  he  enjoys  he  is  a  close,  methodical  and  appreciative  student;  hence 
masters  them  and  works  out  most  satisfactory  results.  He  is  eminently  a  statistician,  and  confi- 
dent of  his  means  by  which  the  end  is  reached. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


359 


As  a  lecturer  he  is  earnest  and  self-reliant,  possesses  confidence  in  his  points,  is  positive  in 
assertions,  has  a  good  delivery,  is  of  good  presence,  and  is  liked.  He  has  patience  to  explain 
and  reiterate,  and  mainly  tries  to  present  the  salient  points  of  the  subjects  lectured  upon. 

A  gentleman  well  acquainted  with  Doctor  Etheridge  thus  writes  in  regard  to  him: 

"Doctor  Etheridge  is  a  physician  of  the  highest  professional  standing.  In  keen  perception, 
in  rapidity  and  accuracy  of  diagnosis,  and  in  extensive  knowledge  of  the  power  and  application 
of  drugs,  he  has  few  equals,  and  certainly  no  superiors  in  the  city.  His  agreeable  manners  and 
ready  wit,  added  to  fine  professional  attainments,  make  him  one  of  the  most  popular  of  our  phy- 
sicians. As  a  lecturer  he  combines  a  fine  flow  of  choice  language,  with  emphatic,  forcible  teach- 
ing, so  that  the  student  is  equally  interested  by  the  force  and  instructed  by  the  substance  of  the 
lectures.  He  is  universally  esteemed  by  the  classes,  and  the  high  value  they  place  on  his  lectures 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  although  his  hour  is  the  first  in  the  morning,  vacant  seats  are  rarely  to 
be  found." 

Professor  Etheridge  is  one  of  the  gynecologists  to  the  Central  Free  Dispensary;  is  one  of  the 
staff  of  the  Woman's  Hospital  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  was  formerly  on  'the  staff  of  Saint 
Joseph's  Hospital.  He  contributes  more  or  less  to  the  medical  journals  of  the  day,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  city,  state  and  national  medical  societies. 

Our  subject  was  married  June  22,  1870,  to  Harriet  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Heman  G.  Powers, 
of  Evanston,  and  they  have  two  children,  both  daughters. 


JACOB   S.   McFERREN. 

HOOPESTON. 

r  I  ""HE  subject  of  this  biography  is  a  native  of  Level,  Warren  county,  Ohio,  and  was  born 
_i  October  i,  1845;  the  son  of  William  and  Eliza  McFerren,  the  former  of  whom  was  a  native 
of  South  Carolina,  and  the  latter  of  Ohio.  Prior  to  his  fourteenth  year  Jacob  attended  the  com- 
mon school,  and  received  a  fair  education,  and  afterward  was  employed  in  his  father's  store, 
where  he  received  a  most  excellent  business  training,  having  the  entire  charge  of  the  store,  his 
father  being  largely  interested  in  other  matters.  For  the  purpose,  however,  of  better  qualifying 
himself  for  business  life,  he,  in  1862,  pursued  a  course  of  study  at  Bartlett's  Commercial  College, 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Returning  to  his  father's  business,  after  closing  his  studies,  he  was  soon  afterward  thrown  out 
of  employment  by  his  father's  failure,  and  in  1865  removed  to  Paxton,  Illinois.  Here  he  accepted 
a  clerkship  with  J.  W.  Scott,  and  at  the  expiration  of  one  year,  in  partnership  with  A.  L.  Clark, 
bought  out  his  employer,  and  began  business  on  his  own  account.  Under  the  careful  manage- 
ment of  the  firm,  the  business  proved  eminently  successful,  and  was  continued  about  seven  years. 
In  1872  Mr.  McFerren  sold  his  interest  in  the  business,  and  casting  about  for  a  place  in  which  to 
locate  and  make  for  himself  a  permanent  home,  hit  upon  Hoopeston,  as  destined  to  become  a 
place  of  note.  Removing  thither,  he,  in  August,  1872,  associated  himself  with  T.  W.  Chamberlin, 
and  began  a  banking  business,  and  also  commenced  dealing  in  real  estate.  In  1874,  his  partner's 
health  failing,  Mr.  McFerren  purchased  his  interest  in  the  business,  and  until  the  fall  of  1882  con- 
ducted the  bank  in  his  own  name,  carrying  it  safely  through  the  financial  disasters  which,  during 
those  years,  swept  over  the  country.  In  September,  1882,  he  organized,  under  the  banking  act, 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Hoopeston,  he  himself  being  president  and  business  manager  of  the 
same.  Aside  from  his  banking  business,  Mr.  McFerren  has  been  largely  engaged  in  real  estate 
operations,  investing  his  surplus  capital  in  farm  lands.  He  also  owns  saw-mills  in  both  Sullivan 
and  Dubois  counties,  Indiana,  where  he  carries  on  large  lumber  manufacturing  interests.  As  a 
business  man,  he  enjoys  the  fullest  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens,  having  by  his  promptness 
and  uprightness  in  all  business  relations,  his  enterprise  and  public  spiritedness,  shown  himself 
worthy  of  their  highest  esteem. 


360  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

With  firm  faith  in  the  future  of  his  adopted  city,  he  has  steadily  worked  for  its  welfare,  con- 
tributing freely  to  the  establishment  of  manufactories,  and  investing  in  public  and  private  build- 
ings, demanded  by  the  growing  needs  of  business,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  substan- 
tial brick  bank  building  which  he  erected  in  1876,  and  the  brick  opera  house  which  he  built  in 
1882,  both  of  which  are  ornaments  to  the  city.  By  reason  of  his  large  land  interests,  he  is  the 
leading  spirit  in  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Hoopeston,  the  success  of  which  is  mainly  due  to  his 
enterprise  and  financial  aid. 

A  man  of  intelligence  and  fine  executive  ability,  Mr.  McFerren  is  well  calculated  to  be  a 
leader,  and  as  showing  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  his  fellow-citizens,  it  need  only  be 
said  that  in  1877  they  elected  him  mayor  of  the  city,  and  again  in  1881  honored  him  with  a  re- 
election to  the  same  office.  As  mayor  of  Hoopeston,  his  administration  has  been  marked  with 
signal  success,  he  having  driven  from  the  city  the  liquor  traffic,  with  many  of  its  accompanying 
evils.  Always  a  stanch  republican,  he  has  taken  a  decided  stand  in  favor  of  honest  government. 
While  in  the  local  affairs  of  his  town  and  county  he  has  always  taken  an  active  interest,  he  has 
uniformly  declined  political  preferment,  having  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  enter  the  political 
field. 

Mr.  McFerren,  during  all  his  life,  has  been  a  close  observer  of  men  and  events,  and  from  his 
extensive  travels,  both  throughout  the  United  States  and  in  Europe,  has  gained  a  ready  fund  of 
valuable  and  practical  information  and  general  knowledge,  such  as  few  men  at  his  age'  possess. 
Though  comparatively  a  young  man,  his  business  career  has  been  eminently  prosperous  and  suc- 
cessful; and  now,  in  the  full  vigor  and  strength  of  his  manhood,  turning  from  his  clear  record, 
and  strong  in  his  adherence  to  upright,  manly  principle,  he  may  look  forward  to  still  greater 
achievements  and  successes.  In  his  religious  views  he  is  generous,  independent  and  liberal,  hold- 
ing to  the  opinions  of  no  church  or  sect.  At  the  same  time,  he  believes  in  religion  as  a  moral 
force,  and  is  a  liberal  supporter  of  church  organizations  in  his  city. 

Mr.  McFerren  was  married  April  4,  1871,  to  Miss  Susie  P.  Clark,  who  died  July  28  following. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  R.  Clark,  of  Paxton,  Illinois,  and  a  lady  of  rare  attainments  and  most 
estimable  qualities. 

HON.    BENJAMIN    C.    TALLIAFERRO. 

ALEDO. 

BENJAMIN  COLEMAN  TALLIAFERRO,  attorney-at-law,  and  late  state  senator,  hails  from 
King  William  county,  Virginia,  where  he  was  born  October  9,  1821.  He  is  of  Italian  stock, 
his  great-great-grandfather  settling  in  Virginia  some  time  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Charles  Talliaferro,  grandfather  of  Benjamin,  was  an  express  bearer  for  General 
Washington,  and  carried  the  news  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  (1782)  to  the  capi- 
tal of  the  country.  The  bearer  of  that  important  dispatch,  then  a  young  man,  subsequently  mar- 
ried a  sister  of  Governor  Brooks.  The  parents  of  Benjamin  were  Robert  Talliaferro,  a  farmer, 
also  born  in  King  William  county,  and  Cecelia  A.  (Ellett)  Talliaferro,  a  native  of  Goochland 
county,  Virginia.  In  1836  Robert  Talliaferro  moved  with  his  family  into  this  state,  and  settled 
in  that  part  of  Warren  county  which  is  now  in  Henderson. 

Our  subject  finished  his  education  with  one  year's  attendance  at  an  academy;  was  reared  on  a 
farm  till  he  had  reached  his  majority;  then  read  law  with  Hon.  C.  M.  Harris,  of  Oquawka,  and 
was  licensed  to  practice  in  October,  1847,  at  which  time  he  settled  in  Keithsburgh,  Mercer  county. 
There  he  did  a  good  business  in  the~state  and  federal  courts,  and  remained  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  While  there  he  was  master  in  chancery  for  the  circuit  court  for  nine  years,  and 
held  also  various  municipal  offices.  He  never  encourages  a  person  to  go  to  law  who  has  not  evi- 
dently a  clear  case,  and  is  very  faithful  and  persevering  when  he  once  takes  up  a  case. 

Our  subject  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1876,  and  for  four  years  ably  represented  Knox 
and  Mercer  counties  in  that  body.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  agriculture  and  drain- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  361 

age,  and  was  on  half  a  dozen  other  committees,  the  judiciary  and  township  organizations  being 
among  them.  He  is  the  author  of  the  farm  drainage  bill,  and  engineered  it  through  the  senate 
He  brought  in  the  bill  for  the  establishment  of  the  Illinois  Western  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  which  failed  to  pass  for  want  of  time.  He  also  favorably  reported  the  bill  to  prohibit  the 
giving  of  passes  by  railroad  companies.  It  was  Mr.  Talliaferro  who  introduced  the  great  home 
protection  temperance  petition,  with  175,000  names  signed  to  it,  and  made  the  introductory  speech 
in  the  senate.  He  was  the  author  of  several  other  bills,  some  of  which  are  now  the  laws  of  the 
state.  He  was  a  very  industrious  man  in  the  committee  room. 

Mr.  Talliaferro  is  a  stanch  republican,  and  a  man  of  great  influence  in  the  party.  He  is  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  has  held  most  of  the  prominent  offices  in  the  order.  Mr.  Talliaferro  mar- 
ried, in  1852,  Miss  Mary  A.  Pepper,  from  Utica,  New  York,  and  they  have  four  children,  three 
sons  and  one  daughter.  Mrs.  Talliaferro  and  the  daughter,  Cora  B.,  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
church.  Francis  E.,  the  eldest  son,  is  secretary  of  the  state  board  of  health,  Springfield;  Ralph 
E.  is  a  clerk  at  Monmouth,  and  Robert  B.  is  with  his  father  in  the  land  abstract  business. 

Our  subject  has  owned  a  farm  for  more  than  thirty  years;  has  made  some  branches  of  agri- 
culture a  study,  and  has  done  all  he  could  to  encourage  this  great  and  primal  branch  of  industry. 


ROSWELL  PARK,  A.M.,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch,  who  occupies  a  chair  in  Rush  Medical  College,  is  one 
of  the  most  promising  young  surgeons  in  Chicago,  and  has  risen  very  rapfdly  since  he  com- 
menced practice.  He  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Roswell  Park,  D.D.,  and  Mary  B.  (Baldwin)  Park,  and 
was  born  in  Pomfret,  Connecticut,  May  4,  1852.  His  father  was  born  in  New  York,  and  his 
mother  in  Massachusetts.  The  family  on  both  sides  are  a  race  of  engineers,  and  have  been  prom- 
inently engaged  in  various  public  works  at  the  East.  The  father  of  our  subject,  a  grandson  of  a  rev- 
olutionary patriot,  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  standing  at  the  head  of  his  class,  and  going  into 
the  engineer  corps.  He  was  prominently  connected  with  several  of  the  government  works  in  our 
eastern  harbors,  notably  the  Delaware  breakwater,  one  of  the  great  breakwaters  of  the  world. 
Subsequently  he  went  into  the  ministry,  and  was  the  founder  and  first  president  of  Racine  Col- 
lege, Wisconsin.  Descending  from  such  a  line,  our  subject  inherited  their  scientific  tastes,  and  as 
a  boy  was  more  proficient  in  his  scientific  studies  than  many  college  graduates.  By  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1869  he  lost  his  best  instructor  in  these  branches.  He  immediately  went  to  Racine 
College,  and  was  graduated  in  letters  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  going  over  the  whole  four 
years  of  college  course,  in  less  than  three  years,  so  thorough  had  been  his  previous  training,  and 
taking  his  master's  degree  three  years  later. 

Taking  up  his  medical  studies  he  was  graduated  with  honors  at  the  Chicago  Medical  College 
in  1876.  He  then  devoted  two  and  a  half  years  to  hospital  work,  acting  as  resident  physician  in 
the  two  largest  hospitals  in  the  West,  positions  gained  by  competitive  examination  with  numer- 
ous competitors.  Shortly  after  resigning  from  the  county  hospital,  and  taking  up  private  prac- 
tice he  was  made  demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  Woman's  Medical  College.  Holding  this  posi- 
tion for  a  year,  he  then  accepted  a  similar  one  at  his  alma  mater,  the  Chicago  Medical  College, 
in  1879.  This  position  he  filled  until  the  spring  of  1882,  lecturing  much  of  the  time  in  the 
winter  and  spring  courses  on  descriptive  anatomy.  Resigning  from  this  position  as  taking  too 
much  of  his  time,  he  was  offered  the  position  of  lecturer  on  surgery  in  Rush  Medical  College, 
which  position  he  has  since  filled. 

He  has  been  for  five  years  assistant  surgeon  to  the  State  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  ;  is  now  sur- 
geon to  the  new  Michael  Reese  Hospital  of  Chicago,  and  holds  various  other  positions  in  public 
and  private  institutions,  besides  acting  as  surgeon  to  one  or  two  railroads  and  other  corporations. 
He  devotes  himself  to  general  and  special  surgery,  and  is  said  to  have  had  the  largest  clinical 


362  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

experience  of  any  man  of  his  age  in  the  state.  During  1882  he  spent  several  months  abroad  study- 
ing foreign  surgery,  under  most  exceptional  advantages.  He  has  devoted  considerable  attention 
to  electricity,  and  has  recently  been  president  of  the  Chicago  Electrical  Society,  the  most  success- 
ful and  largest  society  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States. 

He  has  been  a  constant  contributor  to  medical  literature,  many  of  the  articles  being  purely 
original;  has  made  numerous  contributions  of  value  to  practical  anatomy,  and  published  some  of 
his  work,  and  is  the  western  associate  editor  of  the  "Annals  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery,"  published 
in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  the  only  journal  of  its  kind  in  English,  and  to  which  he  frequently 
contributes.  He  has  one  of  the  best  collections  of  instruments  and  one  of  the  best  surgical  libra- 
ries in  the  West.  He  is  a  member  of  several  medical  and  scientific  societies,  among  them  the 
American  Medical  Association. 

Doctor  Park  married  in  1880,  Martha  P.,  daughter  of  Julius  R.  Durkee,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York. 
As  a  writer  Doctor  Park  is  clear,  concise,  and  sometimes  ornate,  and  as  a  speaker  he  is  perfectly 
self-possessed,  graceful  and  fluent,  and  being  a  man  of  ripe  scholarship  and  fine  presence,  he 
never  fails  to  interest,  not  to  say  captivate,  his  class  or  his  audience  of  any  kind.  A  medical  gen- 
tleman connected  with  one  of  the  Chicago  hospitals  thus  writes  in  regard  to  our  subject : 

I  have  had  repeated  occasion  to  appreciate  his  skill  and  ability  both  as  a  surgeon  and  opera- 
tor since  he  has  been  appointed  as  consulting  surgeon  to  the  Michael  Reese  Hospital.  As  such  he 
has  very  frequently  given  us  his  valuable  advice  in  severe  cases,  and  has  performed  a  good  number 
of  important  operations  in  such  an  admirable  manner  and  with  such  excellent  results,  that  I  regard 
him  as  one  of  the  most  promising  men  in  American  surgery. 


HON.    JAMES    HOLGATE. 

WYOMING. 

ONE  of  the  very  earliest  settlers  in  what  is  now  Stark  county,  Illinois,  is  James  Holgate,  who 
came  here  in  1833  when  there  were  not  more  than  two  families  where  the  village  of  Wyo- 
ming now  stands.  The  place  was  then  called  Spoon  River,  and  received  its  present  name  from 
General  Samuel  Thomas,  who  came  here  the  next  year. 

James  Holgate  first  saw  the  light  at  the  foot  of  Chestnut  Hill  (now  in  Philadelphia)  July 
26,  1804,  he  being  the  son  of  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  (Sheets)  Holgate.  His  grandfather,  William 
Holgate,  was  from  England,  and  was  the  proprietor  of  a  fulling  mill  which  his  son  Jacob  con- 
verted into  a  paper  mill,  and  finally  into  a  cotton  factory.  Elizabeth  Sheets  belonged  to  a  Penn- 
sylvania German  family.  Both  parties  died  in  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Holgate  received  an  ordinary  business  education  in  Philadelphia  ;  at  sixteen  years  of  age 
went  to  Kingston,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  after  partially  learning  the  miller's  trade, 
turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  woolen  cloth  at  Kingston,  adding  merchandise  in  1829. 
While  thus  engaged,  in  April,  1827,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sylvina  Trucks,  of  Troy  village,  Kings- 
ton township.  Mr.  Holgate  continued  to  run  the  woolen  factory  and  to  sell  goods  until  1833, 
when  he  disposed  of  his  interests  in  Pennsylvania,  came  to  this  state  and  bought  a  claim  of  eighty 
acres  in  Penn  township,  three  miles  north  of  Wyoming.  Subsequently  he  added  three  other 
eighties,  and  remained  on  the  farm  until  1875,  when  he  moved  into  the  village. 

While  engaged  in  farming  Mr.  Holgate  held  the  office  of  county  judge  for  eight  years,  and 
was  assessor  of  Penn  township  both  before  going  on  the  bench  and  during  part  of  that  period, 
in  all,  sixteen  years.  He  was  also  justice  of  the  peace  for  several,  and  quite  active,  years  ago,  in 
county  agricultural  matters.  He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  one  term  during  the  civil  war, 
being  sent  there  by  his  democratic  constituents.  He  voted  for  General  Jackson  for  president  in 
.1828,  and  has  always  adhered  to  the  democracy. 

Judge  Holgate  is  the  father  of  twelve  children,  ten  of  whom  are  still  living.  Jacob,  the  eldest 
son,  and  Erastus,  the  second  son  and  fourth  child,  are  in  Oregon  ;  Maria  is  the  wife  of  John 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  363 

Snare  of  Penn  township;  Elizabeth  is  the  wife  of  William  P.  Buswell,  of  Neponset,  Illinois  ; 
Charles  is  in  Washington  Territory;  Mary  Ann  is  the  wife  of  Calvin  Hart,  of  Nebraska;  Harriet 
is  the  wife  of  E.  Gharrett,  of  Montana  Territory;  James  is  a  physician  at  Castleton,  Illinois; 
William  is  president  of  the  First  National  Bank,  Wyoming,  and  Reuben  is  at  Osceola,  Illinois. 
James  and  William  were  in  the  civil  war,  and  the  latter  was  taken  prisoner,  and  after  being 
released  was  wounded.  Mrs.  Holgate  died  in  November,  1872. 

Since  settling  in  the  village  of  Wyoming  our  subject  has  lived  a  very  independent  life,  having 
acquired  a  competency  years  ago.  He  is  a  stockholder  and  director  of  the  bank  of  which  his  son 
William  is  president.  Very  few  people  are  now  living  in  Stark  county  who  were  here  when  he 
entered  it;  and  seemingly  he  bids  fair  to  outlive  them  all.  He  has  never  been  sick  a  day  since 
his  infancy,  and  although  pressing  closely  on  fourscore  years,  he  is  in  fair  health  and  is  usually  as 
cheery  and  chatty  as  bob-o-link  on  a  summer  morning. 


NORMAN   L.  FREEMAN. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

NORMAN  LESLIE  FREEMAN,  reporter  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  was  born  in  Cale- 
donia, Livingston  county,  New  York,  May  9,  1823,  his  parents  being  Truman  and  Hannah 
(Dow)  Freeman,  both  natives  of  New  Hampshire.  Before  they  left  New  England,  they  resided 
for  several  years  at  Concord,  the  capital  of  that  state.  Mrs.  Freeman  was  remotely  related  to 
Lorenzo  Dow,  an  eccentric  Methodist  preacher,  well  known  in  New  England  fifty  years  ago. 
Truman  Freeman  died  in  1824,  and  after  that  sad  calamity  the  widow,  with  her  young  children, 
moved  to  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  where  she  resided  a  long  time,  dying  near  Ypsilanti  in  1872. 

When  quite  young  our  subject  spent  three  years  in  the  store  of  David  Cooper,  at  Detroit, 
Michigan,  going  thence  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  served  a  few  months  as  clerk,  and  then  be- 
came connected  with  an  academy  near  that  city.  He  finished  his  studies  at  the  Ohio  University, 
Athens,  where  among  his  schoolmates  were  Hon.  Samuel  S.  Cox,  now  a  congressman  from  New 
York  city;  Hon.  Milton  Latham,  ex-governor  of  California,  and  Senator  Waite  of  Chicago.  At 
the  head  of  that  school  at  that  time  was  William  H.  McGuffey,  LL.D.,  author  of  a  series  of  text 
books  for  schools,  and  a  man  of  great  attainments  and  worth. 

On  completing  his  studies  at  Athens  Mr.  Freeman  went  to  Kentucky,  where  in  Fayette  and 
Woodford  counties  he  was  engaged  in  teaching,  having  among  his  pupils  Frederic  H.  Winston 
of  Chicago,  and  Hon.  J.  C.  S.  Blackburn,  now  a  member  of  congress  from  Kentucky.  While 
engaged  in  teaching  our  subject  also  studied  law;  and  in  order  to  complete  his  legal  education, 
went  to  Waterford,  New  York,  in  December,  1845,  entered  the  office  of  Kirtland  and  Seymour, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1846  returned  to  Kentucky,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Lexington,  where  he 
had  commenced  as  a  teacher,  and  began  practice  at  Morganfield,  Union  county,  that  state. 

In  1851  Mr.  Freeman  removed  to  Shawneetown,  this  state,  where,  with  the  exception  of  a 
short  time  in  Missouri,  he  remained  until  1864,  when  he  settled  in  Springfield,  he  having  been 
appointed  to  his  present  post  of  reporter  for  the  supreme  court  the  year  before.  In  1855  he  pub- 
lished, in  two  volumes,  "A  Digest  of  the  Illinois  Reports,"  first  fifteen  volumes,  and  is  now  on  the 
one  hundred  and  sixth  volume,*  seventy-one  of  them  having  been  issued  by  himself.  If  any  other 
American  law  reporter  has  published  a  greater  number  we  do  not  know  his  name.  Mr.  Freeman's 
"  Digest"  was  prepared  with  a  great  deal  of  care,  and  is  very  valuable.  It  did  much  to  establish 
his  reputation  both  as  a  lawyer  and  author. 

*On  the  completion  of  the  one  hundredth  volume  (April  18,  1882)  the  Bar  of  Sangamon  county  gave  Mr.  Freeman 
a  dinner  as  a  testimonial  of  their  appreciation  of  his  work,  and  it  was  a  very  enjoyable  occasion.  Governor  Cullom 
presided  and  made  the  opening  speech,  to  which  Mr.  Freeman  responded  in  a  very  neat  and  modest  manner.  Then 
followed  speeches  by  ex-Governor  Palmer,  Hon.  J.  Young  Scammon,  Hon.  James  H.  Matheny,  Hon.  James  C.  Conk- 
ling,  and  others,  all  bearing  testimony  to  the  high  merits  of  Mr.  Freeman's  literary  labors. 


364  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  politics  Mr.  Freeman  was  originally  a  whig,  and  on  the  disbanding  of  that  party,  joined 
the  democratic,  with  which  he  still  votes.  He  is  a  very  quiet  man,  but  does  his  own  thinking, 
and,  we  surmise,  a  good  deal  of  it.  He  is  cultivated  in  manners,  as  well  as  in  mind,  and  is  an 
instructive  and  very  genial  converser.  His  air  and  address  indicate  the  scholar,  the  "book- 
worm." His  library,  though  not  large,  is  choice  in  selection,  and  some  of  its  volumes  are  quite 
rare.  More  than  once  the  writer  of  this  sketch  has  stolen  in  among  his  books  to  admire  some  of 
the  more  antique  tomes,  and  the  elegant  jackets  of  the  more  modern  volumes.  One  of  the  most 
venerable  works  which  Mr.  Freeman  owns  is  called  "Greek  Antiquities,"  published  at  Oxford,  Eng- 
land, in  1597.  He  has  also  a  quarto  edition  of  the  works  of  Horace  Walpole,  London,  1798;  two 
histories  of  Virginia  published  in  1722  and  1804,  both  rarely  seen  now-a-days;  a  history  of  France 
in  four  volumes  by  M.  Bousset,  Edinburgh,  1762;  "Jefferson's  Notes,"  Philadelphia,  1801;  a  Lon- 
don edition  of  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York,"  1821;  "Travels  of  Sir  Henry  Holland, 
very  rare;  a  splendid  edition  of  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Sully,"  in  four  volumes;  Miss  Fer- 
rier's  novels  in  three  volumes,  seldom  found  in  this  country,  and  a  fine  edition  of  "  Boswell's  Life 
of  Johnson  "  in  ten  volumes.  He  has  in  rich  binding,  the  Waverley  Novels,  Dickens,  Prescott, 
Motley  and  scores  of  other  recent  authors,  American  and  European,  and  a  man  of  any  literary 
taste  can  find  abundance  of  both  nectar  and  ambrosia  in  Mr.  Freeman's  library. 

While  at  Morganfield,  Union  county,  in  1849,  Mr.  Freeman  married  Tranquilla,  daughter  of 
Alfred  and  Elizabeth  Dabney  (Williamson)  Richeson.  They  lost  one  daughter  in  infancy  and 
have  three  daughters  and  one  son  living.  Mrs.  F.  is  a  native  of  Lynchburgh,  Virginia,  and  a 
woman  of  more  than  ordinary  natural  abilities,  and  of  marked  intelligence,  keeping  well  posted 
ou  current  events. 


LUPPE  LUPPEN. 

PEKIN. 

TUPPE  LUPPEN,  machinist,    inventor  and  manufacturer,  is  a  son  of  Peter   Otten  Luppen, 

\. j  and  Justina  (Lutjens)  Luppen,  and  was  born   in  Hanover,  Germany,  August  20,  1823.     He 

received  a  common  education  in  his  youth,  and  spent  some  time  in  Holland,  perfecting  himself  in 
his  trade,  that  of  blacksmith  and  machinist,  learning  to  work  in  wood  and  iron  of  almost  every 
description,  including  the  manufacture  of  pistols,  etc.  In  1849  Mr.  Luppen  was  married  to  Miss 
Katharine  Conrad  (Smith)  Luppen,  widow  of  an  older  brother,  and  oldest  sister  of  Hon.  Dietrich 
C.  Smith,  late  member  of  congress  from  the  I3th  Illinois  district;  and  in  1850  came  to  Pekin. 
Three  brothers-in-law  had  preceded  him  and  they  started  in  the  business  of  wagon  and  buggy 
making  on  a  very  humble  scale.  The  trade  grew  as  the  country  filled  up,  and  the  excellent 
character  of  their  wares  became  known;  the  capacity  of  the  shops  was  enlarged  from  time 
to  time;  and  now  the  firm  of  T.  and  H.  Smith  and  Company,  composed  of  Frederick  Smith, 
Luppe  Luppen,  Habbe  Velde  and  Dietrich  C.  Smith,  is  giving  employment  to  150  work- 
men in  the  manufacture  of  wagons  and  carriages,  which  are  of  thorough  make,  and  find  a 
ready  market  in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  same  parties  early  commenced  the 
manufacture  of  plows,  and  in  September,  1879,  organized  the  Pekin  Plow  Company,  which  is 
composed  of  the  same  enterprising  men.  This  company  also  employs  about  150  hands,  and 
is  manufacturing  plows  and  cultivators  of  various  styles,  improved  by  Mr.  Luppen,  including 
the  Luppen  combined  riding  and  walking  cultivator,  the  Pekin  celestial  tongueless  cultivator,  the 
new  wood-beam  plow,  the  new  steel-beam  plow,  the  new  adjustable  lever-lifting  spring  cultivator, 
the  new  four  hundred  pound  sulky  plow,  with  or  without  patent  foot  lift,  the  Pekin  oscillating 
harrow,  etc.  Mr.  Luppen  has  more  than  a  dozen  patents  on  different  implements;  nearly  every- 
thing made  in  either  of  those  great  factories  is  of  an  improved  style  from  his  skillful  hand.  He 
is  a  born  mechanic  and  inventor.  The  articles  turned  out  here,  it  is  safe  to  say,  are  second  to 
nothing  of  their  kind  in  the  market,  and  they  find  a  ready  sale. 

Mr.  Luppen  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  sale  of  the  wares  made  in  these  shops;  his  whole  time 


O'r  fHF 

w'yo?siry  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  367 

and  his  whole  thought  are  given  to  methods  of  improvement.  When  he  makes  a  plow  or  a  cul- 
tivator, for  instance,  of  a  new  style,  he  goes  into  the  field  and  tries  it,  and  keeps  trying  until  he  is 
satisfied  ht  has  made  an  improvement.  His  life  is  given  to  study  and  to  experiments,  for  a  truly 
noble  purpose,  and  he  is  faithfully  serving  his  generation,  receiving,  meantime,  a  fair  compensa- 
tion for  the  fruits  of  his  inventive  talents.  His  skill  in  this  respect  developed  itself  at  a  very 
early  age.  While  other  boys  were  at  play  he  was  making  articles  with  the  rudest  materials. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  grain  firm  of  Smith,  Hippin  and  Company,  and  of  the  banking  house 
Teis  Smith  and  Company.  The  senior  member  of  the  latter  firm,  Teis  Smith,  died  in  1870. 

Mr.  Luppen  is  a  member  of  the  German  Methodist  church,  a  generous  supporter  of  the  Gospel, 
and  an  active  and  constant  participant  in  Sunday-school  and  other  Christian  work.  The  young 
bride  whom  he  brought  to  this  country  in  1850,  and  with  whom  he  lived  in  happiness  for  thirty- 
three  years,  died  in  December,  1882,  leaving  two  children.  She  was  a  consistent  Christian,  an  affec- 
tionate wife  and  mother,  and  her  loss  was  felt  in  a  large  circle  of  the  community. 


o 


EDGAR   L.   PHILLIPS,  M.D. 

GALESBURGH. 

NE  of  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  physicians  and  surgeons  in  the  city  of  Galesburgh  is 
the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  and  who  was  born  in  Orange  county,  New 
York,  April  5,  1827.  His  father  was  William  Phillips,  who  was  a  farmer  and  manufacturer  and  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-14,  and  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  the  state  militia,  and  his  mother  was 
Sarah  Evertson,  a  native  of  Dutchess  county,  New  York.  Edgar  prepared  for  college  at  Lee, 
Massachusetts,  and  South  Middletown,  New  York;  entered  Williams  College,  Massachusetts,  in 
1844,  and  on  account  of  his  father's  death  left  at  the  end  of  the  second  term,  senior  year. 

In  1848  our  subject  came  to  Illinois;  read  medicine  at  Fairview,  Fulton  county;  attended  lec- 
tures at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  studying  at  the  same  time  in  the  office  of  Professor  Delamater;  in  1852 
went  to  California  with  his  older  brother,  N.  E.  Phillips,  and  was  in  practice  there  about  two 
years,  returning  in  1855. 

He  now  attended  lectures  in  the  Saint  Louis  Medical  College;  received  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  medicine  in  the  spring  of  1856,  and  opened  an  office  at  Knoxville,  five  miles  from  Galesburgh. 
In  1860,  his  health  being  poor,  he  went  to  Pottawattamie  county,  Iowa,  where  he  owned  land,  and 
spent  two  seasons  in  cultivating  the  soil,  and  received  considerable  benefit. 

In  1862  Doctor  Phillips  went  into  the  army  as  first  assistant  surgeon  of  the  gist  Illinois 
infantry,  which  was  sent  to  Kentucky,  and  was  captured  by  General  Morgan  in  December,  1862, 
and  after  being  paroled  was  sent  to  Benton  Barracks,  Saint  Louis.  The  regiment  was  exchanged 
the  next  summer,  and  was  at  Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson,  Carrollton,  Louisiana,  etc.  Before  the 
close  of  1863  the  health  of  our  subject  failed,  and  he  resigned  and  returned  to  Knox  county.  He 
was  on  a  farm  between  Knoxville  and  Galesburgh  for  one  season,  and  in  1865  settled  in  the  latter 
place,  and  resumed  practice.  The  experience  which  he  had  in  the  army  as  a  surgeon  was  a  good 
school  to  him,  and  has  no  doubt  added  to  his  popularity,  he  having  an  excellent  standing  in  the 
community,  both  as  a  physician  and  surgeon.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  examiners  for 
pensions. 

Doctor  Phillips  belongs  to  the  Military  Tract  Medical  Society,  and  to  the  American  Medical 
Association,  and  has  all  the  transactions  of  the  latter  society  for  the  last  ten  years.  He  keeps 
well  posted  in  medical  science. 

The  doctor  has  taken  the  council  degrees  in  Freemasonry,  and  at  the  time  this  sketch  is  written 
is  high  priest  of  Galesburgh  Chapter.  His  politics  are  republican.  In  May,  1857,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Mary  L.  Sanburn,  of  Knoxville,  and  they  have  two  sons  and  two  daughters:  John 
S.  is  a  graduate  of  Knox  College,  Galesburgh,  and  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "Wheelman,"  a 

37 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

bicycle  paper,  Boston,  Massachusetts;  Edgar  E.  is  a  printer,  Galesburgh,  and  the  two  daughters, 
Elizabeth  and  Julia,  are  at  home. 

While  in  Williams  College  Doctor  Phillips  was  a  member  of  the  Kappa  Alpha  Society,  and, 
from  a  volume  containing  brief  sketches  of  the  members  of  that  society,  we  have  gathered  por- 
tions of  the  data  for  this  notice  of  the  doctor. 


ROBERT  M.  MAcARTHUR,  M.D. 

OTTAWA. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  a  son  of  Alexander  and  Jane 
(Cook)  MacArthur,  and  was  born  March  4,  1825.  Robert  received  part  of  his  education  in 
Scotland;  came  to  this  country  in  1842;  finished  his  literary  studies  in  Aurora,  Illinois,  and  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  and  his  medical  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  receiving  his  diploma  in  February,  1854. 
He  married  that  year  at  Aurora,  Illinois,  Miss  Martha  Hard,  and  settled  at  Ottawa,  in  La  Salle 
county,  where  he  has  been  in  active  practice  for  nearly  thirty  years.  For  nearly  three  years  of 
that  time  (1862-65)  he  was  surgeon  of  the  board  of  enrollment  of  his  congressional  district,  hold- 
ing that  post,  and  discharging  its  duties  with  ability  and  eminent  satisfaction,  until  the  close  of 
the  civil  war.  He  is  secrelary  of  the  United  States  examining  board  of  surgeons  for  pensions, 
and  the  regular  appointed  surgeon  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  railroad  for  Ottawa 
and  adjoining  towns. 

Doctor  MacArthur  was  county  coroner  for  ten  years,  a  member  of  the  board  of  education 
three  terms,  and  is  now  serving  as  the  health  officer  of  the  city.  His  practice  is  large,  and  he 
is  one  of  the  busiest  men  in  Ottawa.  The  people  have  great  confidence  in  his  skill,  as  well  as 
great  respect  for  him  as  a  citizen.  He  writes  occasionally  an  article  for  some  medical  periodical. 

He  was  president  of  the  alumni  association  of  Rush  Medical  College  for  the  years  1879-80, 
and  in  retiring  from  the  position,  which  he  filled  with  ability,  delivered  the  annual  address,  which 
was  rich  in  original  matter,  and  gave  evidence  that  he  was  abreast  of  the  times  in  the  progress  of 
scientific  thought.  Upon  the  hypothesis  of  evolution,  while  discussing  some  phases  of  the  prob- 
lem of  life  in  its  relations  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  he  struck  the  key-note  of  pathological  sci- 
ence in  attributing  the  origin  and  propagation  of  disease  to  a  combination  of  molecular  matter 
by  certain  correlation  of  forces. 

The  doctor  has  a  good  deal  of  literary  taste  and  cultivation,  and  has  evidently  studied  the  art 
of  putting  things,  his  style  being  vigorous  and  forcible,  and  marked  with  the  finest  graces  of 
rhetoric.  It  is  a  pity  he  could  not  find  time  to  write  more  on  miscellaneous  subjects. 

He  is  a  republican,  and  in  his  younger  years  was  active  in  the  party  interests;  never,  how- 
ever, so  much  as  to  interfere  with  his  professional  duties.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  past 
commander  of  Ottawa  Commandery,  No.  10.  The  issue  of  the  doctor's  marriage,  already  men- 
tioned, is  one  son,  Wallace,  who  died  in  his  fourth  year,  and  two  daughters,  Jessie  Wallace  and 
Alice  Ella. 

WILLIAM    H.    H.   ADAMS,    D.D. 

BLOOMING  TON. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON  ADAMS,  president  of  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University, 
is  a  native  of  Effingham  county,  this  state,  and  was  born  March  30,  1840.  His  father, 
Christopher  B.  Adams,  was  born  in  Xenia,  Ohio,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Sarah 
E.  Gannaway,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  her  family  moving  to  that  state  from  Virginia.  "Par- 
son "  Brownlow  was  the  son  of  a  sister  of  our  subject's  maternal  grandfather.  This  branch  of 
the  Adams  family  came  from  England  to  this  country  during  the  revolutionary  war,  and"  the 
grandfather  of  Christopher  B.  Adams  shouldered  his  musket  in  the  cause  of  independence,  and 
was  wounded  in  one  of  the  battles  of  that  war. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  369 

When  our  subject  was  five  years  old  the  family  moved  to  Coles  county,  and  settled  on  a  farm 
five  miles  south  of  Mattoon,  where  William  had  an  opportunity  to  develop  his  muscle  quite  as 
much  as  his  mind,  being  early  accustomed  to  all  kinds  of  farm  work.  In  the  summer  of  1862  he 
raised  a  company  for  the  mth  Illinois  infantry;  went  in  as  a  private  in  company  A,  to  which  he 
had  promised  all  the  offices;  at  the  end  of  six  months  was  put  in  charge  of  the  contrabands; 
commenced  drilling  them  immediately,  before  any  orders  had  been  issued  for  arming  that  class 
of  men,  and  he  equipped  the  first  company  of  colored  troops  who  went  into  the  service,  he  taking 
command  of  them.  They  were  in  the  4th  United  States  artillery,  doing  mainly  garrison  duty  on 
the  Ohio  and  Mobile  railroad,  and  serving  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Captain  Adams  finished  his  education  at  the  Northwestern  University,  at  Evanston,  near  Chi- 
cago, receiving  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts  and  bachelor  of  divinity  from  that  institution  in 
1870,  master  of  arts  in  1873,  and  doctor  of  divinity  in  1876.  He  was  pastor  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  Monticello,  Illinois,  two  years,  of  the  Clinton  church  three  years,  and  was 
appointed  president  of  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University  in  August,  1875.  His  chair  is  that  of 
moral  philosophy  and  metaphysics. 

When  our  subject  became  president  the  University  was  heavily  in  debt,  which  he  reduced 
$50,000  in  five  or  six  years,  leaving  less  than  $9,000,  which  will  no  doubt  be  canceled  before  this 
work  is  out  of  press.  In  grateful  acknowledgment  of  his  services  in  this  direction,  the  trustees  of 
the  University  sent  President  Adams  to  the  old  world  in  1880,  he  visiting  the  larger  portion  of 
the  countries  of  Europe,  and  returning  greatly  refreshed  and  invigorated  in  body  and  mind. 

President  Adams  was  first  married  in  1861,  to  Miss  Sarah  E.  Campbell,  daughter  of  Silas 
Campbell,  of  Coles  county,  she  dying  in  January,  1866;  and  the  second  time  in  August,  1867,  to 
Miss  Hannah  C.  Conkling,  daughter  of  J.  W.  Conkling,  of  Plymouth,  Ohio.  He  had  two  children 
by  the  first  wife,  both  dying  in  infancy,  and  has  four  by  the  second. 


EDMUND  B.   HANNA. 

CHICAGO. 

THIS  gentleman  is  of  Scotch  descent.  His  grandfather,  Andrew  Hanna,  came  from  Scotland 
in  an  early  day,  and  settled  in  New  York.  His  mother's  father  was  General  Miles,  of  revo- 
lutionary fame.  His  parents  were  Samuel  C.,  and  Susan  R.  (Miles)  Hanna.  He  was  an  exten- 
sive farmer  in  Spring  Mills,  Center  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  an  active  temperance  reformer 
even  at  that  early  day.  Strong  drink  never  passed  his  lips.  Edmund  was  born  in  Spring  Mills, 
February  19,  1828,  and  graduated  from  the  Bellfonte  Academy,  carrying  off  the  highest  prize  for 
mathematics.  He  soon  after  found  employment  as  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  store  in  Center  county, 
owned  by  Irvin  and  Thomas,  the  late  Judge  S.  B.  Thomas,  of  Morris,  Illinois.  He  subsequently 
kept  books  for  General  James  Irvin,  of  Milesburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  after  a  few  years  entered 
into  the  iron  and  mercantile  business  himself,  in  Mercer  county,  Pennsylvania.  From  there  he 
moved  to  Petersburgh,  Ohio,  and  thence  to  Morris,  Illinois,  in  June,  1853,  with  a  stock  of  goods, 
following  trade  in  both  places.  He  continued  in  trade  in  Morris  for  a  number  of  years;  was 
appointed  postmaster  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  April  22,  1861,  during  his  first  term,  and  when  the 
district  was  represented  by  Lovejoy  in  congress;  he  held  the  office  till  June  30,  1871,  a  period  of 
over  ten  years,  the  longest  term  of  any  incumbent  since  the  establishment  of  the  office.  He  was 
for  several  years  mayor  of  Morris,  and  the  last  republican  mayor  holding  office  in  that  town. 
During  the  war  he  was  a  very  active  man,  promoting  the  interests  of  the  government  at  home, 
and  caring  for  the  necessities  of  the  boys  in  the  army. 

June  4,  1855,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Irrilla  B.  Hicks,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Joseph  Hicks, 
of  Belmont  county,  Ohio,  by  whom  he  has  had  two  children,  a  daughter,  now  happily  married, 
and  a  son  sixteen  years  old,  in  school  at  Lake  Forest,  Illinois. 

In  1871  he  came  to  Chicago,  one  day  after  the  great  fire,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  manufac- 


370  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

ture  of  mineral  paint  in  Chicago,  and  also  in  Cape  Girardeau,  Missouri.  The  style  of  the  firm  is 
Matteson  Brothers  and  Company,  North  Branch  and  Bliss  streets,  Chicago,  and  they  turn  out  two 
or  three  thousand  tons  of  paint  yearly. 

Mr.  Hanna  is  still  a  republican,  but  no  longer  an  active  man  in  politics.  He  is  a  Master 
Mason  and  an  Odd  Fellow  by  turns  and  a  good  fellow  all  the  time.  In  personal  appearance  he  is 
tall  and  commanding,  six  feet  in  Ris  stockings,  and  weighs  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds 
avoirdupois.  He  is  a  blonde,  with  the  kindest  clear  blue  eyes;  he  is  affable  and  very  agreeable, 
and  makes  one  immediately  at  home.  He  is  frank  and  gentle  spoken,  and  shows  a  native  kind- 
ness of  heart  in  every  motion.  He  is  a  good  business  man  and  stands  high  in  Chicago. 


GENERAL  FREDERICK  W.  PARTRIDGE. 

SYCAMORE. 

T7REDERICK  WILLIAM  PARTRIDGE,  formerly  consul  at  Bangkok,  Siam,  is  a  son  of  Cyrus 
r  and  Mary  (Loveland)  Partridge,  and  was  born  at  Norwich,  Vermont,  August  19,  1824.  His 
father,  who  was  born  in  the  same  town,  was  a  captain  under  General  Scott  at  the  battle  of 
Lundy's  Lane,  and  died  at  Norwich.  Frederick  was  educated  at  the  military  school  in  his  native 
town  and  at  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  leaving  the  latter  institution  at  the 
close  of  the  freshman  year  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  father.  In  1845  he  went  to  Pennsyl- 
vania to  take  charge  of  the  Harrisburgh  Military  Academy,  in  which  he  was  eminently  successful 
as  an  educator,  and  where  he  remained  until  the  Mexican  war  broke  out.  He  raised  a  company 
at  Harrisburgh,  and  in  January,  1847,  entered  the  L'nited  States  army,  being  sent  by  the  war  office 
as  a  secret  agent  to  Mexico.  Having  performed  that  delicate  mission,  he  left  the  military  service 
in  the  summer  of  1847,  and  settled  in  Kendall  county,  Illinois,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming 
for  seven  or  eight  years. 

Before  leaving  New  England  our  subject  commenced  the  stud)'  of  law  at  Concord,  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  the  office  of  ex-President  Pierce,  and  he  finished  with  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  of  Chicago, 
and  in  1857  we  find  him  at  the  new  town  of  Sandwich,  De  Kalb  county,  busily  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  Meanwhile  he  was  very  much  interested  in  politics.  Originally  he 
was  a  democrat  of  strong  free-soil  proclivities,  and  naturally  broke  away  from  that  party  when  it 
sold  out  to  the  slave  power.  He  joined  the  great  part}-  of  freedom,  and  in  1860  worked  zealously 
for  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

From  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Partridge  in  "Our  Representatives  Abroad,"  published  in  1874,  it  is 
stated  that  he  probably  raised  the  first  volunteer  three  years'  company  in  the  United  States  — 
company  E  of  the  I3th  Illinois  infantry — which  company  he  commanded  for  a  long  time  under 
the  commission  of  a  senior  captain,  and  which  regiment  was  the  first  raised  for  three  years'  ser- 
vice during  the  war.  Major  Partridge  was  wounded  at  Chickasaw  Bayou,  Mississippi;  Chatta- 
nooga, Tennessee,  and  Ringgold  Gap,  Georgia,  having,  previous  to  the  last  two  battles,  been  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel;  and  for  extraordinary  good  conduct  he  was  breveted 
colonel  at  Missionary  Ridge,  and  brigadier-general  at  Ringgold  Gap.  In  the  official  report  of 
these  two  battles  honorable  mention  is  made  of  him  and  his  regiment. 

In  July,  1864,  he  was  mustered  out  with  the  gallant  and  sadly  decimated  i3th,  and  he  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Sandwich,  where  he  still  held  the  office  of  postmaster.  He  was 
soon  afterward  elected  clerk  of  the  circuit  court  and  ex-officio  recorder,  and  moved  to  Sycamore, 
the  county  seat.  At  the  end  of  four  years,  when  his  term  expired  (in  April,  1868),  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Grant  consul  at  Bangkok,  where  he  remained  for  nearly  eight  years,  mak- 
ing a  praiseworthv  record  in  this  official  capacity. 

He  was  there  in  the  autumn  of  1869  when  two  native  converts  to  the  Christian  religion 
were  killed  by  the  King  of  Cheangmai,  a  tributary  of  Siam,  who  ordered  the  missionaries  to 
leave  the  country,  at  the  same  time  proceeding  to  decapitate  all  native  converts  to  Christianity 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  371 

whom  he  could  find.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of  these  butcheries  and  orders,  General  Partridge 
addressed  a  note  to  the  regent  of  Siam,  and  demanded  that  these  Americans,  who  had  been 
invited  to  Cheangmai  by  its  king,  and  who  were  pursuing  their  high  calling  under  the  treaty, 
should  be  protected,  both  in  their  person  and  property.  Subsequently  the  king  visited  the  court 
of  Bangkok,  and  our  alert  and  efficient  consul,  seeing  his  opportunity,  placed  the  option  before 
the  Siamese  government  of  granting  protection  to  the  Americans  at  Cheangmai  or  admitting 
that  that  country  was  independent  of  Siam,  thereby  allowing  him  to  treat  with  the  savage  king 
of  Cheangmai.  This  step  immediately  wrenched  from  the  Siamese  government  a  treaty  giving 
protection  to  the  missionaries  and  all  other  Americans  residing  at  Cheangmai.  So  successful  was 
General  Partridge  in  this  matter  that  the  secretary  of  state  at  Washington,  Hon.  Hamilton  Fish, 
sent  him  an  autograph  letter,  not  only  of  approval,  but  of  congratulation. 

Prior  to  our  subject's  appointment  to  Siam  our  country  had  been  represented  by  acting  con- 
suls, that  is,  missionaries  from  the  United  States,  who  made  the  interests  of  our  country  second- 
ary to  those  of  missions.  The  result  was  that  the  United  States  consulate  had  not  much  prestige, 
the  English  influence  dominating  everything  foreign  in  Siam.  But  General  Partridge  soon  caused 
our  consulate  to  be  not  only  respected,  but  feared  in  that  country. 

While  at  Bangkok  General  Partridge  made  the  Siamese  government  promptly  conform  to  all 
the  stipulations  of  treaties  with  other  powers.  When  the  Siamese  seized  an  American  schooner 
for  an  alleged  infraction  of  the  Siamese  revenue  laws,  he  promptly  laid  the  affair  before  our  gov- 
ernment, and  finding  that  the  Siamese  were  averse  to  making  apologies  or  paying  damages,  he 
caused  an  American  war  vessel  to  appear  off  their  coast,  and  that  brought  them  to  terms. 

While  consul  to  Siam  our  subject  took  the  opportunity  to  see  something  of  Asia,  traveling 
mainly  on  elephants,  being  nearly  a  month  at  a  time  on  the  back  of  one  of  these  animals.  He 
visited  those  most  extraordinary  ruins  of  Nakon-Wat,  at  Siam-Rap,  in  Cambodia,  and  the  great 
city  of  Ongchor,  together  with  many  other  points  of  interest  in  that  quarter  of  the  earth. 

When  he  finally  left  Bangkok,  July  4,  1876,  he  crossed  British  India,  came  through  the  Isthmus 
of  Suez,  saw  a  great  deal  of  Europe,  reached  this  country  in  October,  visited  the  centennial  expo- 
sition, and  arrived  at  his  home  in  Sycamore  just  in  time  to  vote  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler.  He  was 
a  thoroughly  traveled  and  thoroughly  fatigued  man.  He  has  seen  a  great  deal  of  this  round 
globe,  and  we  doubt  if  he  desires  to  ever  go  wholly  over  the  ground  again.  The  general  is  a 
well  informed  man,  and  is  unusually  interesting  in  conversation. 

General  Partridge  married  Miss  Mary  Uitchner  Combs  Paullin,  of  East  Aurora,  Erie  county, 
New  York,  in  1852.  This  lady  died,  universally  lamented,  September  20,  1882.  They  have  had 
six  children.  Only  two  are  now  living. 


HON.  JOHN    PORTER. 

MONMOUTH. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  an  attorney-at-law,  and  was  for  many  years  judge  of  Warren 
county.  He  is  a  self-educated  man,  and  whatever  success  he  has  had  in  life  he  owes  to  the 
achievements  of  his  own  hands  and  intellectual  attainments.  He  is  a  native  of  Huntingdon 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  in  the  township  of  Henderson,  April  27,  1824.  His  father 
was  James  Porter,  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage,  born  in  Ireland,  coming  to  this  country  in  early 
childhood, .and  being  reared  in- the  Juniata  Valley,  Pennsylvania.  He  married  Sarah  Wray,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  Her  grandfather,  Joseph  Douglas,  of  the  Douglas  family  of  Scotland, 
was  in  the  French  and  Indian  war,  and  was  wounded  at  Kittanning. 

Our  subject  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  attending  a  country 
school  meantime  during  the  winter  term.  At  the  age  just  mentioned  he  commenced  learning  the 
bricklayer's  trade,  at  which  he  worked  for  five  seasons,  teaching  school  during  the  winters,  and 
while  thus  engaged  making  greater  progress,  as  we  once  heard  him  say,  than  when  a  student. 


372  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  January,  1847,  he  married  Miss  Mary  E.  Robb,  of  Huntingdon  county,  and  was  engaged  in 
farming  at  the  East  until  1850,  when  he  came  to  Ogle  county,  Illinois.  There  he  worked  a  few 
months  at  his  trade,  taught  school  the  following  winter  in  that  county,  and  in  the  spring  of  1851 
bought  a  farm  in  Sumner  township,  Warren  county.  He  improved  it  until  the  spring  of  1858, 
when  he  moved  into  the  city  of  Monmouth,  the  county  seat,  he  having  been  elected  county 
judge  the  year  before  to  fill  a  vacancy.  In  the  autumn  of  1857  he  was  reflected  for  four  years, 
and  also  in  the  autumn  of  1861,  he  holding  that  office  for  nine  consecutive  years. 

During  that  period  he  also  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  January,  1863.  On 
leaving  the  bench  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  practice  of  the  legal  profession,  at  which  he 
has  made  a  success.  He  is  a  well  read  lawyer,  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  a  wise  and  prudent 
counselor,  and  excels  in  chancery  business. 

In  1868  Judge  Porter  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  served  through  the  twenty-sixth  gen- 
eral assembly.  He  introduced  the  bill,  which  became  a  law,  making  drunkenness  ground  for 
appointing  a  guardian.  He  was  originally  a  democrat,  following  the  lead  of  Judge  Douglas.  He 
joined  the  republican  party  on  the  breaking  out  of  civil  war;  has  been  active  in  local  politics,  and 
has  attended  a  number  of  state  conventions,  being,  in  fact,  quite  a  prominent  and  influential  man 
in  his  party.  His  religious  connection  is  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  he  is  an  elder. 
He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  an  Odd-Fellow. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Porter  have  buried  one  son,  and  have  seven  children  living,  three  sons  and  four 
daughters:  Silas  is  a  lawyer,  in  partnership  with  his  father;  Sarah  P.  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  Dono- 
hue,  banker  of  Belle  Plain,  Kansas;  Nannie  is  the  wife  of  G.  F.  Butler,  druggist,  same  place; 
James  R.  and  Charles  are  in  Colorado;  Mary  L.  is  the  wife  of  J.  W.  Brook,  a  farmer  and  stock 
raiser  of  Henderson  countv,  Illinois,  and  Ella  is  with  her  parents. 


JOHN  F.  POWELL. 

WA  UKEGAN. 

T  OHN  FROST  POWELL,  manufacturer,  and,  at  the  time  of  writing,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Wau- 
J  kegan,  was  born  in  Chicago,  August  29,  1837,  when  that  city,  was  half  the  size  of  the  one  over 
whose  municipal  interests  he  now  presides.  His  father  was  George  N.  Powell,  a  native  of  New 
York  state,  a  hotel-keeper  and  farmer,  dying  in  Chicago  of  the  cholera  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 
Mrs.  Powell  is  still  living,  her  home  being  in  Chicago.  John  F.  is  the  oldest  child  in  a  family  of 
five  children,  only  two  of  them  besides  himself  now  living.  He  received  a  little  mental  drill  in  the 
public  schools  of  Chicago,  but  is  largely  self-educated;  farmed  to  some  extent  prior  to  1858,  when 
he  commenced  the  manufacture  of  pumps  on  Milwaukee  avenue,  near  the  city  limits. 

In  October,  1869,  he  moved  to  Waukegan,  continuing  the  manufacture  of  wood  pumps  —  the 
"Star"  —  and  adding  the  "Champion"  windmill,  "  Shatswell  "  patent  door  and  window  screens, 
the  "Boss"  sickle  grinder,  etc. 

In  1877  Robert  J.  Douglas,  son  of  Robert  Douglas,  the  nurseryman,  became  a  partner  of  our 
subject,  and  the  firm  of  Powell  and  Douglas  employs  from  sixty  to  seventy  men  the  year  round, 
and  are  turning  out  a  very  popular  class  of  pumps,  windmills,  screens,  and  foundry  and  hardware 
specialties  generally.  There  is  a  good  demand  for  everything  they  make,  and  they  are  running 
the  largest  manufactory  of  any  kind  in  Waukegan,  being  public-spirited  as  well  as  enterprising 
citizens. 

For  some  time  they  were  greatly  cramped  for  want  of  room,  but  in  1880  they  had  their  new 
shops  completed,  and  moved  into  them,  and  now  have  conveniences  for  working  a  hundred  men. 
An  artesian  well  supplies  the  works,  and  water  is  conveyed  to  every  part  of  the  buildings,  with 
the  best  of  conveniences  for  extinguishing  fires.  Side  tracks  connect  the  works  with  the  North- 
Western  railroad,  and  the  facilities  for  shipping  are  the  very  best.  The  firm  must  be  doing  very 
near,  perhaps  fully,  $200,000  per  year. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


373 


Mr.  Douglas  is  also  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Robert  Douglas  and  Son,  who  are  proprietors  of 
the  largest  evergreen  and  forest  tree  nurseries  in  this  country,  and  he  is  a  public-spirited  man. 

Mr.  Powell  held  the  office  of  school  director  two  or  three  terms  while  a  resident  of  Chicago, 
and  since  settling  in  Waukegan  there  has  been  quite  as  much  demand  for  his  services  in  the 
municipality,  we  doubt  not,  as  he  cares  about  rendering.  After  representing  the  fourth  ward  for 
six  years  as  alderman  he  was  elected,  in  March,  1881,  to  the  office  of  mayor,  and  makes  a  popular 
official  in  that  position,  his  business  capacities  being  first-class. 

Mayor  Powell  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  fraternity,  but  holds,  we  believe,  no  office 
in  the  order.  His  wife  was  Marceleen  Arno,  a  native  of  the  province  of  Quebec,  married  in  1859. 
They  have  nine  children,  five  sons  and  four  daughters. 


EZRA    MAY. 

BELVWERE. 

progenitor  of  the  May  family  in  this  country,  of  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a 
J,  descendant,  was  John  May,  who  was  born  in  England  in  1590,  and  who  commanded  the 
James,  a  vessel  which  sailed  between  London  and  New  England.  He  settled  at  Jamaica  Plain, 
near  Boston,  in  1635,  only  five  years  after  the  settlement  of  that  city,  and  only  fifteen  after  the 
landing  of  the  Plymouth  colony.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  Colonel  Ezra  May,  who 
came  through  what  is  known  as  the  Woodstock  (Connecticut)  branch  of  the  family,  where  Nehe- 
miah  May  settled  about  1730.  Colonel  May  moved  to  Goshen,  Massachusetts,  cleared  the  May 
farm  there,  and  was  a  leading  man  of  the  place  as  long  as  he  lived.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  church  at  Chesterfield,  adjoining  Goshen,  and  was  prominent  in  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  muni- 
cipal matters.  He  was  a  member  of  the  provincial  congress;  had  command  of  the  ad  Hampshire 
regiment  in  the  war  for  independence;  was  at  White  Plains,  Stillwater  and  Saratoga;  had  at  one 
time  charge  of  the  sick  in  an  army  hospital,  and  finally  died,  from  shear  exhaustion,  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  colonies,  before  the  war  closed.  He  was  the  only  attendant  in  the  hospital  who  did 
not  have  the  smallpox,  and  his  cares,  responsibilities  and  anxieties  were  too  much  for  him.  He 
died  at  Goshen  in  January,  1778,  in  the  forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  is  there  interred  in  the 
old  burying-ground.  His  memory  is  sacredly  cherished  by  his  descendants,  who  are  justly  proud 
of  his  patriotic  history  and  self-sacrificing  life.  Colonel  Nehemiah  May,  an  uncle  of  our  subject, 
was  also  a  revolutionary  officer. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  Calvin  May,  who  was  born  at  Goshen  in  1765;  was  educated  at 
Yale  College,  being  graduated  in  the  first  class;  became  a  leading  physician  and  surgeon  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  being  widely  known  and  warmly  esteemed,  holding  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace,  under  appointment  of  the  government,  through  all  his  later  vears  and  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  January  23,  1842.  Calvin  May  married  Mary  Hyatt,  a  native  of  Charlestown, 
Massachusetts,  and  she  died  in  Belvidere  in  1856. 

Ezra  May,  the  seventh  child  of  Calvin  and  Mary  May,  was  born  at  Phillipsburgh,  Lower  Can- 
ada, November  6,  1813.  He  received  a  common  English  education,  and  farmed  at  the  East  until 
1836,  when  he  came  as  far  west  as  Michigan  City,  Indiana,  where  he  was  engaged  in  hotel  keep- 
ing for  a  few  years,  removing  thence  to  Cherry  Valley,  Winnebago  county,  Illinois,  in  1839. 
There  he  devoted  himself  to  agricultural  pursuits  for  seven  or  eight  years;  then  moved  into 
Boone  county  (1847),  opening  a  general  store  at  Belvidere,  and  keeping  it  for  five  or  six  years, 
when  he  changed  to  dry  goods,  and  added  a  distillery.  Subsequently  he  was  in  the  milling  busi- 
ness, and  through  all  these  years  was  farming  more  or  less,  mainly  by  proxy.  He  has  a  dozen 
farms  or  more,  which,  with  one  exception,  are  carried  on  by  tenants,  all  these  farms  within  five 
miles  of  the  city  of  Belvidere,  and  aggregating  2,400  acres.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  all  his  enter- 
prises and  various  branches  of  industry,  Mr.  May  has  never  had  a  serious  set-back:  has  always 
been  a  careful  and  shrewd  manager,  attending  strictly  to  his  business. 


374  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

He  has  held  different  local  offices,  such  as  school  director,  trustee  of  the  town,  etc.,  and  has 
always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  any  movement  tending  to  benefit  the  place  or  the  people,  and  is 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  old  land-marks  of  Belvidere.  Mr.  May  has  always  been  interested  in 
political  affairs;  was  originally  a  whig,  and  since  the  dissolution  of  that  party  has  usually  voted 
the  democratic  ticket.  In  religious  belief  he  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  his  moral  character  is  unim- 
peachable and  elevated. 

He  married,  in  February,  1841,  Miss  Louisa  Newton  May,  a  daughter  of  his  cousin,  Deacon 
Ezra  May,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Belvidere,  and  of  eight  children, 
the  fruits  of  this  union,  six  are  still  living.  The  oldest,  Ella  A.,  is  married  to  Arthur  R.  Olney, 
wholesale  druggist,  Clinton,  Iowa;  Florence,  to  Brayton  W.  Smith,  of  Jacksonville,  Illinois;  Ezra 
is  at  Los  Angeles,  California;  Clara  H.  is  keeping  house  for  her  father,  and  Calvin  Dexter  and 
Stephen  Arnold  Douglas  are  students  in  the  University  of  Michigan. 

Mrs.  May  died  September  19,  1862, —  a  very  serious  loss  alike  to  the  husband,  the  family,  and 
the  community.  She  was  an  active  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  till  her  last  sickness,  and 
was  deeply  lamented  by  her  co-workers  in  Christian  and  benevolent  circles,  and  by  the  poor,  to 
whom  she  was  always  a  warm  friend. 

Mr.  May  is  a  cousin  of  General  Nathaniel  Lyon,  who  fell  bravely  fighting  for  his  country  at 
Wilson's  Creek,  Missouri,  in  the  summer  of  1861,  and  whose  family  in  England  has  been  promi- 
nent for  two  or  three  centuries,  the  present  Earl  of  Strathorne  being  one  of  its  members. 


T 


HON.  MATTHEW  HENRY  PETERS. 

WATSEKA. 

HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  preeminently  a  self-made  man,  whose  life  history  illustrates  in  a 
marked  degree  what  may  be  accomplished  by  native  force  of  character.  Beginning  his  life 
in  the  humblest  obscurity,  left  an  orphan  at  a  tender  age,  pinched  by  poverty,  and  compelled  to 
buffet  with  the  most  humiliating  adversity,  he  has,  by  the  power  of  his  own  manliness,  risen 
proudly  above  every  obstacle,  and  now,  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  stands  a  fair  type  of  Amer- 
ican energy  and  enterprise.  His  life  is  marked  by  proud  success,  the  result  of  his  own  effort.  A 
native  of  Rhenish  Bavaria,  he  was  born  June  6,  1843,  and  while  a  babe  was  brought  to  America 
by  his  parents,  who  settled^  at  New  Orleans.  There  his  mother  soon  afterward  died,  and  her 
death  being  almost  immediately  followed  by  the  death  of  his  two  sisters,  his  father,  with  two 
small  boys,  was  left  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  very  poor,  and  unable  to  speak  the  language  of 
the  people.  Yet  greater  misfortunes  awaited  them.  The  father  died  of  yellow  fever,  and  our 
subject  and  his  younger  brother,  Samuel,  were  left  homeless  and  friendless.  Samuel  was  placed 
in  an  orphan  asylum,  and  Matthew  was  taken  in  charge  by  an  acquaintance,  who,  under  the  pre- 
text of  providing  the  boy  a  home,  subjected  him  to  the  most  inhuman  treatment  and  to  a  life  of 
abject  servitude.  In  the  shop  of  his  cruel  master  the  boy  was  forced  to  work  from  early  morn 
till  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  Sundays  not  excepted,  and  was  allowed  as  his  food  a  slice  of 
bread  three  times  a  day.  Not  content  with  this,  the  inhuman  wretch  would  even  force  the  boy 
to  steal,  and  if  unsuccessful  in  his  thieving,  he  was  unmercifully  beaten  for  his  failure. 

In  1855,  when  about  twelve  years  old,  although  nearly  dead  from  starvation  and  cruel  treat- 
ment, the  manhood  of  the  boy  asserted  itself,  and  he  resolved  to  endure  such  a  life  no  longer. 
Rising  early  one  morning,  he  betook  himself  to  another  part  of  the  city,  sleeping  at  night  wher- 
ever he  could  find  a  shelter  to  crawl  into,  and  during  the  day  picking  up  whatever  he  could  sell 
to  the  junk  dealers,  and  subsisting  on  food  gathered  from  the  refuse  of  the  hotels  or  picked  up 
from  the  gutters.  But  brighter  days  were  at  hand.  In  March,  1855,  he  secured  employment  with 
the  cook  on  board  a  Mississippi  boat,  an  event  which  proved  the  turning  point  in  his  life.  Here 
he  met  Henry  S.  Roberts,  a  gentleman  who  was  traveling,  and  who,  attracted  by  his  bright  look, 
learned  with  interest  his  history,  and  took  him  with  him  to  his  own  home  in  the  state  of  Ohio. 


HC  Duo  par  Jri   Co 


EJIH     IIT   EGW,:'...ir,,i   Bi   XY 


LIBRARY 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


377 


Upon  the  death  of  his  benefactor,  which  occurred  soon  afterward,  Matthew  was  left  in  care  of 
Mr.  Roberts'  widowed  mother,  whose  motherly  kindness  toward  the  boy  in  after  years  found  a 
full  recompense,  he  having  provided  her  a  home  in  her  old  age  where  she  has  every  comfort,  and 
is  loved  and  treated  with  true  filial  devotion. 

During  the  next  five  years  young  Peters  was  employed  in  farm  work,  improving  all  his  spare 
time  in  study,  often  poring  over  his  books  until  late  at  night,  and  in  1860  had  made  such  progress 
and  was  so  well  informed  that  he  began  teaching,  meeting  with  good  success. 

At  the  opening  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  at  the  first  call  for  volunteers  he  responded,  and 
April  23,  1861,  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  E,  i6th  regiment  Ohio  infantry.  After  the  expi- 
ration of  his  term  of  enlistment,  he,  in  December,  1861,  reenlisted  in  the  74th  Ohio  regiment, 
under  Granville  Moody,  known  as  the  fighting  parson.  Here  he  was  made  sergeant,  and  soon 
after  was  chosen  lieutenant  of  his  company,  and  commissioned  January  7,  1862.  December  31 
following,  Lieutenant  Peters  was  so  severely  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  Tennessee, 
that  he  was  deserted  on  the  field  by  his  comrades  as  past  help.  He,  however,  recovered,  and 
passed  through  the  war,  enduring  its  hardships  and  sharing  in  its  triumphs.  When  General 
Sherman  started  on  his  march  to  Atlanta,  it  began  with  a  skirmish  at  Tunnel  Hill,  and  was  a 
continual  battle  for  one  hundred  days  before  Atlanta  fell.  Early  in  the  campaign,  Peters,  who 
had  been  made  adjutant  of  the  regiment,  was  struck  by  a  shot  while  charging  a  rebel  battery  on 
Buzzard  Roost  Mountain.  This  was  May  9,  1864.  July  13  following,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  captain,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services.  When  sufficiently  recovered  from  his 
wounds  to  walk  by  the  aid  of  a  cane,  he  rejoined  his  regiment  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  until 
the  close  of  the  war  was'constantly  in  the  field.  Not  to  recount  the  numerous  battles  in  which 
he  participated,  with  his  many  almost  miraculous  escapes,  the  proudest  day  of  his  military  career 
was  at  the  grand  review  of  the  armies  at  Washington,  May  24  and  25,  1865,  when  he  was  detailed 
by  General  George  P.  Buell,  commander  of  the  brigade,  on  his  staff  as  assistant  inspector  general. 
Captain  Peters  served  in  this  capacity  until  notified  that  his  regiment  was  to  be  mustered  out, 
when  he  asked  to  be  relieved,  that  he  might  join  his  comrades  on  their  homeward  march.  __  He 
was  mustered  out  of  the  service  July  12,  1865,  but  not  until  he  had  been  commissioned  major  of 
his  regiment. 

In  1866  Major  Peters  settled  at  Watseka,  Illinois,  and  engaged  in  the  hardware  trade,  but 
finding  it  unsuited  to  his  tastes,  he  soon  sold  it,  and  in  1867  opened  the  first  book  and  stationery 
store  in  Watseka.  This  business  he  conducted  with  marked  success  until  November,  1879,  when 
he  turned  it  over  to  his  faithful  clerk,  who  had  been  with  him  over  ten  years.  Within  this  period, 
(in  December,  1872),  he  took  charge  of  the  Iroquois  "  Times,"  and  managed  it  for  eighteen  months, 
during  which  time  it  became  a  widely  circulated  and  influential  paper.  This  he  sold  out  in  1874, 
but  bought  it  again  four  years  later,  and  is  now  (1882)  its  editor  and  proprietor. 

In  1875  Major  Peters  was  elected  mayor  of  Watseka,  and  in  1877  was  reflected  to  the  same 
office  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Hon.  Franklin  Blades,  who  had  resigned  to  accept  the  judge- 
ship.  In  politics  he  was,  prior  to  1872,  a  republican,  following  the  teachings  of  Horace  Greeley, 
whom  he  had  been  taught  from  his  first  arrival  in  the  North  to  honor  and  respect. 

In  1878  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  on  the  national  ticket,  and  from  the  active  and 
prominent  part  which  he  took  in  the  thirty-first  general  assembly,  gained  the  high  esteem  of  his 
fellow  members  and  the  fullest  confidence  and  respect  of  his  constituents. 

Since  becoming  a  resident  of  Watseka  he  has  been  particularly  active  in  military  affairs,  and 
in  1874  was  mainly  instrumental  in  organizing  the  first  military  company  of  Iroquois  county,  and 
elected  captain  of  the  same;  and  when  the  military  code  of  Illinois  became  a  law,  and  the  various 
companies  of  the  state  were  organized  into  regiments  and  battalions,  the  Watseka  Rifles  were 
designated  company  A,  gth  battalion  Illinois  National  Guards,  and  Captain  Peters  was  elected  to 
command  the  battalion,  with  the  title  and  rank  of  colonel. 

Colonel  Peters  has  taken  a  high  stand  in  the  Odd-Fellows'  order,  often  representing  his  lodge 
and  encampment  in  the  grand  lodge;  he  is  also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor, 
38 


278  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

having  represented  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois  in  the  Supreme  Lodge  of  the  United  States  thre< 
years.  The  secret  of  his  success  is  to  be  found  in  his  untiring  industry,  energy  and  enterprise 
As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited;  as  a  business  man  prompt  and  upright;  while  in  his  private  lifi 
and  character  he  is  open-hearted,  generous,  and  true  to  every  noble  impulse. 

June  19,  1867,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Clara  M.  Lyon,  at  Sycamore,  Illinois,  a  lady  of  rar< 
accomplishments  and  culture,  kind,  active  and  energetic,  a  fit  companion  for  our  worthy  subject 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  life  of  one  whose  career  has  been  rife  with  thrilling  incidents 
and  who,  now  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  enjoys  the  well  earned  fruits  of  his  successes,  and  whc 
with  his  clear  record  of  the  past,  may  confidently  and  hopefully  look  to  the  future. 


JAMES    MONTGOMERY,   M.D. 

MARSEILLES. 

'"T'HE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  is  the  oldest  medica 
_L  practitioner  at  Marseilles,  and  has  a  highly  creditable  standing  in  his  profession.  His  birtl 
is  dated  in  Jefferson  county,  Ohio,  July  28,  1836,  he  being  a  son  of  Hugh  and  Matilda  (Shane 
Montgomery.  His  grandfather,  John  Montgomery,  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  settled  ii 
Jefferson  county  near  the  close  of  the  last  century.  His  mother  was  of  German  lineage.  Jame 
received  an  academic  education  in  his  native  county;  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  until  pas 
twenty  years  of  age;  read  medicine  at  Knoxville,  Ohio,  with  Doctor  George  D.  Hamilton;  at 
tended  lectures  at  the  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery,  Cincinnati;  received  the  degree  of  docto 
of  medicine  in  1862;  practiced  two  years  in  Jefferson  county,  near  where  he  was  born;  came  t 
Illinois  in  1864,  and  practiced  in  Peoria  county  until  the  autumn  of  1867,  and  then  settled  in  hi 
present  home. 

Doctor  Montgomery  attends  very  closely  to  his  professional  duties,  which  are  usually  quit 
exacting  on  his  time  and  energies,  and  has  long  had  a  first-class  general  practice.  He  is  ver 
prompt  to  obey  calls,  careful  in  making  his  prescriptions,  and  equally  careful  to  keep  himsel 
well  posted  in  medical  science.  He  seems  to  fully  realize  that  this  is  a  progressive  age,  and  tha 
if  he  would  keep  abreast  of  it  he  must  give  his  leisure  hours  to  hard  study. 

The  doctor  is  interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  since  settling  in  Marseilles  has  heli 
the  office  of  school  director  a  few  terms, — the  only  civil  or  municipal  office,  we  believe,  which  h 
deeemed  it  best  to  accept.  He  is  a  republican  and  a  Master  Mason;  a  man  of  fine  social  quali 
ties  and  gentlemanly  bearing,  and  is  well  qualified  to  multiply  friends. 

He  married,  in  1857,  Miss  Rebecca  Swickard,  a  native  of  Jefferson  county,  Ohio,  and  they  los 
one  son  in  infancy,  and  have  five  children  living.  The  family  attend  the  Universalist  church. 


HON.  ROBERT   H.  McCLELLAN. 

GALENA. 

ROBERT  H.  McCLELLAN,  president  of  the  National  Bank  of  Galena,  and  for  many  year 
one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  this  city,  was  born  in  Hebron,  Washington  county,  New  Yorl 
January  3,  1823.  His  father,  Colonel  William  McClellan,  was  born  in  the  same  county,  and  hi 
grandfather,  Robert  McClellan,  was  from  Kirkudbright,  Scotland,  coming  to  this  country  in  177; 
the  year  that  the  colonies  took  up  arms  against  the  mother  country.  He  was  too  young  to  tak 
part  in  that  war.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Margaret  Randies,  who  was  also  a  native  o 
Washington  county.  Both  parents  died,  one  in  1872,  the  other  in  1880. 

Mr.  McClelian  prepared  for  college  at  Argyle  and  Cambridge,  in  his  native  county;  enterei 
Union  College,  Schenectady,  in  1846,  and  graduated  in  the  class  of  '47;  taught  in  the  academ; 
one  year  at  Argyle;  read  law  with  Hon.  Martin  I.  Townsend,  of  Troy,  New  York;  was  admittec 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY,  379 

to  the  bar  at  Albany  in  1850;  came  to  Galena  that  year;  edited  the  Galena  "Gazette"  for  some 
six  months,  during  the  absence  of  the  editor,  the  late  H.  H.  Haughton;  opened  a  law  office,  and 
has  been  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  here  for  more  than  thirty  years,  making  a  success  almost 
from  the  start. 

Mr.  McClellan  has  been  attorney  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railway  Company  at  this  end  of  the 
road  ever  since  it  was  surveyed,  in  1852,  and  has  been  president  of  the  National  Bank  of  Galena 
since  it  was 'organized,  in  1865.  Under  his  supervision  it  has  been  managed  with  great  prudence, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  solid  institutions  of  the  kind  in  northwestern  Illinois.  Mr.  McClellan  is  a 
director  of  the  Hanover  Manufacturing  Company,  which  is  engaged  in  manufacturing  cloth  and 
flour,  and  also  of  the  Hanover  Pulp  Company,  two  flourishing  enterprises  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  Jo  Daviess  county. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  in  1861,  attending  what  is  known  as  the  war  session. 
He  was  elected  to  the  upper  house  of  the  legislature  in  1876,  and  in  that  body  was  chairman  of 
the  revenue  committee,  and  did  a  large  part  of  the  work  of  that  committee.  He  was  also  chair- 
man of  the  joint  committee  of  the  two  houses  on  the  same  subject.  He  was  one  of  the  working 
members  of  the  senate  in  the  two  sessions  which  he  attended,  and  made  an  honorable  record.  In 
politics  Mr.  McClellan  was  originally  a  whig,  and  has  been  an  unwavering  republican  since  that 
party  was  organized.  He  is  a  member  and  one  of  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  the  South  Pres- 
byterian church. 

Mr.  McClellan  first  married  in  Boston,  in  1858,  Miss  Caroline  L.  Sanford,  a  native  of  Albany, 
New  York,  she  dying  in  Galena  in  February,  1876,  leaving  five  children;  and  the  second  time,  in 
1879,  Mrs.  C.  D.  (Denison)  Garfield,  daughter  of  Doctor  Denison,  of  Royalton,  Vermont. 


HON.  JOSEPH    H.   MAYBORNE. 

GENEVA. 

JOSEPH  HAYWARD  MAYBORNE,  one  of  the  oldest  lawyers  in  Kane  county,  and  lately 
state  senator  from  the  fourteenth  district,  is  a  native  of  the  county  of  Kent,  England,  dating 
his  birth  at  Dover,  March  31,  1822.  His  father,  William  Mayborne,  was  chief  gamekeeper  for 
Lord  Liverpool,  having  the  oversight  of  a  large  number  of  men  who  were  thus  employed  by  his 
lordship.  The  Maybornes  were  of  Huguenot  descent,  and  fled  from  France  about  the  time  of 
the  massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew.  William  Mayborne  married  Elizabeth  Parsons,  whose  father 
was  a  captain,  engaged  in  the  East  India  trade;  and  in  1825  the  family  came  to  New  York  city, 
and  after  spending  two  or  three  years  there  and  in  Rochester,  settled  in  the  town  of  Sherman, 
Chautauqua  county,  where  Joseph  was  educated.  He  commenced  reading  law  with  Judge  James 
Mullet,  of  Fredonia;  finished  with  Richard  P.  Marvin,  of  Jamestown,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  Mayville  in  1844. 

After  practicing  a  few  months  in  Chautauqua  county,  in  the  spring  of  1846  Mr.  Mayborne 
came  as  far  west  as  Chicago,  then  a  very  uninviting  field  for  settlement.  He  remained  there 
until  the  autumn  of  1848,  when  he  moved  to  Geneva,  where  he  has  been  in  the  constant  practice 
of  his  profession,  with  the  exception  of  three  years  spent  in  the  service  of  his  country.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1863,  Mr.  Mayborne  went  into  the  army  as  paymaster,  with  the  rank  of  major;  was  breveted 
lieutenant-colonel  October  16,  1865,  and  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  at  his  own  request,  Jan- 
uary 2,  l866. 

On  leaving  the  army,  Colonel  Mayborne  (usually  called  Major  among  his  neighbors)  resumed 
the  law  practice,  and  is  doing  business  in  all  the  courts  in  this  section.  An  old  acquaintance  of 
Mr.  Mayborne  thus  speaks  of  him  as  a  lawyer  and  citizen: 

"I  have  been  acquainted  with  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Mayborne  for  thirty  years  and  upward,  during 
a  large  portion  of  which  period  he  has  been  a  practicing  attorney  in  the  courts  over  which  I  have 
presided.  As  a  lawyer  he  stands  in  the  front  rank;  as  a  citizen  he  has  the  universal  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  neighbors  and  friends." 


380  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  politics  he  was  originally  a  whig,  and  a  great  admirer  of  Henry  Clay,  and  he  attended  the 
first  meeting  in  Kane  county  for  the  organization  of  the  republican  party,  held  at  Aurora  in  Sep- 
tember, 1854.  From  that  day  he  has  been  an  unwavering  and  active  member  of  that  party,  being 
most  of  the  time,  from  1855  to  1862,  chairman  of  the  central  county  committee,  and  in  1872  a  del- 
egate to  the  national  convention  which  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  renominated  President  Grant. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  a  very  influential  member  of  his  party,  and  in  1876  was  elected  to 
the  state  senate,  in  which  body  he  served  his  constituents  and  the  commonwealth  in  a  highly 
creditable  manner  for  the  term  of  four  years.  During  the  second  session,  when  the  republicans 
had  control  of  the  senate,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  charitable  institutions.  He  also 
served  on  the  committees  on  the  judiciary,  railroad,  education,  library,  appropriations,  and  the 
miscellaneous  committee. 

Our  subject  married,  December  24,  1846,  Miss  Theresa  Johnson,  of  Blackberry,  Kane  county, 
and  they  have  four  children,  all  daughters,  and  all  at  home. 


HENRY   A.   MIX,    M.D. 

OREGON. 

HENRY  AUGUSTUS  MIX,  physician  and  surgeon,  and  a  native  of  Oregon,  dates  his  birth 
July  12,  1838.  He  belongs  to  a  prominent  family,  among  the  pioneer  settlers  in  Oregon, 
and  is  a  son  of  William  J.  Mix,  Sr.,  M.D.,  and  Eliza  Goodwin  (Wood)  Mix.  William  J.  Mix,  Sr., 
was  born  in  Grand  Isle,  Vermont,  in  1795,  he  being  the  eldest  of  eleven  children;  was  in  the  lum- 
ber and  fishing  trade  on  the  Saint  Lawrence  River  in  early  life;  studied  medicine  with  Doctor 
Wood,  of  Campbell's  Landing,  Canada;  attended  lectures  in  Montreal,  where  he  received  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1824;  practiced  at  Conneautville,  Pennsylvania,  Tecumseh, 
Michigan,  and  Ottawa,  Illinois,  before  coming  to  Oregon,  where  he  settled  in  1835.  Here  he 
lived,  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  until  his  death  in  1850.  He  was  at  the 
battle  of  Plattsburgh,  New  York,  which  occurred  in  September,  1814,  his  father  commanding  a 
company  in  that  engagement.  While  a  resident  of  Pennsylvania  he  served  as  surgeon  of  the 
io7th  regiment  of  militia  from  1829  to  1835.  He  was  the  first  probate  justice  of  Ogle  county. 
Doctor  Mix  had  two  wives,  and  three  children  by  the  first  (whose  maiden  name  was  Annie  Drury), 
only  one  of  them,  a  son,  William  J.  Mix,  Jr.,  now  living.  He  came  to  Oregon  in  1836,  and  is  a 
capitalist. 

By  his  second  wife  the  doctor  had  four  daughters,  three  of  them  yet  living  and  all  married, 
and  one  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  was  as  much  a  born  anatomist  as  Keats  was  a  born 
poet  or  Blaise  Pascal  a  born  mathematician.  We  learn  from  the  "  History  of  Ogle  County  "  (Chi- 
cago, 1878)  that,  "at  an  early  age,  he  developed  a  natural  taste  for  anatomy,  having,  when  only 
ten  years  old,  put  together  the  entire  parts  of  a  skeleton,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  dissected 
a  human  body  and  exposed  every  muscle." 

It  would  be  cruel  to  keep  a  lad  with  such  a  taste  and  of  such  talents  in  the  direction  here  indi- 
cated out  of  the  medical  profession,  and  when  young  Mix  had  spent  a  few  terms  at  the  Rock 
River  Seminary,  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  with  Doctor  Elias  S.  Potter,  whose  sketch 
appears  on  other  pages  of  this  work,  and  after  reading  studiously  for  three  years,  attended  Rush 
Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  was  graduated  in  February,  1864.  Civil  war  was  then  progressing, 
and  Doctor  Mix  immediately  entered  the  service  as  second  assistant  surgeon  of  the  64th  Illinois 
infantry.  The  following  September  he  was  made  first  assistant,  and  during  the  advance  on 
Atlanta  and  the  campaign  to  the  sea  was  one  of  the  operating  staff  of  the  first  division  of  the 
i6th  army  corps,  being  appointed  over  many  older  surgeons  on  account  of  his  superior  skill.  In 
May,  1865,  he  was  made  surgeon  of  the  64th,  and  the  next  month  was  selected  as  one  of  the  three 
surgeons  in  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  to  constitute  a  board  of  medical  examiners. 

On  leaving  the  army,  in  July,  1865,  Doctor  Mix  went  to  Chicago  and  took  a  course  of  lectures 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  381 

in  Rush  on  diseases  of  women  and  children,  and  he  then  entered  into  partnership  with  his  pre- 
ceptor, Doctor  Potter,  continuing  it  until  1874,  since  which  date  Doctor  Mix  has  been  alone  in 
practice.  His  thorough  drill,  in  the  first  place,  with  his  preceptor  and  in  Chicago;  his  invaluable 
experience  in  the  army,  and  his  additional  studies  at  Rush  in  specialties,  all  tended  to  give  the 
people  confidence  in  his  skill,  and  the  result  is  that  his  practice  has  been  large  and  lucrative, 
and  he  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  most  successful  medical  men  of  any  age  in  Ogle  county.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  county  medical  society,  a  republican  in  politics,  and  a  Royal  Arch  Mason. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Mix  was  Adeline  A.  Perry,  married  in  Lynnville,  this  county,  July  n,  1868, 
and  they  have  one  son,  Morton  P.  In  1874  the  Doctor  built  a  fine  brick  residence  on  Third  street, 
which,  as  the  local  historian  says,  is  really  "an  ornament  to  his  native  town." 

There  was  once  another  Henry  A.  Mix  living  in  Oregon,  the  youngest  brother  of  William  J. 
Mix,  Sr.,  and  hence  an  uncle  to  our  subject.  He  came  to  Oregon  in  December,  1841;  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  same  month,  having  been  graduated  at  Cambridge  (Massachusetts) 
Law  School;  was  a  leading  attorney  in  this  county  for  years,  and  was  killed  by  accident,  falling 
off  a  bridge  in  1867.  His  legal  career  was  an  honor  to  the  profession. 


T 


ARCHIBALD  MEANS. 

PERU 

I  HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  secretary  and  manager  of  the  Illinois  Zinc  Company,  which  has 
about  four  hundred  workmen  on  its  pay  roll,  and  is  doing  not  far  from  $600,000  a  year. 
Mr.  Means  is  a  native  of  Allegheny  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  March  31,  1833.  His 
father  was  William  Means,  a  foundryman  in  early  and  middle  life,  who  in  1851  retired  to  a  farm 
at  Jefferson  county,  Ohio.  The  grandfather  of  Archibald  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  and 
came  over  and  settled  in  Allegheny  county  after  the  American  revolution.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Nancy  Swearengen,  whose  mother  was  a  Blackmore,  a  member  of  a  family  to  which 
was  granted,  long  prior  to  the  revolution,  a  tract  of  land  where  the  city  of  Washington  now 
stands.  A  resident  of  Peru,  who  knew  the  Means  family  in  Ohio  forty  years  ago,  speaks  of  them 
as  leading  men  in  various  branches  of  industry  and  some  of  the  professions. 

When  Archibald  was  about  three  years  old  the  family  moved  to  Steubenville,  Ohio,  where  he 
received  an  academic  education  and  learned  the  printer's  trade.  Subsequently  he  spent  three 
seasons  as  a  steamboat  clerk  on  the  Ohio  Rive.r,  a  position  not  at  all  congenial  to  his  taste.  We 
next  find  him  in  Lawrence  county,  southern  Ohio,  acting  as  clerk  in  an  iron  furnace.  A  year 
later  he  went  to  Greenup,  now  Boyd  county,  Kentucky,  and  was  there  employed  in  a  similar 
manufactory,  being  at  Ashland  when  the  civil  war  began.  He  recruited  a  company  in  that  town 
for  the  1 4th  Kentucky  infantry;  went  into  the  service  as  captain  of  company  E,  and  served  about 
sixteen  months,  when  his  health  broke  completely  down. 

Captain  Means  was  with  General  Garfield  at  Middle  Creek,  on  the  Big  Sandy;  went  the  next 
spring  (1862)  to  the  Cumberland,  where  the  forces  were  stationed  a  while  to  furnish  a  rendezvous 
for  Tennessee  refugees.  He  was  at  the  capture  of  Cumberland  Gap,  June  18,  1862,  and  in 
November  resigned  and  returned  to  Ohio. 

In  was  two  or  three  years  before  Captain  Means  fully  regained  his  health.  In  1866  he  went 
to  Adams  county,  southern  Ohio,  and  was  there  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  until  1871,  when 
he  came  to  Peru  to  superintend  the  Illinois  Zinc  Works,  then  not  in  the  most  flourishing  condition, 
and  running  on  a  small  scale.  His  fine  executive  capacities  and  managing  abilities  soon  put  the 
institution  squarely  on  its  feet,  and  during  the  last  decade  it  has  done  a  highly  prosperous  business. 

Captain  Means  is  the  only  resident  stockholder.  He  has  the  entire  management  of  the  con- 
cern, and  everything  is  progressing  in  excellent  order.  A  ready  market  is  found  for  all  the  wares 
turned  out  in  this  mammoth  manufactory,  the  largest  of  any  kind  in  Peru,  and  the  second  of  its 
class  in  the  United  States. 


382  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  politics  our  subject  has  always  been  a  republican,  pronounced  and  outspoken,  and  is  one  of 
that  class  of  men  who  can  give  a  reason  for  the  political  faith  that  is  in  them.  In  1860,  while  in 
Kentucky,  he  was  one  of  five  men  in  the  precinct,  and  of  eleven  in  the  county,  who  voted  for 
Abraham  Lincoln.  The  author  of  "  Lacon  "  says  that  the  man  of  principle  is  the  principal  man, 
and  there  is  no  difficulty  in  knowing  where  to  place  the  subject  of  this  notice. 

In  religious  preferences  Captain  . Means  is  a  Presbyterian,  but  there  being  no  church  of  that 
denomination  at  Peru,  he  belongs  to  the  Congregational,  in  which  he  is  an  office  bearer.  He 
has  a  third  wife.  The  first  was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  W.  Means,  of  Hanging  Rock,  Ohio;  the 
second,  of  William  Ellison,  of  Manchester,  Ohio,  and  his  present  wife  is  a  daughter  of  General 
Newton  Schleich,  of  Lancaster,  Ohio.  He  has  four  children  living,  all  by  the  second  wife. 


SAMUEL  C.  PLUMMER,  M.D. 

ROCK  ISLAND. 

SAMUEL  CRAIG  PLUMMER,  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  in  Rock  Island,  and  a  prominent 
man  in  his  profession,  dates  his  birth  at  New  Salem,  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania, 
April  10,  -1-821.  His  father,  John  Boyd  Plummer,  a  merchant  most  of  his  life,  was  born  in  Alle- 
gheny county,  that  state.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth  (Craig)  Plummer,  whose  father  was  in  the 
war  of  1812-14,  and  whose  grandfather  was  in  the  French  and  Indian  war.  Jonathan  Plummer, 
the  paternal  grandfather  of  Samuel,  was  also  in  the  last-named  war.  There  is  good  fighting  blood 
on  both  sides  of  the  family.  The  progenitor  of  this  branch  of  the  Plummer  family  in  this  country, 
Francis  Plummer,  came  over  from  England  in  1635,  only  five  years  after  Boston  was  settled,  and 
took  up  his  abode  at  Newbury,  Massachusetts.  He  brought  with  him  his  wife  and  two  sons, 
Joseph  and  Samuel  Plummer.  We  learn  from  "Coffin's  History  of  Newbury,"  that  in  Septem- 
ber of  that  year,  1635,  Francis  Plummer  was  licensed  to  keep  an  ordinary,  that  is  a  tavern.  In 
April,  1638,  Francis  Plummer  and  five  others  were  fined  two  shillings  and  sixpence  apiece  for 
being  absent  from  the  town  meeting,  having  been  lawfully  warned,  etc. 

The  name  of  Francis  Plummer  often  appears  on  the  early  records  of  Newbury,  as  a  select- 
man, etc.,  and  he  was  quite  prominent  among  the  pioneers.  From  him  and  his  sons  have  sprung 
a  great  many  persons  of  that  name,  scattered  all  over  the  country,  many  of  them  having  held 
highly  honorable  positions. 

From  the  work  already  quoted  we  learn  that  "the  descendants  of  Francis  Plummer  still  own 
(1845)  the  land  which  was  once  his,  near  the  river  Parker.  *  *  *  Five  of  Francis  Plummer's 
descendants,  and  bearing  his  name,  have  been  members  of  congress.  One  of  them,  George,  son 
of  Jonathan,  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  Pennsylvania,  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains." 

The  Jonathan  Plummer  here  mentioned  was  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject,  and  a  sol- 
dier under  General  Braddock  and  Colonel  Washington  at  the  time  of  Braddock's  defeat.  The 
early  generations  of  the  Plummers  seem  to  have  been  remarkable  for  their  longevity.  We  read 
that  the  average  age  of  twelve  children  of  Samuel  and  Hannah  Plummer,  born  between  1719  and 
1740  was  seventy-three  years. 

Doctor  Plummer  was  educated  in  the  preparatory  department  of  the  Western  Reserve  College, 
Hudson,  Ohio,  and  at  Greenville,  Pennsylvania,  to  which  latter  place  the  family  moved  when  our 
subject  was  about  eleven  years  old.  He  studied  medicine  at  Greenville,  with  Doctor  De  La  Cas- 
sitt  ;  attended  lectures  at  Cleveland,  being  a  member  of  the  first  class  in  that  medical  institution 
(1843-44)  ;  practiced  a  short  time  at  Greenville,  and  in  1848  settled  in  Rock  Island.  Four  years 
afterward  Doctor  Plummer  returned  to  Cleveland,  attended  another  course  of  lectures,  and  there 
received  the  degree  of  doctcw  of  medicine  in  March,  1854. 

April  16,  1861,  he  enlisted,  and,  May  24,  was  mustered  into  the  service  as  surgeon  of  the  i3th 
Illinois  infantry,  and  remained  three  and  a  half  years,  six  months  over  the  time  for  which  he  had 
enlisted.  He  was  never  sick  or  off  duty  a  day.  For  a  long  time  he  was  medical  director  of  the 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

I5th  army  corps,  army  of  the  Tennessee,  being  ranking  surgeon  in  that  army,  and  on  the  com- 
manding general's  staff. 

His  experience  in  the  army  was  of  great  benefit  to  Doctor  Plummer,  and  on  returning  to  Rock 
Island  in  December,  1864,  he  stepped  at  once  into  a  good  general  practice.  He  has  a  high  repu- 
tation, both  as  physician  and  surgeon,  and  a  large  practice  in  the  leading  families  in  Rock  Island 
and  vicinity.  Two  or  three  times  he  has  spent  a  winter  at  some  medical  college,  and  keeps  thor- 
oughly brushed  up  in  his  profession.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  but  holds  no  office,  we  believe, 
of  any  kind. 

He  has  a  second  wife.  The  first  was  Miss  Julia  Hayes,  of  Burg  Hill,  Trumbull  county,  Ohio, 
married  October  17,  1844,  and  dying  October  6,  1872,  leaving  five  children,  three  daughters  and 
two  sons,  two  having  previously  died.  Emma  M.,  the  oldest  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  George  W. 
Dawson,  of  Orion,  Henry  county,  Illinois ;  Elizabeth  is  the  wife  of  George  M.  Looseley,  of  Rock 
Island  ;  Clara  S.  is  at  home  ;  Frederick  Hayes  is  in  Hiawatha,  Brown  county,  Kansas  ;  and  Sam- 
uel Craig,  Jr.,  is  attending  Augustana  College,  Rock  Island.  Doctor  Plnmmer  was  married  the 
second  time  June  9,  1874,  to  Mrs.  Sallie  M.  (Dawson)  Moore,  of  New  Wilmington,  Pennsylvania. 
The  family  attend  the  Broadway  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  the  doctor  and  wife  are  members. 


ISAAC  MARLETT. 

A  URORA. 

ONE  of  the  pioneer  settlers  in  what  is  now  the  city  of  Aurora,  is  Isaac  Marlett,  who  is  one  of 
the  oldest  men  living  in  Kane  county,  and  will  soon  be  in  his  ninetieth  year.  He  was  born 
in  Charlestown,  Montgomery  county.  New  York,  December  31,  1793,  being  only  six  vears  younger 
than  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  is  a  son  of  Gideon  Marlett,  whose  father  was  from 
France,  and  Mary  (Quackenbosh)  Marlett,  who  was  of  Dutch  parentage.  When  he  was  in  his 
fifth  year  the  family  moved  to  Milford,  Otsego  county,  he  being  the  youngest  child  in  a  family  of 
eleven  children.  He  and  the  next  older  brother  used  to  go  two  miles  to  school  through  a  woods, 
their  path  being  marked  by  blazed  trees.  Isaac's  education  was  restricted  to  the  rudimentary 
branches,  and  only  partial  in  them.  He  was  reared  to  hard  work,  which  was  never  a  misfortune 
to  any  able-bodied  youth. 

At  eighteen  years  of  age  Isaac  went  to  Upper  Canada,  now  Ontario,  and  lumbered  for  eight 
winters  in  the  pineries  on  the  Bay  of  Ouinte,  working  at  the  joiner  trade  in  that  province  the  rest 
of  the  season.  Every  spring,  while  the  ice  was  still  in  the  bay,  in  making  up  rafts,  he  used  to 
stand  eight  hours  a  day  in  the  water,  up  to  his  waist,  his  noon  lunch  being  brought  to  him  by 
boat,  and  he  eating  standing  in  the  water.  Very  few  constitutions  could  endure  that  strain  with- 
out materially  shortening  life. 

Returning  to  his  native  state,  Mr.  Marlett  worked  at  the  carpenter  and  joiner's  trade  at  Milford 
for  several  years,  and  married  Mary  Ann  Allen,  of  that  town  when  he  was  nearly  forty  years  old. 
He  continued  to  work  at  Milford,  in  company  with  a  brother-in-law,  William  Lander,  who  was 
an  expert  mechanic,  until  1843,  when  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Aurora,  then  a  village  of 
five  or  six  families.  Samuel  McCarty  is  the  only  man  now  living  here  who  was  here  then.  Mr. 
Marlett  worked  at  his  trade  here,  off  and  on,  for  thirty  years  or  more,  being  employed  at  one  period 
in  making' carriages  ;  was  a  general  merchant  at  another,  and  for  two  or  three  years  kept  the 
Empire  House,  the  oldest  hotel  in  this  place. 

For  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years  Mr.  Marlett  has  done  only  work  enough  to  keep  him  in  good 
health.  He  is  as  sprightly,  however,  as  men  ordinarily  are  at  sixty  or  sixty-five,  and  no  stranger 
would  be  likely  to  guess  that  he  had  seen  even  seventy  winters,  yet  at  the  time  this  sketch  is  pre- 
pared, he  is  in  his  eighty-ninth  year. 

He  was  constable  of  Aurora  four  years,  and  deputy  sheriff  of  Kane  county  twelve  years,  all  the 
offices,  we  believe,  that  he  would  ever  accept.  He  was  a  democrat  until  the  formation  of  the 


384  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

republican  party,  with  which  he  still  votes.     He  is  a  Master  Mason,  an  Odd-Fellow,  a  member  of 
the  Universalist  church,  and  a  man  of  unblemished  character. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Marlett  died  several  years  ago,  and  he  is  still  feeling  and  lamenting  his  great 
loss.  They  had  four  daughters  and  two  sons,  losing  one  of  each.  Mary  Ann,  the  oldest  daughter, 
is  the  wife  of  John  Allen,  Aurora j  Maria,  of  Samuel  Crance,  Aurora;  Eliza,  of  O.  F.  Barber, 
Rockford,  Illinois,  and  Frank,  the  only  son  living,  a  soldier  in  the  civil  war,  is  a  railroad  conduc- 
tor. He  has  a  family.  Several  years  ago  Mr.  Marlett  divided  his  property  among  his  children, 
and  is  now  living  with  his  son,  being  in  very  comfortable  circumstances. 


SETH  F.  HANCHETT. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  present  incumbent  of  the  important  office  of  sheriff  of  Cook  county,  Illinois,  has  been 
in  public  life  since  1867,  and  has  proved  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  popular  officers  in 
each  of  the  various  positions  he  has  held  ever  entrusted  with  public  affairs.  His  early  life  was  an 
arduous  one,  and  well  calculated  to  develop  his  manly  self-dependence  while  still  young.  It  is  a 
fact  worthy  of  record  that  the  majority  of  the  successful  men  of  Chicago,  and  perhaps  of  the  West 
as  well,  were  thrown  upon  their  own  resources  at  a  very  tender  age. 

Mr.  Hanchett  was  born  near  Mayville,  Chautauqua  county,  New  York,  April  30,  1842.  His 
parents  were  Joseph  C.,  and  Sabrina  (Howard)  Hanchett.  The  Hanchetts  are  an  English  family, 
and  trace  their  origin  in  this  country  to  an  English  officer  of  the  revolution,  who  received  the 
grant  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  from  King  George.  After  locating  his 
land  he  returned  to  England,  married,  returned  to  this  country  and  settled  on  his  estate.  He 
was  subsequently,  killed  by  the  Indians. 

When  nine  years  old  the  mother  of  Seth  died,  and  he  fell  to  the  care  of  an  uncle  for  whom  he 
worked  on  the  farm  during  the  summer  for  six  years,  and  attended  school  winters.  In  this  way 
he  clothed  himself  and  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  education.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he 
was  seized  with  the  western  fever,  and  with  the  savings  of  his  five  years'  labor  in  his  pocket, 
amounting  to  $50,  he  started  for  the  eldorado  of  the  West.  He  was  then  fifteen  years  of  age, 
and  of  a  rugged  constitution,  full  of  energy  and  hope,  and  well  prepared  to  engage  in  the  ever 
increasing  struggle  for  existence  in  the  Great  West.  He  came  alone,  and  landed  in  Chicago  the 
latter  part  of  August,  1856.  He  had  a  relation  living  nearMarengo,  Illinois,  with  whom  he  spent 
one  year,  attending  school  there  to  good  advantage,  one  winter. 

After  a  few  months  spent  in  exploring  the  country  to  the  west  and  north,  he  returned  and 
fixed  himself  permanently  in  Chicago.  He  at  first  found  employment  in  the  service  of  the  North 
Chicago  City  Railway  Company,  where  he  remained  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1861. 

He  was  but  little  past  nineteen,  and  considered  himself  politically  a  Douglas  democrat,  but 
his  ambition  and  patriotism  were  both  aroused,  and  he  set  about  raising  a  company  for  Bell's  cav- 
alry, then  quartered  at  Camp  Douglas.  With  the  assistance  of  Captain  Annis  Hathaway,  they 
soon  had  their  quota  full,  but  the  regiment  being  cut  down  to  two  battalions,  they  were  not  ac- 
cepted, and  Hanchett  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  9th  Illinois  cavalry,  and  with  his  command  went 
to  the  front. 

He  remained  with  his  regiment  over  a  year,  or  until  November,  1862,  during  which  he  saw  ar- 
duous service  in  the  states  of  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Mississippi.  He  was  then  prostrated  with 
the  southern  fever,  contracted  while  on  duty  in  the  marshes,  and  was  sent  to  Saint  Louis  hospital. 
Here  he  hovered  for  many  weeks  between  life  and  death,  determined  to  live,  yet  abandoned  to 
die.  No  furloughs  were  at  that  time  granted,  and  the  sick  must  summon  strength  to  live,  or 
courage  bravely  to  die,  without  a  loving  hand  to  smooth  the  pillow.  But  at  length  his  case  was 
given  up  as  hopeless,  and  he  received  his  discharge,  and  was  permitted  to  be  sent  home  to  die 
among  his  friends.  This  he  wisely  refused  to  do,  but  it  took  him  ten  months  to  recover  even  in 
the  invigorating  atmosphere  of  Chicago. 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


387 


In  the  latter  part  of  1863,  however,  he  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  again  take  up  arms.  He 
was  by  this  time  a  black  republican  to  the  backbone,  and  longed  again  to  engage  in  the  fray. 
Hearing  that  a  cavalry  regiment  was  being  formed  at  his  old  home  in  New  York,  he  hastened 
thither,  and  reenlisted  in  the  I5th  New  York  cavalry.  In  this  regiment  he  served  under  General 
Franz  Sigel,  in  the  campaign  in  West  Virginia,  and  was  with  General  Hunter  in  the  battle  of 
Lynchburgh.  When  Sheridan  came  into  the  Shenandoah  Valley  in  1864  his  regiment  was  assigned 
to  Custer's  division,  and  saw  any  amount  of  hard  fighting.  In  February,  1865,  Sheridan  left  Win- 
chester with  his  command,  and  joined  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  under  Grant,  before  Petersburgh. 

They  reached  Petersburgh,  March  25,  and  were  in  all  the  cavalry  engagements  of  that  closing 
campaign  of  the  war,  ending  with  the  terrible  battle  of  Five  Forks,  April  i.  In  this  last  desperate 
cavalry  engagement  of  the  war,  while  charging  the  rebel  lines,  he  was  struck  by  a  flying  fragment 
of  shell,  and  maimed  for  life. 

He  was  at  the  time  in  command  of  the  left  of  the  skirmish  line,  and  after  two  charges,  in 
which  they  alternately  drove  the  enemy,  and  were  driven  by  them,  they  received  orders  from 
General  Sheridan  that  the  rebel  line  must  be  carried  at  all  hazards,  as  the  Union  arms  were  suc- 
cessful all  along  the  line,  and  the  left  flank  must  not  permit  the  enemies'  right  to  hold  the  whole 
army  in  check,  or  flank  them.  With  this  inspiration  a  third  desperate  charge  was  made,  and  the 
battle  was  won. 

Mr.  Hanchett,  however,  left  his  left  arm  on  the  field,  and  rode  off  with  an  empty  sleeve,  an 
unmistakable  proof  of  his  courage  and  devotion  to  his  country.  It  was  four  hours  before  he  could 
get  the  services  of  a  surgeon,  and  then  the  torn  and  bleeding  fragment  was  amputated  at  the 
shoulder.  From  the  battle-field  he  went  by  rail  to  City  Point,  thence  by  boat  on  the  third  to 
Washington,  where  he  arrived  on  the  fourth,  and  went  into  hospital,  where  he  remained  till  the 
latter  part  of  June  following,  when  he  received  his  discharge  and  immediately  returned  to 
Chicago. 

Here  he  found  employment  in  the  commission  house  of  Hanchett,  Angle  and  Cook,  for  about 
one  year,  when  he  received  the  appointment  of  superintendent  of  the  soldier's  home.  This  posi- 
tion he  resigned  July  i,  1867,  and  accepted  a  position  in  the  sheriff's  office,  under  General  John  L. 
Beverage.  He  was  first  assigned  to  duty  as  bailiff  in  the  county  court,  under  Judges  Bradwell 
and  Wallace,  and  served  successively  under  sheriffs  Beverage,  Fischer,  Cleaves,  Bradley  and  Agnew, 
and  until  the  election  of  Kern  to  the  sheriff's  office.  This  was  a  sweeping  change  of  administration, 
and  he  went  out  with  the  rest.  He  then  in  company  with  W.  H.  Gleason,  his  present  chief  clerk, 
started  a  collecting  agency,  and  successfully  carried  it  on  till  1877,  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
important  office  of  clerk  of  the  probate  court,  by  a  majority  of  10,000  votes,  which  office  he  held 
till  his  present  election  to  the  office  of  sheriff.  In  the  fall  of  1880  he  was  a  candidate  for  the 
nomination  for  sheriff,  as  against  General  Mann  and  Canute  R.  Mattison,  the  late  coroner.  He 
was  defeated,  however,  in  convention,  by  General  Mann,  who  was  elected.  The  same  three  gen- 
tlemen were  also  candidates  before  the  convention  in  the  last  election,  but  Mr.  Hanchett  secured 
the  nomination  by  methods  so  fair  that  his  opponents  were  his  warmest  friends,  and  he  secured 
election  over  McGarigle,  his  democratic  competitor,  by  the  largest  majority  on  the  ticket.  In  the 
fight  he  had  the  fire  and  police  departments,  indeed  the  whole  organized  city  government  opposed 
to  him,  besides  all  the  saloon-keepers  and  the  disreputable  classes  generally,  yet  his  majority  was 
about  4,500,  while  the  balance  of  the  successful  ones  went  into  office  by  majorities  ranging  from 
300  to  2,900,  Mr.  Seipp,  the  democratic  county  treasurer  reaching  the  last-named  figure. 

Socially,  Mr.  Hanchett  is  a  very  agreeable  man.  He  is  fond  of  good  company,  and  entertains 
his  friends  royally.  He  is  gifted  with  a  good  degree  of  personal  magnetism,  and  both  makes 
friends  readily,  and  keeps  them  eternally. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Union  Veteran  Club,  now  number- 
ing about  1200  members,  and  has  been  treasurer  of  the  Veteran  Union  League  since  its  organiza- 
tion, about  two  years  since.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen, 
which  is  a  most  worthy  benevolent  organization,  composed  principally  of  working  men,  now 
39 


388  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

numbering  in  Chicago  alone  over  5,000  members.  Among  other  substantial  benefits  offered  to 
its  members  is  life  insurance  at  net  cost.  In  all  those  orders  Mr.  Hanchett  ranks  high,  and  is  as 
deservedly  popular  as  in  society  outside. 

In  his  home  and  family  relations  Mr.  Hanchett  is  fortunate  and  happy.  June  27,  1867,  he 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lizzie  L.  Atkins,  the  daughter  of  Robert  Atkins,  an  old  settler  of 
Chicago,  by  whom  he  has  had  three  children,  Frank  S.  Hanchett,  aged  over  fourteen  years,  a 
most  promising  young  man,  now  attending  school  at  Morgan  Park  Military  Academy;  Seth  R. 
Hanchett,  nine  years  old,  attending  the  Lake  View  school,  and  one  daughter,  Bessie  L.,  now  two 
years  old,  the  pride  and  pet  of  the  household. 

Mr.  Hanchett's  career  has  not  been  of  a  character  to  enable  him  to  amass  a  fortune,  but  in  all 
the  elements  which  go  to  make  up  a  successful  and  happy  life  he  has  thus  far  triumphed. 


WESLEY  H.  MANIER. 

CARTHAGE. 

\  T  ^ESLEY  HOWELL  MANIER,  a  practicing  lawyer  at  Carthage  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
V  V  is  a  son  of  John  and  Ann  G.  (Williams)  Manier,  and  was  born  in  Montgomery  county, 
Kentucky,  October  2,  1829.  His  father  was  born  in  Fleming  county,  same  state,  in  1804,  and  was 
the  son  of  John  Manier,  Sr.,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1779,  and  the  grandson  of  Jonathan 
Manier,  who  was  born  in  the  same  state  in  1759.  The  last  named  was  killed  by  the  Indians  in 
I7^3-  John  Manier,  or  Minneer,  father  of  Jonathan,  was  born  in  Germany,  and  settled  in  the  Old 
Dominion  long  before  the  revolution. 

This  branch  of  the  Williams  family  is  of  Welsh  descent,  and  came  to  Virginia  long  before  the 
revolt  of  the  colonies.  Roger  Williams,  the  progenitor,  who  settled  in  Brunswick  county,  Vir- 
ginia, had  seven  wives,  and  children  by  most  of  them.  Hakey  Williams,  one  of  his  sons,  mar- 
ried Sarah  Jones,  a  relative  of  Paul  Jones,  of  naval  renown.  He  was  murdered  by  ruffians  and 
robbed  just  before  the  birth  of  his  son  John,  who  was  the  maternal  grandfather  of  our  subject. 
The  latter  married  Amelia  Gill,  of  Greenville  county,  North  Carolina,  and  settled  in  Lincoln 
county,  Kentucky. 

John  Manier,  the  father  of  Wesley,  was  a  carpenter  and  millwright,  also  a  miller,  farmer,  etc., 
and  an  enterprising  man,  and  reared  his  children  in  habits  of  industry,  dying  at  Mount  Sterling, 
Kentucky,  about  1868.  His  wife  had  died  two  years  earlier. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  in  his  youth  worked  with  his  father  on  the  farm  and  in  saw  and 
grist  mills;  received  a  classical  education  by  the  aid  of  a  private  preceptor  and  in  a  select  school; 
taught  one  term;  came  to  Quincy,  in  this  state,  in  May,  1851;  read  law  with  Williams  and  Law- 
rence; was  licensed  to  practice  in  1852,  and  in  June  of  that  year  settled  in  Carthage,  where  he  has 
made  the  legal  profession  almost  his  exclusive  business.  At  an  early  day  he  was  in  different  law 
firms,  in  company  with  John  M.  Ferris,  Hon.  B.  F.  Scofield  and  Bryant  F.  Peterson,  and  is  now  of 
the  firm  of  Manier  and  Miller,  his  partner  being  John  D.  Miller,  formerly  a  student  in  his  office. 
For  the  last  seven  or  eight  years  Mr.  Manier  has  assisted  Hon.  N.  L.  Freeman  on  the  reports  of 
the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and  is  an  adept  at  the  business  of  preparing  the  head  notes  of 
adjudicated  cases,  etc. 

The  politics  of  Mr.  Manier  are  democratic,  with  greenback  leanings,  but  he  is  not  a  violent 
partisan,  and  has  warm  friends  in  all  parties.  He  is  courteous  in  manners  and  cordial  in  disposi- 
tion, and  calculated  to  make  steadfast  friends.  He  has  held  a  few  local  offices,  such  as  assessor, 
supervisor,  school  director,  member  and  president  of  the  town  board,  etc.  He  is  a  Knight  Temp- 
lar in  the  Masonic  order,  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  man  of  high  moral 
as  well  as  legal  character. 

Mr.  Manier  was  married  in  Carthage,  October  25,  1854,  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Allen,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  and  a  daughter  of  John  Allen,  who  settled  in  Hancock  county  when  the  daughter  was 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  389 

one  year  old.  They  have  buried  three  children  and  have  three  living:  Laura  A.,  Flora  H.  and 
Sallie.  Laura  is  a  graduate  of  the  Jacksonville  Conservatory  of  Music  and  of  Carthage  College; 
has  taught  music  at  Hedding  College,  Abingdon,  and  is  now  a  student  of  the  New  England  Con- 
servatory of  Music,  Boston.  Flora  is  also  a  graduate  of  Carthage  College,  and  Sallie  is  a  student 
in  that  excellent  institution.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Manier  take  good  care  that  their  children  shall  be 
well  educated. 


MILES  WHITE. 

LENA. 

*HE  subject  of  this  biographical  notice  is  a  native  of  Jefferson  county,  New  York,  being  born 
at  Lyme,  February  17,  1841.  His  father,  William  White,  a  farmer,  was  a  native  of  the  same 
state.  His  grandfather  aided  with  his  rifle  in  gaining  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  The 
mother  of  Miles,  before  her  marriage,  was  Alvira  Freeman,  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York. 
When  he  was  ten  years  old  the  family  came  into  this  state,  and  settled  at  Ward's  Grove,  Jo 
Daviess  county,  where  the  son  was  reared  on  a  farm.  He  received  a  district  school  education, 
supplemented  with  one  term  at  the  Mount  Carroll  Seminary;  remained  on  his  father's  farm  until 
of  age;  carried  on  farming  for  himself  for  three  years,  and  in  March,  1865,  enlisted  in  the  yth 
Illinois  cavalry,  and  served  until  the  following  November. 

Returning  to  Illinois,  Mr.  White  settled  in  Lena,  and  in  May,  1866,  engaged  in  the  grocery 
business,  remaining  in  that  branch  of  the  mercantile  trade  until  1873,  when  he  changed  to  a  gen- 
eral stock  of  merchandise,  and  greatly  expanded  his  business.  In  1880  he  built  the  White  House 
block,  the  finest  improvement  ever  made  in  the  village,  a  brick  structure  fifty  by  eighty-five  feet, 
and  three  stories  high,  with  a  bank  and  two  stores  on  the  lower  floor,  and  the  hotel  on  the  other 
two  flats.  The  building  is  well  constructed,  and  thoroughly  finished  from  cellar  to  attic,  and  cost 
$18,000.  The  hotel  is  tastily  furnished  throughout,  and  well  supplied  with  sample  rooms  and 
every  convenience  for  the  traveling  public,  and  is  rented  by  an  experienced  hotel-keeper.  In  his 
store  Mr.  White  carries  the  largest  stock  of  merchandise  of  any  merchant  in  town,  and  is  a 
straightforward,  thoroughgoing,  successful  business  man. 

Mr.  White  has  served  as  school  trustee  and  town  trustee  two  or  three  terms  each,  and  may 
have  held  other  local  offices.  No  man  in  Lena  takes  more  pride  in  seeing  improvements  going 
on,  and  in  encouraging  generally  the  interests  of  the  place. 

He  is  a  republican,  and  a  very  active  and  earnest  worker  for  the  interests  of  his  party,  serving 
his  second  term,  at  this  time  (1882),  as  chairman  of  the  republican  central  committee  of  Stephen- 
son  county.  Anv  cause  which  he  believes  to  be  right  he  espouses  with  his  whole  heart,  and  labors 
for  its  success  with  untiring  zeal. 

Mr.  White  married,  July  4,  1862,  Miss  J.  Ellen  Fleming,  daughter  of  Thomas  Fleming,  of  Lena, 
and  she  died  February  9,  1882,  leaving  four  children,  two  having  preceded  her  to  the  spirit  world. 


STEPHEN  D.  POLLOCK,  M.D. 

GALE  SBURGH. 

STEPHEN  DYSERT  POLLOCK,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  a  son  of  John  D.  and  Rachel  G. 
(Dysert)  Pollock,  and  was  born  in  Union  county,  Ohio,  December  22,  1838.  His  father  was 
a  native  of  Delaware,  of  Scotch  lineage;  his  mother  of  Welsh.  When  Stephen  was  ten  years 
old  the  family  moved  into  this  state,  and  settled  at  Paris,  Edgar  county,  where  the  son  received 
an  academic  education,  working  meanwhile  part  of  the  time  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old  on 
his  father's  farm.  He  studied  medicine  at  Abingdon,  Knox  county,  with  Doctor  W.  W.  Porter; 
attended  lectures  at  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  New  York,  and  there  received  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1871.  While  there  he  also  took  a  private  course  of  instruction  in 


390  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

surgery  with  Doctor  Frank  Hastings  Hamilton,  and  in  diseases  of  the  heart  and  lungs  with 
Professor  Austin  Flint,  Sr.,  both  men  of  eminence  in  their  profession,  and  leading  authors. 

He  returned  to  Abingdon,  where  he  had  commenced  practice  while  a  student,  and  was 
in  successful  business  there  in  all  for  nearly  twenty  years.  While  a  resident  of  that  place  he 
served  at  different  periods  as  school  director,  treasurer  of  the  school  board,  school  trustee,  and 
lecturer  in  the  Abingdon  College,  his  chair  being  that  of  anatomy,  physiology  and  hygiene. 

In  1879  Doctor  Pollock  went  to  New  York  city,  and  spent  some  time  attending  the  operations 
in  the  Woman's  Hospital,  and  by  invitation  assisting  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims  in  private  operations  in 
the  city,  and  afterward  took  a  post-graduate  course  in  diseases- of  women  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  is  also  a  graduate  of  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  1880,  and  of 
Hahnemann  Medical  College,  Chicago,  1881.  At  no  period  of  his  life  has  he  been  more  studious 
than  at  the  present  time.  He  is  a  growing  man. 

In  May,  1882,  the  doctor  changed  his  residence  from  Abingdon  to  Galesburgh,  in  the  same 
county.  The  two  cities  are  only  ten  miles  apart,  are  connected  by  rail,  and  he  retains  his  chair 
in  the  college,  and  the  better  portion  of  his  old  practice.  In  January,  1882,  he  was  appointed 
medical  director  of  the  Covenant  Mutual  Benefit  Association  of  Illinois. 

He  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  has  been  district  deputy  grand  master  of  masons,  and  is  serv- 
ing, and  has  before  served,  on  important  committees  in  the  Grand  Lodge.  He  was  married  in 
1862  to  Miss  Jennie  Ver  Treese,  of  Knox  county;  they  have  three  sons  and  one  daughter  living, 
and  one  son  dead. 

Doctor  Pollock  has  a  florid  complexion,  blue  eyes  and  a  sanguine  temperament;  is  five  feet 
and  eleven  and  a  half  inches  tall,  and  weighs  two  hundred  pounds.  His  build  is  symmetrical. 
He  is  easy  and  courteous  in  his  manner  and  cheerful  in  his  disposition,  and  these  qualifications, 
added  to  his  skill,  admirably  fit  him  to  visit  a  sick  room. 


M 


GENERAL    M.   R.  M.  WALLACE. 

CHICAGO. 

ARTIN  REUBEN  MERRITT  WALLACE  was  born  September  29,  1829,  at  Urbana,  Cham- 
paign county,  Ohio.  His  father,  John  Wallace,  was  a  native  of  Delaware,  where  he  was 
born  in  1786,  and  passed  the  years  of  his  youth  and  early  manhood  in  the  state  of  Virginia, 
removing  with  the  great  westward  tide  to  Ohio  in  1825,  where  he  married,  for  his  second  wife, 
Miss  Sarah  Hitt,  of  Kentucky. 

In  1834  the  family,  consisting  of  ten  children,  moved  to  the  great  prairie  state  of  Illinois, 
where  they  settled  on  a  farm  in  La  Salle  county,  near  what  is  now  the  flourishing  town  of  Ottawa. 
Here  the  subject  of  this  sketch  received  the  rudimentary  education,  attainable  in  those  days,  of 
rude  log  school  houses,  and  schoolmasters  who  would  to-day  be  laughed  at  as  clowns.  The  col- 
lege in  which  young  Wallace  first  fretted  over  his  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  consisted  of  a 
few  winter  months  of  such  schooling  each  year,  and  in  the  warm  season,  the  spring,  summer  and 
fall,  by  working  on  his  father's  farm. 

In  1839  his  father  removed  to  Ogle  county,  and  again  settled  on  a  farm  near  the  present  town 
of  Mount  Morris,  the  site  of  the  Rock  River  Seminary,  of  which  institution  he  was  for  many 
years,  and  at  the  time  of  his  decease  in  1850,  president  of  the  board  of  trustees.  It  was  under 
his  father's  personal  supervision  in  this  seminary  that  young  Wallace  pursued  his  studies  and 
obtained  his  education.  His  parents  were  both  consistent  and  earnest  members  of  the  Methodist 
church.  They  lie  buried  in  the  cemetery  at  Mount  Morris,  having  lived  to  a  good  old  age. 

In  1852  young  Wallace  went  to  the  city  of  Ottawa,  in  La  Salle  county,  to  study  law  in  the 
office  of  Dickey  and  Wallace,  the  firm  consisting  of  Hon.  T.  Lyle  Dickey  (present  chief  justice  of 
the  supreme  court  of  Illinois)  and  his  brother,  W.  H.  L.  Wallace  (afterward  major-general,  who 
fell  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  on  the  Tennessee  River,  April  6,  1862, — a  most  lamented  sacrifice 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


39' 


on  the  altar  of  his  country).  Under  the  care  and  tutelage  of  such  sterling  lawyers  and  upright 
citizens,  it  may  be  assumed  that  young  Wallace  obtained  that  important  desideratum  in  the 
career  of  a  professional  man  —  a  right  start.  He  made  rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  and  was  in 
due  time  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  began  the  active  practice  of  law.  In  the  spring  of  1856  he 
removed  to  a  wider  field  of  activity,  the  then  booming  city  of  Chicago. 

In  Chicago  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Thomas  Dent,  of  the  now  well  known  firm  of 
Dent  and  Black.  For  five  years  thereafter  he  pursued  a  fairly  lucrative  practice.  Just  after  get- 
ting on  the  road  to  reasonable  fame  and  fortune,  like  so  many  choice  spirits  who  were  stirred  to 
patriotic  ardor  as  with  an  inspiration  that  seemed  like  the  voice  of  God,  he  joined  the  swiftly  mov- 
ing caravan  of  patriots  to  crush  the  armed  hosts  of  treason  and  rebellion.  No  time  for  thought  of 
self  when  the  fate  of  this  great  nation  hung  trembling  in  the  balance.  Old  and  young,  rich  and 
poor,  patriotic  and  designing,  brave  and  craven,  all  went  forth  and  kept  step  to  the  "wild,  grand 
music  of  the  Union." 

Immediately  after  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  of  1861  he  unhesitatingly  abandoned  his  pro- 
fession and  threw  his  whole  energies  into  the  work  of  giants  —  the  organization  and  equipment 
of  the  army  of  citizen  soldiers  who  were  destined  to  save  this  fair  fabric  of  free  government  from 
disintegration  and  destruction.  He  took  an  important  part  in  recruiting  and  equipping  the  4th 
Illinois  cavalry,  and  received  a  commission  as  major  of  the  regiment,  commanding  the  second 
battalion  on  its  march  and  transportation  from  Camp  Hunter,  at  Ottawa,  Illinois,  to  Cairo,  the 
border  of  the  scene  of  active  hostilities. 

Almost  immediately  after  getting  into  the  enemy's  country,  and  just  before  starting  on  the 
famous  expedition  to  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  a  most  distressing  misfortune  befell  Major 
Wallace.  While  loading  his  battalion  on  the  transport,  his  younger  brother,  Sergeant  Matthew 
Wallace,  was  thrown  from  the  guards  of  the  boat  into  the  river,  and  being  drawn  under  the  wheel 
of  the  boat  was  drowned.  This  terrible  affliction  was  hard  to  bear,  but  by  a  bitter  repetition  it 
was  made  doubly  sad  by  a  still  greater  affliction  a  few  months  later  in  the  death  of  his  distin- 
guished brother,  Brevet-Major-General  W.  H.  L.  Wallace.  In  the  awful  tumult  of  that  Sun- 
day's battle  at  Shiloh  he  was  mortally  wounded.  His  death  was  the  theme  of  all  the  official 
reports,  from  the  commanding  general  to  brigade  commanders.  His  was  a  costly  sacrifice;  not 
less  because  of  his  superb  private  worth  as  a  citizen  and  a  lawyer  of  great  ability  and  promise 
than  for  the  zeal,  energy  and  splendid  qualities  he  displayed  as  a  soldier.  Major  Wallace  took  an 
active  and  gallant  part  in  all  the  operations  before,  during  and  after  the  storming  and  capture  of 
Fort  Donelson,  which  important  event  took  place  February  16  and  17,  1862. 

He  was  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh  (April  6  and  7,  1862)  throughout  the  two  terrible  days  of  car- 
nage, by  common  consent  the  bloodiest  and  most  desperate  battle  of  the  war.  He  survived  the 
ordeal  as  by  a  miracle,  for  he  was  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  in  the  most  hazardous  arm  of  the 
service,  the  cavalry.  With  the  warm  life  blood  of  his  heroic  brother  yet  warm  on  his  hands  he 
bounded  into  the  saddle  to  face  again  and  again  the  murderous  fire  of  the  enemy.  In  all  the 
daring  and  difficult  operations  of  the  army,  in  the  siege  of  Corinth,  continuing  from  the  time  of 
the  battle  of  Shiloh  till  the  fall  and  evacuation  of  that  great  rebel  stronghold,  May  30,  1862, 
Major  Wallace  bore  himself  with  zeal,  discretion  and  undaunted  courage.  In  the  gloom  of  an 
indescribably  dreary  wilderness,  alternating  from  an  oozy  swamp  to  the  red-brick  color  of  a  bar- 
ren soil,  by  day  and  by  night,  in  storm  and  in  sunshine,  in  the  awful  silence  just  preceding  an 
attack,  amid  the  sharp  rattle  and  roar  of  a  battle,  which  was  the  hourly  diversion  of  the  com- 
batants, the  dashing  cavalrymen  were  ever  the  first  to  develop  and  draw  the  fire  of  the  enemy  in 
ambuscade,  a  service  which  asks  the  courage  of  lions. 

In  this  hazardous  work  Major  Wallace  ever  received  the  commendation  of  his  superior  officers. 
In  the  subsequent  varied  movements  of  our  army,  either  in  pursuit  of  a  supposed  retreating 
enemy  or  to  repel  a  sudden  attack  on  flank  or  rear,  the  force  in  which  Major  Wallace's  command 
was  took  an  active  and  distinguished  part.  In  an  engagement,  December  5,  1862,  at  Coffee- 
ville,  in  central  Mississippi,  Colonel  McCullough,  of  the  4th  Illinois  cavalry,  was  killed,  after 
which  event  the  command  of  the  regiment  was  conferred  upon  Major  Wallace. 


392  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Major  Wallace,  in  his  official  report  of  the  battle,  thus  eloquently  refers  to  his  late  superior 
officer: 

"Colonel  McCullough  had  few  equals  as  an  officer.  Brave  to  a  fault,  his  gallantry  and  kindly 
qualities  of  heart  won  him  the  love  and  esteem  of  all,  both  officers  and  men.  His  comrades 
in  arms  say  of  him  that  he  never  experienced  the  sensation  of  fear.  He  led  his  regiment  in  the 
bold  and  daring  pursuit  of  the  enemy  at  Fort  Henry,  thus  early  in  the  war  placing  himself  upon 
the  roll  of  brave  and  dashing  cavalry  officers.  The  colonel  was  always  ready  for  duty,  always 
with  his  command,  and  best  satisfied  with  the  post  of  danger  and  active  duty.  Colonel  McCul- 
lough passed  with  his  regiment  through  the  battles  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  Shiloh,  the 
siege  of  Corinth,  falling  at  the  head  of  his  command,  pierced  by  three  bullets,  each  inflicting  a 
mortal  wound,  December  5,  A.D.  1862,  at  the  battle  of  Coffeeville,  Mississippi.  This  battle 
was  continued  until  dusk,  and  the  rebels  succeeded  in  getting  on  the  flanks  of  the  federal  forces, 
coming  upon  Colonel  McCullough,  with  their  bayonets  at  his  breast,  and  demanding  his  surrender. 
Knowing  that  to  do  so  would  sacrifice  his  command,. with  certain  death  staring  him  in  the  face, 
the  colonel,  with  his  eagle  eye  looking  into  the  muzzles  of  the  rebel  muskets,  heroically  replied, 
'Never!  '  and  instantly  fell  from  his  horse  a  lifeless  corpse.  That  was  a  rich  sacrifice,  sanctified 
by  acceptance  upon  the  altar  of  patriotism,  when  Colonel  McCullough  yielded  up  his  life  for  his 
country," 

The  following  month  after  Colonel  McCullough's  death,  January,  1863,  Major  Wallace  was 
commissioned  lieutenant-colonel,  and  in  March  of  the  same  year  was  promoted  to  the  colonelcy 
of  the  regiment. 

In  the  fall  of  1864,  by  reason  of  the  expiration  of  the  full  three  years'  term,  he  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service,  whereupon  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Natchez,  Mississippi,  resuming  the  practice 
of  the  law,  which  he  continued  there  until  the  spring  of  1866,  at  which  time  he  returned  to  Chi- 
cago. In  the  summer  of  that  year  he  was  appointed  by  President  Andrew  Johnson  United  States 
assessor  of  internal  revenue  for  the  first  district  of  Illinois,  which  position  he  held  until  the  spring 
of  1869.  Shortly  after  quitting  the  government  service  as  assessor,  October,  1869,  he  was  nomi- 
nated by  acclamation  and  elected  on  the  people's  ticket  for  the  position  of  county  judge  (which 
court  at  that  time  had  probate  jurisdiction),  which  onerous  and  responsible  position  he  held  until 
1877,  being  reflected  the  second  term  without  opposition.  Resigning  his  position  as  county 
judge  on  account  of  impaired  health,  he  was,  without  a  dissenting  vote,  made  county  attorney  by 
the  board  of  county  commissioners,  which  position  he  filled  with  signal  ability  and  credit  for  one 
year  (1878),  after  which  time  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  Chicago.  He  is  a  member  of 
Saint  Paul's  Universalist  Church,  in  Chicago.  He  cast  his  first  ballot  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
for  president,  and  has  adhered  to  the  democratic  party  ever  since.  In  September,  1863,  while 
home  on  a  short  leave  of  absence  from  the  army,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Emma  R.  Gilson,  eldest 
daughter  of  Hon.  George  W.  Gilson,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  1837.  Mrs.  Wallace,  on  her  mother's 
side,  was  a  cousin  of  the  brave  and  brilliant  young  hero,  General  T.  E.  G.  Ransom,  who  came 
west  while  quite  young. 

In  personal  appearance  Judge  Wallace  is  distinguished,  being  six  feet  three  inches  in  height, 
with  a  dignified  bearing.  Superficially,  one  might  judge  him  austere  in  manner,  but  there  is  no 
trace  of  arrogance.  It  is  the  rare  dignity  which  habits  of  strong  and  deep  thinking  write  upon 
the  face  allied  to  the  most  unrelenting  contempt  for  chicanery  or  petty  artifice.  If  in  no  other 
way  an  estimate  might  be  arrived  at  which  would  universally  be  approved  and  declared  just,  it 
would  be  to  award  him  the  highest  possible  place  in  the  public  esteem  for  integrity  and  consci- 
entious fidelity  to  his  clients  and  his  friends.  He  combines,  in  an  admirable  manner,  the  rare 
combination  expressed  by  the  truism,  "  Laughter  and  reverence  are  sworn  brothers,"  for  no  man 
has  a  more  reverent  nature,  coupled  with  one  which  is  full  of  the  rare  and  valuable  element  we 
call  humor. 

On  the  bench  he  was  an  ideal  judge  —  patient,  painstaking.  With  admirable  sense  he  saw 
through,  and  quietly,  without  any  parade  or  pedantry,  swept  aside  the  cobwebs  of  sophistry  or 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


393 


the  rubbish  of  mere  palaver,  which  is  a  too  common  indulgence  by  the  legal  profession.  There 
was  no  nonsense  allowed  in  his  court.  Nor  was  any  decision  ever  questioned  upon  its  equitable 
aspects.  He  never  made  the  rendering  of  a  decision  the  occasion  of  delivering  an  argument. 

As  a  lawyer,  Judge  Wallace  inspires  instant  respect  and  confidence  by  his  manner  and 
thoughtful  habit.  Apparently  slow,  he  goes  to  the  very  root  of  a  case,  and  loses  no  vital  point  by 
undue  haste  or  show  of  precocity.  A  client  never  will  argue  the  point  with  him,  for  he  gives  no 
one  the  opportunity  to  presume  upon  him  in  that  way;  yet  never  suggests  the  slightest  dogma- 
tism. As  a  forensic  pleader,  Judge  Wallace  is,  if  possible,  still  more  admirable.  There  he  car- 
ries judge  and  jury  with  him  by  a  straightforward  adherence  to  law  and  the  practice  as  estab- 
lished, never  resorting  to  the  cheap  and  shallow  tricks  indulged  in  by  many  lawyers,  who  know 
better,  but  cannot  overcome  their  vanity  for  display.  As  an  orator  he  is  earnest  and  impressive, 
speaking  right  on  without  any  theatrical  clap-trap  or  needless  rhetoric  in  a  voice  at  once  powerful 
and  natural.  Perhaps  in  no  way  is  the  character  of  Judge  Wallace  as  lovable  as  in  his  devotion 
to  and  affection  for  his  family.  Blessed  with  a  wife  who  is  as  a  sunbeam  through  all  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  life,  with  five  bright  and  growing  children,  there  in  the  home  is  where  he  is  the  idol, 
counselor  and  friend.  Not  rich  in  this  world's  goods,  he  is  rich  in  "  honor,  love,  obedience, 
troops  of  friends,"  having  proved  faithful  to  the  many  public  and  private  trusts  committed  to 
him.  The  words  of  the  gentle,  high-schooled  Brutus  may  well  be  applied  to  Judge  Wallace: 

"His  life  is  gentle,  and 
The  elements  so  mix  in  him, 
That  nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world, 
This  is  a  man  ! '  " 


w 


HON.  WILLIAM  C.  SNYDER. 

FUL  TON. 

ILLIAM  COWPERTHWAIT  SNYDER,  senator  for  Lee  and  Whiteside  counties,  is  a  son 
of  James  and  Sabilla  (Cowperthwait)  Snyder,  and  was  born  in  Haddonfield,  New  Jersey, 
July  29,  1821.  His  father,  a  miller,  was  born  in  Burlington  county,  same  state,  and  was  a  son  of 
Christopher  Snyder,  of  Bergen  county,  New  Jersey,  and  of  Dutch  descent.  Sabilla  Cowper- 
thwait was  a  native  of  Burlington  county,  New  Jersey,  and  a  relative  of  the  well  known  Philadel- 
phia publishers  of  that  name. 

In  his  youth  the  subject  of  this  sketch  had  restricted  advantages  for  education,  leaving  school 
at  thirteen  years  of  age,  serving  a  long  apprenticeship  at  the  mercantile  business  and  remaining 
in  his  native  state  until  twenty-four  years  of  age.  Before  leaving  there  he  commenced  the  study 
of  medicine,  toward  which  profession  his  taste  seemed  to  incline. 

In  1845  Mr.  Snyder  came  to  the  West,  spending  two  years  at  Lyons,  Iowa,  and  in  1847 
recrossed  the  Mississippi  into  Whiteside  county,  this  state,  locating  at  first  at  Union  Grove,  where 
he  opened  a  drug  store  in  company  with  his  preceptor,  Doctor  Bassett.  In  the  winter  of  1847-48 
he  attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  was  in  practice  at  Union 
Grove,  twelve  miles  east  of  Fulton,  until  1854,  when  he  moved  into  the  latter  place,  and  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits.  For  the  last  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  ware- 
house business. 

Doctor  Snyder  has  long  been  a  very  active  and  prominent  citizen  of  Whiteside  county.  He 
was  postmaster  from  1861  to  1882;  was  drainage  commissioner  for  about  a  dozen  years,  super- 
visor for  two  or  three  terms,  and  may  have  held  other  local  offices  which  we  do  not  recall. 

In  the  autumn  of  1882  he  was  elected  to  the  senate  from  the  nineteenth  district,  and  is  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  state  library  and  geology  and  science.  Senator  Snyder  is  a  stirring 
man,  whether  attending  to  his  own  private  business  or  to  that  of  the  state,  and  having  good  sound 
sense  makes  a  valuable  member  of  the  upper  house. 


394  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

His  politics  are  republican,  unwavering  and  intense,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  in  his 
county  has  worked  harder  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  party.  He  was  chairman  of  the  White- 
side  county  republican  central  committee  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  at  one  period  was  editor 
and  proprietor  of  the  Fulton  "Journal." 

Senator  Snyder  has  taken  the  chapter  and  council  degrees  in  Masonry,  and  has  given  no  incon- 
siderable attention  to  work  in  that  order.  For  more  than  forty  years  he  has  been  a  zealous  advo- 
cate of  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  has  been  the  state  presiding  officer  of  the  Sons  of  Temper- 
ance. No  more  earnest  friend  of  humanity  can  be  found  in  Whiteside  county  than  the  senator. 

He  was  married  at  Lyons,  Iowa,  in  1849,  to  Miss  Isyphene  C.  Pearce,  a  native  of  Rhode  Island. 
They  buried  their  first-born  child,  Sabilla,  when  she  was  just  entering  upon  her  teens,  and  have 
seven  children  living:  Kate  C.  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  J.  Pickett,  postmaster  and  newspaper  pub- 
lisher at  Ashland,  Nebraska;  Martha  C.  is  the  wife  of  J.  C.  Neff,  station  agent  at  Rochelle,  Illi- 
nois; Joseph  C.  is  a  partner  of  his  father  in  the  warehouse  business  and  postmaster;  Anna  C.  has 
charge  of  the  musical  department  of  Northern  Illinois  College,  Fulton,  and  J.  Justin,  C.  Henry 
and  Lena  V.  are  at  home. 


GURDON  P.  RANDALL. 

CHICAGO. 

GURDON  PAINE  RANDALL,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  architects  in  Chicago,  is  a  native 
'  of  Orange  county,  Vermont,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Braintree,  February  18,  1821.  His 
father  was  a  contractor,  builder  and  millwright,  born  in  Connecticut,  and  his  grandfather  was 
Greennfield  Randall,  whose  family  left  Connecticut  for  Vermont.  The  mother  of  Gurdon,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Laura  Scott  Warner,  was  a  native  of  the  Green  Mountain  State,  and  born  in 
Williamstown,  Orange  county. 

Born  of  good  New  England  stock,-  and  reared  to  habits  of  industry,  our  subject,  after  attend- 
ing a  district  school  until  sixteen  years  old,  commenced  work  with  his  father,  building  mills,  pri- 
vate houses,  churches,  etc,  working  at  his  trade  of  millwright  and  builder  until  twenty-five  years 
of  age.  He  was  then  for  a  period  of  five  years,  engaged  in  the  construction  of  railway  bridges, 
depots,  etc.,  in  his  native  state,  his  work  being  mainly  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Central  Ver- 
mont railroad. 

About  1851  Mr.  Randall  went  to  Syracuse,  New  York,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  study  and 
practice  of  architecture,  until  1856,  when  he  settled  in  Chicago.  He  now  belongs  to  the  older 
class  of  men  of  that  profession,  and  is  noted  all  over  the  country  for  the  neatness  of  his  designs, 
his  integrity  under  all  circumstances,  and  the  thoroughness  of  his  work.  With  him  public  build 
ings  seem  to  be  a  specialty,  and  the  reader  can  form  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  field  over 
which  he  operates  by  seeing  a  list  of  some  of  the  prominent  college,  academic  and  normal  and 
high-school  buildings  which  he  has  designed.  Here  is  a  partial  record  of  them  : 

Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  Illinois;  Evanston  College  for  Ladies;  Ladies  College,  of 
Madison  University,  Wisconsin  ;  Mercer  University,  Macon,  Georgia  ;  Academy  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  Saint  Louis,  Missouri  ;  Saint  Mary's  Academy,  Leavenworth,  Kansas  ;  Jefferson  Institute, 
Jefferson,  Wisconsin;  State  Normal  Schools,  at  Normal,  Illinois;  Winona,  Minnesota;  Whitewater, 
Wisconsin,  and  Plattville,  Wisconsin  ;  and  high  schools  in  Clinton,  Kankakee,  Litchfield,  OIney, 
Galesburgh,  and  Aurora,  Illinois;  Marshall  and  Menominee,  Michigan;  Madison,  Berlin,  Marinette 
and  Dodgeville,  Wisconsin  ;  Winona,  Red  Wing  and  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota  ;  Elkhart,  La  Porte, 
and  Plymouth,  Indiana;  Atchison,  Kansas;  Omaha,  Nebraska,  Denver,  Colorado,  etc. 

To  this  list  might  be  added  several  hundred  ward  school-houses,  scattered  far  and  wide  over 
the  country,  including  New  England,  the  middle  and  gulf  states,  as  well  as  the  western,  ex- 
tending to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  We  are  thus  particular  in  regard  to  his  work  pertaining  to 
educational  buildings,  because  Mr.  Randall  has  made  them  a  study,  and  in  1882  published  a  pam- 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


397 


phlet  of  his  own,  entitled  ''  How  to  Build  School-houses;  with  Systems  of  Heating,  Lighting  and 
Ventilation."  It  is  well  illustrated,  and  full  of  instructive  matter,  which  is  of  great  value  to  par- 
ties having  such  structures  under  contemplation.  Several  years  ago  he  published  a  much  larger 
pamphlet  on  the  same  subject.  We  believe  it  is  Mr.  Randall's  purpose,  at  no  distant  day,  to  issue  a 
similar  pamphlet  on  church  designing  and  another  on  jail  construction,  and  court  houses,  of  which, 
by  the  way,  he  has  designed  some  of  the  best  in  the  country.  He  is  high  authority  on  any  of  these 
subjects.  Some  people  are  born  poets,  and  Mr.  Randall  is  a  born  mechanic.  His  skill  in  architec- 
ture came  to  him  by  intuition,  and  he  has  made  it  his  chief  study,  as  well  as  livelihood,  for  more 
than  forty  years,  he  meantime  interspersing  scientific  studies  as  his  prime  and  almost  sole  recre- 
ation. He  is  thoroughly  wedded  to  his  profession,  and  employs  the  best  draftsmen  to  be  found 
in  the  country. 

Mr.  Randall  has  kept  entirely  out  of  politics  and  of  civil  offices,  and  is  a  very  quiet  and  studious 
man.  He  takes  a  good  deal  of  interest  in  Masonry,  and  many  years  ago  organized  Union  Park 
Lodge,  of  which  he  was  master  for  six  years.  At  one  period  he  was  Grand  Lecturer  for  the  Order 
in  this  state.  He  has  taken  the  thirty-second  degree. 

Mr.  Randall  was  first  married  in  1842  to  Miss  Louisa  C.'  Drew,  of  Stratford,  Orange  county, 
Vermont,  she  dying  childless  in  1871;  and  the  second  time  in  1874,10  Mrs.  Martha  Caroline 
(Anderson)  Holt,  a  native  of  New  York,  having  by  her  one  child,  a  daughter,  Cora,  aged  nine 
years. 


E 


E.    BREESE    GLASS. 

ED  WARDSVILLE. 

LLIOTT  BREESE  GLASS,  attorney-at-law,  and  master  in  chancery  of  Madison  county,  Illi- 
nois, is  a  native  of  Saint  Clair  county,  in  this  state,  and  dates  his  birth  April  16,  1845.  His 
father,  Cornelius  Glass,  was  born  in  Fleming  county,  Kentucky,  and  was  a  son  of  James  Glass, 
who  immigrated  to  this  state  in  1817,  and  who  had  been  in  the  second  war  with  England. 

The  father  of  James  Glass  and  great-grandfather  of  our  subject  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland. 
Cornelius  Glass  married  Elizabeth  Jane  Pulse,  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and  Breese  was  the 
eldest  son  in  a  family  of  four  children.  He  was  educated  at  Shurtleff  College,  Upper  Alton,  Illi- 
nois. He  read  law  principally  with  Hon.  Levi  Davis,  of  Alton,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
the  June  term  of  the  supreme  court,  1870.  Mr.  Glass  practiced  a  few  years  in  Upper  Alton,  and 
in  the  autumn  of  1875  located  in  Edwardsville,  his  present  home,  where  he  has  been  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  ever  since.  In  July,  1872,  he  was  appointed  county  attorney  for 
Madison  county,  by  the  county  court  of  said  county,  and  at  the  presidential  election  in  1872  he 
was  elected  state's  attorney  on  the  democratic  ticket,  and  served  four  years,  making  a  good  record. 
He  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  master  in  chancery  in  the  autumn  of  1879,  and  reappointed  in 
1881,  which  position  he  still  holds.  He  is  very  careful  in  taking  testimony,  and  in  making  sales, 
and  in  adjusting  matters  after  the  sales  are  made,  and  attends  to  all  chancery  business  in  a  most 
satisfactory  manner. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Glass  is  well  read,  studious  and  growing.  He  prepares  his  cases  with  a  great 
deal  of  pains,  but  encourages  no  one  to  go  to  law  who  has  not  a  clear  cause  of  action.  Once 
enlisted,  he  clings  to  his  client  with  a  great  deal  of  tenacity,  and  thus  far  he  has  been  quite  suc- 
cessful. He  is  good,  both  as  an  office  and  jury  lawyer,  and  has  ambition  and  ability  enough  to 
make  it  likely  that  he  will  continue  to  rise. 

Mr.  Glass  has  always  voted  the  democratic  ticket,  and  during  a  political  campaign  never  fails 
to  do  valiant  service  for  his  party  on  the  stump,  he  being  a  ready,  fluent  and  entertaining  speaker. 

He  attends  county,  district  and  state  conventions,  and  is  now  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  his  congressional  (Bill   Morrison's)  district.     He  is  an   untiring  worker  in  the  inter- 
ests of  his   party,  and  on  the  assembling  of   the  legislature  this  year,  he  received   the  caucus 
nomination  of  his  party,  tor  the  position  of  clerk  of  the  state  senate. 
4" 


398  I'NITF.D   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Since  the  summer  of  1882  he  has  been  the  political  editor  of  the  "  Edwardsville  Intelligencer," 
the  oldest  democratic  paper  in  his  county,  and  is  doing  good  work  for  his  party.  He  seems  to 
like  journalism,  and  evidently  has  an  aptitude  for  the  profession.  Some  of  his  editorials  are 
decidedly  spicy. 

He  belongs  to  the  order  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  Mr.  Glass  is  very  fond  of  field  sports,  with 
the  dog  and  gun,  and  also  of  trap  shooting,  and  is  one  of  the  best  wing  shots  in  southern  Illinois. 

May  18,  1874,  Mr.  Glass  was  married  to  Miss  Eudora  Stocker,  a  daughter  of  George  R.  Stocker, 
of  Upper  Alton,  and  they  now  have  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 


PERRY   H.   SMITH.JR. 

CHICAGO. 

PERRY  HIRAM  SMITH,  JR.,  one  of  the  rising  young  lawyers  of  Chicago,  is  a  son  of  Perry 
H.  Smith,  Sr.,  whose  sketch  precedes  this,  and  was  born  at  Appleton,  Wisconsin,  May  10, 
1854.  His  mother  was  Emma  A.  Smith,  daughter  of  Rev.  Reeder  Smith,  who  was  from  New 
England,  and  was  the  founder  of  Lawrence  University,  at  Appleton.  When  our  subject  was  five 
years  of  age  the  family  moved  from  Wisconsin  to  Chicago,  where  they  have  since  resided,  moving 
among  the  highest,  most  polished  circles.  Perry  commenced  his  school  life  in  this  city,  spending 
a  year  or  more  in  the  Ogden  School  on  the  north  side,  and  at  eight  years  of  age  was  sent  to 
the  grammar  school  of  Racine  College,  Wisconsin,  where  he  studied  three  years.  In  1867,  in 
company  with  his  parents,  he  made  the  tour  of  Europe.  It  was  the  year  of  the  Paris  Exposition, 
which  he  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  and  studying;  it  was,  no  doubt,  the  best  mental  task 
which  could  have  been  assigned  him  at  that  particular  period. 

Returning  home  in  1867,  Perry,  still  a  mere  lad,  just  entered  on  his  teens,  entered  the 
Charlier  French  Institute,  New  York  city,  where  he  remained  for  two  years,  under  the  tuition  of 
Professor  Elie  Charlier,  the  French  orator  at  the  Yorktown  celebration,  in  October,  1881.  Again 
(1869)  he  visited  the  old  world,  connected  himself  with  the  Institute  of  Luxembourg,  Brussels, 
where  he  nqt  only  fitted  himself  to  enter  the  sophomore  class  of  Hamilton  College,  at  Clinton, 
New  York,  but  acquired  a  very  thorough  knowledge  of  the  French  language.  While  there,  Mr. 
Smith  witnessed  some  of  the  battles  between  the  French  and  Germans,  the  Franco-Prussian  war 
being  in  progress,  and  he  had  the  opportunity  of  entering  Paris  at  a  very  critical  period,  when 
that  city  was  in  the  hands  of  the  commune.  The  fruits  of  his  observation  gathered  during  that 
exciting  period  in  European  history,  cannot  be  lost  to  an  inquiring  mind  like  Mr.  Smith's.  On 
his  return,  he  entered  Hamilton  College,  and  was  graduated  in  1874  as  class  orator,  and  with 
other  honorable  distinctions. 

Soon  after  receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  Mr.  Smith  made  a  third  visit  to  Europe  ; 
returned  at  the  end  of  a  year;  entered  the  law  department  of  Columbia  College,  New  York,  at 
the  head  of  which  is  Judge  Theodore  Dwight,  of  the  court  of  appeals,  and  was  graduated  with 
honors  from  that  institution  also.  Probably  no  lawyer  in  Chicago  had  a  more  thorough  literary 
and  legal  outfit  than  Mr.  Smith,  and  with  high  promise  of  success  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
the  supreme  court  of  New  York.  Returning  to  Chicago,  after  remaining  a  short  time  in  the  office 
of  John  N.  Jewett,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Henry  Crawford',  who  for  many  years  has  been  so 
prominently  connected  wih  the  heaviest  railroad  litigation  of  this  country.  Two  years  later 
(1878)  with  Francis  H.  Kales,  of  the  late  firm  of  Beck  with,  Ayer  and  Kales,  and  the  firm  of  Kales 
and  Smith  has  built  up  a  highly  remunerative  practice.  A  writer  for  a  local  periodical  thus  speaks 
of  Mr.  Smith  as  a  lawyer: 

"In  the  practice  of  his  profession  he  is  very  zealous,  as,  indeed  he  is  in  everything  which  he 
undertakes.  He  is  reliable  and  honorable  in  all  places  and  under  all  circumstances;  is  loyal 
to  truth  and  right,  justly  valuing  his  own  self-respect  and  the  deserved  esteem  of  his  fellow  men, 
as  infinitely  better  than  wealth,  fame  or  position." 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Smith  is  an  earnest  adherent  of  the  democratic  party,  and  unusually  influential  and  pop- 
ular for  a  man  of  his  age.  In  1881  he  was  put  forward  by  his  party  as  a  candidate  for  congress, 
in  the  3d  district;  and  made  a  gallant  canvass,  carrying  the  city  portion  of  his  district  by  a  thou- 
sand majority,  but  the  district  is  very  largely  republican,  and  he  failed  of  an  election.  Some  one 
has  attributed  his  defeat  to  the  atrocious  crime  of  being  a  young  man.  If  that  was  the  cause  he 
may  remember  the  career  of  the  younger  Pitt,  and  press  on.  As  adjuncts  to  his  splendid  literary 
and  legal  attainments  and  native  talents  of  a  high  order,  he  has  social  qualities  of  the  most  ac- 
complished class,  and  all  the  elements  of  true  manhood. 

We  conclude  this  sketch  with  an  extract  from  a  pen  photograph  of  our  subject,  written  not 
long  ago  by  a  gentleman  who  has  long  been  acquainted  with  him  : 

"  Belonging  to  the  most  vexatious  of  professions,  he  has  risen  to  an  enviable  position  in  its 
ranks,  such  as  to  cause  wonder  and  surprise  when  one  reflects  upon  the  discipline  through  which 
he  must  have  reached  it.  It  is  the  best  possible  evidence,  that  without  the  need  and  spur  of 
necessary  effort  to  obtain  that  which  is  the  anxious  concern  of  the  majority  of  work-day  toilers, 
independence  so  far  as  mere  support  and  material  comfort  goes,  this  young  gentleman  has  proved 
absolutely  '  proof  and  bulwark  'gainst  sense.'  Though  of  a  family  renowned  for  wealth  and  social 
supremacy  not  alone  in  this  city  and  section,  but  all  over  the  land,  he  is  yet  in  the  best  and  truest 
sense,  a  representative  of  the  people.  He  is  a  gentleman  with  all  which  that  term  implies.  Not 
alone  in  mere  refinement  and  polish  of  outward  manners,  and  the  easy  assumption  of  cordial  feel- 
ings toward  all,  but  considerate,  thoughtful  and  kindly  at  heart  toward  the  meanest  creature. 
There  is  as  much  difference  between  true  dignity  and  arrogance  as  between  the  ring  of  genuine 
and  spurious  coin.  He  that  would  genuflect  with  studied  grace  in  the  presence  of  ladies  in  a 
drawing-room,  may  be  an  arrogant  boor  in  the  presence  of  his  washerwoman  or  carriage-driver. 
And,  in  this  very  matter  of  personal  intercourse  with  all  classes  and  conditions  of  people  has  Mr. 
Smith  best  shown  the  true  instincts  of  the  real  gentleman.  Frank,  easy,  with  a  peculiar,  quiet 
candor,  which  is  winsome  to  the  fullest  degree,  generous  and  considerate,  the  meanest  beggar 
that  timidly  murmurs  his  stereotyped  appeal  will  receive  at  his  hands  as  gentle  and  considerate 
treatment  as  the  curled  darlings  of  our  best  society.  Above  the  very  appearance  of  anything  like 
trickery  or  double  dealing,  he  is  yet  discreet  and  reserved  in  expressing  his  judgment.  Well  and 
thoroughly  educated  in  the  best  schools,  he  is  yet  perfectly  simple  in  his  methods  of  expression, 
and,  what  is  most  admirable,  always  and  under  every  form  of  temptation  to  imitate,  unaffected  in 
manner  and  speech." 

STILLMAN   W.   WHEELOCK. 

MOLINE. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  is  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Moline.  and  one  of  its  most  prominent  citizens.  He  has  resided  here  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  and  has  been  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  originating  enterprises  which,  in  that  period  of 
time,  have  built  up  Moline  from  a  village  of  perhaps  800  inhabitants,  to  a  city  of  9,000.  Mr. 
Wheelock  is  a  son  of  Chapin  and  Lucy  Wheelock,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Holland,  Erie 
county,  New  York,  June  17,  1817.  He  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  and  finished  his  education 
by  one  year's  attendance  at  the  Aurora  Academy,  Erie  county. 

In  the  spring  of  1839  Mr.  Wheelock  started  for  the  West,  reaching  Chicago  by  steamboat  May 
10.  It  was  then  an  unprepossessing-looking  place,  with  mud  enough  to  supply  a  small  state,  and 
Mr.  Wheelock  did  not  take  to  it.  The  historian  of  Rock  Island  county  states  that  he  packed  his 
entire  assets  in  a  bandanna,  which  he  slung  on  a  cane,  and  then  took  a  bee  line  for  the  Fox  River  ; 
but  tradition  has  it  that  he  was  the  proprietor  of  a  small  hair  trunk,  which  had  once  been  new, 
and  which  he  left  in  Chicago  awaiting  further  orders.  At  Saint  Charles,  Kane  county,  he  found 
employment  in  a  saw  mill,  at  one  dollar  a  day,  and  he  remained  there  and  in  that  vicinity  a  dozen 
years  or  more,  owning  and  cultivating,  part  of  the  time,  a  farm  in  Du  Page  county.  He  was  also 


4OO  UNITED    STATES  BIOGKAl'lllCAL    DICTIONARY. 

a  lumber  manufacturer,  in  company  with  S.  B.  Flint.  In  1841  he  married,  at  Saint  Charles,  Miss 
Lydia  Flint,  a  sister  of  his  partner,  and  a  native  of  Alstead,  New  Hampshire,  descending  from  an 
old  Concord,  Massachusetts,  family. 

Mr.  Wheelock  came  to  Moline  in  1851  ;  bought  the  site  of  the  Moline  Paper  Mill  ;  put  up  the 
building,  and  made  the  first  sheet  of  paper  in  August  of  the  next  year.  That  mill  has  since  been 
enlarged,  and  is  now  turning  out  four  or  five  tons  of  news,  print,  and  wrapping  paper  per  day. 
Mr.  Wheelock  has  been  a  stockholder  in  the  Moline  Water  Power  Company  since  its  organixa- 
tion  ;  put  $75,000  in  the  Moline  Plow  Company  in  1870,  and  is  its  president.  It  gives  employ- 
ment to  400  workmen,  and  is  turning  out  60,000  first-class  steel  plows  annually. 

He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Moline,  and  has  been  its  president 
since  it  went  into  operation. 

During  the  civil  war  he  was  chairman  of  the.  board  of  supervisors,  and  had  charge  of  the  fund 
received  for  the  relief  of  soldiers'  families,  being  himself  a  very  liberal  contributor  to  that  fund. 

In  1872  Mr.  Wheelock  built  the  post-office  block  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  and  soon  afterward 
donated  it  to  the  Moline  public  library,  which  now  contains  about  6,000  volumes,  and  is  a  stand- 
ing memorial  of  his  generosity. 

In  April,  1877,  he  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city  without  opposition,  and  by  repeated  reelec- 
tions  still  holds  that  office.  He  takes  the  same  interest  in  municipal  matters  as  in  his  own  private 
concerns;  and  in  this  position  his  public  spirit  and  executive  abilities  are  seen  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. 

JOHN    G.    FRANKE.    M.D. 

NEWTON. 

WHILE  the  life  history  of  him  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  has  many  things  in  common 
with  that  of  most  self-made  men,  it  yet  abounds  in  incidents  and  interesting  experiences, 
and  has  an  independence  and  spirit  of  self  reliance  peculiarly  its  own,  and  furnishes  an  example 
of  perseverance,  untiring  energy  and  crowning  success  well  worthy  of  emulation  and  imitation. 
He  was  born  in  the  city  of  Munster,  Prussia,  February  17, 1817,  of  German  parentage.  His  father 
was  a  physician.  Both  his  parents  died  while  he  was  young,  and  he  went  to  live  with  an  uncle, 
but  soon  afterward  bade  farewell  to  friends  and  home  and  native  land,  and  started  for  the  United 
States.  This  was  in  1837.  His  uncle  furnished  him  money  sufficient  to  pay  for  his  passage,  but 
when  he  reached  his  new  home  he  was  without  money,  friends  or  influence,  but  had  a  fixed  pur- 
pose and  a  determination  to  succeed.  The  voyage  was  one  of  thrilling  incidents.  Soon  after 
they  were  at  sea  the  vessel  sprung  a  leak,  and  they  were  thirteen  weeks  in  crossing  the  ocean, 
and  at  times  were  in  a  most  perilous  position.  The  young  doctor  took  his  stand  among  the 
deck  hands,  and  went  into  active  service,  and  was  constantly  expecting  the  moment  to  come  when 
they  would  have  to  quit  the  vessel  and  take  to  the  smaller  boats,  but  they  finally  landed  in  New 
Orleans  in  safety. 

The  doctor  then  began  the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  was  fully  adapted,  having 
been  brought  up  in  it  from  early  youth,  and  met  with  great  success  from  the  beginning.  He 
continued  his  practice  in  New  Orleans  for  five  years,  making  considerable  money,  which  he  sub- 
sequently used  in  traveling  throughout  the  United  States,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
finally  stopped  for  a  short  time  in  Iowa  and  Missouri,  eventually  settling,  about  1848,  at  Newton, 
Illinois,  which  continued  to  be  his  home  until  his  death. 

He  followed  his  profession  continuously  for  twenty-seven  years,  and  came  to  rank  among  the 
leading  physicians  of  central  Illinois.  By  close  confinement  to  the  duties  of  his  extensive  prac- 
tice, his  health  became  greatly  impaired;  so  much  so  that  he  feared  he  would  be  compelled  to 
abandon  his  practice;  but  after  an  extended  trip  through  California  and  other  western  states, 
where  he  spent  about  a  year,  he  returned  with  renewed  strength,  and  entered  vigorously  again 
into  his  practice.  He  was  not  only  eminent  as  a  practitioner,  but  also  made  his  profession  a 


L'fflTI-.n    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  401 

financial  success,  accumulating  considerable  wealth,  which  he  used  very  freely  and  judiciously. 
He  was  always  public  spirited  and  generous,  and  did  much  good  throughout  the  county,  and 
contributed  not  a  little  to  the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  little  city  of  Newton,  in  which  he 
resided  about  thirty-five  years. 

Doctor  Franke  continued  in  active  practice  until  1880,  when  he  had  an  attack  of  cardiac  drop- 
sy, which  was  the  disease  which  proved  fatal  to  his  father,  after  which  time,  until  his  death,  he 
was  an  invalid,  and  a  patient  sufferer.  He  died  March  15,  1883.  In  political  sentiment  Doctor 
Franke  was  always  a  democrat,  and  was  formerly  a  very  active  worker  in  the  democratic  party. 
Two  years  after  he  settled  in  Newton  he  was  married  to  Miss  Gertrude  Fisher,  who  is  a  native  of 
Prussia,  but  at  that  time  was  living  in  Newton,  having  left  her  home  and  native  land  when  fifteen 
years  of  age,  coming  to  America  with  her  aunt.  They  had  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  living. 
The  eldest  two,  Adam  A.  and  John  J.,  are  practicing  physicians,  both  practicing  in  Newton. 
Another  brother,  Peter,  has  taken  one  course  of  lectures,  and  is  now  running  the  largest  drug 
store  in  Newton,  which  was  formerly  owned  by  his  father. 

Doctor  A.  A.  Franke  is  a  young  man  of  ability  and  promise  in  his  profession.  He  was  born 
at  Newton  in  September,  1852;  pursued  his  professional  studies  at  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medi- 
cine, graduating  therefrom  in  the  spring  of  1877,  and  July  4  following  returned  to  his  home  and 
established  himself  in  his  profession.  He  has  been  very  successful,  and  has  made  for  himself  a 
fair  reputation,  which  is  constantly  growing.  He  was  married  September  14,  1880,  to  Miss  Lizzie 
Nigh,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Fuller  Nigh,  an  old  settler  of  Newton. 

Although  Doctor  John  G.  Franke  has  gone  from  the  scene  of  his  labors,  his  work  lives  after 
him,  and  his  name  will  long  be  cherished  in  the  memories  of  all  who  knew  him  as  that  of  an 
upright  citizen  and  a  just  and  honorable  man. 


ELIJAH    L.   MARSHALL,   M.D. 

KEITHSBURG. 

ELIJAH  LARISON  MARSHALL,  the  oldest  physician  in  practice  at  Keithsburg,  and  one 
of  the  leading  men  of  his  profession  in  Mercer  county,  is  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  and  was 
born  near  Trenton,  September  24,  1823.  His  father  was  William  Marshall,  in  his  early  and  mid- 
dle life  a  merchant  and  stock  dealer;  also  a  prominent  politician,  and  for  several  years  a  member 
of  the  New  Jersey  legislature.  His  mother,  before  her  marriage,  was  Catharine  Larison.  Both 
parents  were  born  in  New  Jersey,  and  died  at  Cordova,  Rock  Island  county,  Illinois,  where  the 
family  settled  about  1837. 

Our  subject  received  his  literary  and  medical  education  at  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York;  settled  at  Keithsburg  in  August,  1850,  and  has  been  in  general  and  successful  practice 
here  for  nearly  thirty-tViree  years.  In  1862,  while  the  civil  war  was  in  progress,  Doctor  Marshall 
became  connected  with  the  84th  regiment  Illinois  infantry  as  a  medical  officer,  and  was  in  the 
service  one  year.  His  regiment  was  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  in  General  Crittenden's 
corps  and  Palmer's  brigade. 

Doctor  Marshall  has  held  a  few  civil  offices,  such  as  town  trustee  and  school  director,  but  has 
kept  out  of  all  political  offices,  and  given  his  time  to  his  professional  duties.  He  votes  the  demo- 
cratic ticket,  but  is  not  a  strong  partisan. 

He  married,  July  i,  1852.  Miss  Sarah  Elizabeth  McBride,  of  Mercer  township,  near  Keiths- 
burgh,  and  of  three  children,  the  fruit  of  this  union,  only  one  son,  Tom  A.,  is  living.  He  is  a 
druggist  at  Keithsburg.  The  other  two  children  died  young.  The  doctor's  wife  is  a  daughter 
of  the  late  James  McBride,  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  in  this  county,  and  one  of  the  most  enter- 
prising men  of  that  class  —  the  pioneers  in  this  part  of  the  state. 

A  writer  in  the  "History  of  Mercer  County"  thus  speaks  of  our  subject: 

"As  a  practitioner  of  medicine  and  surgery  Doctor  Marshall  stands  deservedly  high  in  the 


4-O2  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

estimation  of  all,  and  not  the  least  so  in  the  estimation  of  his  professional  brethren.  But  it  is  in 
the  department  of  surgery  perhaps  that  the  doctor  has  done  his  best  work  and  earned  his  highest 
triumphs.  Few  practitioners  outside  the  large  cities  have  performed  a  greater  number  of  intricate 
and  capital  operations  or  met  with  a  more  uniform  success  in  operative  surgical  procedures  than 
has  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  His  close  observation  of  pathological  conditions,  his  success  in 
weighing  the  relations  of  cause  and  effect,  and  his  almost  intuitive  judgment  and  decision  at 
the  bedside,  have  secured  for  him  a  reputation  as  consulting  physician  and  surgeon  second  to 
none  in  this  county.  Generous  and  hospitable  in  his  home  circle,  courteous  and  affable  in  every- 
day life,  strong  and  enduring  in  his  personal  friendships,  thorough  in  his  professional  attainments, 
earnest  in  his  warfare  against  disease,  with  an  almost  chivalric  fidelity  to  the  sick  and  afflicted 
consigned  to  his  care,  Doctor  Marshall  has  stamped  the  impress  of  his  marked  individuality  upon 
the  history  and  daily  life  of  the  large  community  in  which  he  has  lived  and  labored  for  nearly 
the  third  of  a  century. 

HON.    EDWIN    H.    JOHNSTON. 

POKT  BYRON. 

EDWIN  HORACE  JOHNSTON,  attorney-at-law,  and  formerly  a  member  of  the  general 
assembly  of  Illinois,  dates  his  birth  at  Barnet,  Caledonia  county,  Vermont,  September  18, 
1823.  His  father,  Alexander  Johnston,  was  born  in  the  same  state,  and  his  grandfather,  Alexan- 
der Johnston,  Sr.,  was  from  Scotland.  The  mother  of  Edwin  was  Almira  (Pratt)  Johnston,  a 
native  of  Peacham,  Vermont.  He  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  of  his  father,  whom  he  aided 
more  or  less  at  that  business;  received  part  of  his  education  at  the  Peacham  Academy,  and  at 
sixteen  years  of  age  commenced  teaching,  having  that  winter  the  largest  school  and  the  highest 
wages  of  any  teacher  in  the  town.  He  taught  three  consecutive  winters  in  Vermont,  attending 
the  academy  the  rest  of  his  time,  and  paying  his  own  way. 

In  the  spring  of  1844  he  went  to  New  Alexandria,  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  attended  an  academy,  and  taught  a  public  school  and  music  now  and  then,  for  three  more 
years,  having,  all  those  academic  days,  the  legal  profession  in  his  eye.  He  studied  law  at  Hamil- 
ton, Ohio,  with  Hon.  William  Bebb,  who  was  chosen  governor  at  that  time,  still  supporting  him- 
self by  teaching,  remaining  in  his  office  for  three  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  Mr.  Johnston 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Hamilton  (1847),  and  practiced  there  until  June,  1856,  when  he  settled 
in  Port  Byron. 

While  at  Hamilton  he  married,  in  1848,  Miss  Ellen  Morris,  who  died  in  1854,  leaving  a  son 
and  daughter,  the  daughter  only  now  living.  Mr.  Johnston  has  always  been  in  general  practice, 
and  has  had  fair  success  in  his  business.  He  is  a  man  of  unbending  integrity  and  high-minded 
purposes,  and  his  neighbors  have  great  confidence  in  him  as  a  legal  adviser. 

In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Johnston  went  into  the  army,  as  captain  of  company  G,  i26th  Illinois 
infantry,  and  served  nearly  two  years,  when  his  health  failed,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resign.  He 
was  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  afterward  his  regiment  was  in  General  Steele's  department, 
and  at  the  taking  of  Little  Rock.  The  left  lung  of  Captain  Johnston  has  been  hepatixed  for 
eighteen  years,  and  during  that  period  he  has  had  no  use  of  it.  A  chronic  diarrhoea,  contracted 
in  the  army,  still  clings  to  him,  and  he  has  not  been  a  sound  and  thoroughly  healthy  man  since 
1864.  He  draws  a  pension. 

Our  subject  was  a  member  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors  for  a  long  time,  and  chairman 
of  that  board  for  five  or  six  terms.  He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  1871  to  1875;  was 
on  the  judiciary  committee  during  all  that  period;  was  chairman  of  the  committees  on  inland 
commerce  and  navigation,  and  railroads  and  warehouses,  and  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
framed  and  reported  the  railroad  and  warehouse  laws  now  in  force  in  this  state,  and  of  the  com- 
mittee for  the  revision  of  the  statutes.  His  record  as  a  legislator  is  truly  honorable. 

Captain  Johnston  was  a  whig  in  his  younger  years,  and  on  the  demise  of  that  party  affiliated 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


403 


with  the  republican,  and  may  be  called  one  of  the  constituent  members  of  the  latter  party.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  state  convention  which  met  at  Decatur,  and  which  by  vote  recommended 
Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  suitable  candidate  for  president  of  the  United  States;  on  which  occasion 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  brought  into  the  hall  on  the  shoulders  of  some  of  the  delegates,  and  made  one 
of  his  characteristic  speeches.  In  those  days  our  subject  was  one  of  the  wheel-horses  of  his  party 
in  Rock  Island  county,  being  quite  prominent  in  county,  district  and  state  conventions.  He  has 
not  the  vital  power  that  he  had  before  the  war,  but  according  as  his  strength  is,  he  is  still  willing 
to  work  for  the  continuance  in  power  of  the  great  party  of  freedom;  at  least  while  it  is  true  toils 
principles  and  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 

Captain  Johnston  is  a  stockholder,  director  and  secretary  of  the  Port  Byron  Lumber  Com- 
pany, and  a  public-spirited  citizen.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  a  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  and  a  man  whose  moral  and  religious  character  is  unquestioned.  His 
present  wife  was  Miss  Jane  Saville,  of  Erie,  Whiteside  county,  Illinois.  They  were  married  in 
December,  1858,  and  have  had  three  children,  losing  one  of  them.  Saville  is  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Iowa,  and  a  law  student  with  his  father;  and  Edwin  J.  is  studying  for  the  medi- 
cal profession;  Mattie,  the  third  child  and  only  daughter,  died  at  the  age  of  seven  years,  while 
her  parents  were  attending  the  Centennial  at  Philadelphia,  in  August,  1876.  She  was  taken  sud- 
denly ill,  and  they  hurried  home  to  find  her  a  corpse.  She  was  a  bright  scholar,  standing  at  the 
head  of  her  class,  and  a  pet  playmate  among  the  children  of  Port  Byron. 


WILLIAM  ALLEN  JORDAN. 

MOKRIS. 

'"T^HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  son  of  Allen  Jordan  and  Catharine  (Dayton)  Jordan,  and 
A  was  born  at  Hudson,  Columbia  county,  New  York,  July  17,  1829.  His  father  was  a  prac- 
ticing lawyer  of  Hudson,  and  in  1839  the  mayor  of  the  city.  Ambrose  L.  Jordan,  who  succeeded 
John  Van  Buren  as  attorney-general  of  New  York  in  1850,  defeating  him  in  a  well-fought  canvass, 
and  who  became  famous  in  the  defense  of  Big  Thunder,  the  chief  of  the  Anti-Renters,  and  his 
principal  followers,  was  the  paternal  uncle  of  Mr.  Jordan.  Coming  of  a  family  of  successful  law- 
yers, it  was  natural  that  his  own  early  aspirations  should  be  in  the  same  direction,  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  they  would  have  been  realized  had  not  a  dreadful  calamity  overtaken  his 
father  when  he  was  about  eleven  years  old.  At  the  age  of  forty-two  his  father  was  stricken  with 
paralysis,  which  deprived  him  of  speech,  when  in  the  full  tide  of  prosperity,  and  full  of  vigor, 
ambition  and  hope.  William  was  the  elder  of  two  children  by  a  first  wife,  and  Mr.  Jordan  had  a 
family  of  seven  by  his  second  wife,  when  overtaken  by  this  calamity.  For  seven  years  the  family 
struggled  against  fate,  but  the  father  had  finally  to  abandon  his  profession,  and  in  1847  came 
West,  where  on  a  piece  of  land  his  boys  could  more  effectually  aid  him  in  making  a  living.  They 
reached  Plainfield,  Will  county,  in  May,  and  for  the  first  year  rented  a  piece  of  land.  The  year 
following  Mr.  Jordan  settled  his  family  on  a  piece  of  government  land,  in  the  town  of  Seward,  in 
Kendall  county,  which  was  named  at  his  suggestion  after  William  H.  Seward,  with  whom  he  was 
familiar,  and  between  whom  and  himself  a  warm  friendship  existed. 

William  was  at  the  academy  in  Hudson  at  the  time  of  his  father's  misfortune,  and  continued 
his  studies  three  years  longer,  or  until  fourteen  years  of  age,  but  had  then  to  give  up  his  studies 
and  go  energetically  to  work  to  help  support  the  family.  When  eighteen  years  old  he  came  west 
with  them,  and  was,  until  he  married,  of  great  assistance  to  the  family.  These  were  years  of 
arduous  toil  and  great  privation  and  self-denial.  While  he  felt  that  he  was  capable  of  filling  a 
higher  sphere  in  life,  he  abandoned  at  the  call  of  duty  all  his  hopes  and  aspirations,  and  be- 
came a  farmer.  His  summers  for  several  years  were  spent  on  the  farm,  and  his  winters  in 
teaching  school. 

November  i,  1853,  when  past  twenty-four  years  of  agew he  married  Miss  Anna  E.  Wing,  the 


404  UNTTi-.n  sr.\ri-:s  nroGRAPincAi.  DICTIONARY. 

daughter  of  Captain  Clifton  Wing,  of  Sandwich,  Massachusetts,  and  removed  to  a  piece  of  land 
of  his  own.  He  had  previously  bought  too  acres  of  prairie  land,  to  which  he  very  soon  added 
TIO  acres  more,  and  began  his  married  life  under  most  favorable  auspices.  For  about  twelve  years 
he  stuck  to  his  farm.  About  1865  he  began  to  realize  the  immense  demand  for  agricultural  im- 
plements which  a  dense  farming  population  on  the  rich  virgin  soil  of  the  prairies  of  Illinois 
was  soon  to  make,  and  saw  in  it  an  opportunity  for  wealth,  beyond  what  he  could  hope  to 
attain  in  farming.  He  at  once  sold  his  farm  at  a  fine  figure,  and  invested  his  capital  in  the 
business  at  Minooka,  Grundy  county.  He  began  to  do  a  very  prosperous  business,  made 
money  rapidly,  and  continually  enlarged  his  operations  until  he  had  no  less  than  seventeen  sub- 
agencies,  and  did  a  much  larger  business  than  any  other  dealer  in  that  part  of  the  state.  But 
the  grange  movement  came  and  demoralized  prices  and  business  generally,  until  in  his  efforts  to 
keep  up  till  the  craze  passed  away  he  lost  heavily.  For  several  years  he  lost  money  as  fast  as  he 
had  previously  made  it.  The  usual  unreliability  of  agents  also  had  a  part  in  his  misfortunes,  and 
his  resources  were  seriously  crippled.  In  1870  he  sold  out  entirely  at  Minooka,  and  moved  to 
Morris,  where  he  has  continued  to  prosecute  his  business  with  much  less  spread  than  formerly, 
but  with  more  safety  and  satisfaction,  and  with  equal  success.  He  now  does  the  largest  business 
in  his  line  in  the  county. 

Mr.  Jordan  has  never  been  an  office  seeker,  but  in  January,  1882,  he  received  the  appointment 
of  postmaster  at  Morris,  which  he  has  administered  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  neighbors.  He 
is  a  republican  in  politics,  a  staunch  temperance  man,  and  fully  alive  to  the  issues  of  the  hour.  It 
need  not  be  said  that  Mr.  Jordan  is  a  very  popular  man,  and  widely  known.  He  is  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  northern  Illinois,  and  as  such,  plain,  simple,  hospitable  and  generous  to  a  fault.  He  is 
public-spirited  and  active  in  every  public  enterprise,  open,  frank,  genial  and  enthusiastic  in  his 
friendships.  He  sometimes  regrets  the  necessity  which  checked  his  early  ambitions,  but  finds  in 
the  consciousness  of  having  done  his  duty  a  full  reward. 

He  is  the  father  of  seven  children,  of  whom  four  survive,  and  his  home  is  a  very  happy  and 
prosperous  one. 

CHARLES    H.   RICHINGS,   M.D. 

ROCKFOKD. 

CHARLES  HENRY  RICHINGS,  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  and  surgeons  in  VVinnebago 
county,  Illinois,  is  a  native  of  Warwickshire,  England,  his  birth  being  dated  February  26, 
1815.  His  "father  was  Rev.  Benjamin  Richings,  A.M.,  an  Episcopal  minister,  and  for  fifty-six 
years  rector  of  one  parish.  He  and  his  predecessor  were  rectors  of  the  one  parish  for  more  than 
a  century.  Benjamin  Richings  married  Harriet  Goodacre,  and  both  died  in  the  old  country  at 
eighty-four  years  of  age.  Mrs.  Richings  was  a  relative  of  Wilberforce,  the  great  philanthropist, 
and  an  uncle  of  hers,  Captain  Lewis,  fought  under  Wellington  in  Spain,  and  his  monument  in 
Westminster  Abbey  was  erected  by  the  soldiers  of  his  regiment.  Her  family  lost  all  their  prop- 
erty fighting  for  Charles  I.  Our  subject  was  educa-ted  in  Belgium,  where  he  had  an  uncle,  who 
was  in  the  battle  of  Waterloo  when  the  nephew  was  four  months  old,  and  who  was  detailed,  and 
remained  in  that  country  until  his  death.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  with  this  family  originated  a 
famous  breed  of  hunting  horses — of  a  bright  chestnut  color,  and  celebrated  for  their  great  en- 
durance and  noble  bearing — the  sire  and  dam  of  which  were  hidden  in  a  bunch  of  fagots,  and 
so  kept  secreted  from  Cromwell's  army,  and  remained  in  the  family  ever  since. 

After  finishing  his  medical  education,  Doctor  Richings  spent  some  time  in  hospitals  at  Brus- 
sels, Paris,  London,  etc.,  and  in  1836  came  to  the  United  States,  settling  at  first  in  Lysander,  ten 
miles  west  of  Rockford,  and  a  few  years  later  moved  into  this  city.  He  attended  a  course  of 
lectures  in  Rush  Medical  College,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  from  that  insti- 
tution. 

Doctor  Richings  has  been  in  general  practice  in  Rockford  between  thirty  and  forty  years,  and 


H  C  Coensr  J,   i.    Cu 


LiCRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  lifOC  K.  //'///( '.-//.    DICTIONARY. 


407 


has  long  stood  in  the  front  rank  in  his  profession  in  Winnebago  county,  and  indeed  in  this  section 
of  the  state.  Though  making  a  specialty  of  no  branch  of  the  healing  art,  he  has  long  been 
accounted  very  skillful  in  surgery,  and  has  a  large  share  of  the  business  in  that  line.  The  doctor 
is  thoroughly  wedded  to  his  profession,  and  has  made  it  his  life  study,  refusing  all  civil  and  polit- 
ical offices,  and  everything  likely  to  distract  his  mind  and  attention  from  his  legitimate  calling. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  civil  war,  directly  after  the  battles  of  Donelson  and  Shiloh,  he  was 
telegraphed  to  by  Adjutant-General  Fuller,  and,  obeying  the  summons,  spent  a  few  weeks  each 
time  in  the  hospitals.  On  the  trip  from  Pittsburgh  Landing  to  Saint  Louis  he  had  medical 
charge  of  the  government  boat  and  surgeons  on  board. 

Doctor  Richings  reached,  many  years  ago,  the  scarlet  degree  in  Odd-Fellowship,  and  is  a 
Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  onder,  but  we  doubt  if  he  often  sees  the  inside  of  a  lodge  of  either 
kind.  His  numerous  professional  calls  take  the  precedence  of  everything  else.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  a  man  of  sterling  character. 

He  married,  in  1838,  Miss  Mary  Stevenson,  of  Ullesthorpe,  Leicestershire,  England,  and  they 
have  one  son,  Henry  Richings,  M.D.,  a  graduate  of  the  Medical  University  of  New  York,  and 
one  of  the  most  promising  physicians  of  the  younger  class  in  Rockford. 


JACKSON   B.  McMICHAEL,  D.D. 

MONMOUTH. 

JACKSON  BURGESS  McMICHAEL,  president  of  Monmouth  College,  was  born  in  Trumbull, 
J  now  Mahoning,  county,  Ohio,  July  22,  1833.  His  parents.  John  and  Margaret  (Burgess)  Mc- 
Michael,  were  Scotch-Irish,  and  came  from  Ireland  to  this  country  when  they  were  young,  the 
father  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  the  mother  in  her  infancy.  At  the  time  of  our  subject's  birth  they 
were  living  on  a  farm  near  the  village  of  Poland. 

Jackson  was  reared  to  farm  work  until  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  then  learned  the  trade  of 
a  carriage-maker,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  two  years.  When  learning  that  trade  he  began  to 
cultivate  a  taste  for  reading,  and  found  especial  pleasure  in  study.  He  abandoned  his  trade,  and 
for  two  or  three  years  was  engaged  in  studying  and  teaching.  He  finally  entered  Westminster 
College,  New  Wilmington,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  graduated  in  1859.  During  one  year  while  in 
college  he  taught  the  classes  in  mathematics,  at  the  same  time  keeping  up  all  his  own  studies. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  McMichael  taught  the  academy  at  Greenville,  Pennsylvania,  for  three 
months,  and  then  concluded  to  take  a  theological  course,  and  enter  the  ministry  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  church.  Accordingly,  he  entered  the  seminary  at  Xenia,  and  took  the  full  three 
years'  course,  finishing  his  studies  in  March,  1862.  He  was  ordamed  by  the  Xenia  presbytery, 
October  9  of  that  year,  and  was  settled  over  the  church  at  Sugar  Creek,  Greene  county,  Ohio, 
holding  that  pastorate  for  sixteen  years.  As  a  sermonizer  he  is  strong  rather  than  polished, 
rhetoric  giving  place  to  logic;  is  lucid  in  his  style,  methodical  in  his  plan,  and  aims  to  enlighten 
the  conscience,  as  well  as  to  convince  the  judgment.  He  has  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  and 
can  be  witty,  but  rarely  indulges  in  anything  like  humor  in  the  pulpit. 

During  m,.ch  of  the  time  that  he  was  preaching  at  Sugar  Creek  he  was  a  member  of  the  board 
of  trustees  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  and  president  of  that  board;  and  from  1873  to  1878  he 
performed  the  double  duties  of  pastor  of  the  church  and  teacher  in  the  seminary,  Sugar  Creek 
and  Xenia  being  ten  miles  apart  His  chair  was  that  of  ecclesiastical  history  and  government. 
In  1878  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  presidency  of  Monmouth  College,  and  our  subject  was  chosen 
to  fill  it.  Here  he  has  the  chair  of  moral  science,  teaching,  however,  a  variety  of  studies,  such  as 
evidences  of  Christianity,  natural  theology,  etc. 

"As  a  scholar,"  writes  an  intimate  friend  of  President  McMichael,  "  he  is  no  skimmer  orsmat- 
terer.  What  he  knows  he  knows,  and  what  he  does  not  know  he  does  not  pretend  to  know.  In 
college  his  specialty  was  the  mathematics.  As  regards  languages  he  is  partial  to  his  mother 
41 


408  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

tongue.  As  an  educator  he  has  always  been  a  success,  whether  it  was  a  country  school,  tutor  in 
college,  professor  in  a  theological  seminary,  or  president  of  a  college.  He  has  great  strength  as 
a  disciplinarian." 

He  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  from  Hanover  College,  Indiana,  and  his  alma 
mater,  both  in  the  same  year,  1877.  ' 

Doctor  McMichael  was  married  October  16, 1862,  to  Mary  Narcissa,  daughter  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Hanna,  D.D.,  of  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  and  they  have  buried  one  son,  and  have  four  sons 
and  one  daughter  living.  The  two  elder  sons,  Thomas  Hanna  and  John  Charles,  are  members  of 
the  sophomore  class,  Monmouth  College,  and  the  others,  who  are  old  enough,  are  pursuing  their 
studies. 

The  institution  over  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch  presides  was  opened  September  3,  1856; 
was  incorporated  February  17,  1857,  and  for  twenty-five  years  has  been  training  youth  for  spheres 
of  usefulness  in  the  world.  In  addition  to  classical  and  scientific  courses,  it  has  musical  and  art 
departments;  a  corps  of  about  fifteen  teachers  in  all;  a  library  of  two  or  three  thousand  volumes; 
an  extensive  philosophical  and  chemical  apparatus;  a  cabinet,  containing  a  large  assortment  of 
geological  specimens,  coins  and  other  articles  of  interest  to,  the  student,  and  in  short  has  every 
facility  for  prosecuting  studies  to  the  best  advantage.  Under  the  administration  of  President 
McMichael,  the  high  standing  of  the  institution  is  well  maintained,  and  its  influence  broadening. 


AUGUSTUS   VAN    BUREN. 

CHICAGO. 

AUGUSTUS  VAN  BUREN,  son  of  Evart  Van  Buren,  whose  sketch  follows  this,  was  born  in 
Penn  Yan,  New  York,  March  20,  1832,  and  received  his  literary  education  at  Kinderhook, 
the  birth-place  of  his  father,  and  the  home,  in  his  lifetime,  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  president  of  the 
United  States  in  1837-1841.  At  sixteen  years  of  age  Augustus  entered  his  father's  office,  and 
commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  before  he  had  reached  his  majority. 
In  1852  he  caught  the  gold  fever,  went  to  California,  and  dug  mineral,  sold  goods,  and  practiced 
law.  A  writer  in  the  "Alliance,"  of  Chicago,  states  that  the  first  law  case  of  our  subject  was  the 
defense  of  an  Indian  tried  for  murder,  before  the  mayor  of  Stockton.  Mr.  Van  Buren  won  the 
case,  as  no  one  appeared  for  the  prosecution.  The  Indian- was  to  pay  him  a  fee  of  $800,  which 
he  had  safely  deposited  in  the  red  man's  bank  —  the  earth;  but  the  Indian  was  killed  before  the 
money  was  dug  up,  and  our  subject  is  still  short  of  that  fee. 

After  remaining  a  long  year  in  the  Eldorado  of  the  Pacific,  Mr.  Van  Buren  returned  to  his 
home  in  the  Empire  State,  and  soon  afterward  settled  in  Saint  Clair,  Michigan.  While  there  he 
was  nominated  for  district  attorney  of  the  county  by  the  democrats,  but  the  district  was  republi- 
can, and  he  was  defeated. 

In  1865  our  subject  came  to  Chicago,  a  much  larger  field  than  the  Michigan  town,  and  much 
more  favorable  for  the  display  of  his  legal  talents,  especially  as  a  criminal  lawyer.  Time  has 
shown  that,  for  his  own  pecuniary  advantage,  and  reputation,  he  made  a  wise  choice  in  this  last 
remove.  We  have  seen  it  stated  in  some  paper  or  periodical  that  he  has  been  engaged  in  more 
than  seventy  capital  cases,  and  that,  with  few  exceptions,  he  has  been  on  the  winning  side.  His 
success  as  a  criminal  lawyer  is,  no  doubt,  second  to  that  of  no  attorney  in  this  city.  Says  the 
"Alliance"  writer: 

"  It  might  almost  be  said  of  him,  as  the  pirate  said  of  Rufus  Choate,  that  he  felt  that  the  great 
advocate  would  clear  him  if  he  were  found  with  the  victim's  money  in  his.  boots.  But  the  pirate 
did  not  recognize  the  fact  that  Mr.  Choate,  in  order  to  win  a  cause,  had  to  believe  in  his  client's 
innocence,  and  the  same  is  true  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  That  he  has  saved  some  criminals  from  the 
scaffold  who  ought  to  have  felt  the  halter  draw  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  in  a  great  majority  of 
the  cases,  over  one  hundred  in  number,  in  which  the  public  has  had  an  interest,  which  he  has 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


409 


tried,  and  not  one  of  which  he  has  finally  lost,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  victims  of  circumstan- 
tial evidence  have  been  saved  from  undeserved  death  by  the  shrewdness  and  eloquence  of  this 
advocate." 

Among  the  capital  cases  in  which  he  has  been  engaged,  and  in  which  he,  being  attorney  for 
the  defense,  gained  the  suit,  we  will  mention  only  four  or  five:  Edward  Powers,  indicted  for 
murder,  for  killing  a  man  with  a.  stone  or  slug  at  the  rolling-mills.  Gregory  Peri,  who,  on  the 
day  of  the  great  fire,  killed  two  men  in  the  employ  of  Michael  Keeley;  tried  on  one  indictment, 
convicted,  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  the  prosecution  tried 
him  on  the  other  indictment,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  be  hung.  Mr.  Van  Buren  took  the  case  to 
the  supreme  court,  and  it  affirmed  the  judgment.  Peri's  counsel  went  to  the  governor,  and  he 
suspended  the  sentence.  Peri  was  pardoned  three  years  ago,  and  is  now  out  West.  Joseph  Craw- 
ford tried  for  the  murder  of  William  Shanley.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  with  great  industry  and  perse- 
verance, saved  his  neck.  Joseph  St.  Peter  and  Mrs.  Clarke,  tried  for  the  murder  of  Alviro  Clarke, 
the  husband  of  Mrs.  Annie  Clarke.  The  trial,  it  will  be  recollected,  lasted  three  weeks,  and  the 
whole  nation,  so  to  speak,  became  interested  in  it.  The  accused  parties  were  acquitted,  and  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  as  leading  counsel  for  the  defense,  added  to  his  laurels  on  that  occasion. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  understands  fully  the  intricacies  of  the  law;  is  sharp  to  discover  and  quick  to 
take  advantage  of  any  defect  in  it  that  would  favor  his  client,  and  stands  by  that  client  with  a 
persistency  which  is  simply  tireless  and  astonishing. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  is  a  law  partner  of  his  father,  and  the  firm  has  an  extensive  practice  in  the 
civil  as  well  as  criminal  courts. 

Augustus  Van  Buren  married  Miss  Harriette  W.  Groesbeck,  at  Chicago,  in  1866,  and  we 
believe  they  have  no  children. 


ELIAS  S.  POTTER,  M.D. 

OREGON. 

ELIAS  SMITH  POTTER,  deceased,  was  a  native  of  Port  Hope,  Ontario,  dating  his  birth 
September  15,  1820.  His  .father,  Elias  Potter,  a  farmer,  was  from  New  York;  his  grand- 
father, Philip  Potter,  was  from  Germany,  and  his  mother,  Elizabeth  (Bedford)  Potter,  was  born 
in  Canada,  her  parents  being  from  New  York,  and  of  English  descent.  Doctor  Potter  received 
a  partial  academic  and  theological  education  at  Amherst,  Ontario;  came  to  Killbuck,  Ogle 
county,  in  1838,  and  took  up  large  tracts  of  land.  The  next  year  he  went  to  Peru,  La  Salle  county, 
and  was  in  a  drug  store  there  five  years,  studying  medicine  at  the  same  time,  at  first  with  his 
uncle,  Doctor  William  Smith,  and  finishing  with  Doctor  J.  H.  Elmer,  of  the  same  place;  attended 
lectures  at  Rolph's  College,  Toronto,  and  returning  to  Illinois  obtained  a  license  of  the  state 
board  of  examiners. 

In  1844  Doctor  Potter  settled  in  Oregon,  and  was  in  practice  there  for  thirty-nine  years.  He 
spent  much  time  attending  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  kept  well  brushed  up 
in  the  different  branches  of  his  profession.  The  doctor  was  largely  a  self-educated  man,  and  per- 
haps never  studied  with  more  avidity  than  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life.  His  practice 
extended  into  Lee  and  Winnebago,  as  well  as  over  much  of  Ogle  county.  He  was  examining 
surgeon  for  the  third  congressional  district  for  1862  to  1864.  He  was  well  known,  and  greatly 
esteemed  in  Ogle  and  adjoining  counties. 

Young  men  in  Ogle  county  having  the  medical  profession  in  view,  regarded  it  as  a  great  favor 
to  study  with  our  subject,  and  he  had  about  a  dozen  students  who  have  graduated  at  different 
medical  colleges,  and  are  now  prominent  in  the  fraternity.  They  loved  him  like  a  father. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1851  and  1852,  his  politics  being  republican. 

Doctor  Potter  married  in  Oregon,  July  4,  1845,  Alice  Ross  Conroy,  a  native  of  Vermont,  and 
they  had  six  children,  only  four  of  them  now  living:  Ella  Blanche,  wife  of  Alonzo  L.  Ettinger,  of 


4IO  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Iowa  Falls,  Iowa;  Charles  Freemont,  druggist,  Oregon;  Frank  Choate,  in  business  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  at  Iowa  Falls,  and   Elizabeth  Eloise,  who  is  at  home. 

Doctor  Potter  died  March  2,  1883,  and  the  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and 
the  members  of  the  Ogle  County  Medical  Society,  took  suitable  action  on  his  demise.  We  append 
the  doings  of  the  medical  society  at  its  meeting  held  March  7,  1883. 

WHEREAS,  The  Ogle  County  Medical  Society  is  again  called  upon  to  register  the  loss  of  one  of  its  oldest  and  most 
honored  members,  by  the  death  of  Doctor  Elias  S.  Potter  ;  the  physicians  of  Ogle  county  lose  a  worthy  colleague,  who 
has  labored  and  dwelt  among  us  for  more  than  forty  years.  He  made  his  home  in  the  city  of  Oregon  in  1844,  and 
acquired  a  very  large  practice,  enjoying  the  love  and  confidence  of  his  patients  and  friends  as  a  most  estimable  man. 
In  the  midst  of  his  professional  duties,  and  in  the  very  act  of  visiting  the  sick,  he  was  called  suddenly  away.  The  Ogle 
County  Medical  Society  give  voice  to  the  unanimous  sentiment  of  the  profession  in  the  expression  of  their  sorrow  at 
the  sudden  demise  of  Doctor  Potter,  and  their  deep  sympathy  with  the  bereaved  family  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Doctor  Potter  the  medical  profession  of  Ogle  county  has  lost  one  of  its  most  honor- 
able, upright  and  most  respected  brothers,  whose  judgment,  kindness  and  genuine  congeniality  we  have  always 
esteemed  and  admired. 

Resolved,  That  we  sincerely  mourn  and  deplore  the  loss  of  bur  brother,  whose  gentlemanly  conduct,  generosity  of 
heart  and  professional  ability  were  the  characteristics  of  his  life. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  labor  and  character  of  our  brother,  we  have  an  example  of  industry,  manliness  and  useful- 
ness, in  a  high  degree  commendable  and  worthy  of  imitation. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  the  bereaved  family  of  the  deceased  our  heart-felt  sympathy  and  condolence  in  this,  their 
sad  bereavement  and  affliction. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  of  respect  and  condolence  be  sent  to  the  family,  also  to  the  Ogle  county 
papers  for  publication,  and  to  the  Chicago  "  Medical  Journal  and  Examiner." 


LE 


HON.   LEANDER  L.  GREEN. 

ODELL. 
EANDER  LIVINGSTON  GREEN,  a  successful  farmer,  and  late  member  of  the  Illinois  leg- 


islature, is  a  son  of  Caleb  and  Mary  (Oakes)  Green,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Sweden, 
Monroe  county,  New  York,  January  24,  1826.  His  father  was  born  in  Rhode  Island,  and  was  a 
grandson  of  a  brother  of  Nathaniel  Greene,  of  revolutionary  fame.  The  father  of  Mary  Oakes  was 
a  minister  of  the  gospel.  She  was  born  in  Oneida  county,  New  York.  Caleb  Green  was  the  first 
member  of  the  family  to  spell  his  name  without  the  final  "e."  In  1830  he  brought  his  family  as  far 
west  as  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  and  settled  in  the  town  of  Cherry  Valley,  on  740  acres  of  forest 
land,  which  Leander  aided  in  clearing  after  he  was  old  enough,  being  early  and  thoroughly  inured 
to  hard  work.  He  finished  his  education  at  Kindsman  Academy,  where  he  attended  one  year. 

In  1855  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  on  a  farm  of  170  acres  on  Buck  Creek,  La  Salle  county, 
seven  miles  from  Ottawa  ;  and  while  there  held  nearly  every  township  office  from  clerk  up  to 
supervisor,  filling  the  latter  post  for  several  years.  During  the  civil  war  he  was  an  agent  for  fill- 
ing the  county's  quota  of  soldiers,  being  an  active  and  thorough-going  war  democrat. 

While  the  civil  war  was  in  progress,  Mr.  Green  purchased  fortv-one  acres  of  excellent  land, 
near  the  village  of  Odell,  and  in  1870  moved  to  this  place  and  settled  on  it.  He  has  also  between 
1300  and  1400  acres  of  land  in  Nebraska  ;  owns  a  block  at  Walnut,  Pottawatamie  county,  Iowa, 
also  a  store  in  the  same  place,  and  has  other  property.  His  accumulations  are  mostly  the  fruit  of 
his  industry  and  wise  calculations. 

Mr.  Green  is  agent  for  a  large  tract  of  improved  land,  near  Odell,  owned  by  eastern  parties. 
He  is  in  very  comfortable  circumstances,  and  has  the  good  sense  to  let  others  do  the  fretting. 

Mr.  Green  has  held  the  office  of  supervisor  in  Odell,  and  in  1880  was  elected  to  the  32d  general 
assembly,  being  the  democratic  minority  candidate,  and  receiving  the  largest  vote,  we  understand, 
ever  cast  in  Livingston  county  for  any  one  candidate. 

Our  subject  was  married  April  16,  1847,  to  Miss  Marilla  Randolph,  of  Cherry  Valley,  Ohio, 
and  they  have  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  Gurley  J.  is  a  hardware  merchant  at  Stromsburgh 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  41  I 

Nebraska  ;  Franklin  H.  is  a  hardware  merchant,  grain  dealer  and  real-estate  agent  at  Walnut, 
Iowa  ;  Oakley  E.  is  a  real-estate  agent  and  banker  at  Genoa,  Nebraska  ;  and  Maud  I.,  who  is 
twenty  years  younger  than  her  youngest  brother,  is  attending  school  in  Odell. 

Mr.  Green  is  very  fond  of  hunting,  and  usually  spends  part  of  the  autumn  each  year  at  the 
West,  going  as  far  as  Wyoming  territory,  and  the  eastern  part  of  Colorado.  His  specialties  in  the 
game  line  are  deer,  elk  and  antelope,  and  he  is  a  first-class  shot.  His  game  costs  him  about  a  dol- 
lar a  pound,  but  he  hugely  enjoys  the  sport  of  getting  it,  and  always  returns  to  Illinois  in  good 
order. 

CHARLES   SCOTT,    M.D. 

BELVIDERE. 

ONE  of  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Boone  county  is  the  gentleman  whose  name 
we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  and  who,  though  in  practice  but  a  few  years,  has 
a  very  extensive  business.  He  is  the  son  of  a  physician,  Doctor  Amos  Scott,  and  both  were  born 
in  Lycoming  county,  Pennsylvania, —  the  son,  May  26,  1850.  His  mother's  name  was  Harriet 
McCarty,  who  was  also  a  native  of  Pennsylvania. 

In  1865  the  family  came  to  this  state,  and  settled  at  Pecatonica,  Winnebago  county,  where  the 
father  had  a  farm,  as  well  as  practiced  his  profession.  Charles  received  a  public  and  high-school 
education,  farming  during  the  summer  season  until  of  age,  teaching  school  two  winters.  He 
studied  medicine  with  his  father;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  receiv- 
ing his  diploma  in  February,  1875,  and  after  remaining  at  Saint  Luke's  Hospital  one  year, 
settled  in  Belvidere.  He  stepped  very  soon  into  a  good  practice,  which  has  been  growing  from 
year  to  year,  until  he  has  as  much  to  do  as  any  one  man,  having  any  regard  for  his  own  health, 
could  desire.  The  extent  of  his  rides  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  keeps  six  horses, 
none  of  which  are  suffering  from  want  of  exercise.  He  is  United  States  pension  surgeon  for 
Boone  county,  and  enjoys  a  fine  reputation  as  a  surgeon. 

Doctor  Scott  loves  his  profession;  is  a  diligent  student;  keeps  himself  well  supplied  with  med- 
ical literature,  and  hence  is  a  growing  man.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical 
Society,  and  has  a  highly  respectable  standing  in  the  fraternity.  He  has  reported  a  few  interest- 
ing cases  for  medical  periodicals. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Scott  was  Miss  Clara  E.  Tousley,  sister  of  Reuben  J.  Tousley,  proprietor 
of  the  Julien  House,  Belvidere,  their  marriage  being  dated  May  20,  1877.  They  have  one  son, 
Charles,  aged  five  years. 

URBAN    D.  MEACHAM. 

FREEPORT. 

URBAN  DUNCAN  MEACHAM,  lawyer,  and  one  of  the  early  mayors  of  Freeport,  was  born 
at  Sheldon,  Genesee  (now  Wyoming)  county,  New  York,  March  12,  1816.  His  father,  James 
Meacham,  also  a  lawyer,  was  born  in  Otsego  county,  same  state.  The  grandfather  of  Urban, 
Jeremiah  Meacham,  was  one  of  those  stanch  patriots  who  thought  more  of  freedom  than  of  the 
mother  country,  and  who  promptly  rebelled  against  her  oppressions,  enlisting  in  the  Connecticut 
troops.  He  was  in  the  army  when  the  traitor  Arnold  undertook  to  betray  it  into  the  hands  of 
the  British  general,  and  with  Washington  at  Valley  Forge,  going,  in  fact,  through  the  war  to  its 
glorious  end.  He  then  moved  into  Otsego  county,  and  spent  his  last  days  in  a  free  country, 
dying  in  the  town  of  Burlington,  that  county. 

The  mother  of  Urban  was  Patience  Wallace,  who  was  of  Scotch  descent,  and  related  to  the 
Duncans,  who  were  of  the  same  nationality.  She  became  a  widow  in  1826,  and  in  1836  took  her 
children,  three  sons,  to  Walworth  county,  Wisconsin,  then  in  the  territory  of  Michigan,  and  set- 
tled on  a  farm  in  the  town  of  Troy.  Urban,  the  second  son,  remained  with  his  mother,  aiding  to 


412  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

cultivate  the  land,  until  past  his  majority,  studying  law  meanwhile,  during  his  spare  hours,  at 
Elkhorn.  There  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1846,  and  there  practiced  for  six  years.  While  a 
resident  of  Elkhorn  he  held  several  town  offices,  was  postmaster  from  1845  to  1849  (the  Polk 
administration),  and  served  as  state's  attorney  for  four  years. 

In  1852  Mr.  Meacham  settled  in  Freeport,  where  he  has  practiced  his  profession  a  little  more 
than  thirty  years,  still,  however,  retaining  the  homestead  farm  in  Wisconsin.  His  practice  em- 
braces all  branches,  and  extends  into  all  the  courts,  and  he  has  had  a  good  run  of  business,  his 
profession  affording  him  a  competency.  Being  an  old  resident  of  this  county,  and  very  well 
known,  he  has  a  large  circle  of  warm  friends. 

Since  coming  to  Freeport,  Mr.  Meacham  held,  several  years  ago,  the  office  of  state's  attorney 
for  the  period  of  four  years,  his  being  the  old  fourteenth  district,  which  consisted  of  Winnebago, 
Stephenson  and  Jo  Daviess  counties.  He  was  also  mayor  of  the  city  of  Freeport  one  term,  being 
elected  in  1862  as  a  war  democrat.  He  voted  for  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1864,  because  he  did  not  think 
it  wise  to  change  the  administration  during  the  civil  war,  and  latterly  he  has  acted  with  the 
greenback  party. 

Mr.  Meacham  was  first  married  in  1836,  to  Miss  Prudence  Geddes,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan, 
she  dying  in  1860,  leaving  two  children,  only  one  of  them,  William  P.,  now  living,  he  being  on 
the  farm  in  Wisconsin;  and  the  second  time  in  1864,  to  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  (Coon)  Thompson,  having 
by  her  three  children,  only  two  of  them,  a  daughter  and  son,  Jessie  and  James,  now  living. 


T 


HON.    THOMAS    G.   BLACK,   M.D. 

CLA  YTON. 

HOMAS  GILLESPIE  BLACK,  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  from  Adams  county,  was 
born  in  Murray  county,  Tennessee,  June  i,  1825.  For  his  parentage  and  the  pedigree  of  the 
family  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  sketch  of  his  father,  found  on  other  pages  of  this  work.  When 
Thomas  was  about  nine  years  old  (1834)  the  family  came  into  this  state,  and  settled  in  that  part 
of  Morgan  county  which  was  cut  off  and  became  Scott  county.  The  subject  of  these  notes  was 
engaged  in  farming  and  attending  school  during  the  winter  season  until  about  eighteen,  teaching 
also  about  four  or  five  months.  He  studied  medicine  with  Doctor  William  H.  Wilson,  of  Win- 
chester; attended  lectures  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Kentucky,  at  Louisville, 
from  which  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  and  in  June,  1849,  settled  in  Clayton, 
Adams  county,  where  he  has  had  a  successful  practice  for  more  than  a  score  of  years. 

Doctor  Black  went  into  the  army  in  August,  1861,  as  captain  of  company  C,  3d  Missouri  cav- 
alry, and  some  time  afterward  was  promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel,  and  subsequently  to  colonel, 
of  the  same  regiment.  Its  field  of  operations  was  the  states  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  and  Colo- 
onel  Black  served  for  three  years.  At  Hartsville,  Missouri,  in  a  single  engagement,  no  less  than 
thirteen  bullets  went  through  his  clothes  and  hat  or  grazed  his  saddle. 

Colonel  Black  has  held  a  few  local  offices,  such  as  school  director,  supervisor,  etc.,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  thirtieth  general  assembly,  and  is  now  a  member  of  the  thirty-third.  In  the  former 
body  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  corporations;  in  the  latter  body  he  is  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  labor  and  manufactures,  and  is  also  on  the  committees  on  appropriations,  peniten- 
tiary, contingent  expenses,  elections,  and  insurance. 

In  early  life  the  colonel  was  a  whig,  and  on  the  demise  of  that  party  transferred  his  allegiance 
to  the  republican  party.  He  has  been  a  delegate  to  several  state  conventions,  and  in  1880  was 
sent  to  the  national  convention  which  nominated  General  Garfield.  In  Adams  county  and  in  the 
legislature  he  is  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  influence.  He  is  surgeon  of  the  zd  brigade  national 
guards. 

Colonel  Black  is  high  up  in  masonry,  being  past  commander  of  the  commandery;  and  he  has 
taken  all  the  degrees  in  the  encampment  of  Odd-Fellowship.  He  is  an  elder  in  the  Disciple 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


413 


Church,  and  an  active  man  in  Sunday-schools,  temperance,  and  every  good  cause.  April  15,  1849, 
he  vyas  married  to  Miss  Martha  F.  Nance,  who  was  from  Giles  county,  Tennessee,  and  they  have 
buried  two  children  and  have  four  living:  Mary  Ellen  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  Robert  Briggs,  of 
Clayton;  Martha  F.  is  the  wife  of  Lee  Wells,  of  Creston,  Iowa;  Edwin  T.  is  a  graduate  of  Rush 
Medical  College,  and  practicing  at  Clayton;  and  Joseph  N.  is  a  graduate  of  Rush,  class  of  '83. 


GENERAL  ISAAC  H.  ELLIOTT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ISAAC  HUGHES  ELLIOTT,  adjutant-general  of  the  state,  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  his  birth 
•being  dated  near  Princeton,  Bureau  county,  January  25,  1837.  His  father,  John  Elliott,  was 
born  in  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  and  his  grandfather,  John  Elliott,  Sr.,  was  from  Ireland,  immi- 
grating to  this  country  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and  settling  near  Cincinnati,  where 
he  died.  The  mother  of  Isaac  was  Mary  Hughes,  a  native  of  Ohio.  She  had  six  children,  of 
whom  he  was  the  eldest  child.  He  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  prepared  for  college,  and 
entered  the  University  of  Michigan,  being  graduated  in  the  class  of  '6r.  The  country  was  in  the 
full  blaze  of  civil  war;  his  patriotic  fires  had  been  kindling  since  the  fall  of  Sumter,  and  on 
receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  he  enlisted  in  the  33d  Illinois  infantry  as  captain  of  com- 
pany E,  his  regiment  being  at  first  in  Missouri,  under  General  Curtiss.  Captain  Elliott  was 
captured  October  15,  1861,  at  Big  River  Bridge,  in  that  state,  and  paroled.  He  was  with  his 
regiment  all  through  the  war — at  the  battles  of  Champion  Hill  and  Black  River,  the  siege  and 
capture  of  Vicksburg;  was  in  the  department  of  the  gulf,  going  into  Texas,  and,  returning,  was 
at  the  siege  of  Mobile,  etc.  He  was  promoted  regularly,  clear  through  from  captain  to  brigadier- 
general. 

General  Elliott  was  mustered  out  late  in  the  autumn  of  1865,  and  returned  to  Bureau  county 
to  take  the  office  of  county  treasurer,  to  which  he  had  just  been  elected,  serving  one  term.  He 
has  a  farm  near  Princeton,  which  he  was  cultivating  when,  in  August,  1881,  he  was  appointed  to 
his  present  state  office,  to  which  he  is  now  giving  his  careful  attention.  He  is  well  fitted  for  the 
post,  and  richly  merits  the  honor  conferred  upon  him. 

General  Elliott  is  a  Blue-Lodge  Mason,  holding  his  connection  with  the  Princeton  Lodge.  He 
married  in  1867  Miss  Elizabeth  H.  Denham,  step-daughter  of  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  and  they  have 
four  children. 

HON.   HENRY  RAAB. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THE  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  whose  name  is  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  is  a 
native  of  Wetzlar,  Rhenish  Prussia,  a  son  of  Philip  Louis  and  Justina  (Kayser)  Raab,  and 
was  born  June  20,  1837.  His  father  was  a  tanner  and  currier  by  trade,  an  industrious,  well-to-do 
man,  and  gave  his  children  a  good  education.  Henry  was  educated  in  the  kindergarten,  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  the  Royal  Gymnasium,  taking  the  scientific  course,  which  included  also  Latin, 
French  and.  English. 

In  1853  Mr.  Raab  came  to  this  country,  worked  awhile  at  the  trade  of  currier,  in  Cincinnati, 
subsequently  had  the  supervision  of  an  uncle's  farm  near  Saint  Louis,  and  in  1857  became  an 
assistant  teacher  in  the  public  schools  at  Belleville,  Saint  Clair  county,  this  state,  being  associated 
at  one  period  with  Hon.  J.  P.  Slade,  late  state  superintendent  of  schools.  In  early  school  work 
our  subject  had  the  assistance  and  counsel  of  that  eminent  educator,  George  Bunsen,  who  was  a 
pupil  of  Pestalozzi. 

Becoming  many  years  ago  quite  familiar  with  the  standard  works  on  education,  Mr.  Raab  has 
been  greatly  benefited  by  the  study  which  he  devoted  to  them.  He  was  connected  with  the  pub- 


41 4  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

lie  schools  of  Belleville  for  fifteen  years,  and  was  superintendent  of  the  city  schools  for  ten  years, 
making  a  praiseworthy  record  in  his  profession.  He  has  attended  many  county  teachers'  insti- 
tutes, and  some  state  conventions  of  scientists,  and  his  lectures  and  discussions  before  such  bodies 
were  so  able,  and  attracted  so  much  attention  that  in  1882  the  democratic  party  nominated  him 
for  the  state  office,  to  which  he  was  elected,  and  the  duties  of  which  he  is  now  performing  with 
his  accustomed  zeal.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  worker  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  will,  no  doubt, 
honor  the  post  which  he  fills. 

The  kindergarten  which  he  founded  at  Belleville  in  1874,  has  had  a  highly  creditable  history, 
and  is  quite  flourishing.  He  was  librarian  of  the  Saengerbund  library  at  his  home  in  Saint  Clair 
county,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  is  full  of  public  spirit  and  enterprise  in  all  such  matters. 

Mr.  Raab  was  married  at  Belleville,  in  1859,  to  Miss  Mathilde  Von  Lengerken,  who  was  from 
Ankum,  Hanover,  and  they  have  three  children  living:  Ernest  P.,  a  graduate  of  the  medical 
department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  practice  at  Highland,  Madison  county,  this 
state;  Line  A.,  a  clerk  in  her  father's  office,  and  Mathilde,  who  is  at  school. 


EXCELSIOR  IRON  WORKS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  business  represented  under  the  above  name  was  organized  by  Carlile  Mason,  a  brief  out- 
line of  whose  biography  is  here  recorded.  He  is  a  native  Scotchman,  and  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Paisley,  Renfrewshire,  in  the  month  of  May,  1817.  His  father,  George  Mason,  was 
descended  from  a  French  officer,  who  was  outlawed  by  the  English  government  while  fighting 
for  Prince  Charles  in  Scotland.  He  was  a  man  of  local  prominence,  and  a  leader  in  all  the 
reforms  of  his  day,  and  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  town  council,  and  was  also  chaplain  of 
the  poor-house  and  insane  asylum.  He  died  in  1848. 

Carlile  was  sent  to  a  private  school  until  twelve  years  of  age,  at  which  time  he  entered  his 
father's  factory  for  dressing  cloth  by  a  new  process,  discovered  by  his  brother,  and  which  it  was 
desired  to  keep  from  the  public.  During  this  time  he  improved  his  spare  hours  by  study  of  the 
common  English  branches,  under  a  private  teacher,  and  also  acquired  a  limited  knowledge  of 
chemistry. 

Having  decided  to  become  a  mechanic,  he  turned  his  attention  in  that  direction,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  and  served  for  seven  years,  working  his  way  up  through  all  the  various  positions  from  a 
blacksmith,  until  he  became  an  accomplished  machinist.  He  now  established  himself  in  business 
on  his  own  account,  and  was  meeting  with  fair  success,  when  occurred  the  financial  failures  of 
1842.  In  these  failures  he  lost  all  his  capital,  and  resolved  to  immigrate  to  the  United  States, 
and  start  anew.  Accordingly,  July  20  of  that  year,  he  sailed  from  Liverpool  to  New  York, 
whence  he  went  directly  to  Chicago,  where  he  readily  secured  work  at  $20  per  month.  In  the 
spring  of  1843  he  engaged  as  engineer  for  Frink  and  Walker,  on  the  steamer  Frontier,  which 
plied  between  Peoria  and  Peru,  on  the  Illinois  River,  carrying  the  mail  to  connect  with  the  stages. 
Continuing  in  that  position  during  the  summer,  he,  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  went  to  Sterling,  Illi- 
nois, and  opened  a  blacksmith  shop.  In  this,  however,  he  was  not  as  successful  as  he  had  hoped 
to  be,  owing  to  the  newness  of  the  country,  and  in  1845  returned  to  Chicago,  and  accepted  the 
position  of  foreman  for  Gates  and  Scoville,  who  had  contracted  to  supply  all  the  iron  work  for 
the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  Here  he  had  an  opportunity  to  develop  and  extend  his  mechan- 
ical knowledge,  of  which  he  eagerly  availed  himself,  and  he  also  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
many  of  the  engineers  of  the  canal,  whom  he  found  true  and  lasting  friends.  At  the  close  of  his 
engagement  here,  he  was  employed  with  J.  W.  Cobb  in  the  manufacture  of  steam  engines  and 
boilers,  and  having  been  sent  to  Lake  Winnebago  to  put  an  engine  into  a  small  steamer,  he  there 
engaged  as  engineer  for  the  company,  to  run  the  steamer  during  the  season  of  1849. 

In  the  winter  of   1849-50,  having  returned  to  Chicago,  he  was  induced  to  forego  a  return  to 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


417 


Scotland,  for  which  he  had  made  every  preparation,  and  opening  a  small  shop,  made  a  contract 
with  the  gas  company  to  lay  the  pipes  across  the  Chicago  River,  an  undertaking  which  he  accom- 
plished with  remarkable  success;  so  much  so  that  he  was  afterward  employed  in  a  similar  opera- 
tion by  the  gas  company  at  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin.  His  success  in  these  undertakings  made  for 
him  a  fine  reputation,  and  gave  him  a  new  start  in  his  business,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
financial  depression  of  1857  he  continued  to  prosper  in  his  operations  and  extend  his  works. 

A  change,  however,  was  awaiting  him.  The  commercial  and  industrial  depression  resulting 
from  the  monetary  crash  so  affected  his  business  that  he  was  compelled  to  succumb.  His  entire 
capital  was  swept  away,  and  with  nothing  left  but  his  fair  name,  energy,  enterprise  and  an  indom- 
itable will,  he  worked  for  six  years  liquidating  the  debts  in  which  he  had  become  involved. 

During  the  period  in  which  the  country  was  engaged  in  civil  war  the  business  flourished,  and 
until  1873  each  year  marked  a  decided  advance  in  the  progress  of  its  operations.  It  was  during 
this  time,  in  1860,  that  he  established  the  present  Excelsior  Iron  works.  In  these  works  were 
afterward  associated  with  him  his  two  sons.  The  business  was  begun  on  a  small  scale,  having 
but  $500  capital,  and  at  the  beginning  employed  but  six  hands;  but  such  was  the  progress  of  its 
operations  that  increased  facilities  were  soon  required,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  about  sixty 
hands  were  required  in  the  different  departments.  The  small  shops  occupied  at  the  start  have 
.given  place  to  an  establishment  of  immense  proportions,  being  150  x  150  feet,  and  located  on  the 
corner  of  Clinton  and  Carroll  streets;  220  hands  are  now  employed,  a  capital  of  $125,000  is  en- 
gaged, and  the  annual  products  amount  to  $400,000. 

The  products  of  these  works  are  extensively  known,  and  comprise,  besides  a  general  line  of 
machinery,  steam  engines,  boilers,  and  other  goods  in  that  line.  Their  engines  and  boilers  are 
noted  for  their  many  excellences,  and  are  now  numbered  by  thousands,  and  it  is  a  notable  fact 
that  out  of  this  large  number  there  has  never  yet  occurred  an  explosion. 

The  company  during  the  past  year  have  constructed  and  sent  out  from  their  works  five  hori- 
zontal engines,  sixteen-inch  bore,  twenty-four-inch  stroke;  four  portable  hoisting  engines,  eight- 
inch  bore;  two  twelve-inch  vertical  engines;  thirteen  fence  barbing  machines;  two  sets  of  wind- 
ing engines,  i;Jo  horse  power  each,  besides  a  large  amount  of  other  work.  In  their  boiler  depart- 
ment they  have  contracted  to  build  and  erect  164  boilers,  fifteen  hot-blast  stoves,  five  blast 
furnaces,  together  with  all  the  necessary  connecting  pipes,  smoke  stacks,  etc.  Of  these  boilers, 
seventy-two  were  cylinder  boilers,  forty-eight  inches  diameter,  thirty-six  feet  long;  eight  cylinder 
boilers,  forty-two  inches  diameter,  thirty  feet  long;  thirteen  two-flue  boilers,  forty-two  inches 
diameter,  twenty-four  feet  long;  thirty-seven  tubular  boilers,  sixty  inches  diameter,  sixteen  feet 
long;  twelve  tubular  boilers,  seventy-two  inches  diameter,  eighteen  feet  long;  two  tubular  boil- 
ers, seventy-two  inches  diameter,  sixteen  feet  long;  six  tubular  boilers,  sixty-six  inches  diameter, 
sixteen  feet  long;  two  tubular  boilers,  sixty  inches  diameter,  fifteen  feet  long;  two  tubular  boil- 
ers, fifty-four  inches  diameter,  sixteen  feet  long;  one  marine  boiler,  eight  feet  in  diameter,  nine- 
teen feet  long;  and  the  remaining  nine  were  forty-eight  inches  diameter,  twelve  and  fourteen  feet 
long.  The  hot-blast  stoves  were  twenty  feet,  one  inch  diameter,  sixty  feet  high  to  spring  of  dome, 
and  the  furnaces  were  twenty-nine  feet  diameter  and  sixty-five  feet  high.  For  this  work  there 
has  been  delivered  at  their  works  between  January  i,  1880,  and  January  i,  1881,  2,983,000  pounds 
of  plate  iron  one-quarter  inch  thick,  and  upwards  of  316,293  pounds  of  steel  boiler  plate;  93,222 
pounds  of  sheet  iron,  130,000  pounds  of  rivets,  237,464  pounds  of  bar  iron,  23,424  pounds  of  ham- 
mered shafting,  69,414  pounds  of  channel  and  I  beams,  and  62,857  pounds  of  angle  iron,  a  pro- 
portionate amount  of  castings,  boiler  tubes,  steel,  brass,  etc.,  have  passed  through  their  hands. 
The  officers  of  this  company  are  Carlile  Mason,  president;  George  Mason,  vice-president;  Will- 
iam L.  Crawford,  secretary,  and  J.  A.  Mason,  superintendent  of  the  works. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  a  business  which  has  grown  from  a  very  humble  beginning  to 
a  position  which  reflects  the  highest  credit  upon  its  managers.     Mr.  Mason's  many  sturdy  quali- 
ties have  gained  for  him  a  wide  reputation  as  a  practical  and  thorough  business  man,  and  aside 
from  his  private  interests,  he  has  been  made  the  recipient  of  many  public  trusts. 
42 


41 8  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

In  political  sentiment  he  was  formerly  an  ardent  abolitionist,  and  since  the  organization  of 
the  republican  party  has  been  an  earnest  supporter  of  that  body.  During  the  war  he  was  inspector 
of  steamboats  at  Chicago. 

In  1870  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  district  in  the  state  legislature,  and  filled  the  office  for 
two  years.  He  was  afterward  president  of  the  board  of  police  and  of  the  fire  department  of  Chi- 
cago, and  in  1876  was  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Illinois  as  a  member  of  the  state  centennial 
committee. 

In  religion  he  is  of  liberal  Presbyterian  views,  and  has  been  an  influential  member  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  of  Chicago  since  its  organization,  in  1847. 

Mr.  Mason  was  married  in  his  native  town,  June  6,  1839,  to  Miss  Jean  McArthur,  and  of  the 
five  children  that  have  been  born  to  them,  two  sons  and  one  daughter  are  now  living.  The  for- 
mer are  associated  with  their  father  in  business,  and  the  daughter  is  the  wife  of  a  prominent 
dental  surgeon  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Mason  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  eight  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom  only  one 
died  in  infancy.  Of  these,  seven  immigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  all  except  our  subject 
settled  in  Vermont,  where  lived  an  aunt,  who  was  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Caledonia  county, 
in  that  state,  and  whose  descendants  stlli  live  on  the  old  farm  near  Ryegate.  that  was  cleared  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 

Mr.  Mason  has  in  his  possession  a  letter  written  him  by  his  father  in  1844,  four  years  prior  to 
his  death,  in  which  he  gave  this  advice:  "  Remember  that  your  employer's  interests  are  your  inter- 
ests; and  if  you  expect  to  do  well,  be  honest  to  your  employer,  yourself,  and  your  God."  To  the 
following  of  this  he  attributes  much  of  his  success. 


REV.   FRANCIS   A.   READ. 

POLO. 

REV.  FRANCIS  ASBURY  READ,  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Polo,  Ogle 
county,  is  a  son  of  Lewis  and  Roxy  (Richardson)  Read,  and  was  born  at  Deerfield,  Oneida 
county,  New  York,  February  26,  1822.  His  father,  a  mechanic,  and  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812- 
14,  was  born  in  eastern  New  York,  and  his  mother  in  western  New  York.  Francis  received  only 
a  public-school  education,  being  largely  self-educated  in  the  sciences,  as  well  as  wholly  in  theolo- 
gy. In  his  youth  his  health,  part  of  the  time,  was  poor,  but  he  did  some  collecting  for  his  father, 
and  was  a  clerk  awhile  in  a  drug  store.  He  had  a  taste  for  books,  and  sick  or  well,  rarely  wasted 
any  time. 

He  was  converted  in  his  native  town  when  in  his  fourteenth  year;  moved  with  the  family  to 
Joliet,  Illinois,  in  1836;  became  a  local  preacher  at  Joliet  in  1840,  and  in  1844  went  on  the  Wau- 
ponset  circuit.  He  then  preached  one  year  each  at  South  Ottawa  and  Washington,  Tazewell 
county,  when  his  health  failed  and  he  was  out  of  the  conference  one  year.  Being  readmitted,  he 
was  stationed  one  year  at  the  Blue  Island  mission,  Wheeling  circuit  (Cook  county),  two  years  each 
at  Libertyville  (Lake  county),  Rockford,  State  street  (now  Wabash  avenue),  Chicago,  Galena, 
Batavia,  Rockford  again,  and  Belvidere.  The  term  of  pastorate  admissible  was  now  changed 
from  two  to  three  years,  and  he  served  the  latter  period  as  pastor  at  Batavia  and  Freeport;  was 
then  presiding  elder  four  years,  with  residence  at  Freeport,  when,  returning  to  station  work,  he 
was  sent  a  third  time  to  Rockford  (Winnebago  Street  Church).  He  went  thence  to  Mendota; 
three  years  later  to  Lyndon,  Whiteside  county,  and  two  years  afterward  came  to  Polo,  where  he 
is  serving  his  second  year. 

The  preaching  of  our  subject  has  usually  been  attended  with  marked  success,  and  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  in  the  aggregate,  nearly  two  thousand  persons  have  been  added  to  the  several  churches 
while  he  has  been  their  pastor.  Few  ministers  of  any  denomination  in  this  part  of  the  state  have 
more  warm  personal  friends  than  Mr.  Read,  and  many  have  been  the  tokens  of  their  regard  for 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


419 


him.  The  preachers  of  Freeport  district  presented  him  a  silver  dinner  and  tea  set  at  the  con- 
ference when  his  term  of  presiding  elder  closed.  At  Mendota  he  received  a  gold-headed  cane, 
and  when  he  left  Rockford,  where  he  has  preached  in  all  seven  years,  the  citizens  of  the  place, 
outside  his  church,  presented  him  with  a  horse,  each  gift  being  presented  with  earnest  expres- 
sions of  friendly  feeling  and  fellowship  with  him  in  his  untiring  efforts  to  do  good. 

While  holding  pastorates  at  Galena  and  Freeport,  he  built  fine  churches,  and  commenced  the 
Court  Street  Church  at  Rockford,  having  it  well  under  way  when  he  left.  His  active  work  in 
three  places  has  amounted  to  nineteen  years,  something  which  very  few  circuit  preachers  can  say. 
He  was  treasurer  of  the  conference  missionary  society  for  fourteen  consecutive  years,  thousands 
of  dollars  passing  through  his  hands  annually.  He  was  appointed  chaplain  of  the  95th  Illinois 
infantry  in  1862,  and  joined  his  regiment,  but  owing  to  poor  health,  did  not  go  into  the  field. 

Mr.  Read  was  first  married  January  i,  1849,  to  Miss  Narcissa  L.  Nasen,  daughter  of  Rev.  John 
Nasen,  a  Methodist  Episcopal  clergyman,  of  Elk  Grove,  Cook  county,  and  she  died  August  18, 
1860,  leaving  one  son,  Francis  Adelbert,  now  a  merchant  at  Freeport,  and  four  other  children  had 
preceded  her  to  the  spirit  land.  He  was  married  the  second  time  August  20,  1861,  to  Miss  Jose- 
phine B.  Jordan,  daughter  of  Numa  S.  Jordan,  lawyer,  of  Fulton  county,  Illinois,  she  being  a 
graduate  of  the  Rockford  Female  Seminary.  They  have  had  four  children,  all  daughters,  losing 
the  oldest,  Helen,  at  the  age  of  ten  years.  The  others  are  Allie  May,  Frances  J.  and  Esther  Lizzie. 


EBEN    R.  STONER,   M.D. 

GRIGGSVILLE. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  is  the  oldest  physician 
now  in  active  practice  at  Griggsville,  and  has  been  in  this  (Pike)  county,  engaged  in  the 
medical  profession,  since  1852.  He  is  a  native  of  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  a  son  of  Joseph  and 
Margaret  (Fred)  Stoner,  and  was  born  January  n,  1827.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  his  mother  of  Virginia.  His  grandfather,  Philip  Stoner,  was  from  Germany.  When 
our  subject  was  nine  years  old  the  family  came  to  Brown  county,  this  state,  then  a  part  of  Schuy- 
ler  county,  where  he  and  his  father  engaged  in  farming  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old.  His 
father  died  in  1852  and  his  mother  in  1857. 

Doctor  Stoner  received  only  the  ordinary  drill  of  a  common  school,  and  is  largely  self-edu- 
cated. He  fitted  himself  for  a  teacher,  and  was  engaged  in  that  calling  four  winters,  commencing 
the  study  of  his  profession  with  Doctor  H.  L.  Sulphin,  of  Perry,  while  thus  employed.  He  attended 
two  courses  of  lectures  at  McDowell's  College,  Saint  Louis,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
medicine  in  1854.  Before  taking  the  last  course  of  lectures  Doctor  Stoner  had  practiced  two 
years  at  Chambersburgh,  Pike  county.  On  receiving  his  diploma  he  moved  to  Perry,  same 
county.  In  October  of  that  year  he  married  Ann  Eliza  Whitaker,  daughter  of  Benjamin  D. 
Whitaker,  of  this  county. 

Doctor  Stoner  remained  at  Perry  for  seven  years,  and  in  1861  settled  in  Griggsville,  where,  as 
at  previous  places,  he  has  had  a  good  run  of  professional  business;  and  he  will  have  no  other, 
having  never  accepted  an  office  of  any  kind  nor  handled  anything  but  medicine  and  surgical 
instruments.  Evidently  his  ambition  has  been  and  still  is  to  be  known  as  an  attentive,  careful 
and  successful  physician  and  surgeon.  He  has  had  thirty-one  years'  experience  in  his  profession; 
has  kept  well  read  up  in  medical  science,  and  has  a  good  reputation  for  both  skill  and  success. 

The  doctor  has  paid  some  attention  to  the  study  of  geology  and  archaeology,  and  he  has  a  fine 
collection,  particularly  in  the  latter  branch  of  science.  He  is  naturally  of  a  scientific  turn  of 
mind,  and,  Pike  county  abounding  in  mounds  and  other  remains  of  the  prehistoric  period,  he  has 
made  it  a  part  of  his  mental  recreation  to  gather  relics. 

Doctor  Stoner  has  reported  a  very  few  cases  to  medical  journals,  such  as  he  deemed  of  benefit 
to  the  medical  fraternity,  but  never  takes  up  his  pen  unless  he  has  something  of  real  importance 
to  note. 


420  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

He  takes  some  interest  in  politics,  but  rarely  does  little  more  than  cast  his  ballot,  except  dur- 
ing a  very  exciting  canvass.  His  affiliations  have  always  been  with  the  democratic  party. 

The  family  of  Doctor  Stoner  consists  of  three  children,  one  son  and  two  daughters.  One 
daughter  died  in  infancy.  Stanley,  the  second  child  living,  is  a  student  at  Cornell  University, 
Ithaca,  New  York,  and  Emma  W.  and  Alice  Mabel  are  at  home.  The  children  are  all  being  well 
educated. 

JOHN    P.   BARRETT. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN  P.  BARRETT,  electrician  for  the  city  of  Chicago,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Auburn,  New 
York,  in  1837.  He  came  to  Chicago  with  his  parents  in  1845;  attended  the  public  schools 
until  his  fourteenth  year,  and  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  father  was  compelled  to  leave  school 
and  assist  in  the  support  of  his  brother  and  three  sisters.  His  inclinations  led  him  to  follow  a 
seafaring  life,  and  his  first  occupation  was  deck  sweep  on  the  steamer  Pacific,  then  running,  in 
connection  with  the  Michigan  Central  railroad,  between  New  Buffalo,  Chicago  and  Milwaukee. 
He  followed  the  lakes  in  various  capacities  of  seaman  and  mate  of  several  vessels  until  1857, 
when  he  went  to  New  York  and  shipped  for  California,  where  he  made  several  voyages  around  the 
Horn,  but  in  1858  he  met  with  an  accident  off  the  coast  of  Chili.  The  vessel  he  was  in  was  dis- 
masted, and  he  was  injured  so  that  he  was  compelled  to  adopt  some  other  mode  of  life,  and  after 
being  an  inmate  of  the  Mariners'  Hospital  of  San  Francisco  for  eighteen  months,  he  returned  to 
Chicago,  and  was  appointed  (August  i,  1862)  by  U.  P.  Harris,  the  then  fire  marshal  of  Chicago, 
to  the  position  of  watchman  of  engine  companv  No.  8;  afterward  transferred  to  engine  company 
No.  n,  and  from  there  to  the  cupola  on  the  courthouse  as  bell-ringer,  and  there,  for  nearly  two 
years,  he  tolled  the  hours  and  watched  for  fires.  In  May,  1865,  the  fire-alarm  telegraph  was  adopted 
by  the  city,  and  he  was  appointed  an  assistant  in  the  service  in  that  department.  He  gradually 
arose  from  the  lowest  to  his  present  position,  the  head  of  the  largest  municipal  telegraph  in  the 
world. 

Many  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  system  by  Mr.  Barrett.  Among  his  inventions 
are  the  Barrett  automatic  joker,  now  in  general  use  in  all  the  principal  fire  departments  of  the 
country.  His  last  invention  was  the  police  patrol  telegraph,  now  so  widely  known  throughout 
the  land. 

SAMUEL  HOLDERMAN. 

MORRIS. 

^HIS  gentleman  is  a  son  of  Abram  Holderman,  and  a  younger  brother  of  the  subject  of  the 
A  preceding  sketch.  He  has  been  known  for  many  years  as  the  largest  cattle  dealer  in  north- 
ern Illinois,  and  bears  the  suggestive  title  "cattle  king."  He  was  three  years  old  to  a  day  when 
the  family  reached  Holderman's  Grove,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  riding  in  hot  haste  to  Ottawa  in 
his  night-gown  when  they  fled  from  Black  Hawk's  dusky  warriors.  In  later  years  old  Shawbenee, 
whose  humanity  saved  their  lives,  only  had  to  make  his  appearance  at  Samuel  Holderman's  to 
carry  off  all  his  ponies  could  haul  of  potatoes,  corn,  pork  and  other  supplies  from  his  farm. 
When  nineteen  years  old  Samuel  finally  left  school,  with  a  plain  common-school  education,  and  in 
1848,  when  twenty  years  old,  began  life  for  himself.  The  father  loaned  him  and  an  older  brother 
$1,000  with  which  to  buy  young  cattle.  They  gave  a  joint  note  therefor,  and,  having  signed  it,  were 
puzzled  by  being  asked  by  their  father  whether  they  ever  meant  to  pay  it.  "Of  course,"  said 
Samuel,  "after  we  sell  the  cattle."  "Very  well,  my  sons,"  said  the  wise  father,  "you  will  be  often 
asked  to  put  your  names  to  paper  that  you  do  not  intend  nor  expect  to  pay.  Remember,  never 
to  sign  your  names  to  paper  that  you  are  not  willing  to  pay."  This  excellent  advice  stood  them 
in  good  stead  for  many  years,  and  it  was  only  by  neglecting  it  that  the  only  misfortune  of  his 


L/BRARV 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


423 


life  came  upon  Samuel  Holderman.  This  first  business  transaction  of  Mr.  Holderman  was  a 
great  success,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  He  took  this  money,  to  which  he  added  a 
little  store  of  his  own  and  his  brother's,  amounting  to  less  than  $100,  and  went  on  horseback  to 
Knox  county,  Illinois.  He  then  purchased  114  head  of  young  steers  at  a  cost  of  about  nine  dol- 
lars each;  wintered  them  on  corn,  for  which  he  paid  six  cents  per  bushel  in  the  field  and  gathered 
it  himself;  paid  his  own  board  and  that  of  his  horse  by  permitting  a  neighbor's  drove  of  hogs  to 
follow  his  stock  and  gather  up  the  offal  from  his  feeding;  drove  them  home,  herded  them  through 
the  summer,  and  sold  them  for  $17.50  per  head.  This  paid  their  note  and  left  them  nearly  $1,000 
profit  on  the  transaction. 

He  next  hired  $1,400  of  his  father;  went  to  Henderson  county;  bought  200  head;  drove  them 
home;  bought  out  his  brother's  interest,  and  wintered  them  on  hay  and  grain  his  brother  had 
prepared.  His  father  owned  a  farm  of  240  acres  in  the  town  of  Felix,  four  miles  from  Morris,  on 
Mazon  Creek.  Here  his  cattle  were  wintered,  and  here  he  soon  afterward  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  his  cousin,  John  Holderman,  and  together  they  bought  the  farm.  This  partnership 
prospered  exceedingly,  and  when  it  was  dissolved,  seven  years  later,  Samuel  took  800  acres  of 
land  at  $20  per  acre  as  his  share  of  the  real  estate,  and  John  took  640  acres  at  $15  per  acre. 

In  July,  1852,  he  married  Miss  Martha  H.  Coke,  by  whom  he  had  six  children,  five  of  whom 
are  now  living.  She  died  in  1867.  In  February,  1874,  he  married  his  deceased  wife's  sister,  then 
a  widow,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  King,  with  whom  he  has  lived  happily  ever  since. 

Up  to  the  year  1874  Mr.  Holderman  prospered  in  everything  he  undertook.  He  owned  5,364 
acres  of  land,  all  lying  contiguous  in  the  town  of  Felix.  He  had  erected  a  dwelling  thereon 
costing  $15,000,  and  surrounded  himself  with  every  comfort  wealth  could  command.  He  formed 
a  temporary  copartnership  with  a  lumber  and  grain  dealer  in  Morris,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
the  firm  were  $20,000  ahead.  After  settling  up  he  proposed  a  dissolution,  as  his  own  business 
required  all  his  time  and  attention,  and  the  purpose  of  the  partnership  was  accomplished. 
Mutual  friends  remonstrated,  and  he  finally  yielded,  but  went  about  his  own  affairs  and  left  the 
joint  business  of  the  firm  to  his  partner.  He,  good  easy  man,  trusting  and  venturesome,  became  the 
victim  of  a  ring  made  up  on  the  board  of  trade,  and  Holderman  had  the  bills  to  pay.  He  had  put 
his  name  to  paper  he  never  expected  to  pay,  but  he  did  pay,  all  the  same,  to  the  tune  of  $185,000. 
It  is  doubtful  if  the  transactions  in  which  his  fortune  was  lost  were  genuine,  but  a  nice  sense  of 
honor  seemed  to  decide  the  balance,  and  he  settled.  He  sold  out  his  magnificent  domain  to  Jere- 
miah Collins  for  $220,000  cash,  and  in  March,  1882,  moved  into  Morris. 

The  great  stock-raising  territories  of  the  West  had  for  some  time  attracted  the  attention  of 
Mr.  Holderman,  and  when  the  crash  came  he  made  at  once  a  move  in  that  direction.  His  first 
venture  was  in  July,  1881,  when  he  bought  563  young  cattle  in  Utah  territory,  fed  and  finally  sold 
them  at  a  profit  of  five  dollars  a  head.  The  purchase  of  fat  cattle  of  stock  men  and  shipping 
them  to  the  Chicago  market  also  employed  a  part  of  his  capital  and  time.  His  time  and  that  of  his 
sons  is  now  fully  employed  in  the  business  in  Wyoming.  His  home  is  still  in  Morris,  but  he  is 
rapidly  repairing  his  fortunes,  and  becoming  as  noted  in  his  specialty  in  the  Far  West  as  he  has 
been  in  Illinois.  The  business  is  one  of  little  risk  and  of  great  and  certain  profits,  and  great 
wealth  is  only  a  question  of  time  with  any  one  engaged  in  it.  To  illustrate  the  difference  in  the 
business  in  Illinois  and  Wyoming,  Mr.  Holderman  furnishes  the  following  figures:  A  calf  will  cost  in 
Illinois  $i  per  month  to  raise  till  three  years  old,  and  it  will  cost  $1.25  to  get  it  to  market  from  Morris. 
The  total  cost  for  three  years  is  then  $37.25.  A  calf  in  Wyoming  only  costs  $i  per  year  to  raise  till 
three  years  old,  but  costs  $10  per  head  to  ship  to  Chicago,  a  total  of  $13  per  head,  as  against 
$37.25  from  Illinois.  Besides,  Wyoming  grass-fed  steers  bring  $:  per  hundred  more  in  Chicago 
market  than  Illinois  grass-fed  beef.  It  need  not  be  said  that  instances  are  numerous  of  rapid 
accumulation  of  wealth  among  the  cattle  kings  of  the  Far  West.  He  mentions  a  case  of  two 
brothers  who  nine  years  ago  were  penniless  and  worked  for  stock-men  at  $30  per  month,  but  are 
now  worth  at  least  $300,000  each. 

Mr.  Holderman  is  a  man  who  will  succeed  anywhere.     He  is  a  solid-built,  muscular  man,  in 


424  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

magnificent  health  and  strength.  He  is  active  and  despises  ease  and  pleasure,  hopeful,  never 
cast  down  nor  discouraged,  and  of  indomitable  will,  energy  and  perseverance,  and  of  inexhausti- 
ble patience.  He  is  a  man  without  evil  associations  or  bad  habits.  In  spite  of  reverses  he  is  a 
careful,  shrewd  and  cautious  man,  and  a  man  of  good  judgment,  but  with  a  heart  as  big  as  an 
ox.  If  this  is  not  a  weakness  it  is  at  least  his  vulnerable  point;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  even  the 
claims  of  friendship  will  be  able  again  to  catch  him  napping.  Of  course  he  is  a  republican  in 
politics  of  the  old  school,  for  he  is  a  broad-gauge  man  everywhere,  and  perhaps,  for  that  reason, 
despises  the  crooked  ways  of  politicians,  and  prefers  to  be  a  king  among  his  herds  than  a  leader 
in  politics. 

It  is  impossible  to  get  such  a  man  down  or  keep  him  under.  He  is  of  a  make-up  to  snatch 
victory  from  defeat,  and  triumph  everywhere.  His  hosts  of  friends  everywhere  rejoice  in  his 
prosperity,  and  have  unbounded  confidence  that  "Sam  is  always  sure  to  win." 


CAPTAIN    PATRICK    McGRATH. 

CHICAGO. 

/~*APTAIN  P.  McGRATH  is  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  was  born  in  the  County  Doun,  Ire- 
* — '  land,  in  1833.  When  he  was  five  years  of  age  his  family  immigrated  to  this  country,  and  first 
settled  in  Albany,  New  York,  where  they  resided  for  four  years,  when  they  moved  to  Johnstown, 
Fulton  county,  New  York,  and  remained  five  years,  when  they  moved  to  Wisconsin,  and  took  up 
a  farm  in  Dodge  county,  where  he  worked  clearing  up  the  land,  and  assisted  in  making  a  home- 
stead, which  is  in  the  possession  of  one  of  the  family  to  this  day.  He  was  ambitious  to  become 
something  more  or  different  than  a  farmer,  and  employed  the  time  between  seasons  of  labor  on 
the  farm  in  attending  school  and  reading  and  studying  by  himself  during  all  his  leisure  hours. 
In  1859-60  he  attended  the  Larego  College,  a  commercial  institute  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin, 
paying  his  tuition  from  the  proceeds  of  his  farm  labor.  He  was  studious  and  industrious,  and 
hence  has  acquired  a  self-education  superior  to  that  of  the  majority  who  have  had  all  the  advan- 
tages of  schools.  He  has  learned  from  the  great  book  of  nature,  and  to  a  good  purpose. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  late  rebellion  he  enlisted  in  the  i7th  (Irish)  Wisconsin  infantry  as  a 
private,  and  was  commissioned  by  the  then  Governor  Harvey  as  second  lieutenant,  and  served 
faithfully  for  three  years  and  six  months.  He  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  at  Lake  Provi- 
dence, Louisiana,  and  was  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  commanding  the  special  detail  of 
sharp-shooters  of  General  Ransom's  brigade  through  the  entire  siege,  and  in  all  the  charges 
against  the  city  and  its  fortifications,  and  was  specially  complimented  by  General  Ransom  for 
gallantry  and  bravery  as  a  soldier  and  officer  during  that  memorable  siege.  He  was  among  the 
first  to  put  foot  in  the  captured  intrenchments,  and  was  selected  to  take  charge  of  a  portion  of 
the  arms  and  equipments  of  the  conquered  rebel  soldiers.  After  the  capitulation,  General  Ran- 
som surrounded  and  took  the  city  of  Natchez,  in  which  Captain  McGrath  also  bore  a  conspicuous 
part. 

After  this  event  he  was  granted  a  thirty  days'  furlough,  with  many  others,  to  recuperate 
exhausted  strength  and  energies.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time  he  promptly  reported  to  his  regi- 
ment, and  was  appointed  by  general  order  to  reenlist  the  regiment  as  veterans,  and  succeeded 
in  getting  all  but  about  thirty  to  do  so,  which  General  McPherson  said  "  was  a  larger  proportion 
than  was  reenlisted  in  any  other  regiment  in  the  western  army,  and  to  Captain  McGrath  must  be 
accredited  most  of  the  credit.  He  labored  earnestly  and  industriously  to  accomplish  the  result." 
Earnestness,  persistency  and  industry  are  characteristics  of  his  nature,  as  shown  in  whatever  he 
undertakes. 

In  the  fall  of  1864  he  was  promoted  to  the  captaincy  of  his  company  (company  A,  ijth  Wis- 
consin) at  Acworth,  Georgia,  and  was  always  on  the  skirmish  line,  and  always  at  the  front  and 
on  duty  in  the  most  dangerous  positions.  He  was  with  that  regiment  subsequently  in  all  the 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  425 

battles  in  which  it  was  engaged,  including  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
was  mustered  out,  leaving  behind  a  record  which  stamped  him  a  brave,  courageous  and  honora- 
ble soldier  and  officer. 

In  1865  he  went  to  Chicago,  and  was  employed  by  the  board  of  public  works  as  superintend- 
ent of  one  of  the  departments;  thence  to  the  postoffice,  where  he  was  engaged  for  two  years,  when 
he  was  appointed  by  the  board  of  county  commissioners,  in  1878,  as  county  agent,  which  impor- 
tant and  responsible  position  involves  the  caring  for  the  poor  and  needy  in  various  ways.  He 
has  been  reelected  each  succeeding  year,  and  holds  the  position  now.  In  this  capacity,  as  in  all 
others  in  which  he  has  been  called  to  act,  he  has  proven  to  be  a  competent,  conscientious  and 
efficient  officer,  not  only  in  the  discharge  of  his  formal  duties,  but  in  the  introduction  of  several 
important  reforms  in  the  management  of  the  complicated  affairs  of  that  office;  reforms  tending 
to  greater  economy  and  efficiency  in  administration,  guarding  against  fraud  and  the  perpetration 
of  deception,  and  the  compilation  of  such  statistics,  records  and  history  as  will  clearly  show  the 
workings  of  this  means  of  dispensing  outdoor  charities,  which  will  be  of  permanent  interest,  and 
a  guide  to  his  successors  in  continuing  the  good  work  in  which  he  has  been  so  preeminently  suc- 
cessful. He  is  a  gentleman  universally  respected  by  all  who  know  him;  a  stalwart  republican;  a 
man  of  good  instincts,  and  possessing  the  elements  of  true  manhood;  a  good  citizen. 


COL.  DANIEL  D.  T.  HICKS, 

PITTSFIELD. 

DANIEL  p.  TOMPKINS  HICKS,  banker,  and  an  early  settler  in  Pike  county,  is  a  native  of 
Bennington  county,  Vermont,  his  birth  being  dated  August  12,  1812.  He  is  a  grandson  of 
Simeon  Hicks,  who  shouldered  his  musket  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolutionary  war,  and 
bravely  assisted  in  gaining  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  The  parents  of  Daniel  were  Tru- 
man B.  and  Barbara  (Hayes)  Hicks,  the  latter  being  a  native  of  Rutland  county,  Vermont.  His 
father  was  an  assistant  surgeon,  and  afterward  adjutant  in  the  war  of  1812-14.  When  Daniel  was 
an  infant  the  family  moved  to  Saratoga  county,  New  York.  His  mother  died  soon  afterward,  and 
he  removed  to  Warren  county,  and  lived  there  until  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  received  a  very 
ordinary  English  education,  taught  school  one  term  at  Luzerne,  Warren  county,  New  York;  was 
colonel  of  the  i66th  regiment,  New  York  militia  ;  came  to  Pike  county  in  1838,  and  here  taught 
school  two  years,  most  of  which  time  he  boarded  with  an  aged  couple,  in  a  little  log-house  four 
miles  south  of  Pittsfield,  and  paid  his  board  by  doing  chores  at  night  and  in  the  morning,  and 
hauling  and  chopping  wood  on  Saturday  forenoons.  His  wages  were  $2  per  quarter  for  each 
scholar. 

Colonel  Hicks  served  as  deputy-sheriff  for  four  years  ;  was  then  elected  sheriff,  arid  served  the 
same  period.  On  leaving  the  shrievalty,  he  was  engaged  for  a  few  years  in  merchandising,  and 
during  that  time  he  was  elected  county  treasurer  two  terms,  which  office  made  him  ex-officio  col- 
lector of  taxes  for  the  county,  for  four  successive  years,  and  then  he  continued  mercarftile  business 
until  about  1863.  In  1865  he  entered  the  First  National  Bank  of  Pittsfield,  as  clerk.  Two  years 
later  he  became  cashier,  and  that  position  he  still  holds.  The  bank  is  one  of  the  soundest  and 
best  managed  institutions  of  the  kind  in  southwestern  Illinois. 

Since  becoming  a  banker  Colonel  Hicks  held  the  office  of  school  director  for  some  years,  and 
since  then  has  been  treasurer  of  the  school  district.  He  is  an  eminently  trustworthy  man,  and 
takes  his  share  of  responsibilities  in  the  management  of  the  public  schools  and  other  local  matters. 

Colonel  Hicks  has  always  affiliated  with  the  democratic  party,  and  in  1860,  when  his  favorite 
statesman,  Judge  Douglas,  was  a  candidate  for  president,  he  took  the  stump  for  the  "  little  giant." 
Mr.  Hicks  has  lost  none  of  his  interest  in  politics,  but  leaves  to  younger  members  of  the  party  the 
more  active  work.  Years  ago  he  was  a  regular  attendant  on  the  meetings  of  the  Odd-Fellows 
local  lodge,  and  represented  it  two  or  three  times  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  state,  but  of  late 


426  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

years  he  has  attended  no  meetings.  Colonel  Hicks  is  a  member  and  elder  of  the  Christian  Church, 
a  man  of  firm  religious  convictions,  and  exemplary  in  his  manner  of  living. 

He  was  first  married  in  1842,10  Miss  Mary  Jane  Burbridge,  of  Pike  county,  she  dying  in  1844, 
leaving  one  daughter,  who  died  at  eighteen  years  of  age  ;  and  the  second  time  in  1845,  to  Miss 
Julia  Ann  Burbridge,  a  cousin  of  his  first  wife.  By  her  he  has  had  seven  children,  all  yet  living  but 
one  daughter,  Emma,  who  died  after  she  had  married  Harry  Higbee.  The  six  living  children  all 
reside  in  Pittsfield.  Robert  T.  is  assistant  cashier  under  his  father ;  Fanny  is  the  wife  of  George 
Barber;  Barbara  E.,  of  Henry  R.  Mills;  Florine,  of  E.  P.  Dow,  and  Laura  and  James  W.  are 
unmarried. 

Mr.  Hicks's  recollections  of  early  days  in  Pike  county  are  very  vivid.  He  is  very  communi- 
cative and  genial,  and  hence  is  quite  interesting  in  conversation. 


JAMES  Y.   CAMPBELL,   M.D. 

PAX  TON. 

WHILE  the  lives  of  self-made  men  seldom  abound  in  incidents  of  a  substantial  character, 
there  is  yet  an  energy,  a  perseverance  and  an  underflow  of  character  that  lends  to  them  a 
charm,  an  attractiveness  and  worth  that  merit  admiration  and  careful  thought.  James  Y.  Camp- 
bell began  in  life  a  poor  boy,  and  by  his  own  efforts  has  risen  to  an  honorable  position,  both  in  his 
profession  and  in  his  social  life.  He  was  born  in  Huntington,  Pennsylvania,  July  30,  1831,  and  is 
the  son  of  Mark  and  Matilda  (Goshorn)  Campbell,  the  former  being  of  Scotch  descent,  while  the 
latter  was  of  German  and  English.  They  led  an  agricultural  life  in  the  East  until  1837,  when 
they  emigrated  west,  settling  at  Frankfort,  Indiana. 

James'  early  life  was  that  of  a  farmer's  boy,  and  he  was  early  taught  those  habits  of  economy 
and  industry  which  have  marked  his  subsequent  life.  His  early  education  was  gained  at  the  com- 
mon schools,  while  working  on  his  father's  farm,  until  about  the  age  of  seventeen;  then  he  attended 
high  school  for  eighteen  months,  then  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  engaged  as  clerk  in  a  store, 
taking  a  course  in  a  commercial  college  at  the  same  time.  This  he  continued  for  about  a  year. 
He  there  developed  a  great  fondness  for  study,  at  first  giving  the  law  his  attention,  but  finally 
determined  to  prepare  himself  for  the  medical  profession,  in  which  he  has  since  been  a  hard  and 
close  student.  Being  dependent  upon  himself,  he  went  through  the  course  of  training  so  com- 
mon to  young  doctors, —  teaching  school,  clerking  in  store, —  to  pay  the  expense  of  his  medical 
schooling.  Of  such  material  are  our  sturdy  American  reformers  made.  After  three  years  of 
study  with  Doctor  R.  Q.  Wilson,  of  Rossville,  Indiana,  as  preceptor,  he  went  to  the  Rush  Medical 
College,  Chicago,  where  he  attended  one  course  of  lectures  (session  of  1856-57),  after  which  he 
settled  in  Durand,  Illinois,  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  at  the  same  time  continuing  his 
studies  and  attending  medical  lectures  at  Chicago  Medical  College  in  the  years  1864-65,  grad- 
uating thoroughly  qualified  in  all  branches  of  his  profession. 

In  the  fall  of  1866  Doctor  Campbell  removed  to  Paxton,  where  he  practiced  until  1869,  when 
he  moved  south,  settling  in  Mississippi.  Here,  in  connection  with  his  professional  duties,  he  gave 
some  attention  to  journalism,  editing  with  marked  success  for  three  years  "The  Star  of  Enter- 
prise," at  that  time  a  well  known  journal.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  he  went  to  Meridian, 
Mississippi,  where  he  established  the  Meridian  "Star,"  in  connection  with  his  practice,  and  at  the 
same  time  conducted  the  "Star  Printing  House."  Doctor  Campbell  displayed  great  tact  and 
natural  ability  as  a  journalist,  and  had  he  continued  in  that  line  he  would  have  ranked  as  high 
among  our  prominent  journalists  as  he  is  among  those  in  the  medical  profession. 

In  August,  1873,  Doctor  Campbell  returned  to  Paxton,  where  he  has  given  his  exclusive  time 
to  his  practice  and  scientific  study,  and  it  is  said  by  those  who  are  deemed  proper  judges  that  the 
doctor's  selection  of  books,  which  constitute  his  library,  and  his  numerous  valuable  instruments, 
which  have  both  been  his  pride,  are  second  to  none  in  the  state,  outside  of  the  larger  cities.  His 


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career  has  been  remarkably  successful,  and  he  is  classed  among  the  leading  physicians  of  the 
state.  He  has  not  only  been  successful  in  his  profession,  but  has  likewise  managed  his  financial 
business  with  the  same  dexterity;  is  a  large  property  owner,  owning,  in  addition  to  other  property, 
two  large  residences  in  Paxton,  besides  considerable  farming  land. 

In  his  religious  views  he  is  liberal,  and  holds  the  golden  rule  as  the  rule  of  action.  He  is  a 
republican  in  politics,  and  has  been  honored  with  several  offices.  Soon  after  coming  to  the  town 
he  was  elected  alderman,  and  was  again  elected  to  the  same  office  in  1878.  In  1868  he  was 
elected  mayor,  which  office  he  again  filled  in  1879,  and  during  that  same  year  was  elected  super- 
visor, which  position  he  again  filled  in  1880.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a 
Knight  Templar,  and  has  alwavs  taken  an  active  part  in  the  temperance  movement. 

He  has  been  twice  married,  first  to  Mary  J.  Slipher,  of  Rossville,  Indiana,  who  only  lived  six 
months  after  her  marriage.  He  was  again  married  in  1856  to  Miss  Hattie  C.  Potts,  of  Lafayette 
Indiana.  From  this  brief  sketch  it  may  be  seen  that  Doctor  Campbell  possesses  rare  talent  and 
ability  and  a  vast  amount  of  enterprise,  on  which  may  be  based  his  success  in  life.  He  is  pos- 
sessed of  refined  tastes  and  feelings,  of  sterling  integrity  and  fine  social  qualities,  and  is  highly 
esteemed,  both  as  a  man  and  physician,  by  all  who  know  him. 


T 


WILLIAM    C.   SEIPP. 

CHICAGO. 

HIS  gentleman  is  the  son  of  the  famous  brewer,  Conrad  Seipp,  and  his  wife,  Marie  (Teutsch) 
Seipp.  He  is  a  native  of  the  Garden  City,  and  all  there  is  of  him  has  been  developed  here. 
His  father  is  a  native  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  whence  he  emigrated  to  Chicago  in  1849.  Two  years 
later,  January  4,  1851,  William  was  born.  Three  years  afterward  his  father  began  the  business  of 
brewing,  from  which  the  immense  establishment  has  arisen  now  known  as  the  Conrad  Seipp 
Brewing  Company. 

Mr.  Seipp  received  his  preliminary  schooling  in  the  public  schools  of  Chicago.  After  spending 
some  time  at  Douglas  University  he  entered  Mount  Pleasant  Military  Academy  in  1867.  In  1869 
he  graduated,  and  at  once  entered  the  law  office  of  Rosenthal  and  Pence,  where  he  remained  till 
the  great  fire  in  1871. 

Upon  the  change  of  the  business  into  a  stock  company  Mr.  Seipp  became  its  first  secretary 
and  treasurer,  which  position  he  held  until  July,  1878,  when  he  was  elected  vice  president,  and 
remains  such  at  the  present  time.  Although  deeply  immersed  in  the  management  of  an  extensive 
business  requiring  his  entire  time,  and  not  a  politician  in  any  sense,  yet  in  1879  he  consented  to 
allow  his  name  to  be  used  on  the  democratic  ticket  for  the  office  of  city  treasurer,  and  was  elected 
by  the  large  majority  of  over  six  thousand  (6,000).  This  was  at  the  time  of  Mayor  Harrison's 
first  election,  and  in  a  city  usually  regarded  as  republican  was  looked  upon  as  a  fine  compliment 
to  his  sterling  qualities  as  a  business  man  and  an  excellent  indorsement  of  his  character  as  a  man 
and  a  citizen.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  his  financial  administration  was  wholly  satisfactory  to  his 
constituents.  Contrary  to  his  wishes,  and  much  against  his  will,  he  received  the  democratic 
nomination  in  1882  for  the  office  of  county  treasurer,  and  after  a  very  exciting  and  severely 
fought  contest  was  elected  over  his  competitor  by  about  3,000  majority.  Mr.  Louis  Hutt,  his 
republican  antagonist,  was  a  very  popular  man,  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Seipp  may  be  regarded 
as  a  second  indorsement  by  his  fellow-citizens  more  flattering  than  the  first. 

October  28,  1874,  Mr.  Seipp  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  A.  Huck,  the  daughter  of 
the  late  John  A.  Huck,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Chicago.  The  union  was  a  very  happy  one, 
and  has  been  fruitful  in  two  children.  The  summer  of  1881  he  spent  about  five  months  with  his 
family  in  Europe,  visiting  the  principal  places  of  interest,  returning  home  in  the  month  of  October. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Seipp  is  the  embodiment  of  a  solid  business  man  —  rather  under 
the  medium  height,  but  heavy  set  and  well  formed,  with  a  pleasant  countenance  and  a  frank  and 
43 


430  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

friendly  eye.  He  makes  friends  readily,  and  is  very  warm  and  lasting  in  his  attachments.  He  is 
a  prominent  member  of  numerous  German  and  American  societies,  whose  purposes  are  mainly 
social,  musical  and  benevolent.  He  also  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity;  belongs  to  Home 
Lodge,  No.  508,  Chicago  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  and  is  also  a  Knight  Templar,  Apollo  Com- 
mandery,  No.  i,  Illinois. 

DORRIS   NEWELL,   M.D. 

PEC  A  TONICA. 

FEW  men  in  any  community  are  deserving  of  more  respect  than  the  self-sacrificing  country 
doctor,  who,  regardless  of  the  weather  or  the  distance  of  the  ride,  rises  at  any  hour  in  the 
night,  and  hastens  away  to  minister  to  the  comforts  of  the  sick,  or  set,  perhaps,  a  broken  limb. 
The  hardships  of  this  class  of  professional  men  are  very  great,  and  they  are  fortunate  if  their  own 
constitution  is  not  broken  down,  and  they  are  laid  aside  from  work  before  they  have  numbered 
their  three-score  years.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  just  rounded  up  his  fifty  years,  being  born 
in  Huntingdon  county,  Pennsylvania,  October  28,  1832;  and  although  he  has  been  in  active  prac- 
tice since  1856,  or  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  has  taken  the  best  of  care  of  him- 
self, arid  notwithstanding  he  has  endured  great  hardships,  and  been  subject  to  severe  exposure, 
he  is  in  prime  health,  and  for  aught  we  know,  is  good  for  another  twenty-five  years'  practice. 
His  father,  Alexander  Newell,  was  a  farmer,  who  gave  Dorris  an  opportunity  in  early  youth  to 
develop  and  strengthen  his  muscle  by  tilling  the  soil  in  his  native  country.  His  mother,  Marga- 
ret Dorris,  was  a  cousin  of  Hon.  John  Scott,  the  Pennsylvania  senator,  and  an  aunt  of  W.  P. 
Dorris,  a  lawyer  and  prominent  coal  dealer  at  Huntingdon,  Pennsylvania. 

When  about  fourteen  our  subject  left  the  farm  and  a  country  school,  and  finished  his  educa- 
tion at  the  Shade  Gap  Academy.  He  studied  his  profession  at  Armagh,  Huntingdon  county,  with 
Doctors  Stewart  and  Barr;  attended  lectures  at  Jefferson  College,  Philadelphia:  received  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1856;  came  to  Stephenson  county,  in  this  state;  settled  at  Ridott, 
and  practiced  there  until  1861,  when  he  went  to  Dixon,  Lee  county,  and  for  two  or  three  years 
was  assistant  surgeon  in  the  marshal's  office. 

In  1865  Doctor  Newell  left  Dixon  for  Pecatonica,  Winnebago  county,  near  the  eastern  line  of 
Stephenson,  where  he  was  well  known.  Here  he  stepped  into  a  good  business  almost  immediately, 
his  reputation  for  skill  in  this  vicinity  having  already  been  well  established.  He  still  has  frequent 
occasions  to  test  his  physical  endurance,  by  long  rides,  extending  ten  or  fifteen  miles  from  home, 
and  in  cases  of  consultation  he  is  often  called  still  farther.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known  men  of 
any  class  in  western  Winnebago  and  eastern  Stephenson,  and  is  highly  respected,  because,  in 
addition  to  proficiency  in  medical  science,  under  a  plain  exterior,  he  wears  a  kindly  and  obliging 
heart. 

The  doctor  has  a  second  wife.  His  first  was  Marinda  Hawkins,  of  Ridott,  married  in  1859, 
and  dying  in  1867,  leaving  one  son;  and  his  present  wife  was  Jennie  Thompson,  of  Pecatonica, 
married  in  1869.  By  her  he  has  no  issue. 


REV.  WILLIAM   D.  CLARK. 

CARROLLTON. 

WILLIAM  DANIELS  CLARK,  pastor  of  the  Carrollton  Baptist  Church,  and  a  successful 
minister  for  more  than  thirty  years,  dates  his  birth  at  Scipio,  Cayuga  county,  New  York, 
March  30,  1826.  His  parents  were  Ichabod  Clark,  D.D.,  and  Esther  (Daniels)  Clark.  His  father 
was  a  self-educated  Baptist  minister,  a  fine  classical  scholar,  and  a  preacher  of  great  power,  com- 
mencing his  pastoral  work  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  continuing  to  preach  for  forty-eight  years. 
His  pastorates  were  in  western  New  York  (where  the  writer  of  this  sketch  first  made  his  acquain- 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


43' 


tance)  and  in  Illinois.  His  pulpit  efforts  and  pastoral  work  were  attended  with  wonderful  success, 
and  it  is  believed  by  people  best  acquainted  with  him  that  he  was  the  means  of  the  conversion  of 
three  thousand  souls. 

His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  William  Daniels,  who  was  deacon  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Scipio 
simultaneously  with  his  own  brother,  John,  for  more  than  fifty  years.  She  died  at  Rockford,  Illi- 
nois, in  1854,  and  her  husband  at  Lockport,  Illinois,  while  acting  as  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church 
of  that  place,  in  1869. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  mainly  at  the  Nunda  Literary  Institute,  where  he 
prepared  to  enter  the  third  year  in  college.  He  now  commenced  business  pursuits,  but  after  a 
short  time,  feeling  that  he  was  called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  entered  upon  a  preparation -for 
that  work,  studying  theology  with  his  father. 

He  was  ordained  at  Lamoille,  Illinois,  in  June,  1850,  and  there  held  his  first  pastorate  of 
between  three  and  four  years.  At  first  the  church  was  small  and  weak,  not  numbering  more  than 
sixty  members,  and  worshiping  in  a  school  house;  but  at  the  close  of  his  pastorate  it  had  a  good 
brick  church  and  about  two  hundred  members,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  whom  he  had  bap- 
tized. It  was  for  many  years  the  largest  and  strongest  church  in  the  Ottawa  Association.  He 
next  went  to  Ottawa,  and  afterward  to  Morris,  county  seat  of  Grundy  county.  In  both  places 
powerful  revivals  attended  his  labors,  and  the  churches  were  greatly  strengthened. 

In  1859  his  health  and  that  of  his  family  being  greatly  impaired,  he  found  a  pleasant  home 
and  enjoyed  a  successful  pastorate  with  the  church  in  Waukesha,  Winconsin.  Here  old  and  seri- 
ous difficulties  were  healed,  and  during  the  nearly  four  years  that  he  labored  among  them  about 
one  hundred  were  converted  and  baptized  into  the  fellowship  of  the  church.  He  went  thence  to 
the  Sycamore  Street  (now  Grand  Avenue)  Church  of  Milwaukee.  There  also  his  labors  were 
blessed  to  the  conversion  of  a  goodly  number  of  souls,  who  were  added  to  the  church.  From 
Wisconsin  Mr.  Clark  returned  to  this  state,  accepting  a  call  to  the  Baptist  Church  in  Galesburgh, 
which  he  found  distracted  by  internal  dissensions,  but  in  less  than  a  year  the  difficulties  had  dis- 
appeared, about  one  hundred  had  been  baptized,  their  house  of  worship  had  become  too  strait 
for  their  congregations,  and  they  hired  a  hall,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  twelve  hundred,  where 
they  held  their  services  for  one  year  while  they  built  their  present  elegant  house  of  worship  at  a 
cost  of  $35,000. 

From  Galesburgh  Mr.  L  lark  came  to  Carrollton,  where  he  spent  two  of  the  most  prosperous 
and  successful  years  of  his  life.  On  one  Sabbath  he  welcomed  to  the  fellowship  of  the  church 
over  seventy  new  members,  and  baptized  in  all  nearly  one  hundred.  He  then  went  to  Aurora, 
and  two  years  later  to  Quincy.  At  the  latter  place  he  was  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
which  he  found  heavily  in  debt  and  greatly  discouraged.  The  church  was  not  financially  strong, 
and  yet  a  debt  of  $12,000  must  be  raised  in  a  few  months  or  their  house  of  worship  sacrificed. 
During  the  first  six  months  $10,000  was  raised,  and  $2,000  borrowed  on  extended  time  at  a  low 
rate  of  interest.  This  was  soon  followed  by  a  powerful  revival,  which  added  not  only  to  the 
numbers  and  spiritual  power  of  the  church,  but  to  its  pecuniary  strength. 

In  May,  1873,  our  subject  accepted  the  pastorate  of  the  Columbia  Square  Church  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, California,  and  at  the  same  time  the  editorial  chair  of  "The  Evangel,"  the  organ  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  on  the  Pacific  coast.  After  a  residence  of  a  little  less  than  two  years  cir- 
cumstances growing  out  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  country  necessitated  his  return  to  the 
East.  His  church  offered  to  continue  him  as  their  pastor  and  give  him  a  vacation  of  six  months, 
but  he  felt  that  it  was  best  to  return  permanently.  Among  other  expressions  of  esteem  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  passed  by  the  church  will  go  far  to  show  his  standing  in  California: 

Resolved,  That  while  he  edited  and  controlled  "  The  Evangel "  it  was  a  faithful  exponent  of  Gospel  truth,  a  pro- 
moter of  peace  and  harmony  in  our  churches,  and  a  credit  to  our  denomination  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Resolved,  That  in  severing  the  relation  of  pastor  we  desire  to  expfess  our  high  appreciation  of  Brother  Clark  as  a 
man  of  rare  pulpit  talent,  an  earnest,  faithful  ambassador  of  Christ,  a  kind  and  genial  Christian  gentleman  whom  all 
can  love  and  respect,  and  as  such  we  commend  him  to  any  and  all  with  whom  his  lot  may  be  cast. 


432  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Since  returning  to  Illinois  Mr.  Clark  has  held  pastorates  in  Macomb  and  a  second  pastorate  in 
Ouincy,  in  both  of  which  places  his  labors  were  blessed  to  the  ingathering  of  a  goodly  number 
of  souls,  and  he  is  now  for  a  second  time  pastor  in  Carrollton,  where,  as  in  every  place  in  which 
he  has  ever  been  pastor,  he  is  held  in  warm  esteem  by  citizens  in  general,  as  well  as  by  his  own  con- 
gregation. He  is  a  discreet  and  judicious  pastor,  as  well  as  a  pointed  and  pungent  preacher,  and 
has  received  in  the  aggregate  more  than  one  thousand  persons  into  the  churches  with  which  he 
has  labored.  Indeed  he  has  never  been  pastor  of  but  one  church  where  his  labors  have  not  been 
crowned  with  numerous  conversions,  while  most  of  the  churches  have  received  large  accessions, 
as  the  above  sketch  shows. 

'Mr.  Clark  was  married  May  n,  1848,  to  Miss  Mary  S.  Wright,  who  had  a  few  months  pre- 
viously removed  from  Geneseo,  New  York,  with  her  parents,  Doctor  Ebenezer  Wright  and  wife, 
.to  Schoolcraft,  Michigan.  To  this  most  estimable  woman,  attractive  in  person,  cultured  in  mind 
and  manners,  Mr.  Clark  is  largely  indebted  for  any  usefulness  with  which  his  labors  have  been 
attended.  She  is  possessed  of  the  rare  faculty  of  commanding  the  respect  and  securing  the 
warmest  affections  of  all  with  whom  she  becomes  familiar.  The  duties  and  criticisms  of  a  min- 
ister's wife  are  often  very  painful,  but  she  has  known  little  of  these.  Universally  beloved  and 
conscientiously  devoted  to  her  work,  she  has  scarcely  had  an  enemy.  "She  looketh  well  to  the 
ways  of  her  household,  and  eateth  not  the  bread  of  idleness.  Her  children  rise  up  and  call  her 
blessed;  her  husband  also,  and  he  praiseth  her."  They  have  five  children:  Harriet  Esther,  wife 
of  J.  F.  Fisdale,  of  Milwaukee;  Delia  M.,  wife  of  Frank  N.  Gay,  of  Galesburgh,  and  Lillie 
Estelle,  William  E.  and  George  W.,  who  reside  in  Quincy. 


c 


HON.  CALVIN    H.   FREW. 

PAXTON. 

ALVIN  H.  FREW  is  the  son  of  Robert  and  Anna  S.  Frew,  and  a  native  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
His  life  has  been  characterized  by  simplicity,  sincerity,  earnestness  and  integrity,  and  fairly 
illustrates  what  may  be  attained  by  patiently  and  persistently  pursuing  a  determined  and  manly 
purpose.  As  a  boy,  he  was  fond  of  study  and  reading.  He  was  raised  on  a  farm,  where  he 
developed  an  independent,  self-reliant  and  sturdy  character,  devoting  to  his  books  his  time  not 
employed  in  farm  or  other  work.  When  seventeen  years  old  he  began  teaching,  giving  his  earn- 
ings to  his  father,  and  also  in  this  way  accumulated  money  to  defray  his  expenses  at  the  high 
school,  and  at  Beaver  Academy,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  later,  at  the  Vermilion  Institute,  in  Ohio. 
He  was  a  diligent  student,  and  from  over-exertion  in  this  direction,  somewhat  impaired  his 
health. 

In  1862  he  became  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Kalida,  Ohio,  and  in  1863  and  1864  occupied 
a  similar  position  in  the  high  school  of  Young  America,  Illinois.  In  this  way  he  paid  the  indebt- 
edness incurred  in  getting  his  education,  and  was  also  able  to  gratify  a  desire  to  study  law,  which 
he  continued  in  connection  with  his  teaching.  In  the  spring  of  1865  he  settled  in  Paxton,  his 
present  home,  and  there  pursued  his  legal  studies  until  December  following,  when  he  was,  by  the 
supreme  court  of  Illinois,  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  payment  of  his  license  fee  left  him  penniless, 
but  he  yet  possessed  a  determined  purpose,  and  by  earnest  application  to  his  profession,  soon 
built  up  a  paying  practice. 

His  legal  attainments  and  forensic  powers  gained  for  him  a  more  than  local  reputation,  and 
naturally  suggested  him  as  a  fit  person  to  represent  his  district  in  the  state  legislature.  He  was 
elected  to  the  general  assembly  in  1868  from  Ford  and  Iroquois  counties,  and  as  a  member  of 
that  body  distinguished  himself  by  effective  work  in  introducing  and  securing  the  passage  of 
many  important  measures,  and  won  high  encomiums  from  the  press  throughout  the  state.  As  a 
man  is  judged  by  his  acts,  some  of  Mr.  Frew's  important  ones  will  be  referred  to.  The  following 
resolution,  introduced  by  him  January  19, 1869,  expresses  his  views  respecting  an  important  ques- 


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UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


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tion  touching  the  right  of  the  state  to  regulate  railroad  companies  in  their  charges.  The  prevail- 
ing opinion  was,  that  any  limitation  of  the  powers  conferred  by  a  company's  charter  to  fix  its 
rates  would  conflict  with  the  provision  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  prohibiting  a  state 
legislature  from  passing  any  act  impairing  the  obligations  of  contracts.  One  of  the  resolutions 
reads: 

Resolved,  That  all  privileges,  powers  or  prerogatives  acquired  by  railroad  companies  of  the  state  government  are 
subordinate  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  people  or  community  where  constructed,  and  that  the  right  of  the  state  to 
exercise  a  reasonable  control  over  such  companies  is  one  of  which  no  power  can  divest  the  people. 

The  same  doctrine  was  several  years  later  supported  by  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  and  in 
the  year  1883  was  confirmed  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Frew  also  intro- 
duced and  secured  the  passage  of  the  measure  prohibiting  a  husband  from  collecting  or  control- 
ing  the  earnings  of  his  wife;  an  act  changing  and  greatly  simplifying  the  practice  relating  to 
ejectment;  the  section  of  the  act  regulating  exemptions,  which  provides  that  "no  personal  prop- 
erty shall  be  exempt  from  levy  of  attachment  or  execution  when  the  debt  or  judgment  is  for  the 
wages  of  any  laborer  or  servant,  etc." 

Prior  to  i869^the  state  had  been  overrun  with  what  were  termed  wild-cat  insurance  companies, 
for  the  most  part  irresponsible  organizations,  that  had  come  to  be  a  crying  evil.  Toward  this 
Mr.  Frew  turned  his  attention,  and  introduced  a  bill  providing  that  all  insurance  companies 
should  be  placed  on  a  firm  and  sure  foundation.  The  bill  met  with  the  most  furious  opposition 
on  the  part  of  lobbyists  in  behalf  of  the  bogus  companies,  but  despite  everything  they  could  do, 
the  measure  triumphed  and  became  a  law.  Within  one  year  the  horde  of  wild-cat  insurance  com- 
panies throughout  the  state  closed  their  business,  and  their  place  was  supplied  by  responsible 
companies.  To  Mr.  Frew  was  largely  due  the  success  of  the  bill,  and  by  the  New  York  papers  he 
was  given  the  sole  credit  of  .the  victory. 

In  1870  he  was  reflected  by  a  very  large  majority  from  the  counties  of  Ford  and  Kankakee. 
He  was  active  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  county  court  act;  also  that  providing  for  a  short 
form  of  deed  and  mortgage,  and  that  pertaining  to  eminent  domain,  and  also  secured  an  amend- 
ment to  the  practice  act,  whereby,  when  mistakes  occurred  in  the  names  of  defendants  to  actions, 
the  same  could  be  amended,  and  the  names  of  other  defendants  added,  and  judgment  rendered 
against  such  as  might  be  liable,  without  suffering  a  non-suit.  He  also  procured  amendments  to 
the  act  relating  to  attachments,  and  was  the  author  of  an  important  change  in  the  chancery  prac- 
tice act,  providing  that  where  any  defendant  is  a  non-resident,  the  circuit  clerk  shall  send  a  copy 
of  the  notice  of  the  proceedings  to  the  defendant's  address,  unless  it  is  shown  by  affidavit  that 
such  address,  after  diligent  inquiry,  cannot  be  ascertained,  the  object  of  which  was  to  prevent 
parties  from  obtaining  decrees  and  judgments  against  defendants  without  their  knowledge. 

In  1878  Mr.  Frew  was  elected  to  the  legislature  for  the  third  time,  from  the  counties  of  Ford 
and  Livingston,  by  the  largest  majority  of  any  member.  A  very  important  measure,  the  passage 
of  which  he  secured  during  this  session,  was  that  requiring  all  trust-deeds  to  be  foreclosed  in  the 
courts  instead  of  by  advertisement.  As  a  legislator,  his  only  aim  was  to  serve  the  state,  and  in 
all  his  active  career  in  that  capacity  he  was  never  known  to  advocate  any  measure  actuated  by 
mere  personal  motives  or  the  desire  to  promote  the  interests  of  a  friend.  As  a  speaker  he  pos- 
sessed rare  qualities;  was  clear,  concise,  forcible  and  effective,  and  in  addressing  the  assembly 
never  failed  to  .gain  an  interested  and  respectful  audience.  Many  complimentary  notices  of  his 
course  appeared  in  the  press,  of  which  we  select  a  few: 

August  6,  1869,  the  Chicago  "Tribune"  said:  -'Frew  is  urged  by  his  friends  to  become  a  can- 
didate for  the  constitutional  convention.  *  *  *  During  the  long  and  trying  session  of  last  winter 
he  discharged  the  duties  of  his  position  with  marked  fidelity  and  intelligence."  The  Oilman 
"Star"  said:  "We  often  regret  having  opposed  Mr.  Frew,  because  after  he  got  to  Springfield  he 
was  determined  that  his  constituents  should  know  what  was  going  on."  The  Saint  Louis  "Globe- 
Democrat,"  April  23,  1879,  said:  "The  able  and  comprehensive  speech  of  Mr.  Frew  in  support  of 
his  (life  insurance)  bill  was  the  feature  of  the  session,  *  *  *  and  rising  to  a  grand  flight  of  elo- 


436  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

quence,  he  pleaded  that  his  bill  might  pass."  Also  the  "  Republican  Register,"  Galesburgh,  about 
the  same  date,  said:  "He  (Frew)  has  presented  two  bills  during  the  present  session  possessing 
great  merit."  "His  life-insurance  bill  should  be  on  our  statute-book."  "His  cockle-bur  bill  is 
worthy  the  attention  of  our  law-makers."  "Pass  them  into  laws."  The  Peoria  "Democrat," 
speaking  of  the  cockle-bur  bill,  said:  "  It  would  be  a  blessing  to  farmers  if  some  stringent  law 
was  passed  in  regard  to  this  weed."  .  While  the  Chicago  "Times"  thus  indorsed  it:  "  Frew's  bill 
to  destroy  cockle-burs  and  velvet-weeds  was  also  lost.  This  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best 
measures  of  its  kind,  and  was  greatly  desired  by  the  farming  community  throughout  the  state. 
*  *  *  Another  reason  for  killing  the  bill  was,  Frew  had  refused  to  trade  his  vote  in  favor  of  the 
Joliet  appropriation  steal." 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Frew  is  an  ornament  to  his  profession,  bringing  to  it  a  mind  cultured  by 
long  experience,  and  stored  with  a  varied  fund  of  literary  and  legal  lore.  He  is  a  counselor  whose 
opinions  are  based  upon  authorities,  and  whose  counsels  are  reliable  and  safe;  while  as  an  advo- 
cate before  court  or  jury,  he  presents  his  arguments  with  gracefulness  and  ease,  and  at  the  same 
time  with  a  clear  and  earnest  force  that  is  at  once  entertaining  and  convincing. 

A  self-made  man,  he  has  attracted  to  himself  many  true  friends,  who  esteem  him  for  his  manly 
virtues  and  genuine  worth. 

He  is  a  republican,  of  broad  and  liberal  views,  though  in  1878  he  was  elected  as  a  reformer; 
but  not  because  he  did  not  indorse  the  only  true  republican  principles.  He  always  claimed  he 
was  a  true  republican,  and  now  holds  there  is  no  longer  any  necessity  for  republicans  being 
divided. 

JAMES  R.  DOOL1TTLE,  JR. 

CHICAGO. 

TAMES  REUBEN  DOOLITTLE,  JR.,  son  of  Hon.  James  R  Doolittle,  United  States  senator 
J  from  Wisconsin,  from  1857  to  1869  ;  was  born  at  Warsaw,  Wyoming  county,  New  York,  April 
2,  1845.  His  grandfather  was  Reuben  Doolittle,  who,  with  his  brother  Ormus,  was  a  merchant  for 
many  years,  at  Wethersfield  Springs,  New  York.  The  Doolittle  family  in  this  country  settled 
originally  in  Connecticut,  and  its  representatives  are  now  found  in  many  states  of  the  Union. 
The  mother  of  our  subject,  before  her  marriage,  was  Mary  L.  Cutting,  whose  ancestors  were  also 
early  settlers  in  Connecticut. 

Mr.  Doolittle  received  his  early  education  at  Racine  College,  Wisconsin,  to  which  city  the 
family  had  moved  when  he  was  six  years  of  age,  and  in  1863  he  entered  the  junior  class  of  the 
University  of  Rochester,  and  was  graduated  at  twenty  years  of  age  (1865)  as  senior  prize  essayist. 
He  commenced  reading  law  in  the  city  of  Washington  ;  continued  his  legal  studies  at  the  Har- 
vard Law  School,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  December,  1866,  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  practiced  his  profession  for  four  years.  In  1870,  when  his  father 
had  left  the  senate,  returned  to  Wisconsin,  and  opened  a  law  office  in  Chicago,  his  son  joined  him 
in  the  business,  and  they  are  still  in  partnership.  Their  practice  is  almost  entirely  civil,  and  quite 
extensive. 

A  gentleman  who  .knows  the  Doolittles  intimately,  and  has  practiced  at  the  bar  with  both  of 
them,  thus  writes  to  the  editor  of  this  work  in  regard  to  the  son  : 

"  Although  comparatively  a  young  man,  I  regard  J.  R.  Doolittle,  Jr.  as  a  lawyer  of  extensive 
learning  in  his  profession,  and  remarkable  ability.  With  a  mind  richly  adorned  by  nature,  he  is, 
at  the  same  time,  a  man  of  good  culture  and  great  self-command.  He  brings  to  the  examination 
of  legal  questions,  a  cool,  patient,  and  nice  practical  discrimination,  of  the  utmost  value,  in  with- 
holding his  ultimate  conclusion  until  his  case  or  problem  has  been  studied  in  all  its  different 
bearings,  and  he  comes  to  action.  His  style  of  address  and  argument  is  most  convincing  before 
a  court,  or  jury,  it  being  close,  logical  and  free  from  rant,  yet  warm  in  feeling,  because  his  empha- 
sis proceeds  from  a  conviction  that  the  argument  he  uses  is  of  unanswerable  weight.  His  bear- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


437 


ing  is  candid,  and  his  integrity  beyond  reproach.  The  best  evidence  of  his  ability  in  a  law  argu- 
ment with  the  court  was  lately  furnished  in  this  city  by  one  of  the  ablest  judges  of  the  United 
States  court,  who  had  but  little  intimacy  with  Mr.  Doolittle's  practice,  and  no  knowledge  person- 
ally of  his  reputation,  except  as  a  politician,  and  who  said  :  'Young  Doolittle  surprised  me.  He 
has  just  made  an  argument  before  me  which  would  do  credit  to  any  lawyer  I  have  ever  heard.' 
Mr.  Doolittle  is  about  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  and  has  left  politics  to  take  care  of  law,  for  which 
the  judge  referred  to  thinks  him  most  eminently  fitted." 

Mr.  Doolittle,  like  his  father,  is  a  strong  politician,  of  the  democratic  school,  and  in  1878  was 
the  candidate  of  his  party  for  congress,  in  the  first  Illinois  district,  and  ran  several  hundred  ahead 
of  his  ticket,  but  was  beaten  by  Hon.  William  Aldrich,  the  present  incumbent  of  that  office. 

Mr.  Doolittle  married  in  November,  1869,  Clara  S.,  the  third  daughter  of  J.  A.  Matteson,  of 
Springfield,  Illinois,  and  they  have  three  children,  one  son  and  two  daughters. 


E.   H.  THURSTON,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

T7BENEZER  H.  THURSTON,  a  man  of  self-culture  and  high  attainments,  was  born  in  Wol- 
JL/  verhampton,  England,  December  22,  1838,  and  was  the  seventh  of  a  family  of  twelve 
children.  His  parents,  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Thurston,  with  their  families,  immigrated  to  America 
about  the  year  1845,  and  settled  at  Hubbardsville,  Madison  county,  New  York.  It  was  in  the 
district  school  of  this  small  hamlet  that  Ebenezer  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education.  He 
subsequently  attended  the  Hubbardsville  Academy,  under  the  tuition  of  Professor  James  Bush, 
remaining  here  until  his  parents  removed  to  Utica,  New  York,  where  he  continued  his  studies  at 
the  Utica  Acade<ny  until  1859,  when  he  began  his  professional  studies  with  Doctor  M.  M.  Bagg, 
of  Utica,  New  York,  a  man  of  great  experience  and  high  social  standing. 

Before  his  studies  were  completed  the  war  of  the  rebellion  broke  out,  and  he  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  Here  his  native  abilities  and  professional  knowledge  were  soon  called 
into  requisition  by  his  being  appointed  steward  in  the  regular  army,  where  he  displayed  great 
executive  ability  and  presence  of  mind,  rendering  much  valuable  service  to  the  country.  After 
holding  this  position  for  a  year,  his  health  became  greatly  impaired  by  an  attack  of  malarial 
fever,  and  he  was  honorably  discharged  from  duty. 

Returning  to  Utica,  he,  after  regaining  his  health,  continued  his  studies  with  Doctor  Bagg, 
and  at  the  University  of  Buffalo,  where  he  graduated  doctor  of  medicine,  with  honors,  in  the 
winter  of  1864. 

Immediately  after  his  graduation,  Doctor  Thurston  received  a  commission  from  the  governor 
of  New  York  state  as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  8th  New  York  cavalry,  a  position  which  he  was 
well  fitted  to  fill.  Here  he  was  much  esteemed  by  his  fellow  officers  and  soldiers,  and  was  subse- 
quently, a  short  time  before  the  close  of  the  war,  breveted  surgeon.  Doctor  Thurston  was  in 
several  very  important  engagements  with  his  regiment,  and  was  at  one  time  taken  prisoner,  and 
confined  in  Libby  Prison,  Richmond,  Virginia,  for  about  five  months. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  settled  in  Bridgewater,  New  York,  where  he  practiced  with  great 
success  for  three  years,  after  which  he  moved  to  Utica,  New  York,  where  he  remained  until  1870, 
when,  after  looking  for  a  more  fertile  field  for  his  efforts,  he  settled  in  Chicago.  He  has  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  to  his  profession,  and  by  ignoring  all  class  distinction,  and  treating  rich 
and  poor  alike,  he  has  become  known  as  a  public  benefactor,  and  built  up  an  extensive  and  lucra- 
tive practice,  and  made  hosts  of  friends,  who  highly  appreciate  his  knowledge  and  professional 
ability. 

Doctor  Thurston  is  an  example  of  self-culture,  having  risen  to  his  present  standing  by  his 
own  efforts,  educating  himself  and  earning  his  own  living  since  thirteen  years  of  age.  In  May, 
1866,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Julia  Francis  Randall,  daughter  of  James  Randall,  of  Utica,  New 
York.  They  have  one  child,  Grace. 


438  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Doctor  Thurston  has  always  been  a  regular  practitioner,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Oneida 
County  Medical  Society,  of  New  York,  and  is  now  a  member  of  the  Chicago  Medical  Society, 
where  his  services  are  given  frequently  to  the  well  deserving  poor.  He  is  well  known  to  be  one 
of  the  most  liberal  and  kind-hearted  members  of  the  profession. 


JOSEPH   F.  GLIDDEN. 

DE  KALB. 

IT  has  long  been  the  opinion  of  political  economists  that  barb-wire  fence  was  cheaper  than 
stone  or  wood,  particularly  where  timber  is  scarce,  and  patents  for  such  fence  were  issued 
as  early  as  1867.  There  was,  however,  a  defect  in  the  wire  fencing  manufactured  under  such 
patents,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  lives  in  a  prairie  state,  commenced  studying  this 
subject  about  ten  years  ago.  In  October,  1873,  after  experimenting  for  some  time,  he  made 
application  for  a  patent,  which  was  issued  the  next  spring.  Meantime  he  gave  his  whole  mind 
to  this  subject,  and  the  result  was  that  he  made  further  improvements,  and  another  patent  was 
issued  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year.  Says  a  writer  on  the  subject  of  galvanized  barb  wire: 

"Mr.  Glidden  put  his  invention  at  once  into  practical  use  on  his  own  farm,  and  demonstrated 
its  efficiency  as  a  stock  proof  fence,  and  there  to  this  day  the  original  product  may  be  found  doing 
duty,  and  always  equal  to  every  emergency.  The  process  of  manufacture  was  crude  in  the 
extreme.  The  barbs  were  cut  by  hand,  and  first  a  pair  of  flyers,  and  afterward  the  parts  of  an 
old  coffee  mill  were  extemporized  as  a  machine  for  coiling  them  about  the  wire.  When  a  piece 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  long  had  been  barbed,  a  smooth  wire  was  placed  beside  it  and  one  pair  of 
ends  fastened  to  a  tree,  and  the  others  attached  to  the  axle  of  a  grindstone,  which  by  turning 
with  a  crank  gave  it  the  twist.  About  this  time  I.  L.  Ellwood,  who  was  engaged  in  the  hard- 
ware and  stove  trade  in  De  Kalb,  and  who  had  already  spent  much  time  and  money  investigating 
the  fence  problem,  and  had  taken  out  several  patents  for  various  styles  of  fence,  became  associ- 
ated with  Mr.  Glidden,  and  they  formed  a  copartnership  under  the  firm  name  of  Glidden  and 
Ellwood,  and  began  the  manufacture  and  introduction  of  the  fence.  Mr.  Ellwood  having  much 
practical  experience  in  commercial  relations  was  at  once  placed  in  charge  of  the  business  man- 
agement of  the  firm,  and  to  his  tact  and  business  capacity  may  be  attributed  no  small  amount 
of  the  success  which  has  followed  the  enterprise,  though  at  that  time  it  was  regarded  simply  as  a 
hazardous  venture.  The  factory  was  moved  from  the  farm  to  the  village,  and  here  the  improve- 
ment was  made  of  using  horse  power  for  doing  the  twisting,  the  barbs  being  slipped  on  to  one 
end  of  the  wire  and  then  placed  the  proper  distance  apart  by  hand.  By  this  method  one  hundred 
pounds  per  day  was  a  good  average  to  the  workman.  In  1875  the  company  built  the  first  part  of 
the  old  brick  shop,  put  in  a  small  steam  engine,  which  was  made  to  do  the  twisting,  and  Mr. 
Glidden  and  T.  W.  Vaughan  obtained  a  patent  for  some  devices  for  barbing  and  spooling,  that 
were  used  for  some  time,  and  proved  an  efficient  aid  to  the  workmen." 

In  1876  the  Washburn  and  Moen  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts, 
noticing  an  increasing  demand  for  a  size  wire  not  heretofore  called  for  to  any  great  extent,  began 
to  investigate  the  cause  of  it,  and  subsequently  purchased  Mr.  Glidden's  half  interest  in  the  pat- 
ents and  business,  and  formed  the  present  copartnership  with  Mr.  Ellwood,  who,  as  before  stated, 
already  owned  the  other  half  interest  of  each.  The  business  now  began  to  loom  up,  and  soon 
assumed  gigantic  proportions.  An  idea  of  its  extent  may  be  inferred  from  a  sketch  of  Isaac  L. 
Ellwood,  found  on  other  pages  of  this  work. 

By  his  great  invention  Mr.  Glidden  has  made  a  fortune  in  less  than  a  decade.  His  royalty  is 
over  $100,000  per  year.  But  his  marvelous  success  has  not  made'his  head  swim.  He  is  the  same 
unsophisticated  level-headed  farmer  that  he  was  ten  years  ago,  and  may  often  be  seen  at  the  old 
homestead  in  his  coat  sleeves  toiling  like  a  poorer  man.  A  few  years  ago  he  built  the  Glidden 
House,  in  De  Kalb,  a  first-class  hotel,  and  that  is  now  his  hospitable  home. 


3H1  JO 

Aavaan 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  441 

Joseph  Farwell  Glidden  is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  a  son  of  David  and  Polly  (Hurd)  Glid- 
den.  and  was  born  at  Charleston,  Cheshire  county,  January  18,  1813.  When  he  was  only  one  year 
old  the  family  moved  to  western  New  York,  and  settled  in  the  town  of  Clarendon,  Orleans  county, 
where  Joseph  was  reared  on  a  farm.  In  addition  to  the  branches  usually  studied  in  a  district 
school  he  paid  some  attention  to  algebra  and  the  classics,  intending  at  one  period  to  enter  col- 
lege, but  gave  up  the  plan.  He  taught  a  few  terms. 

In  the  autumn  of  1842  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  bought  of  Russell  Huntley  a  claim  of  six  hun; 
dred  acres  one  mile  west  of  the  village  of  De  Kalb,  and,  with  the  exception  of  three  years  spent  in 
Ogle  county,  he  has  been  a  resident  of  De  Kalb  county  for  forty  years.  He  added  to  his  original 
homestead  years  ago,  and  the  farm  now  contains  more  than  eight  hundred  acres,  which  is  under 
excellent  improvement  and  has  first-class  buildings. 

Mr.  Glidden  was  elected  sheriff  of  De  Kalb  county  in  1852,  the  year  that  Franklin  Pierce  was 
chosen  president,  and  was,  we  believe,  the  last  democratic  sheriff  of  the  county.  He  has  also 
served  several  terms  in  the  county  board  of  supervisors,  and  may  have  held  other  local  offices 
which  we  do  not  recall. 

Mr.  Glidden  has  been  twice  married,  the  first  time  in  1837,  at  Clarendon,  New  York,  to  Cla- 
rissa Foster,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  June,  1843,  and  died  the  next  year.  Two  sons,  the  only  chil- 
dren born  in  New  York  state,  died  a  short  time  before,  and  a  son,  born  at  her  death,  died  in 
infancy.  He  was  married  the  second  time  in  October,  1851,  to  Miss  Lucinda  Warne,  a  daughter 
of  Henry  Warne,  an  early  settler  in  Kane  county,  Illinois,  and  they  have  one  daughter,  Elva 
Frances,  who  is  married  to  W.  H.  Bush,  merchant,  Chicago. 


U 


U.  P.  SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 
T  ZZIEL  PUTNAM  SMITH,  lawyer,  and  a  prominent  real-estate  owner  and  improver,  dates 


his  birth  at  Orange,  Franklin  county,  Massachusetts,  December  18,  1836.  His  father,  Hum- 
phrey Smith,  in  his  day  a  farmer  and  stock  dealer,  and  his  mother,  Sophrinia  Allen  (Ward)  Smith, 
were  also  born  in  that  county.  This  branch  of  the  Smith  family  were  early  settlers  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  the  father  of  Sophrinia  Ward  was  among  the  pioneers  in  Orange,  and  a  large  property 
owner  there.  Her  mother  was  a  Putnam,  and  a  relative  of  General  Putnam. 

-  Our  subject  attended  a  district  school  during  the  winter  season  until  fifteen  years  of  age,  after 
which  he  took  care  of  himself.  He  attended  the  Townsend  (Vermont)  Academy  two  years;  spent 
about  a  year  at  Oberlin  College,  when  his  health  failed,  and  he  gave  up  his  studies  for  a  while 
and  taught  one  year  in  Michigan.  He  then  spent  two  years  in  traveling  at  the  South,  and  on 
returning  entered  the  law  department  of  Harvard  University,  where  h'e  was  graduated  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1858.  Mr.  Smith  went  directly  to  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  where  he  was  principal  of  the  public 
school  one  year,  after  which  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Eli  Bates,  attorney,  but  the  law  busi- 
ness was  extremely  dull  in  Des  Moines,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1859  he  settled  in  Chicago.  He 
was  with  the  firm  of  Scales,  McAllister  and  Jewett  until  the  summer  of  1861,  when  he  went  into 
the  army  as  lieutenant  in  McAllister's  battery. 

Before  leaving  the  East  for  Iowa,  in  1858,  Mr.  Smith  had  married  Miss  Lizzie  Morgan,  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut,  and  a  few  months  after  he  went  into  the  service  she  became  so  ill  that  she  was 
supposed  to  be  near  the  end  of  her  life;  hence  he  resigned  his  commission,  and  in  May,  1862,  left 
the  army  and  returned  to  Chicago.  His  wife  finally  recovered,  and  they  have  a  family  of  three 
children. 

Soon  after  returning  to  Chicago  Mr.  Smith  became  a  partner  of  the  law  firm  of  Walker  and 
Dexter,  and  on  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Walker  the  firm  of  Dexter  and  Smith  continued  for  a 
period  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years,  or  until  January,  1879,  having  an  extensive  and  highly  remu- 
nerative practice.     For  a  year  or  two  our  subject  was  substantially  out  of  practice,  but   in  tin: 
44 


442  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

spring  of  1881  he  resumed  his  legal  business  in  earnest,  being  alone  in  the  profession,  and  having, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  all  the  business  he  could  desire. 

For  the  last  fifteen  years  or  more  Mr.  Smith  has  given  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  the  buying 
of  city  property  and  improving  it.  He  has  built  in  all  nearly  a  hundred  dwelling  houses,  all  on 
land  of  his  own,  and  including  forty-two  elegant  residences  in  Aldine  Square,  which  covers  about 
nine  acres  of  ground,  and  is  one  of  "the  beauty  spots  of  Chicago,  situated  on  the  South  Side, 
rjear  the  city  limits. 

One  of  Mr.  Smith's  more  recent  ventures  was  the  purchase  of  thirty  acres  of  the  old  Camp 
Douglas  property,  just  north  of  the  university,  and  where  he  has  lately  built  several  dwelling 
houses  on  Rhodes,  Groveland  Park  and  Lake  avenues.  No  other  lawyer  in  this  city  has  shown 
the  enterprise  exhibited  by  Mr.  Smith  in  this  direction,  and  the  great  wonder  is  how  he  could 
attend  to  his  large  legal  practice  while  having  so  much  other  business  on  his  hands.  He  is  a  good 
example  of  the  typical  western  man,  who  makes  a  success  with  many  irons  in  the  fire  simultaneously. 


HON.  DAVID  McCULLOCH. 

PEORIA. 

ONE  of  the  most  eminent  jurists  in  central  Illinois  is  the  gentleman  with  whose  name  we  have 
headed  this  sketch,  and  who  is  a  native  of  the  Key  Stone  State;  a  son  of  Thomas  McCul- 
loch,  a  prominent  farmer,  and  Isabella  (Blain)  McCulloch,  both  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  born  in  Cumberland  county,  January  25,  1832.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Marshall  College,  Penn- 
sylvania, class  of  '52,  in  which  he  took  the  highest  honors;  came  to  Illinois  in  April  of  the  next 
year;  taught  school  in  Peoria  until  the  spring  of  1855,  when  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Manning 
and  Merriman,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1856.  Meanwhile,  in  November  of.  the  preceding 
year,  he  had  been  elected  county  superintendent  of  schools,  to  which  office  he  was  twice  re- 
elected,  holding  it  till  1861.  It  was  during  that  period  that  the  free-school  system  of  the  state 
went  into  operation,  and  he  was  just  the  man  to  give  it  a  good  start  in  his  county.  His  taste,  as 
well  as  scholastic  attainments,  admirably  fitted  him  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  public  schools  of  the 
county,  and  he  did  a  good  deal  to  elevate  their  standard. 

In  September,  1860,  Mr.  McCulloch  left  the  office  of  his  preceptors,  and  opened  one  by  him- 
self, but  in  less  than  a  year,  says  a  writer  for  the  Chicago  "Tribune,"  "upon  the  occasion  of 
Merriman's  elevation  to  the  bench,  he  was  taken  into  partnership  with  Hon.  Julius  Manning, 
which  lasted  until  Manning's  death,  July  4,  1862.  He  then  formed  a  copartnership  with  the  late 
Charles  P.  Taggart,  which  continued  until  1869,  when  the  firm  was  dissolved  by  the  failing  health 
of  Taggart,  who  then  went  to  California.  During  the  continuance  of  this  firm,  and  especially 
the  last  two  years,  on  account  of  Taggart's  ill-health,  the  duties  of  the  office  of  state's  attorney, 
which  office  Mr.  Taggart  held,  largely  devolved  upon  Mr.  McCulloch.  After  a  partnership  of 
short  duration  with  J.  M.  Rice,  Mr.  McCulloch  formed  a  partnership  with  John  S.  Stevens,  which 
continued  until  the  appointment  of  the  latter  as  postmaster,  in  1876.  This  was  the  most  pros- 
perous period  of  his  practice.  During  his  term  as  school  superintendent,  many  of  his  suggestions 
made  to  the  state  superintendents  were  adopted  by  them,  and  afterward  embodied  in  amend- 
ments to  the  school  system.  Some  amendments  were  drawn  by  himself,  and  are  still  part  of 
that  law. 

As  early  as  1876,  from  the  overcrowded  conditions  of  the  courts,  especially  of  the  supreme 
court,  it  was  found  that  legislation  was  imperatively  demanded  to  increase  the  judicial  force  of 
the  state.  An  appellate  court  was  provided  for  by  the  constitution,  to  be  composed  of  judges  of 
the  circuit  court;  but  there  were  no  judges  to  spare  for  that  service.  The  courts  were  in  perplex- 
ity, and  lawyers  at  their  wits'  end.  In  view  of  this  state  of  affairs,  Mr.  McCulloch  addressed  a 
communication  to  the  'Legal  News,'  of  Chicago,  proposing  a  remedy  which  seemed  to  him  fea- 
sible. This  letter  was  published  October  14,  1876,  and  in  the  same  number  was  one  from  Stephen 


UNITKD    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

R.  Moore,  of  Kankakee,  proposing  the  formation  of  a  state  bar  association.  These  proposals  took 
hold  of  the  minds  of  the  lawyers  throughout  the  state,  and  elicite3  free  discussion  in  the  public 
prints.  A  state  bar  association  was  formed  in  Springfield  in  January,  1877,  and  that  body  imme- 
diately took  steps  for  the  reformation  of  the  judicial  system,  the  legislature  then  being  in  session. 
A  committee,  of  which  Judge  Puterbaugh  and  Judge  Thornton  and  McCulloch  were  members, 
was  appointed  to  draft  the  necessary  bills,  the  work  largely  devolving  upon  Puterbaugh  and  Mc- 
Culloch. The  result  was  that  their  bills,  in  their  main  features,  became  laws,  thirteen  new 
judgeships  were  created,  and  the  appellate  courts  organized,  all  in  accordance  with  the  plan  sug- 
gested in  Mr.  McCulloch's  letter  to  the  'Legal  News.'  The  result  has  been  most  satisfactory. 
The  first  election  under  this  act  took  place  August  6,  1877,  when  Judge  McCulloch  was  elected 
by  a  handsome  majority.  In  June,  1879,  he  was  reelected  by  a  still  larger  vote.  As  soon  as  the 
result  of  the  election  was  known  he  was,  by  the  supreme  court,  assigned  as  one  of  the  appel- 
late judges  of  the  third  appellate-court  district,  which  position  he  now  occupies.  At  the  last 
annual  meeting  of  the  state  bar  association,  he  was  chosen  its  president  for  this  year  "  (1880). 

In  1882  Judge  McCulloch  was  the  republican  nominee  for  the  supreme  judgeship  of  the  fifth 
judicial  circuit,  but  Judge  Craig,  who  had  already  held  that  seat  for  several  years,  and  was  giving 
good  satisfaction,  was  reelected. 

Judge  McCulloch  was  married  in  1858,  to  Miss  Mary  F.  Hemphill,  of  Middlespring,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  they  have  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  vet  living. 

It  is  admitted  by  all  parties  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  possesses  one  of  the  finest  legal 
minds  in  Illinois;  that  he  discharges  the  functions  of  his  office  with  marked  ability,  and  that  he 
is  one  of  the  most  sterling  men  of  the  state.  He  has  the  ability  to  fill  any  civil  position  in  which 
the  people  of  Illinois  could  place  him. 


F 


FRANCIS   P.   ANTLE,  M.D. 

PETERSBURG. 

RANCIS  PETREE  ANTLE,  physician,  and  mayor  of  the  city  of  Petersburg,  is  a  native 
of  Morgan  county,  this  state,  and  was  born  six  miles  southeast  of  Jacksonville,  May  i,  1824. 
His  father,  Michael  Antle,  son  of  a  German  emigrant,  left  Bourbon  county,  Kentucky,  in  1819; 
spent  the  following  winter  near  Edwardsville,  Madison  county,  and  in  the  spring  of  1824  settled 
in  Morgan,  then  a  part  of  Madison  county.  Illinois,  as  a  state,  was  then  only  two  years  old,  and 
Michael  Antle  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  vicinity  in  which  he  located.  He  married  Mary  Ann 
Buchanan,  a  cousin  of  ex-President  James  Buchanan,  and  daughter  of  Alexander  Buchanan,  who 
lived  on  Long  Island  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1775,  and  was  a  soldier  under  Washing- 
ton. Betrayed  by  a  tory,  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  British,  kept  in  New  York  city  during  an 
entire  winter,  finally  stole  away,  got  back  to  the  army,  but  a  price  was  set  on  his  head.  He  had 
permission  to  leave,  and  sold  out  and  went  into  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  a  fair  English  education  in  Jacksonville,  supplementing  it 
with  careful  study  in  private,  and  fitting  himself  for  a  teacher  while  working  on  his  father's  farm. 
Commencing  at  eighteen  he  taught  four  winters  in  succession,  having  meantime  the  medical  pro- 
fession in  view.  He  read  medicine  with  Doctor  Freeman,  of  Springfield;  attended  a  course  and 
a  half  of  lectures  in  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  Cincinnati;  practiced  three  years  at  Williams- 
ville,  Sangamon  county;  returned  to  Cincinnati  and  took  another  course  in  the  same  college,  and 
received  his  medical  diploma  in  May,  1859.  Prior  to  that  time,  January  28,  1858,  he  had  married 
Miss  Dorcas  Ann  Mosteller,  of  Sangamon  county. 

In  June,  1860,  Doctor  Antle  settled  in  Petersburg,  the  shire  town  of  Menard  county,  and  for 
twenty-three  years  has  been  in  practice  here,  making  a  praiseworthy  record,  alike  as  a  physician 
and  surgeon  and  as  a  citizen  of  the  county.  For  seventeen  consecutive  years  he  was  county  phy- 
sician; was  a  member  of  the  town  board,  and  its  president  for  five  or  six  years.  He  was  elected 


444  UNITED   STATES  BIOGKATHICAI.   DICTtO.V.l  KY. 

the  first  mayor  of  Petersburg  in  May,  1882,  and  was  reflected  in  April,  1883.  Doctor  Antic  is  ,i 
public-spirited,  thoroughgoing  business  man,  and  it  was  a  fitting  compliment  to  his  worth  as 
such  a  citizen  to  place  him  at  the  head  of  the  municipality  of  Petersburg  on  its  being  incorpo- 
rated as  a  city. 

Doctor  Antle  is  a  Sir  Knight  in  the  Masonic  fraternity,  one  of  the  constituent  members  of  the 
Aldermar  Commandery,  No.  47,  and  was  its  treasurer  for  a  long  time.  He  has  also  taken  all  the 
degrees  in  the  subordinate  lodge  of  Odd-Fellowship.  The  doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  a  man  of  highly  exemplary  character,  and  a  good  friend  of  the  poor.  No 
city  can  be  over-crowded  with  this  class  of  men. 

By  the  marriage  already  mentioned  our  subject  has  had  four  children,  burying  the  two  young- 
est. Thomas  Powell  Antle,  the  only  son  he  has  ever  had,  is  a  graduate  of  Illinois  College,  Jack- 
sonville; of  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  Cincinnati,  and  has  taken  an  extra  course  of  lectures 
in  the  University  of  Michigan  and  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  New  York  city,  and 
having  graduated  from  the  same,  is  now  located  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  practicing  his  profession. 
lona  Olivia,  the  only  daughter  living,  was  educated  at  the  academy  and  Methodist  College, 
Jacksonville,  and  is  a  teacher  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  being  with  her  parents. 


CAPTAIN  JAMES  NISH. 

GARY  STATION. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  treasurer  of  McHenry  county,  and  a  prominent  merchant  and 
the  postmaster  at  Gary  Station,  first  saw  the  light  of  this  world  in  Wigtonshire,  Scotland, 
May  5,  1826.  His  parents  were  Nathaniel  and  Jane  (McGeoach)  McNish,  our  subject  dropping 
part  of  his  name  on  leaving  the  old  world.  He  was  educated  in  a  parish  school;  aided  his  father 
in  tilling  the  soil  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he  went  into  the  grocery  business  at  Newton- 
stewart,  on  the  River  Cree.  Thence,  a  few  years  later,  he  repaired  to  Glasgow,  and  not  long 
afterward  (spring  of  1851)  came  to  America,  and  spent  the  following  winter  as  a  merchant's  clerk 
in  Peoria,  Illinois.  He  was  ready  for  any  kind  of  work,  and  unlike  Wilkins  Micawber,  turned  up 
business  for  himself,  running  a  boat  the  next  season  on  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal;  next  we 
find  him  engaged  in  railroading,  and  shortly  afterward  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  Chicago  lumber 
yard.  In  the  autumn  of  1855  Mr.  Nish  purchased  some  property  in  McHenry  county,  and  moved 
thither  the  following  spring,  with  his  wife,  Caroline  Darlington,  of  Chicago,  whom  he  had  mar- 
ried at  La  Porte,  Indiana,  in  December,  1853. 

Mr.  Nish  opened  a  general  store,  and  established  a  postoffice  at  what  is  now  Gary  Station,  he 
being  the  first  postmaster  at  that  place.  That  office  he  has  held  most  of  the  time  for  twenty-live 
years;  nor  has  he  been  out  of  trade  there  more  than  two  or  three  years  during  that  space  of  time. 
He  was  supervisor  of  the  town  of  Algonquin  for  four  terms,  holding  that  office,  we  believe,  when 
the  civil  war  broke  out. 

In  1862  he  raised  a  company;  went  into  the  army  as  captain  of  company  I,  95th  regiment  Illi- 
nois infantry,  and  served  three  full  years,  making  a  good  record.  His  regiment  was  most  of  the 
time  in  the  i?th  corps,  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  though  mustered  out  in  the  i6th.  He  was  in  the 
battle  and  taking  of  Vicksburg,  and  in  November  following  (1863)  was  sent  home  to  recruit,  with 
headquarters  at  Woodstock,  where  he  spent  the  Winter.  He  joined  General  Sherman's  army  at 
Big  Shantee,  early  in  June,  1864,  and  under  him  went  through  the  Atlanta  campaign.  Captain 
Nish  finally  joined  his  own  regiment,  under  General  Thomas,  at  Nashville;  was  in  the  fight 
against  Hood  at  that  place,  and  was  also  in  the  closing  battles  of  the.  war;  fought  at  Spanish 
Fort  and  Blakesley,  near  Mobile.  He  served  a  few  months  as  brigade  commissary  and  was  act- 
ing in  that  capacity  when  his  regiment  was  ordered  to  Springfield,  Illinois,  where  it  was  dis- 
charged, September  17,  1865. 

Captain  Nish  returned  to  his  home,  not  having  received  a  scar  in  the  many  conflicts  in  which 


UNITED    STATKS   lUOGRAPinCAI.    DICTIONARY. 


445 


he  had  been  engaged.  We  have  already  mentioned  his  marriage  in  1853.  His  wife  was  struck 
by  lightning  and  instantly  killed,  October  i,  1857,  and  two  months  after  his  return  from  the 
South,  in  November,  1865,  Captain  Nish  married  Miss  Sarah  K.  Smith,  of  Gary  Station,  and  by 
her  he  has  two  children,  and  also  one  living  by  his  first  wife,  another  having  died  several  years 
ago.  Since  returning  from  the  war,  the  captain  has  held  the  office  of  town  supervisor  two  more 
terms,  making  six  in  all,  and  has  been  county  treasurer  since  December,  1875.  He  is  a  capable, 
correct,  efficient  and  eminently  trustworthy  official,  and  much  esteemed  in  the  county. 


EDGAR  S.   BROWNE. 

MEN  DOT  A. 

EDGAR  SELWYN  BROWNE,  lawyer,  is  a  son  of  George  H.  and  Lavinia  J.  (Shaw)  Browne, 
and  dates  his  birth  at  Mason,  Oxford  county,  Maine,  May  u,  1851.  His  father  was  a 
merchant,  born  in  the  same  state.  His  grandfather,  Osgood  Browne,  was  a  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts. His  mother  was  a  relative  of  General  Sidney  E.  Johnson,  of  the  confederate  army. 
Edgar  received  an  academic  and  normal-school  education,  was  at  one  period  an  instructor  in  the 
higher  mathematics  and  elocution  in  the  academy  at  Bethel,  Maine,  where  he  commenced  the 
study  of  his  profession,  finishing  in  the  law  school  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar'at  Oxford,  Maine,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  and  the  next  year,  for  a  special  purpose,  in 
Coos  county,  New  Hampshire.  In  1872  he  commenced  practice  in  Portland,  Maine,  where  he 
remained  nearly  five  years,  coming  to  Illinois  in  1877. 

Mr.  Browne  has  tried  cases  successfully  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Illinois  and 
Kansas,  and  very  few  country  lawyers  of  his  age  have  had  a  better  start  or  more  noteworthy  suc- 
cess. He  has  defended  every  branch  of  crime  excepting  the  two  most  beastly,  and  has  gained 
much  notoriety  for  |iis  almost  uniform  good  luck  in  that  department  of  the  profession.  He  is  a 
well  read  lawyer,  ambitious  enough  to  insure  studiousness,  and  hence  is  a  growing  man,  and 
likely  to  make  a  still  more  brilliant  record  in  the  profession. 

Mr.  Browne  is  a  member  of  the  democratic  central  committee  of  La  Salle  county,  and  an  active 
and  influential  politician.  In  the  spring  of  1883  he  was  the  democratic  candidate  for  mayor,  and 
was  defeated  by  advocating  the  old  charter. 

One  of  the  most  important  cases  recently  tried  by  Mr.  Browne  is  that  of  William  Ettenger, 
the  boy  forger,  on  the  First  National  Bank  of  Mendota.  The  preliminary  examination  at  Men- 
dota  lasted  five  days,  and  the  trial  at  Ottawa  four  days,  Mr.  Browne  being  for  the  defense,  and 
securing  the  acquittal  of  the  lad. 

Our  subject  has  dark  hair,  keen  black  eyes,  and  would  be  taken  by  a  stranger  for  a  shrewd 
and  smart  lawyer.  He  is  five  feet  and  eleven  inches  tall,  weighs  170  pounds,  and  has  a  gentle- 
manly address. 

FRANCIS  M.  CASAL,  M.D. 

PITTSFIELD. 

FRANCIS  MARION  CASAL,  one  of  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Pike  county,  is  a 
son  of  John  Francis  Casal,  D.D.S.,  who  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1801,  and  Anna  Mary  (Toy) 
Casal,  a  native  of  the  same  city.  The  grandfather  of  Francis,  Juan  Francisco  Casal,  was  a  Span- 
iard, who  came  from  Seville  to  this  country,  and  died  in  Philadelphia  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  September  20, 
1842,  and  when  he  was  six  years  of  age  (1848)  the  family  immigrated  to  Marion  county,  Missouri. 
The  father  died  in  1870;  the  mother  survives,  being  seventy-seven  years  of  age. 

Francis  was  educated  in  the  Saint  Louis  high  school,  and  was  intending  to  matriculate  in 
Washington  University,  that  city,  being  prepared  to  enter  the  sophomore  year,  but  the  breaking 


446  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

out  of  the  civil  war  disturbed  his  arrangements.  He  commenced  the  study  of  his  profession  in 
Saint  Louis ;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  from  that  institution 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  in  February,  1864. 

Having  a  brother  in  California,  Doctor  Casal  went  there  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year,  and 
was  in  practice  there  between  three  and  four  years,  most  of  the  time  at  San  Francisco.  Return- 
ing to  the  East  early  in  the  autumn'of  1867,  Doctor  Casal  spent  the  following  winter  in  Bellevue 
Hospital  College.  In  the  spring  of  1868  he  settled  in  Pittsfield,  and  stepped  almost  immediately 
into  a  large  practice.  He  had  taken  great  pains  to  fit  himself  for  his  profession,  slighting  no 
branch  of  the  healing  art  that  would  be  likely  to  be  of  service  to  him  in  his  practice,  and  confi- 
dence in  his  skill  seems  to  have  been  inspired  at  once.  Probably  no  young  physician  ever  came 
into  Pike  county  who  had  a  better  start,  or  has  grown  in  popularity  more  rapidly.  Doctor  Casal 
is  in  general  practice,  but  has  given  some  special  attention  to  gynecology.  He  has  his  full  share 
of  surgery  ;  is  a  studious  and  progressive  man,  and  his  practice  is  increasing  from  year  to  year. 

Doctor  Casal  is  a  member  of  the  Adams  county  and  Illinois  state  medical  societies,  and  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  and  his  acquaintance  among  the  medical  brotherhood  is 
somewhat  extensive.  He  is  a  very  courteous  and  genial  man,  and  well  calculated  to  make  and 
retain  friends.  He  was  president  of  the  board  of  town  trustees  for  three  years,  and  a  school 
director  one  term,  he  being  willing,  evidently,  to  take  his  share  of  such  burdens. 

At  the  time  of  writing  (close  of  1882)  he  is  eminent  commander  of  Ascalon  Commandery,  No. 
49,  of  the  Knights  Templar,  which  position  he  has  occupied  from  the  organization  of  that  body, 
in  1877.  He  is  also  past  master  and  past  high  priest  of  Pittsfield  Lodge,  No.  56,  F.A.M.,  and 
Union  Chapter,  No.  10,  R.A.M.,  of  Pittsfield.  He  is  junior  warden  of  Saint  Stephen's  Episcopal 
Church,  lay  reader  in  the  same,  and  a  kind-hearted,  Christian  gentleman. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Casal  is  Amelia  L.,  daughter  of  B.  H.  Atkinson,  vice-president  of  the  bank 
of  Pike  county.  They  were  united  in  marriage  August  9,  1870,  and  have  three  daughters,  their 
names  being  Mary  A.,  Anne  H.,  and  F.  Isabel. 


COL.   CHARLES  F.   MILLS. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

FRANCIS  MILLS,  assistant  secretary  and  chief  clerk  of  the  state  board  of  agri- 
culture,  is  a  son  of  Bartlett  H.  Mills,  and  Delia  (Halsey)  Mills,  and  was  born  at  Montrose, 
Pennsylvania,  May  29,  1844.  His  father  was  a  lawyer  and  journalist.  When  Charles  was  eleven 
years  old,  the  family  came  to  Upper  Alton,  where  he  was  educated  in  the  Shurtleff  College,  enter- 
ing the  army  at  the  close  of  his  junior  year.  He  enlisted  as  a  private,  in  company  C,  i24th  Illi- 
nois infantry,  and  served  as  a  soldier,  and  as  hospital  steward  in  the  regular  army  for  nearly  five 
years. 

Since  1866  he  has  been  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-breeding,  near  Springfield,  he  being  the 
proprietor  of  the  well  known  Elmwood  stock  farm,  which  is  familiar  to  all  breeders  of  fine  stock 
in  the  West.  His  specialties  are  Clydesdale  horses,  Jersey  cattle,  Cotswold  sheep  and  Berkshire 
swine.  There  is  scarcely  a  state  or  prominent  live-stock  section  in  the  United  States  that  has  not 
representations  from  the  Elmwood  stock  farm  of  some  of  the  several  breeds  named  above.  He 
has  been  secretary  of  the  Sangamon  County  Fair  Association  for  several  years  ;  is  prominently 
connected  with  most  of  the  leading  agricultural  and  stock-breeders'  associations  of  the  country, 
and  has  held  the  presidency  of  some  of  them.  He  is  now  president  of  the  American  Berkshire 
Association,  secretary  of  the  American  Clydsdale  Association,  director  of  the  American  Cotswold 
Association,  president  of  the  Illinois  Swine  Breeders'  Association,  and  director  of  the  American 
Southdown  Association. 

For  many  years  he  has  held  his  present  position  of  assistant  secretary  and  chief  clerk  of  the 
State  Board  of  Agriculture,  a  position  for  which  he  is  admirably  qualified,  and  in  discharging  the 
duties  of  which  he  is  prompt  and  efficient. 


EC  Coopsr  Jr 


UNITE/)    STATKS   lilOGR.irii ICA I.    DICTIONARY. 

When  our  subject  was  about  five  years  old,  in  1837,  his  parents  settled  at  Saint  Charles,  in  Kan.- 
county,  Illinois,  and  soon  after  their  death,  which  occurred  within  three  years  afterward,  he  was 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  rendering  his  early  life  a  severe  struggle.  His  educational  advan- 
tages were  limited  to  the  common  school,  but  he  possessed  an  exceeding  fondness  for  mechanics, 
and  by  earnest  and  persistent  research  in  that  direction  early  became  well  read  and  thoroughly 
conversant  in  matters  pertaining  to  that  science.  While  still  young  he  was  devoted  to  original 
inventions,  and  his  experiences  in  that  line  rapidly  developed  that  inventive  skill  which  has  dis- 
tinguished him  in  later  life. 

Finding  in  the  country  little  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  genius,  and  having  no  machinery  for 
constructing  his  devices,  he,  in  1850,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  removed  to  Chicago.  This  was  the 
turning  point  of  his  life.  He  first  began  as  a  manufacturer  of  shingles,  at  which  he  soon  became 
an  expert,  and  at  the  fair  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  in  1852,  his  shingles  were  awarded  the  first 
premium. 

Soon  after  this  he  became  an  employe  in  the  American  Car  Works,  where  he  acquired  a  more 
extended  knowledge  of  machinery,  and  a  wider  range  of  mechanical  invention  dawned  upon  his 
young  mind.  His  desire  for  a  thorough  business  education,  before  making  a  permanent  settlement, 
led  him  to  leave  the  car  works  and  pursue  a  course  of  study  in  Bell's  Commercial  College,  from 
which  he  graduated  with  a  good  knowledge  of  business  principles. 

The  fact  that  he  has  no  regular  trade  or  profession  caused  him  to  be  unsuccessful  in  many  of 
his  efforts  about  this  period,  but  his  native  energy  and  persistence  sustained  him,  and  if  one 
scheme  failed  he  at  once  tried  another.  After  years  of  unremitting  toil  and  hardships  innumera- 
ble, he,  in  1865,  invented  his  celebrated  tuck  marker,  which  soon  gained  a  world-wide  fame,  its 
success  not  only  being  wonderful,  but  unparalleled.  The  tuck  marker  and  other  sewing  machine 
attachments  invented  by  him,  and  covered  by  some  fifty  patents,  have  been  sold  in  every  country 
throughout  the  civilized  world. 

His  progress  from  1865,  though  rapid,  was  sought  to  be  impeded  by  unscrupulous  parties, 
who  threw  many  obstacles  in  his  way,  some  of  them  of  quite  a  formidable  character,  but  he  dis- 
tanced all  competition,  and  though  his  productions  are  sold  at  a  lower  price  than  formerly,  they 
are  still  growing  in  popularity.  Mr.  Goodrich  began  the  manufacture  of  sewing  machine  attach- 
ments in  1867  without  any  capital,  and  during  that  year  his  sales  amounted  to  $3,000.  The  sec- 
ond year  they  were  $15,000;  the  third  $30,000;  the  fourth  $75,000,  and  the  fifth  $125,000,  with  a 
corresponding  increase  since  that  time.  At  the  present  time  (1881)  he  has  a  new  factory,  70  X  104 
feet,  three  stories  high,  thoroughly  equipped,  and  located  at  Nos.  68,  70  and  72  Ogden  Place, 
Chicago. 

By  reason  of  the  reduced  prices  of  materials  and  manufactured  goods,  as  well  as  by  the  com- 
petition in  all  sewing  machines  and  sewing  machine  supplies,  the  amount  of  annual  sales  has  been 
somewhat  lessened,  and  now  foots  up  about  $85,000.  The  business  now  employs  a  capital  of 
$75,000,  and  a  working  force  of  fifty  hands.  Although  Mr.  Goodrich  has  numerous  patents  that 
have  been  successful,  his  most  notable  invention,  and  that  which  has  gained  for  him  both  fame 
and  fortune,  is  the  tuck  marker. 

Though  his  chief  attention  has  been  devoted  to  his  inventions,  he  has  yet  found  time  to  devote 
to  other  enterprises.  He  was  one  of  the  original  projectors  of  the  Chicago,  Pekin  and  South- 
western railway,  and  also  one  of  the  corporators  of  the  Chicago  Screw  Company,  and  at  one  time 
owned  nearly 'all  of  its  capital  stock.  It  is  now  one  of  Chicago's  most  thriving  industries.  Other 
manufacturing  interests  owe  their  prosperity  to  him,  some  of  which  are  using  his  patents,  while 
others  are  the  outgrowth  of  his  inventive  genius. 

Mr.  Goodrich  is  preeminently  a  self-made  man,  and  truly  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune. 
Beginning  life  with  no  resources  other  than  his  own  native  abilities,  he,  without  the  aid  of  edu- 
cation or  influence,  rose  slowly  in  early  life,  met  defeat  in  his  manhood,  and  struggled  against 
poverty  that  would  have  disheartened  most  men,  and  in  the  midnight  of  his  misfortune  suddenly 
achieved  a  most  brilliant  success. 
45 


452  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

While  others  doubted  he  persevered  in  the  execution  of  his  plans,  and  has  lived  to  reap  the 
gratifying  fruits  of  his  labors  and  perseverance.  He  is  still  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  and 
being  surrounded  by  all  the  comforts  of  a  happy  home,  he  enjoys  to  the  fullest  degree  the  success 
which  he  has  so  nobly  achieved. 

In  religious  views  Mr.  Goodrich  was  formerly  a  Baptist,  but  after  some  five  years'  connection 
with  that  denomination  became  more  independent  and  liberal  in  his  views,  and  is  now  a  Univer- 
salist.  In  politics  he  is  a  stanch  republican,  and  though  in  no  sense  a  politician,  he  has  ever  been 
a  loyal  and  patriotic  citizen.  He  has  no  military  record  and  has  never  held  a  public  office. 

Mr.  Goodrich  was  married  March  22,  1854,  to  Mrs.  Louisa  M.  (Miller)  Fowler,  a  daughter  of 
Hiram  Miller,  of  Verona,  Oswego  county,  New  York.  Mrs.  Fowler  had  one  daughter  six  years  of  age 
at  that  time.  From  this  union  have  been  born  four  sons  and  seven  daughters.  It  is  paying  but  a 
merited  tribute  to  Mrs.  Goodrich  to  speak  of  her  faithful  adherence  in  her  husband's  earlier  strug- 
gles. All  the  noble  incentives  that  a  true  wife  can  ever  suggest  are  eminently  due  to  her,  who 
now  beholds  with  pride  the  achievements  of  her  husband,  and  gladly  refers  to  the  critical  period 
when  he  needed  only  her  sympathy  and  cooperation,  and  trust  in  his  powers,  to  crown  his  efforts 
with  success. 

Their  eldest  son,  Frank  L.  Goodrich,  is  assistant  manager  of  his  father's  extensive  business. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  fully  competent  to  manage  the  entire  business,  and  being  now 
but  twenty-three  he  gives  every  promise  of  winning  an  enviable  reputation  for  business  qualifica- 
tions, such  as  one  might  expect  from  the  valuable  experience  gained  under  his  father's  supervision. 
The  eldest  daughter,  Miss  Eunice  Goodrich,  is  already  gaining  celebrity  as  an  actress,  and  is  now 
winning  success  in  every  engagement.  Her  high  standard  of  talent  in  the  profession  chosen  has 
enabled  her  to  retain  the  eminent  popularity  she  had  gained  in  social  circles.  A  younger  daugh- 
ter, Miss  Nellie  J.  Goodrich,  has  a  natural  gift  for  music,  and  is  now  under  special  training  by  the 
best  teachers  for  a  public  singer. 

Viewed  from  a  commercial  standpoint,  the  life-history  of  Mr.  H.  C.  Goodrich  is  replete  with 
interest,  and  to  young  men,  especially  those  just  entering  upon  life,  his  career  furnishes  an  example 
worthy  of  their  highest  emulation.  To  his  perseverance  and  his  scientific  researches  he  owes  his 
fame  and  fortune,  and  having  nobly  and  lavishly  conferred  their  benefits  upon  those  committed  to 
his  care,  he  has  thus  gained  a  greater  triumph  in  the  distribution  of  his  wealth  than  in  obtaining  it. 


BENJAMIN   FARWELL  WALKER. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  comes  of  a  very  numerous  people  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
They  have  never  paid  much  attention   to  governmental  questions,  and  the  ambitions  of 
rulers  and  office-holders  have  little  disturbed  them;  but  they  belong  rather  to  the  great  agricul- 
tural, manufacturing  and  mechanical  multitude,  which  constitute  the  solid  foundation  upon  which 
states  are  built. 

If,  however,  successful  lives  are  to  be  measured  by  the  possession  of  all  the  solid  and  enduring 
virtues  which  render  society  possible  and  states  perpetual;  which  secure  for  the  individual  the 
respect  of  his  fellows,  the  approval  of  his  own  conscience,  and  the  approbation  of  God,  with 
enough  filthy  lucre  to  make  life  desirable  and  pleasurable,  then  Mr.  Walker  and  a  majority  of  his 
family  name  may  be  reckoned  among  the  successful  men  of  America.  The  family  are  of  English 
descent,  but  are  not  able  to  trace  the  connection  between  the  original  stock  and  their  American 
descendants.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mr.  Walker  came  to  Barre,  Vermont,  from  Massachu- 
setts in  an  early  day.  He  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  that  town,  and  an  influential  man. 
He  was  a  captain  under  Washington  during  the  war  of  the  revolution,  and  subsequently  a  colonel 
of  the  militia  of  Vermont.  His  son,  Benjamin,  was  born  in  Mendon,  Massachusetts,  October  26, 
1777.  He  married  for  his  first  wife  Jemima  Farwell,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Farvvell.  By 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


453 


her  he  had  four  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the 
youngest.  He  came  to  Illinois  about  the  year  1812,  and  died  at  Macomb,  May  30,  1856.  The 
mother  of  Benjamin  F.  Walker  died  soon  after  his  birth,  which  occurred  in  Irasburgh,  Vermont, 
December  25,  1809.  His  father  gave  the  babe  to  a  Mrs.  Burgess,  whose  husband  had  been  a 
sailor  in  early  life,  and  afterward  became  so  dissipated  that  when  the  boy  was  eleven  years  old, 
he  found  himself  thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  His  taste  for  building  very  early  developed 
itself,  and  at  fifteen  he  apprenticed  himself  to  a  builder  by  the  name  of  Marston  Watrous,  at 
Barre,  for  three  years.  He  was  to  receive  $5  per  month  and  board  for  the  first  year,  $7  for  the 
second,  and  $9  for  the  third.  He  was  careful  only  to  agree  to  work  summers,  and  secured  the 
right  to  attend  school  winters.  This  he  did,  and  acquired  a  good  practical  New  England  educa- 
tion. At  the  close  of  his  apprenticeship  he  worked  for  one  year  as  a  journeyman,  and  then 
entered  into  business  for  himself.  He  was  an  enthusiast  in  his  profession,  and  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen had  a  fair  education,  a  good  trade,  and  the  confidence  of  the  community  where  he  lived.  It 
is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  business  at  once  came  to  him,  and  he  found  all  he  could  do.  His 
special  line  was  church  architecture,  and  he  erected  many  very  fine  houses  of  worship  in  various 
parts  of  the  state. 

When  twenty -three  years  old  he  married  Miss  Diana  Howard,  the  daughter  of  Abijah  Howard, 
residing  at  Montpelier,  the  capital  of  the  state.  She  was  born  at  Montpelier,  February  18,  1810; 
has  borne  him  three  children,  and  still  lives  to  share  his  fortunes. 

He  first  settled  in  Barre,  where  two  of  his  children  were  born.  In  the  year  1836  he  was 
engaged  to  build  a  church  in  Randolph,  Vermont,  and  found  it  more  convenient  to  remove  his 
family  thither,  and  while  living  there  he  erected  three  more  churches,  and  one  in  the  adjoining 
town  of  Barnard.  While  residing  in  Randolph  he  was  persuaded  to  form  a  copartnership  with 
the  son  of  the  lieutenant-governor  of  the  state,  Lebbeus  Edgerton,  and  entered  into  the  mercan- 
tile business.  The  venture  was  disastrous,  and  he  lost  all  he  invested  in  it.  The  former  firm,  of 
which  Edgerton  was  the  remaining  partner,  were  heavily  in  debt,  and  the  business  had  to  be 
closed  out. 

In  1842,  however,  he  threw  up  his  temporary  change  of  business,  removed  into  Montpelier, 
and  returned  again  to  his  legitimate  work.  In  that  year  he  made  his  father  a  visit,  at  Alton,  Illi- 
nois. No  railroads  were  built  at  that  early  day  in  the  West,  and  lake,  canal  and  stage  furnished 
the  only  means  of  transit.  By  way  of  the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo,  Lake  Erie  to  Toledo,  Wabash 
canal  and  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  he  reached  Saint  Louis  first,  and  afterward  Alton 
by  boat.  Concluding  his  visit,  he  took  in  Chicago  on  his  way  home,  intending  to  sell  his  prop- 
erty in  Vermont  at  once,  and  move  west.  He  saw  the  vast  city  and  the  empire  around  it  by  the 
eye  of  faith,  and  longed  to  share  its  prosperity.  His  venerable  god-mother,  however,  who,  now 
that  her  husband  was  dead,  shared  his  home,  had  such  an  inveterate  horror  of  moving  west,  that 
he  yielded  to  her  entreaties,  and  gave  up  the  project.  For  ten  years  more  he  followed  his  occu- 
pation in  Vermont  with  success.  In  1851  he  erected  a  church  for  the  Congregationalists  at 
Williamstown,  a  Universalist  church  at  Barre,  and  a  Union  church  at  Montpelier,  besides  a  fine 
passenger  depot  for  the  Vermont  Central  railway,  at  Montpelier. 

In  1852,  his  god-mother  having  died,  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  his  heart  had  been  for  ten 
years.  Leaving  Montpelier,  April  6,  the  family  reached  Chicago  in  the  following  June.  In  May 
of  this  year  the  Michigan  Southern  and  Michigan  Central  railroads  had  both  reached  Chicago, 
so  that  at  Detroit  they  left  the  steamer,  and  came  across  Michigan  by  rail  to  Saint  Joseph;  thence 
by  boat  to  Chicago.  Here  Mr.  Walker  was  soon  employed  by  the  city,  superintending  the  con- 
struction of  the  old  Water  Works,  and  after  its  completion  he  remained  for  nine  years  its  super- 
intendent, or  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  During  this  period,  also,  he  erected  Saint  Paul's 
I'niversalist  Church,  corner  of  Van  Buren  street  and  Wabash  avenue.  During  the  war,  and  until 
1871,  he  followed  his  occupation  of  builder,  and  erected  many  important  buildings.  Among  them 
were  several  of  the  first  packing-houses,  a  large  number  of  private  dwellings,  and  business  blocks. 
In  |une,  1882,  he  accidentally  broke  his  leg,  and  after  his  recovery,  found  employment. 


454  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  politics  Mr.  Walker,  before  the  rebellion,  was  a  conservative  democrat,  but  the  events  of 
the  war  made  a  republican  of  him,  and  he  has  never  deserted  the  party.  In  religion  he  is  a  Uni- 
versalist,  and  a  member,  with  his  wife,  of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer  since  its  foundation,  and  a 
deacon. 

.Personally,  Mr.  Walker  is  rather  under  the  average  size,  but  a  solid-built  Yankee,  with  sinews 
of  steel.  He  is  affable  in  manners,  and  kind-hearted,  sociable,  and  a  warm  friend.  Though  now 
past  seventy-three  years  old,  he  is  still  strong  and  active,  and  young  in  appearance  and  motion. 
Christmas  evening  of  1882,  he  and  his  worthy  wife,  who  is  if  anything  his  junior  in  appearance, 
celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their  wedding.  The  reception  occurred  at  the  residence  of 
his  son-in-law,  Mr.  L.  B.  Jameson,  at  151  South  Morgan  street,  and  was  a  most  enjoyable  affair. 
The  daily  papers  of  that  date  gave  a  very  full  account  of  the  event.  A  large  number  of  friends 
were  present,  and  the  gifts  were  both  numerous  and  elegant. 

In  his  old  age,  Mr.  Walker  has  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  three  daughters  happily  married 
and  settled  near  him.  His  eldest  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  W.  N.  Hinchman,  and  has  three 
daughters  and  one  son.  His  second  daughter  married  L.  B.  Jameson,  of  the  firm  of  Jameson  and 
Morse,  printers  and  publishers.  His  third  daughter,  Maie,  married  A.  H.  Vanzwoll,  now  the 
principal  in  the  Dore  public  school,  and  has  three  children. 


W 


WILLIAM  DRURY. 

NEW  BOSTON. 

ILLIAM  DRURY,  one  of  the  princely  farmers  of  Mercer  county,  and  president  of  the 
Farmer's  Bank,  Keithsburg,  dates  his  birth  in  Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  September  17, 
1809.  Two  years  afterward  his  parents  moved  to  Wayne  county,  Indiana,  where  the  son  spent  his 
youth.  Seventy  years  ago  that  part  of  Indiana  was  only  partially  settled,  and  the  Drury  family  had 
its  share  of  hardships  and  exposure  to  the  dangers  of  frontier  life,  they  being  obliged  sometimes 
to  seek  protection  in  a  block-house.  After  securing  a  fair  English  education,  and  teaching  several 
terms,  in  1833  our  subject  came  to  Illinois  on  a  prospecting  tour,  and  had  his  first  glimpse  of 
prairie  land.  He  soon  made  up  his  mind  that  here  was  a  good  opening  for  a  young  man  who 
wished  to  make  an  honest  living,  and  that  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mississippi  he  would  pitch 
his  tent,  and  try  his  luck,  at  the  same  time  making  a  selection  of  land.  The  next  year  he  returned 
to  this  state,  made  his  claim,  and  settled  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs,  near  where  the  village  of  New 
Boston  now  stands. 

When  Mercer  county  was  organized  in  1835,  Mr.  Drury  was  selected  for  the  first  recorder,  a 
county  office  which  he  held  for  several  years  in  succession.  In  1836  he  was  elected  county  clerk, 
and  he  held  both  offices  simultaneously.  The  historian  of  the  county  states  that  while  he  held 
those  positions  he  furnished  all  the  stationery,  and  defrayed  his  other  office  expenses  out  of  his 
own  exchequer. 

In  1836  Mr.  Drury  commenced  mercantile  life,  in  company  with  Levi  Willits,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Drury  and  Willits,  and  they  had  a  good  trade.  In  the  summer  of  1840,  our  subject 
returned  to  Indiana,  and,  July  i,  was  married  to  Vashti,  daughter  of  Caleb  Lewis,  who  was  a 
prominent  man,  and  served  for  several  terms  in  the  Indiana  legislature. 

In  1848  the  partnership  with  Mr.  Willits  was  dissolved  ;  Mr.  Drury  settled  up  his  business,  and 
in  1849  started  a  cash  store,  which  he  managed  with  great  success,  until  1853,  when  failing  health 
compelled  him  to  sell  out  and  change  his  occupation.  As  a  merchant  he  bought  directly  from  the 
manufacturer's  hands,  articles  in  that  line,  going  himself  to  Boston,  and  other  eastern  cities  ; 
marking  his  goods  at  a  fair  profit,  having  one  price  for  them,  and  serving  all  alike.  At  one  period 
he  traded  at  Millersburgh,  as  well  as  New  Boston,  and  held  at  different  periods  the  office  of  post- 
master at  both  places. 

Through  all  the  years  that  Mr.  Drury  was  in   the  mercantile  trade,  he  aimed   to   make  i-urh 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


457 


year's  income  exceed  his  expenses,  and  we  believe  he  has  never  failed  in  this  respect.  He 
early  established  a  high  reputation  for  integrity,  had  the  fullest  confidence  of  his  customers,  and 
was  economical  as  well  as  prudent.  Mr.  Drury  has  a  farm  of  1,000  acres,  one  and  one-half  miles 
from  New  Boston,  and  about  the  same  amount  of  land  nearly  contiguous  to  the  farm,  and  for  the 
last  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  has  given  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  stock  breeding.  In  1869  he  com- 
menced importing  Norman-Percheron  horses,  and  has  had  some  of  the  best  stock  of  this  kind 
ever  owned  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  now  has  about  a  hundred  horses  and  fifty  cows,  and  is 
doing  all  he  can  to  improve  the  breed  of  stock. 

Directly  in  front  of  his  house  is  a  park  of  thirteen  acres,  in  which  are  (autumn,  1882)  three 
buffaloes,  one  of  them  a  calf,  six  elk,  eighteen  deer,  three  of  them  California  black-tail,  twenty-five 
cashmere  goats,  a  spotted  sheep,  etc.  In  the  copses  are  also  wild  gray  and  fox  squirrels,  and  Mr. 
Drury  is  soon  to  introduce  swan.  The  park  is  well  supplied  with  water,  and  every  convenience 
for  sheltering  the  animals,  both  summer  and  winter.  Antelope  do  not  do  well  in  this  latitude. 
They  have  died  in  this  park.  He  has  recently  added  to  his  collection  a  Sicilian  monkey,  two 
southern  red  deer,  a  tiger  cat,  ant  eater,  gray  foxes,  coons,  badgers,  etc.  "  Verdurett"  is  visited 
by  thousands  of  people  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Some  days  over  two  hundred  persons  have 
been  here. 

Mr.  Drury  has  six  barns,  surrounding  a  $12,000  brick  house,  a  farm-house  with  all  the  conven- 
iences of  a  city,  gas  (home  made),  out-doors  as  well  as  indoors,  hot  and  cold  water,  steam-heating 
apparatus,  conservatory,  pictures,  a  library  of  perhaps  2,000  volumes,  a  cabinet  of  minerals,  etc., 
making  quarters  comfortable  enough  for  a  governor  of  the  state,  or  a  farmer  in  Mercer  county. 
Many  a  duke  and  duchess  in  the  old  world  might  envy  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Drury  their  prairie  home. 

Mr.  Drury  early  read  the  "Life  of  Doctor  Franklin,"  and  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,"  and 
thinks  he  owes  much  to  the  perusal  of  these  works.  He  started  westward  with  a  few  dollars, 
obtained  by  teaching,  and  a  sorrel  horse,  worth  $40,  and  the  rest  of  his  accumulations  are  the 
fruits  of  industry,  honest  dealing,  and  prudent  management.  Let  the  young  ponder  this  lesson 
of  Mr.  Drury's  life.  Starting  out  in  the  world  a  poor  boy,  with  a  limited  education,  early  imbu- 
ing his  spirit  with  the  wholesome  precepts  of  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,"  he  no  doubt  owes  his 
success,  as  we  once  heard  him  intimate,  to  the  observance  of  a  few  rules,  such  as  strict  integrity, 
and  promptness  in  all  business  matters,  economy  in  all  things,  including  time,  keeping  out  of  debt, 
etc.  He  has  always  been  ready  to  help  young  men  who  were  disposed  to  help  themselves,  and 
has  done  so  in  multitudes  of  instances.  Many  of  these  persons  are  now  independent  free-holders, 
and  a  few  are  quite  wealthy.  Again  we  say,  let  the  younger  reader  study  the  life  of  Mr.  Drury. 


GENERAL  HENRY  CASE. 

WINCHESTER. 

HENRY  CASE,  lawyer,  is  descended  from  a  Norwich  family,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  born 
November  19.  1823.  His  father,  Samuel  Case,  a  leather  and  wool  dealer,  was  born  in  the 
same  town.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Sally  Bailey,  was  also  a  native  of  Connecticut. 
Henry  received  an  academic  education  at  Norwich  and  Colchester,  and  is  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  class  of  .'46.  He  taught  school  the  following  year  at  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  read  law 
at  the  same  time  with  Judge  Wait,  of  Lyme.  He  finished  his  legal  studies  with  Hon.  John  T. 
Wait,  now  a  member  of  congress  from  Connecticut;  came  to  Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1848,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Springfield.  From  that  time  until  the  -civil  war  broke  out  Mr.  Case 
was  in  practice  at  Winchester,  his  present  home. 

In  April,  1861,  at  the  first  call  for  troops,  he  enlisted  in  the  I4th  Illinois  infantry,  and  marched 
to  the  front  as  captain  of  company  K.  In  February,  1862,  he  was  promoted  to  first  major  of  the 
7th  Illinois  cavalry,  which  position  he  held  until  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  resigning  in  April, 
1862,  on  account  of  ill  health.  In  September  following,  his  health  being  restored,  he  again 


458  UNITED   STATRS   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

entered  the  service,  this  time  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  ragth  infantry.  A  few  months  later  he 
was  promoted  to  colonel. 

In  December,  1864,  Colonel  Case  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  ist  brigade,  3d  division 
2oth  army  corps,  and  accompanied  General  Sherman  in  his  famous  march  to  the  sea.  In  March, 
1865,  while  at  Smith's  Farm,  North  Carolina,  he  was  breveted  brigadier-general  for  meritorious 
services  at  that  place.  General  Case  was  mustered  out  at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  in 
June,  1865.  His  promotion,  step  by  step,  from  captain  of  a  company  of  infantry  to  the  command 
of  a  brigade  of  cavalry,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  indicates  very  clearly  his  character  as 
a  soldier. 

In  the  autumn  of  1865  General  Case  located  at  Jacksonville,  in  this  state,  and  was  there  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  until  January,  1874,  when  he  returned  to  Winchester.  In  law  he  is 
thoroughly  read,  and  excels  as  a  court  rather  than  jury  lawyer.  He  makes  a  specialty  of  real 
estate  and  chancery  business,  and  is  excellent  authority  on  these  branches  of  the  profession. 
General  Case  is  a  republican,  of  whig  antecedents,  and  in  1860  and  1866  he  was  the  candidate  of 
his  party  for  congress  in  a  strong  democratic  district,  and  was  defeated,  as  he  expected  to  be,  both 
times.  He  is  not  an  office-seeker,  and  was  the  standard-bearer  of  his  party  simply  to  comply  with 
their  wishes.  He  tries  to  keep  loose  from  everything  but  the  law,  to  which  he  is  thoroughly 
wedded,  and  seems  to  be  contented  to  have  an  honorable  standing  at  the  bar  of  the  state.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  We  believe  he  has  never  married. 

General  Case  belongs  to  a  patriotic  family,  which  was  well  represented  in  the  late  civil  war. 
A  younger  brother  of  his,  David  C..Case,  was  killed  by  a  cannon  ball  at  the  first  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  July,  1861. 

REV.  JAMES  H.  NOBLE. 

LINCOLN. 

JAMES  HENRY  NOBLE,  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  Lincoln,  was  born  at  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  the  native  home  of  Gen- 
eral Grant,  October  6,  1821.  His  father,  Jonathan  Noble,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  Maryland,  moved 
to  Ohio  when  quite  young,  and  married  Margaret  Mitchell,  also  a  native  of  Maryland.  Some 
members  of  her  family  were  officers  in  the  revolutionary  army,  and  the  paternal  great-grandfather 
of  James  was  a  soldier  in  that  army.  In  1827  the  family  moved  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he 
went  through  the  public  schools,  and,  coming  out  at  the  head  of  his  class,  was,  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  city  corporation,  sent  two  years  gratuitously  to  Woodard  College.  Subsequently  he 
attended  a  classical  school  at  New  Richmond,  Ohio,  John  W.  Weakley,  D.D.,  principal;  after 
which  he  taught  for  six  years,  mainly  in  Indiana,  winding  up  with  a  high  school,  which  he  founded 
at  Prairieton,  Vigo  county,  Indiana. 

Mr.  Noble  entered  the  ministry  in  1846,  being  pastor  for  two  years  each,  at  Lynnville,  Rock- 
port,  Evansville,  New  Albany  and  Indianapolis,  all  in  Indiana.  He  was  then  presiding  elder  of 
the  Evansville  district  for  four  years,  and  of  the  Indianapolis  and  Greencastle  districts,  each  two 
years.  He  then  returned  to  the  pastorate,  serving  his  former  charge  at  New  Albany,  for  three 
years.  Transferred  to  Illinois,  he  was  pastor  at  Champaign  two  years,  at  Decatur  three,  and  at 
Champaign  for  two  more  years,  when  he  again  became  presiding  elder,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
Danville  district.  Three  years  later  he  returned  again  to  the  pastorate,  preaching  three  years  at 
Springfield,  and  he  is  now  in  his  second  year  at  Lincoln. 

As  a  pastor  Mr.  Noble  has  been  eminently  successful,  his  labors  in  nearly  every  place  being 
attended  with  revivals,  some  of  them  very  powerful  and  wide-sweeping.  In  one  year  three  hun- 
dred persons  were  gathered  into  the  church,  in  the  Rockport  circuit,  and  two  or  three  other  years 
the  number  exceeded  a  hundred. 

He  has  been  thirty-six  years  in  the  ministry,  eleven  of  them  as  presiding  elder,  and  has  never 
been  laid  up  with  sickness,  has  never  failed  to  attend  an  annual  conference,  nor  ever  failed  to 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


459 


respond  to  the  first  call  of  the  roll.  Promptness  with  him  seems  to  be  a  virtue,  and  certainly  it  is 
a  commendable  one  to  cultivate  and  practice  by  everybody.  In  nearly  all  the  places  where  he 
has  had  a  pastorate,  he  has  either  built  a  church  or  parsonage,  or  repaired  one  or  both.  While 
presiding  elder  he  paid  special  attention  to  church  property,  of  which  he  saved  a  large  amount  to 
his  denomination,  particularly  in  Indiana.  He  has  been  for  twenty  years  a  trustee  or  visitor  of 
Methodist  institutions  of  learning,  and  has  never  failed  to  attend  to  such  duties. 

Mr.  Noble  was  a  member  of  the  general  conference  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1864,  and  is  not 
unknown  outside  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  where  he  has  so  long  labored  with  marked  assiduity, 
faithfulness  and  success. 

Mr.  Noble  has  been  twice  married,  first  in  1841,  to  Miss  Angeline  E.  Simmons,  who  died  in 
1864,  leaving  nine  children,  one  of  them  since  deceased  ;  and  the  second  time  in  1865,  to  Miss 
Carrie  E.  Simmons,  a  younger  sister  of  his  first  wife,  and  by  her  he  has  two  children.  The  ten 
children  living  have  all  been  reared  while  their  father  was  in  the  itinerancy,  and  have  been  well 
educated.  He  has  been  highly  favored  by  Providence  in  being  able  to  rear  such  a  family,  in  see- 
ing seven  of  them  married  and  well  settled  in  life,  and  all  members  of  the  church. 

Mrs.  Noble  is  quite  skillful  in  crayon  work,  to  which  she  occasionally  devotes  a  leisure  hour. 
Her  father,  who  is  living  with  her,  was  once  captain  of  a  company  of  which  the  father  of  General 
Grant  was  one  of  the  privates. 


ROBERT  W.  McGLAUGHRY. 

JOLIET. 

ROBERT  W.  McCLAUGHRY  was  born  Ju-ly  22,  1839,  at  Fountain  Green,  Hancock  county, 
Illinois,  and  is  the  son  of  Mathew  McClaughry  and  Mary  (Hume)  McClaughry.  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Robert  Hume,  of  a  noted  family,  who  resided  near  Abbotsford,  Scotland,  and 
whose  father  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

The  early  life  of  Mr.  McClaughry  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  receiving  his  first  education 
in  the  common  schools;  and  while  still  young  he  entered  Monmouth  College,  from  which  he 
graduated  with  honor  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years.  Upon  graduation,  he  was  appointed  to 
the  chair  of  Latin  in  his  alma  mater,  and  held  the  position  with  good  success  for  one  year,  when, 
owing  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion,  he  resigned  his  professorship,  and  assumed  the  edito- 
rial chair  of  the  Carthage  "  Republican,"  a  paper  which  strongly  advocated  the  prosecution  of  the 
war. 

In  1862,  upon  the  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  300,000  men,  by  his  earnestness  and  enthusias- 
tic patriotism,  he  succeeded  in  raising  a  company  of  volunteers  in  his  native  town,  known  as 
company  B,  n8th  regiment  of  Illinois  infantry,  of  which  he  was  elected  captain.  Soon  after, 
while  the  regiment  was  rendezvoused  at  Camp  Butler,  Captain  McClaughry  was  elected  major. 
His  military  career  was  marked  with  honor  and  zeal.  He  participated  in  Sherman's  campaign, 
in  the  assault  on  Chickasaw  Bayou,  in  the  expedition  to  Arkansas  Post,  and  the  assault  and  cap- 
ture of  the  fort;  subsequently  in  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  engaging  in  the  battles  of  Thompson's 
Hill  and  Champion  Hill,  and  in  the  assault  at  Vicksburg,  May  19  and  22.  Afterward,  with  his 
regiment,  he  served  in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf,  until  May  13,  1864,  when  he  resigned,  and 
accepted  the  appointment  of  assistant  paymaster  for  the  United  States  army,  being  stationed 
at  Springfield,  Illinois.  He  served  in  this  capacity  with  entire  satisfaction  until  October,  1865, 
when  he  received  an  honorable  discharge,  and  returned  to  the  walks  of  private  life.  About  this 
time  he  was  elected  clerk  of  his  native  county,  and  held  the  office  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his 
constituency  during  a  term  of  four  years. 

Having  now  become  interested  in  the  stone  quarries  of  Hancock  county,  he  secured  a  con- 
tract, and  furnished  the  stone  for  the  foundation  of  the  state  house  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  In 
1871  he  removed  to  Saint  Louis,  and  engaged  in  the  same  business  at  Saint  Genevieve,  Missouri. 


460  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Soon,  however,  his  health  became  impaired,  and  he  returned  to  Monmouth,  Illinois,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studying  law,  toward  which  his  mind  had  previously  been  inclined.  Accordingly,  with 
this  purpose  in  view,  he  entered  the  office  of  Hon.  John  J.  Glenn,  and  began  his  studies.  His 
course,  however,  was  soon  changed  by  receiving  from  Governor  Beveridge  the  appointment  of 
warden  of  the  state  penitentiary,  at  Joliet,  for  which  position  he  was  eminently  fitted  by  his 
experiences  and  natural  qualifications,  having  combined  in  a  most  happy  manner  those  moral  and 
intellectual  qualities  which  have  made  the  prison  a  place  of  reform  as  well  as  of  punishment. 

Major  McClaughry  was  married  June  17,  1862,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Madden,  eldest  daughter 
of  J.  G.  Madden,  a  lawyer  of  Monmouth,  Illinois,  and  by  her  has  had  eight  children,  five  of  whom 
are  now  living.  Personally,  he  is  a  man  of  regular  habits,  of  generous  disposition,  of  decided 
integrity,  firm  yet  kind,  and  in  all  his  dealings  with  men  endeavors  to  leave  upon  them  the 
impress  of  his  own  true  manhood. 


JOHN    LOGAN,  M.D. 

CARLINl'lLLE. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  native  of  Hamilton  county,  Ohio,  was  born  December  30,  1809, 
and  is  the  son  of  James  and  Mary  (Cooper)  Logan,  the  former  a  native  of  Monaghan  county, 
Ireland,  and  the  latter  of  English  descent.  John  had  but  few  school  privileges  in  his  boyhood, 
but  by  his  own  efforts  acquired  a  fair  English  education.  When  six  years  of  age  he  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Missouri,  and  settled  near  the  Grand  Tower,  among  the  Shawnee  and  Dela- 
ware Indians.  He  first  began  business  for  himself  in  New  Orleans  as  clerk  in  the  commission 
house  of  McManis  and  McAdams,  but  in  the  spring  of  1830,  owing  to  ill  health,  he  left  his  posi- 
tion and  returned  to  Illinois,  and  spent  two  years  in  blacksmithing.  His  health  would  not  allow 
him  to  continue  longer,  and  he  next  engaged  in  the  study  and  practice  of  medicine. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian  troubles  in  1831  he  was  elected  major  of  the  gth  regiment 
Illinois  militia;  also  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  of  1832,  and  was  elected  colonel  of  the  44th 
regiment  Illinois  militia  in  September,  1836.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  settled  in  Carlinville, 
and  resumed  his  medical  studies.  He  attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  Kemper  College,  Saint 
Louis,  in  1840;  in  1841  at  the  Saint  Louis  Hospital,  under  Professor  Joseph  N.  McDowel,  and  at 
once  began  his  practice,  continuing  with  growing  success  till  1861.  At  the  opening  of  the  civil 
war,  when  a  meeting  was  called  in  his  town  to  devise  means  for  raising  troops,  he  was  appointed, 
with  G.  W.  Woods  and  Richard  Rowet,  to  raise  a  company.  The  work  was  accomplished  in  three 
days,  and  the  company  was  known  as  company  K,  7th  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  with  Mr.  Rowet 
as  captain. 

Immediately  thereafter  he  raised  another  company,  but  the  quota  of  the  state  being  filled, 
Governor  Yates  at  first  declined  to  accept  it.  While  interviewing  the  governor  a  telegram  was 
received  from  General  Fremont  announcing  the  death  of  General  Lyon  at  the  battle  of  Wilson's 
Creek,  and  the  colonel  asked  the  privilege  of  raising  a  regiment  at  his  own  expense.  His  request 
was  granted,  and  his  regiment  soon  organized,  with  one  company  of  artillery  and  one  of  cavalry. 
At  the  time  of  mustering  into  the  service,  however,  the  latter  were  mustered  in  as  detachments 
of  the  32d  regiment  Illinois  infantry. 

He  first  reported  with  his  men  to  General  Grant  at  Cairo,  in  January,  1862,  and  after  the  bat- 
tles of  Fort  Henry  and  Fort  Donelson,  he  was  put  into  the  fourth  division  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  under  command  of  General  S.  A.  Hurlbut.  The  regiment  made  for  it  itself  a  most 
honorable  record,  being  continually  at  the  front.  After  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  out  of  its  five  hun- 
dred and  forty  men  who  entered  the  engagement,  two  hundred  and  five  were  killed  or  wounded, 
including  Major  William  Hunter,  disabled,  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  W.  Ross,  mortally  wounded, 
and  himself  so  severely  wounded  as  to  be  obliged  to  leave  the  field. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1866,  he  was  appointed  United  States  marshal  for  the  southern 


LiBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


463 


district  of  Illinois,  having  been  promised  the  position  by  President  Lincoln  before  his  death.  He  • 
held  the  office  till  1870,  and  during  his  term  of  office  reported  five  thousand  dollars  excess  of 
fees,  the  first  money  ever  paid  into  the  United  States  treasury  from  the  office.  After  retiring  from 
his  duties  as  marshal,  he  resumed  his  profession  at  Carlinville,  and  has  continued  to  the  present 
time  with  good  success.  Doctor  Logan  is  the  only  physician  in  the  country  who  has  made  a  per- 
fect success  of  the  radical  cure  of  reducible  hernia,  of  which  branch  of  surgery  he  is  now  making 
a  specialty,  and  in  which  he  is  having  astonishing  success. 

In  politics  he  was  raised  a  democrat,  and  supported  that  party  until  1844,  when  James  K. 
Polk  was  nominated  to  the  presidency.  He  considered  the  adopted  platform  a  departure  from 
true  democratic  principles,  and  has  since  voted  with  the  anti-slavery  party.  In  1856  he  was  a 
delegate  to  the  convention  at  Bloomington,  in  which  the  republican  party  was  organized,  and 
served  on  the  committee  that  drew  up  the  platform  of  the  party  for  that  canvass.  He  has  no 
sympathy  with  partisanship,  and  always  places  the  man  above  the  party,  refusing  to  support  a 
candidate  who  cannot  show  a  clear  record  and  fitness  for  office. 

His  sympathy  and  care'for  the  down-trodden  has  been  a  marked  feature  in  his  life,  and  he  has 
taken  a  prominent  stand  in  lecturing  against  slavery  and  intemperance,  and,  glorying  in  the 
abolition  of  the  former,  he  hopes  yet  to  see  an  end  of  all  laws  licensing  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors. 

In  religion  he  is  a  Methodist,  and  for  more  than  fifty  years  has  been  a  firm  adherent  of  the 
principles  of  that  church,  and  has  revealed,  in  a  blameless  life,  the  virtues  and  genuineness  of 
his  religion. 

Doctor  Logan  was  married  in  1841  to  Miss  Ann  Eliza  Banks,  of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  by 
whom  he  has  had  ten  children.  The  eldest,  W.  C.  C.  Logan,  lost  his  life  in  the  late  war  at  Young's. 
Point,  Louisiana. 

In  his  character  he  illustrates  the  most  sterling  qualities.  Prompt  and  zealous,  he  is  at  the 
same  time  generous  and  warm-hearted.  As  a  soldier  his  service  was  marked  by  an  efficiency  sur- 
passed by  none.  As  a  civil  officer  he  was  honest,  capable  and  popular,  while  in  his  professional 
career  he  is  eminently  skillful,  and  in  the  performance  of  his  work  combines  the  noblest  charac- 
teristics of  a  true  Christian  manhood. 


MAJOR  HENRY  W.  WELLS. 

PEORIA. 

HENRY  WARD  WELLS,  lawyer,  and  a  resident  of  Illinois  since  1839,  is  a  son  of  John  H. 
and  Julia  (Tracy)  Wells,  and  was  born  in  the  village  of  Richland,  Oswego  county,  New 
York,  June  20,  1833.  His  father  was  born  in  England,  and  was  a  son  of  Rev.  John  Howard 
Wells,  a  Unitarian  preacher;  and  his  mother  was  a  native  of  Connecticut.  Her  father  was  a 
surgeon  in  the  revolutionary  army.  In  1839  John  H.  Wells,  who  was  a  merchant,  brought  his 
family  to  Wethersfield,  Henry  county,  this  state,  and  there  died  in  1843,  when  the  widow  moved 
to  Galesburgh,  where  she  is  yet  living. 

Henry  received  a  common-school  education  only;  in  1849  came  to  Peoria,  and  for  two  years 
held  a  clerkship  in  a  store;  in  1851  went  to  Balston  Spa,  New  York,  and  studied  law,  finishing 
at  Poughkeepsie,  whither  the  school  was  removed,  in  1853,  and  he  was  in  practice  at  Cambridge, 
Henry  county,  until  after  the  civil  war  had  begun. 

While  in  that  county,  in  1857,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Demarius  Showers.  In  September,  i8( 
Mr.  Wells  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  D,  nzth  Illinois  infantry;  was  soon  afterward 
appointed  adjutant  of  the  regiment,  and  in  1863  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  and  chief  of 
artillery  of  the  23d  army  corps,  in  which  position  he  served  until  mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the 
rebellion.  Since  that  time  Major  Wells  has  been  in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession  in  the 
city  of  Peoria.  He  attends  very  closely  to  his  business,  is  painstaking  and  reliable,  and  has  the 
46 


464  I' \1TED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

fullest  confidence  of  the  community,  both  in  his  ability  and  trustworthiness.  He  has  been  attor- 
ney for  the  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  for  the  last  ten  years,  and  for  the  Rock 
Island  and  Peoria  for  six  or  seven  years. 

Major  Wells  is  the  author  of  "A  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Replevin,"  a  volume  which  he  pre- 
pared with  great  care,  and  which  was  published  by  a  Chicago  house  in  1880.  It  is  regarded  as  a 
standard  work  on  that  subject,  and  is  having  a  rapid  sale. 

The  major  is  a  stockholder  of  the  Fort  Clark  horse  railway,  and  secretary  of  that  company. 
He  is  endowed  with  a  liberal  share  of  enterprise  and  public  spirit,  and  ranks  among  the  most 
useful  class  of  citizens.  He  was  in  the  constitutional  convention  of  1869-70,  and  was  a  highly 
serviceable  member  of  that  body.  His  politics  are  republican.  In  Freemasonry  he  is  a  member 
of  the  Consistory.  We  believe  he  has  not  held  many  offices  in  this  order,  or  of  a  civil  or  political 
nature.  His  profession  seems  to  absorb  his  time  mostly,  and  he  is  always  ready  for  business;  yet 
he  is  not  a  man  to  encourage  litigation  where  it  is  needless  or  can  be  avoided,  he  being  a  discreet 
and  safe  counselor. 


DUNCAN  MACKAV. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

DUNCAN  MACKAY  is  .of  Highland  Scotch  parentage,  and  was  born  in  Sutherlandshire, 
Scotland,  in  1812.  His  parents  were  James  Mackay  and  Anna  (McDonald)  Mackay,  and 
were  both  descended  from  families  famous  in  the  annals  of  Scotland.  His  father  was,  however, 
a  man  of  peace,  and  famous  only  for  his  fine  cattle,  horses  and  sheep,  of  which  he  was  a  very  suc- 
cessful breeder.  Duncan  was  reared  to  the  same  gentle  occupation,  and  assisted  his  parents  on 
the  Highland  farm  until  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  His  education  was  only  such  as  boys  in  his 
station  usually  got  in  Scotland  at  that  time,  except  a  term  or  two  at  high  school.  In  1833,  when 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  came  to  Nova  Scotia,  with  an  elder  brother  and  a  sister,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  business  of  fine  carriage  making,  a  business  they  had  successfully  fol- 
lowed for  some  years  in  Scotland.  Not  meeting  with  the  proper  encouragement  in  that  country, 
in  1835  they  moved  just  across  the  line,  and  established  themselves  in  Milltown,  Maine.  Here 
they  met  with  better  success,  until  the  panic  of  1837.  This  was  the  first  financial  revulsion  of 
which  they  had  ever  heard,  and  it  was  .a  surprise  indeed  ;  the  greater  part  of  their  goods  had 
been  sold  on  credit,  and  it  was  a  new  experience  when  their  debtors  refused  to  pay  or  return  the 
goods.  The  crisis  prostrated  their  business,  and  they  were  compelled  to  close  it  up. 

His  brother  John  came  west  at  once,  while  Duncan  remained  to  settle  up  the  affairs  of  the 
firm,  and  collect  what  he  could.  It  took  over  two  years  to  do  this,  but  he  had  the  satisfaction  in 
1840  of  bringing  with  him  west  the  greater  part  of  the  amount  due  them,  aggregating  about 
§4,000.  The  elder  brother  had  originally  started  for  the  Pacific  coast,  intending  to  embark  in 
business  o.nce  more,  at  Vancouver's  Island,  or  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  Puget  Sound,  but 
passing  over  the  matchless  prairies  of  the  West,  he  received  a  new  revelation,  and  could  get  no 
further  than  Carroll  count)',  Illinois.  Thither  Duncan  followed,  and  they  invested  every  dollar  they 
could  raise  in  the  fine  prairie  soil  of  what  is  now  Salem  township;  and  stock  of  various  kinds  to 
grow  upon  it.  The  visions  of  possible  wealth  to  be  realized  in  stock-raising  upon  Illinois  prairies 
where  the  soil  was  inexhaustible,  and  hay  and  pasturage  free,  must  have  been  dazzling  in  the 
extreme,  to  the  young  Scotch  herdsmen  ;  yet  as  the  events  proved,  fully  capable  of  realization. 
The  land  had  not  yet  been  surveyed  or  come  into  market,  and  the  brothers  bought  out  the  claims 
of  seven  squatters,  amounting  to  about  1,120  acres.  Of  this  amount  Mr.  Mackay  still  owns  about 
600  acres  in  a  body. 

Duncan  had  married  Jessie  Mackay,  his  cousin,  while  still  in  Nova  Scotia.  His  parents  and  the 
rest  of  his  father's  family  had  come  over,  and  to  the  new  home  in  the  Far  West  they  all  came1.  A 
huge  three-story  log-house  at  first  gave  shelter  for  a  time  to  the  entire  company,  numbering 
twenty-four  grown  persons,  besides  children,  until  houses  could  be  built,  and  homes  provided  for 


r.\Y/-/:/>  .s- /-. -/•/•/•; \  Kroc.KAPHiCAi.  DICTIONARY. 


465 

all.  In  this  original  home,  sanctified  by  religion,  guarded  by  integrity,  and  supported  by  indus- 
try, such  peace,  happiness  and  contentment  reigned  as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  man.  For  several 
years  the  family  carried  on  the  business  of  farming  and  stock-raising,  and  grew  rich,  yet  no  mem- 
ber of  the  prosperous  and  happy  community  being  hardly  able  at  any  time  to  say  "this  is  mine, 
and  that  is  thine."  But  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  John  H.  Manny  had  in  process  of  time 
invented  a  reaper,  and  used  up  all  his  funds  and  those  of  his  father  and  friends,  and  mortgaged 
all  their  lands  to  bring  it  out  and  place  it  properly  before  the  public.  To  Duncan  Mackay  this 
young  man  appealed  for  aid  in  his  extremity,  and  enlisted  him  in  its  favor.  Mackay  loaned  him 
money,  bought  his  machines  for  cash,  and  being  a  good  workman  himself,  went  with  the  machines 
to  the  fields  and  instructed  the  farmers  how  to  use  them,  overcame,  by  his  skill,  any  imperfections 
in  their  construction,  quieted  the  apprehensions  of  the  buyers,  and  overcame  their  objections.  He 
took  upon  himself  for  a  time  the  management  of  their  sale,  employed  many  salesmen  in  the  North- 
west, and  kept  no  less  than  thirteen  adjusters  to  follow  the  reapers  into  the  hands  and  to  the 
fields  of  the  buyers,  until  the  invention  had  overcome  all  difficulties,  and  fought  its  way  into  de- 
served popularity. 

This  was  the  first  effort  Mr.  Mackay  had  made  to  turn  his  hand  to  any  other  field  of  enterprise 
since  coming  west,  and  this  was  prompted  originally  rather  by  his  natural  willingness  to  help  a 
worthy  enterprise  in  need  than  ah  expectation  of  realizing  a  fortune  by  it.  However,  he  was  not 
the  loser  in  the  end.  In  1843  a  couple  of  Germans  had  built  a  flouring  mill  at  Mount  Carroll. 
Their  names  were  Halderman  and  Rhinwalt,  and  Mackay  a  couple  of  years  later  entered  into  co- 
partnership with  them,  and  organized  the  Hydraulic  Company.  The  design  was  to  utilize  the 
water  power  of  Plum  River  in  the  establishment  of  a  grand  series  of  factories  of  all  sorts.  The 
company  was  established,  a  charter  obtained,  and  business  began.  However,  the  venture  was  an 
unfortunate  one  from  the  start.  The,  original  projectors  were  in  the  majority,  and  carried  every- 
thing according  to  their  own  will.  Mr.  Mackay  did  not  approve  of  their  plans  or  methods  of  busi- 
ness, but  could  only  enter  his  protest  from  time  to  time,  and  place  it  upon  record.  As  he  foresaw, 
the  enterprise  failed,  an  assignment  was  made,  their  affairs  got  into  the  courts,  and  after  several 
years  of  costly  litigation,  in  which  the  most  talented  lawyers  in  the  West  were  engaged,  the  whole 
business  was  wound  up  at  a  loss  to  all  concerned. 

Mr.  Mackay  had  been  from  youth  an  anti-slavery  man,  and  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  growing 
contest  between  the  two  gigantic  forces  of  freedom  and  slavery.  He  was  opposed  to  the  doctrine 
of  squatter  sovereignty  advocated  by  Douglas,  while  a  great  admirer  of  the  abilities  of  that  great 
man.  When  the  war  cloud  burst  upon  the  country  he  was  an  enthusiastic  and  very  efficient  sup- 
porter of  the  government.  He  was  at  all  times  ready  with  his  counsel  and  his  cash  to  aid  the 
good  cause,  and  when  the  National  Bank  act  was  passed,  was  among  the  first  to  aid  the  govern- 
ment by  applying  for  a  charter.  Uniting  with  Mr.  Mills,  Mr.  Mark,  Mr.  Green,  his  brother-in-law, 
and  others,  the  First  National  Bank  of  Mount  Carroll  was  established,  with  a  capital  of  $50,000. 
Confederate  bonds  and  currency  at  that  time  were  bearing  a  higher  price  than  those  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  outlook  for  the  National  cause  was  very  grave,  yet  from  purely  patriotic  motives 
these  gentlemen  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  government  in  her  darkest  hour,  as  fortunately  did 
thousands  of  others,  and  with  a  rescued  nation  they  have  their  reward.  James  Mark  was  the  first 
president  of  this  bank.  He  was  succeeded  the  year  following  by  Mr.  Mackay,  who  has  remained 
the  chief  officer  till  the  present  time.  It  has  since  doubled  its  capital,  and  continues  one  of  the 
soundest  and  most  successful  banks  in  that  part  of  the  state. 

Doctor  Leander  Smith,  of  Morrison,  Illinois,  solicited  Mr.  Mackay  to  join  him  in  a  private 
bank,  at  the  latter  place.  He  consented  to  do  so,  and  the  bank  was  formed,  with  a  cash  capital 
of  860,000.  June  26,  1882,  he  joined  Henry  Ashway.  George  Hay,  his  brother  John  Mackay. 
and  others  in  the  bank,  established  at  Savannah.  He  has  thus  a  large  interest  in  three  banks,  in 
I  he  establishment  of  every  one  of  which  higher  motives  than  usually  prevail  in  such  matters 
wort-  the  ruling  element.  But  with  all  his  banking  business  on  his  hands,  he  has  never  relin- 
quished his  interests  In  farming.  He  at  one  time  owned  twelve  farms,  all  of  which  he  either 


466  UNITED   STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

worked  or  rented,  but  for  various  reasons  has  sold  off  six  of  them,  and  will  still  further  reduce 
their  number  to  relieve  himself  of  the  burden  of  their  care. 

Without  solicitation  on  his  part  he  received  from  Governor  Beveridge  appointment  as 
one  of  the  United  States  commissioners  to  the  Vienna  Exposition.  Without  any  expense  to  the 
government  he  attended  to  his  duties  there,  and  afterward  made  the  tour  of  Europe.  Subse- 
quently, he  made  two  successive  trips  to  Colorado  for  his  health,  which  with  his  excessive  labors 
and  advancing  years  is  at  times  somewhat  precarious.  Mr.  Mackay,  as  might  be  supposed,  is  a 
stanch  temperance  man.  The  death  of  one  of  his  workmen  while  in  Maine,  from  exposure  while 
under  the  influence  of  liquor,  opened  his  eyes  while  yet  a  young  man,  to  the  awful  character  of 
the  liquor  traffic,  and  he  solemnly  took  a  pledge,  and  put  it  into  writing,  thereafter  neither  to  use 
it  himself  nor  furnish  it  to  his  men.  To  that  pledge  he  has  sacredly  adhered  through  a  long  life, 
and  to  it  ascribes  much  of  his  prosperity.  The  danger  of  freely  signing  his  name  to  other  men's 
paper  early  caused  him  to  make  it  a  rule  never  to  do  so  except  in  cases  of  necessity  or  charity, 
and  although  ready  at  all  times  with  a  helping  hand  for  the  needy  or  deserving,  he  has  found 
other  means  to  aid  them  without  violating  a  very  wise  and  useful  pledge. 

In  religion,  Mr.  Mackay  is  a  Presbyterian,  in  politics  a  republican,  and  everywhere  a  gentle- 
man. He  has  never  sought  office,  but  always  discouraged  any  effort  to  force  it  upon  him,  yet 
when  elected  has  faithfully  discharged  its  duties. 

March  23,  1882,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  by  fire  his  elegant  stone  mansion  with  the  greater 
part  of  its  contents  at  Oakville,  where  he  has  resided  since  first  coming  to  Illinois.  Some  of  his 
many  warm  friends  at  once  furnished  an  elegant  residence  at  Morrison,  and  presented  it  to  him 
with  the  request  that  he  should  at  once  occupy  it.  Yielding  to  their  earnest  solicitations  he  has 
for  the  time,  at  least,  abandoned  the  project  of  rebuilding  on  his  farm  at  Oakville,  and,  June  27, 
moved  into  the  new  residence  at  Morrison. 


JOHN    H.   HARRIS. 

MENDOTA. 

JOHN  HAMILTON  HARRIS,  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  the  vicinity  of  Mendota,  and  long 
one  of  the  leading  men  in  this  city,  is  a  native  of  Washington  county,  Pennsylvania,  a  son  of 
Stephen  and  Sybil  (Clark)  Harris,  and  was  born  August  19,  1807.  His  grandfather,  John  Harris, 
was  one  of  the  minute  men  of  the  revolution,  and  a  participant  in  the  battle  of  Monmouth.  His 
paternal  grandmother,  Mary  Hamilton,  was  of  Scotch  descent,  and  a  blood  relation  of  Gavin 
Hamilton,  a  friend  and  patron  of  Robert  Burns.  The  family  moved  to  Stark  county,  Ohio,  in  1809. 

In  his  early  youth  our  subject  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  rudimentary  branches,  includ- 
ing the  "New  England  Primer"  and  the  "Shorter  Catechism;"  later  attended  an  academy  at 
Canton,  Ohio,  and  spent  one  year  in  the  military  academy  at  West  Point.  In  his  boyhood  he 
did  some  work  on  his  father's  farm,  but  did  not  then  take  to  agricultural  pursuits.  He  read  law 
with  John  Harris,  his  uncle,  at  Canton;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Millersburgh,  Holmes  county, 
in  1828;  practiced  there  for  two  years,  and  from  1830  to  1854  was  in  practice  at  Wooster,  Wayne 
county.  While  a  resident  of  that  city  he  was  auditor  of  the  county  one  term,  and  a  member  of 
the  state  senate  the  same  period,  being  in  those  days  an  earnest  worker  in  the  ranks  of  the 
democracy. 

Mr.  Harris  made  a  success  in  the  legal  profession  in  Ohio,  and  having  accumulated  a  fair 
property,  he  came  to  Illinois  in  1854,  and  settled  on  a  farm  near  Mendota,  on  which  he  lived  until 
1862,  when  he  moved  into  the  city,  retaining  his  farm  until  1882. 

Mr.  Harris  is  in  very  comfortable  circumstances,  and  latterly  has  done  little  more  than  take  care 
of  his  garden.  He  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  most  of  the  time  since  coming  into  the  state, 
having  an  office  in  town  while  on  the  farm,  and  resigning  a  few  years  ago.  He  also  served  for 
years  on  the  county  board  of  supervisors,  and  has  always  been  a  man  of  much  public  spirit,  will- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


467 


ing  to  help  forward  any  cause  likely  to  benefit  the  community.  When  the  democratic  party  allied 
itself  with  the  slave  power,  Mr.  Harris  joined  the  great  republican  phalanx,  in  which  he  has 
trained  since  its  formation. 

He  was  formerly  an  active  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  order,  and  an  Odd-Fellow,  but  is 
not  now  an  affiliated  member  of  either  order.  His  religious  connection  is  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  of  which  he  was  long  an  official  member.  He  took  the  Washingtonian  pledge 
fifty  years  ago,  and  has  lived  a  life  of  strict  temperance,  not  even  using  tobacco  in  any  manner. 
The  young  will  do  well  to  mark  his  course  and  follow  it.  No  man  in  the  city  of  Mendota  is  more 
cordially  esteemed  than  he  is. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Harris  was  Harriet  Fogle,  daughter  of  William  Fogle,  M.D.,  of  Canton 
where  they  were  married  January  15,  1833.  They  have  had  five  children,  only  one  of  them,  Mary 
Hamilton,  wife  of  Collins  A.  Harbaugh,  merchant,  Mendota,  now  living.  The  oldest  daughter 
married  Rev.  H.  Sturgeon,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  she  died  while  he  was  at  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, in  1864,  acting  as  provost  marshal.  Adeline  died  at  Mendota  after  she  had  grown  to 
womanhood,  and  the  other  two  when  quite  young. 


•     HON.  THOMAS  CLOONAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS  CLOONAN,  of  the  eleventh  senatorial  district,  was  born  in  Rockland  county,  New 
York,  August  i,  1851,  his  parents  being  Edward  and  Bridget  (Morris)  Cloonan.  They  were 
from  Galway,  Ireland.  In  1855  the  family  went  to  Chicago,  where  Thomas  was  educated  and 
learned  the  bricklayer's  trade,  at  which  he  worked  for  several  years.  Subsequently  he  kept  a 
butcher's  shop  on  the  West  Side.  For  the  last  three  years  Mr.  Cloonan  has  been  connected  with 
the  office  of  the  water-works. 

In  1880  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature  from  the  old  third  senatorial  dis- 
trict, and  in  1882  he  was  elected  senator  from  the  new  eleventh  district.  He  is  now  serving  in  the 
upper  house,  being  on  the  democratic  side,  and  on  the  committees  on  municipalities,  railroads, 
corporations,  mines  and  mining,  agriculture  and  drainage,  miscellany,  printing,  etc. 

Mr.  Cloonan  has  always  voted  the  democratic  ticket.  In  religion  he  is  a  Catholic,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians.  He  is  a  single  man,  and  he  and  his  parents  are 
living  together  in  Chicago.  Mr.  Cloonan  is  an  active  and  efficient  business  man. 


HON.   SAMUEL  M.   MOORE,   LL.D. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  Hon.  Samuel  McClelland  Moore,  LL.D.,  was  born  August  23, 
1821,  in  Bourbon  county,  in  the  state  of  Kentucky.  He  was  the  youngest  child  of  James 
and  Peggy  (McClure)  Moore.  He  had  five  brothers  and  one  sister,  all  of  whom  are  dead  except 
one  brother  and  the  sister.  His  father  died  when  he,  Samuel,  was  but  little  over  one  year  old  ; 
his  mother  died  in  May,  1861.  Judge  Moore  is  of  Irish  descent.  In  politics  of  democratic  pro- 
clivities. In  religion,  a  Presbyterian  of  the  strictest  sect,  adopting  the  confession  of  faith  as  the 
essence  of  God's  word,  yet  tolerant  toward  all  sects  and  creeds  not  tainted  with  immorality.  His 
early  education  was  obtained  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  county.  When  preparing  for 
college  he  was  under  the  tuition  of  Hon.  T.  Lyle  Dickey,  now  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  of  Illinois,  and  Ebenezer  Marston,  a  graduate  of  Union  College,  at  Schenectady,  New  York, 
two  splendid  educators.  He  entered  Miami  University  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  where  he  graduated  in 
1841,  with  Doctor  George  L.  Andrew,  of  La  Porte,  Indiana,  Rev.  John  M.  Bishop,  D.D.,  of  Cov- 


468  UNITED    STATES   RIOGRAPHICA I.    DICTIONARY. 

ington,  Indiana,  Hon.  Charles  H.  Hardin,  late  governor  of  Missouri,  Hon.  Samuel  Shellabarger, 
of  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  others,  who  have  not  only  occupied  high  positions,  hut  were  qualified 
to  occupy  such  positions. 

In  the  autumn  of  1841  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge  James  R.  Curry,  at  Cynthiana,  Har- 
rison county,  Kentucky,  and  was  admitted  and  licensed  to  practice  law  in  the  year  1842,  and  com- 
menced the  practice  at  Cynthiana. 

In  April,  1842,  he  married  Martha  Wilson,  a  most  estimable  lady,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Robert 
and  Elizabeth  (Harris)  Wilson.  Rev.  Robert  Wilson  was  one  of  the  earliest  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters in  northeastern  Kentucky.  Judge  Moore  has  had  nine  children:  Margaret  Elizabeth,  wife  of 
Rev.  and  Professor  Robert  A.  Condit;  Robert  Wilson,  a  very  promising  young  lawyer,  died  De- 
cember 25,  1872;  Samuella;  James  Curry,  who  died  September  13,  1863;  Mary  Hall,  who  died 
when  five  years  of  age;  Herman  Groesbeck,  who  died  when  seven  months  old;  French,  who  is 
now  city  physician  of  the  city  of  Chicago;  Rosina  Bennoist,  and  Nona. 

In  1844  he  removed  to  Covington,  Kentucky,  where  he  continued  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion (the  law)  until  1856,  when  he  was  elected  circuit  judge,  with  the  exception  of  a  short  time 
when  he  was  publisher  and  editor  of  a  democratic  newspaper.  There  probably  never  was  a  more 
popular  judge  on  the  bench  in  Kentucky  than  Judge  Moore  during  the  six  years  of  his  judgeship 
there.  His  term  expired  in  1862,  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  There  were  then  in  Kentucky 
several  parties,  one  calling  itself  Unconditional  Union,  another,  which  desired  and  believed  that 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  might  be  secured  without  war  or  bloodshed.  To  the  latter  party 
Judge  Moore  belonged. 

Judge  Moore's  reelection  was  considered  absolutely  certain,  with  scarcely  a  show  of  oppo- 
sition. At  that  time,  1862,  General  Jerry  Boyle  was  in  command  of  the  department  of  Kentucky, 
and  issued  an  order  that  none  but  the  nominees  of  the  Unconditional  Union  party  should  be  can- 
didates for  office,  and  that  votes  should  be  counted  for  none  others.  General  Boyle  years  after- 
ward told  Judge  Moore  that  there  was  no  act  of  his  life  that  he  regretted  as  much  as  he  did  that 
order.  Upon  the  issuance  of  General  Boyle's  aforesaid  order,  Judge  Moore  declined  to  be  a  can- 
didate for  reelection,  and  commenced  disposing  of  his  property  in  Kentucky  preparatory  to 
removing  to  Chicago  with  his  family. 

His  services  as  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  Kentucky  were  alike  laborious  and  honorable. 
He  served  the  people  of  Kentucky  with  zeal  and  fidelity.  Early  in  1865  he  with  his  family  came 
to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  resided.  Soon  after  his  arrival  here  he  became  a  partner  of  Hon. 
Bernard  G.  Caulfield,  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  which  partnership  continued  until  November, 
1873,  when  Judge  Moore  was  elected  judge  of  the  superior  court  of  Cook  county.  During  the  six 
years  in  which  he  served  as  judge  of  the  superior  court  he  had  charge  of  the  chancery  branch  of 
the  court.  When  he  took  charge  of  the  chancery  department  of  the  court  the  docket  was  fear- 
fully in  arrears,  but  when  his  term  closed  every  case  ready  for  trial  was  disposed  of.  During  the 
last  three  years  of  his  term  any  case  could  have  been  tried  within  thirty  or  sixty  days  after  the 
issues  were  completed.  In  1879,3!  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  judge  of  the  superior  court,  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  is  now  actively  engaged  in  such  practice.  In  1878 
Wooster  University  conferred  upon  him  the  well  merited  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws. 

In  Kentucky  and  in  Chicago  his  friends  have  persistently  urged  him  to  enter  the  political 
arena,  but  he  has  as  persistently  declined.  His  ancestors,  for  so  long  a  time  that  the  memory  of 
man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary,  have  been  Presbyterians,  with  scarcely  an  exception.  He  is  a 
Presbyterian  by  prescription  and  election.  He  has  been  the  continual  recipient  of  distinguished 
honors  conferred  upon  him  by  his  church,  and  has  served  the  church  in  nearly  every  capacity, 
except  that  of  an  ordained  minister. 

A  purer  judge  never  sat  upon  the  bench,  and  the  writer  of  this  sketch  is  of  the  opinion  that  if 
he  should  be  sued  by  the  name  and  style  of  "  Old  Honesty,"  it  could  be  proved  that  he  was  known 
as  well  by  that  name  as  by  the  name  of  Samuel  M.  Moore. 

A  kinder  hearted  man  never  lived.      He  has  always  been  too  anxious  to-serve  his  friends,  so 


r\lTl:D    STATES   B/OiiK.  //'///( 'A  /.    D/CT/ONAK  Y.  460 

much  so  that  his  own  interests  have  materially  suffered  thereby.    As  a  lawyer  he  has  always  stood 
in  the  front  rank  of  his  profession,  which  is  an  honor  achieved  by  but  few. 

As  a  citizen  he  is  always  on  the  moral  side  of  every  question.  In  summing  up  the  charaqter 
and  reputation  of  Judge  Moore,  it  is  eminently  proper  to  pronounce  him  a  gentleman,  a  Chris- 
tian and  a  scholar. 


WILLIAMSON   DURLEY. 

HENNEPIN. 

AdONG  the  older  class  of  settlers  in  Putnam  county,  and  its  best  representative  of  business 
interests,  is  Williamson  Durley.  a  native  of  Caldwell  county,  Kentucky.  He  was  born  Janu- 
ary 7,  1810,  his  parents  being  Jehu  Durley,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  of  English  lineage,  and 
Jane  (Rankin)  Durley,  whose  father  was  from  Scotland.  In  1819  the  family,  came  to  this  state, 
and  settled  in  Sangamon  county,  near  Springfield,  where  our  subject  was  educated  in  a  log  school 
house,  with  split  logs  for  seats,  hewed  puncheons  and  other  furniture  to  match.  In  that  primitive 
college  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  knowledge,  on  which  he  afterward  built  by  the  economical 
use  of  spare  hours  in  private  study. 

In  August,  1831,  Mr.  Durley  came  to  Putnam  county,  taking  part  that  season  in  the  first  year 
of  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  and  his  uncle,  James  Durley,  opened  a  small  stock  of  goods  in  Hen- 
nepin,  and  under  the  firm  name  of  J.  and  \V.  Durley,  continued  to  trade  together  about  four 
years.  In  1837  the  subject  of  this  sketch  went  on  his  farm,  two  miles  from  town,  and  in  1841  into 
the  mercantile  trade  with  Andrew  Wardlaw,  under  the  firm  name  of  Durley  and  Wardlaw.  Mr. 
Durley  remained  on  the  farm  until  the  autumn  of  1880,  when  he  left  it  in  charge  of  his  third  son, 
Lyle  H.  Durley,  and  moved  into  town.  The  farm  consists  of  a  little  over  four  hundred  acres,  and 
is  under  excellent  improvement,  Mr.  Durley  being  of  that  class  of  men  who  believe  that  anything 
worth  doing  at  all  is  worth)  doing  well.  There  is  nothing  slip-shod  about  his  farm  or  himself. 
Although  two  miles  away,  and  seventy-three  years  of  age,  in  the  busy  season  and  in  good  weather 
Mr.  Durley  visits  the  old  homestead  daily,  and  has  a  mind  to  work,  although  he  has  not  the 
activity  of  middle  life.  The  farm  is  well  stocked  with  cattle,  horses  and  hogs,  well  fenced,  with 
good  barns  and  other  buildings,  and  every  indication  of  thriftiness. 

Mr.  Durley  held  at  an  early  day  the  office  of  county  commissioner  for  a  period  of  eleven  con- 
secutive years,  being  elected  on  the  liberty  ticket.  He  has  also  been  township  treasurer,  township 
trustee,  school  director,  etc.,  willing  at  all  times  to  serve  in  any  position  where  he  could  be  useful.  He 
was  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  organizing  the  so-called  Buel  Institute,  in  Putnam  county,  the  first 
agricultural  society,  we  understand,  in  Illinois,  and  he  was  its  president  two  or  three  years.  He 
was  also  active  in  getting  up  the  Farmers'  Club  of  Putnam  county,  of  which  he  has  also  been  presi- 
dent, and  the  interests  of  which  he  has  labored  hard  to  promote.  His  study  thus  far  in  life  seems 
to  have  been  to  aim  at  self-improvement,  and  to  encourage  all  enterprises  calculated  to  benefit 
others. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Durley,  whose  maiden  name  was  Elizabeth  Winters,  of  Miami  county,  Ohio, 
and  whom  he  married  December  2,  1834,  is  still  living.  She  is  the  mother  of  nine  children,  one 
of  whom  died  at  four  years  of  age.  The  other  eight  are  well  settled  and  are  doing  finely.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Durlty  also  raised  an  adopted  daughter.  We  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the  parents 
are  proud  of  their  children.  If  they  are  not,  they  have  reason  to  be.  Their  eldest  son,  Preston 
B.,  was  formerly  a  merchant  and  postmaster  at  Hennepin,  and  is  one  of  the  proprietors  of  Faulk- 
ton,  Dakota,  and  postmaster  of  the  place.  The  second  son,  Albert  W.,  is  a  lawyer  at  Le  Mars, 
Iowa.  The  fourth,  Edwin  M.,  is  a  large  and  prosperous  farmer  in  Butler  county,  Kansas,  and  the 
fifth,  Chester  M.,  is  a  merchant  at  Princeton.  Illinois. 

Mr.  Durley  is  a  true  patriot.  Too  old  to  shoulder  his  musket  when  the  South  undertook  to 
destroy  the  Union,  he  spent  time  and  money  in  helping  forward  the  good  cause;  served  as  internal 
revenue  assessor  from  1862  to  1865;  assisted  in  filling  out  the  township  quota,  and  was  active  in 


47O  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

organizing  the  Union  League.  Long  prior  to  the  rebellion  he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  lib- 
erty party;  acted  with  the  free-soil  party  in  1848-52,  and  has  trained  in  the  republican  ranks 
since  that  great  party  sprang  into  existence. 

Mr.  Durley  has  been,  since  its  organization,  reporter  for  the  agricultural  bureau  at  Washing- 
ton, and  we  understand  that  his  opinions  on  agricultural  matters  have  much  weight  at  head- 
quarters. He  also  reports  for  the  State  Agricultural  Society. 

He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Congregationalist  Church,  and  liberal  supporters  of  the 
same,  Mr.  Durley  having  often  been  an  office-bearer.  He  is  a  consistent  advocate  of  temperance, 
and  in  many  respects  an  example  for  young  men  to  imitate. 


1 


ROBERT  M.   EDDY. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

*HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  descended  from  one  of  the  oldest  New  England  families,  and 
can  trace  his  ancestry  back  through  eight  generations,  to  an  Episcopal  clergyman  who 
officiated  in  Saint  Dunstan's  chapel,  Cranbrook,  Kent  county,  England,  about  the  year  1550.  He 
himself  is  a  native  of  Picton,  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  was  born  August  16,  1822.  His 
parents,  Alfred  P.  Eddy,  and  Charlotte  (Day)  Eddy,  were  both  natives  of  Rhode  Island,  and  were 
people  of  sterling  virtues,  to  whose  teachings  and  example  our  subject  is  indebted  for  many  les- 
sons of  sturdy  integrity  and  persevering  industry,  whose  influence  on  his  early  life  left  an  impress 
that  has  signally  marked  his  later  business  career. 

Robert  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  good  common-school  education,  and  in  1840,  being  then 
eighteen  years  of  age,  went  to  Buffalo  and  apprenticed  himself  to  George  Jones,  an  iron 
founder,  with  whom  he  served  for  three  years.  After  learning  his  trade,  he  was  employed  by  the 
same  party  for  four  years  as  &  jour  workman,  and  in  1847,  with  a  capital  of  about  $600,  began 
business  at  Buffalo  on  his  own  account,  as  an  iron-fence  manufacturer,  and  continued  the  same 
until  1852,  personally  supervising  his  works,  and  employing  one  or  two  hands  to  assist  him  in 
his  operations.  His  business  was  necessarily  limited,  but  he  conducted  it  on  a  safe  basis,  and 
during  the  time  of  its  continuance  managed  to  accumulate  a  small  capital. 

Upon  the  decease  of  L.  H.  Larkin,  an  iron  founder,  which  occurred  about  this  time,  Mr. 
Eddy,  associating  with  himself  Robert  Bingham,  who  furnished  $500,  purchased  the  estab- 
lishment, paying  for  the  same  $3,000,  $500  cash  down,  and  the  balance  on  time,  payable  in  install- 
ments. This  business  was  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Eddy  and  Bingham,  until  1865,  a 
period  of  about  twelve  years,  during  which  time  it  attained  to  a  very  high  standing  among  man- 
ufacturing industries,  and  yielded  large  profits. 

During  the  year  1865.  Mr.  Eddy  retired  from  the  firm,  selling  his  interest  in  the  business  to  his 
partner  for  $16,000,  and  invested  in  seven  canal  boats  which  were  running  on  the  Erie  canal. 
The  investment  proved  very  unfortunate,  it  being  a  line  of  business  in  which  Mr.  Eddy  was 
wholly  inexperienced,  and  before  he  closed  his  relations  with  the  enterprise  he  had  lost  by  the 
operation  some  $5,000.  After  looking  about,  and  finding  in  that  city  no  chance  for  making  good 
his  losses,  he  determined  to  take  the  capital  which  he  had  left,  about  $11,000,  and  go  west.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1865,  he  settled  in  Chicago,  and  after  casting  about  with  a  view  to  making  the  most 
satisfactory  investment,  he  established  the  foundry  business,  which  has  since  that  time  engaged 
his  constant  attention,  locating  his  works  on  the  corner  of  Franklin  and  Illinois  streets.  Upon 
establishing  this  enterprise  Mr.  Eddy  associated  with  himself  as  partners  A.  F.  Buschick,  G.  E. 
Buschick,  and  James  Gardner,  under  the  firm  name  of  James  Gardner  and  Company. 

The  business  represented  a  capital  of  $6,800,  of  which  Mr.  Eddy  furnished  $3,000,  $3,200  was 
supplied  by  the  Messrs.  Buschick,  and  the  balance  by  Mr.  Gardner,  who  failed  to  fulfill  his  part 
of  the  agreement  in  reference  to  furnishing  a  proportionate  amount  of  the  capital. 

During  the  next  three  years  the  business  was  continued  uninterruptedly,  meeting  with  good 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


473 


success,  but  in  1868  a  change  in  the  management  occurred,  Mr.  Eddy  purchasing  the  interests  of 
the  Messrs.  Buschick.  Two  years  later,  in  1870,  he  bought  out  Mr.  Gardner,  and  assumed  the 
sole  management  of  the  business,  and  has  continued  to  control  its  affairs  until  the  present  time 
(1881).  The  operations  of  the  concern  were,  at  that  time,  in  a  most  thriving  condition,  and  yield- 
ing products  ranging  in  value  from  $40,000  to  $50,000  per  annum.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  this 
prosperity  that  occurred  the  great  fire' of  October  9,  1871,  and  in  that  general  conflagration  which 
left  a  prosperous  city  but  a  mass  of  smoldering  ruins,  Mr.  Eddy  was  compelled  to  see  the  accu- 
mulation of  years  of  careful  toil,  swept  away  in  an  hour. 

The  foundry  was  a  total  loss,  and  of  the  $4,200  insurance  which  he  held,  he  realized  but  $170, 
the  greater  part  of  the  insurance  companies  being  ruined  by  their  heavy  losses.  It  was  at  this 
crisis  that  Mr.  Eddy's  true  spirit  asserted  itself.  Though  his  loss  was  heavy  and  the  misfortune 
was  a  severe  blow  to  him,  he  faced  it  with  undaunted  courage,  and  before  the  smoke  had  fairly 
cleared  away  from  the  ruins,  he  commenced  to  rebuild  his  foundry,  and  in  eight  weeks  after  the 
fire,  had  his  establishment  completed,  and  in  full  operation.  Since  that  time  the  business  has 
been  greatly  extended,  improved  appliances  have  been  supplied,  as  necessity  has  required,  so  that 
the  foundry  is  now,  in  every  respect,  a  model  establishment.  Mr.  Eddy  now  (1883)  employs  a 
working  capital  of  $40,000,  and  with  a  force  of  thirty  hands  produces  goods  amounting  in  the 
gross  to  $60,000  per  annum. 

The  special  feature  of  this  business  is  the  manufacture  of  castings  for  machinery,  and  iron 
buildings,  products  which  have  become  widely  known  for  their  universal  excellence. 

Mr.  Eddy's  policy  has  always  been  to  put  upon  the  market  only  a  first-class  quality  of  goods, 
and  to  spare  neither  money  nor  pains  in  meeting  the  wants  of  his  patrons.  He  is  a  man  of  very 
decided  character,  and  engages  with  his  whole  soul  in  whatever  he  attempts,  and  has  made  a  suc- 
cess of  his  life  by  perseveringly  following  a  well  defined  purpose. 

Aside  from  his  superior  business  qualifications,  he  possesses  fine  social  attainments,  and  by  his 
many  excellent  personal  qualities  has  attracted  to  himself  a  very  large  circle  of  warm  personal 
friends. 

In  political  sentiments  he  is  a  stanch  republican,  but  has  never  taken  any  active  part  in  politi- 
cal affairs,  having  found  in  his  legitimate  business  ample  scope  for  the  gratification  of  his  high- 
est ambition. 

He  was  formerly  a  Baptist  in  his  religious  views,  but  has  come  to  entertain  very  liberal  views 
on  that  subject.  Mr.  Eddy  was  married  in  1845,  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  to  Miss  Sarah  M. 
Quackenbush,  by  whom  he  has  had  seven  children,  of  whom  two  sons  and  two  daughters  are  now 
living. 

MAJOR-GENERAL   SMITH   D.  ATKINS. 

FREEPORT. 

SMITH  DYKINS  ATKINS  is  a  son  of  Adna  Stanley  and  Sarah  Dykins  Atkins,  and  was  born 
near  Elmira,  Chemung  county,  New  York,  June  9,  1835.  His  father  was  a  tailor  by  trade, 
born  near  New  Haven,  Connnecticut.  He  immigrated  to  Orange  county,  New  York,  and  after- 
ward to  Chemung  county,  where  he  engaged  in  conducting  the  tailoring  business  until  1848, 
when  the  family  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Loran  township,  Stephenson  county, 
where  Smith  D.  Atkins  remained  until  1850,  when  he  became  an  apprentice  at  the  printing  busi- 
ness in  the  office  of  the  "Prairie  Democrat,"  the  pioneer  journal  at  Freeport.  Subsequently  he 
went  to  Mount  Morris,  Ogle  county,  became  a  student  in  the  Rock  River  Seminary,  and  at  the 
same  time  paid  his  way  by  working  in  a  printing  office.  In  1852  he  had  assigned  to  him  the  fore- 
manship  of  the  Mount  Morris  "  Gazette,"  he  being  still  a  student,  and  in  June  of  the  next  year 
he  became  a  partner  of  C.  C.  Allen,  in  the  publication  of  that  paper,  which  he  soon  afterward 
purchased.  In  1854  he  established  the  "Register,"  at  Savannah,  Carroll  county,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Hiram  Bright,  of  Freeport.  He  was 
17 


474  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

admitted  to  the  bar  in  July,  1855.  Wishing  to  prosecute  his  legal  studies  a  little  farther  before 
opening  an  office  of  his  own,  Mr.  Atkins  went  to  Chicago,  and  spent  a  year  in  the  office  of  Good- 
rich and  Scoville,  commencing  practice  at  Freeport,  September  i,  1856. 

Like  many  young  lawyers,  he  early  became  imbued  with  politics,  being  a  decided  republican, 
and  we  first  hear  of  him  on  the  stump  as  a  canvasser  in  the  great  campaign  of  1860,  when  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  elected  President.  We  learn  from  the  "  History  of  Stephenson  County "  that  an 
address  of  his  delivered  in  that  campaign,  and  which  contained  a  trenchant  review  of  the  Dred 
Scott  decision,  in  which  Chief  Justice  Taney  stultified  himself,  was  published,  and  passed  through 
several  editions. 

In  November,  1860,  Mr.  Atkins  was  elected  state's  attorney  for  the  fourteenth  judicial  circuit, 
which  embraced  three  counties,  and  we  learn  from  the  source  already  mentioned  that,  "on  the 
iyth  of  April,  1861,  while  trying  a  criminal  case  in  the  Stephenson  county  court,  a  telegram  was 
received  stating  that  President  Lincoln  had  issued  a  call  for  troops  to  suppress  the  rebellion. 
Mr.  Atkins  immediately  drafted  in  the  court-room  an  enlistment  roll,  which  he  headed  with  his 
own  name,  being  the  first  man  to  enlist  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  county.  He  then  announced 
to  the  court  and  jury  his  decision  to  prepare  without  delay  for  service  in  the  Union  army.  Leav- 
ing the  half  finished  case  in  the  hands  of  a  brother  attorney,  he  hastened  out  of  the  court-room, 
with  his  enlistment  roll,  and  went  into  the  streets  of  Freeport  to  find  men  to  join.  Before  dark 
one  hundred  had  signed  the  roll,  and  in  the  evening  a  company  was  formed,  with  him  in  the  posi- 
tion of  captain.  That  body  of  brave  young  men  hastened  to  Springfield,  and  was  soon  mustered 
in  as  company  A,  nth  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  their  enlistment  being  for  ninety  days.  At  the 
end  of  that  period  Captain  Atkins  reenlisted  for  three  years  as  a  private,  and  at  Bird's  Point, 
Missouri,  was  again  mustered  in  as  captain  of  the  same  company  in  the  gallant  nth.  At  Fort 
Donelson  he  was  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  leading  in  sixty-eight  men  and  coming  out  with 
twenty-three,  and  for  gallant  service  on  that  occasion  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  of 
his  regiment,  and  was  placed  by  General  Grant  on  the  staff  of  General  Hurlburt,  as  acting  assist- 
ant adjutant-general.  In  that  position  he  was  with  General  Hurlburt  at  Pittsburgh  Landing, 
where  he  showed  so  much  coolness  and  courage  that  especial  mention  was  made  of  him  in  the 
general's  report. 

On  account  of  ill-health  Major  Atkins  was  now  obliged  to  seek  a  respite  from  duty,  and  spent 
two  months  on  the  sea  coast.  When  the  call  was  made  in  1862  for  six  hundred  thousand  men, 
he  was  again  ready  for  the  field,  first  taking  the  stump  to  aid  in  rousing  the  patriotism  of  his 
countryman.  He  enlisted  in  the  Q2d  Illinois,  which  was  mustered  in  September  4,  1862,  with  him 
as  its  colonel.  He  commanded  it  till  January  17,  1863,  when  we  find  him  at  the  head  of  a  brigade. 
Not  long  afterward,  while  the  p2d  was  at  Mount  Sterling,  Kentucky,  negroes  began  to  flock  into 
the  camp  of  the  Yankee  regiment  and  asked  for  protection,  and  when  the  owners  appeared  and 
demanded  their  surrender,  and  when  a  Kentucky  colonel,  who  had  at  that  time  command  of  the 
brigade,  ordered  Colonel  Atkins  to  return  the  slaves,  he  would  not  do  it,  declaring,  at  the  same 
time,  that  his  men  "had  not  enlisted  to  act  in  the  capacity  of  bloodhounds,  to  hunt  them  down 
and  drive  them  back."  . 

June  17,  1863,  Colonel  Atkins  was  placed  in  command  of  the  2d  brigade,  third  division,  Army 
of  Kentucky,  which  he  commanded  while  in  the  department  of  the  Ohio,  and  when  his  regiment 
was  ordered  to  the  department  of  the  Cumberland  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  ist  brigade, 
first  division  of  the  reserve  corps.  A  little  later,  when  the  Q2d  was  mounted,  and  transferred  to 
Wilder's  brigade  of  mounted  infantry,  he  commanded  it  until  transferred  to  General  Kilpatrick's 
cavalry  division.  When  this  heroic  cavalry  officer  reformed  his  division,  preparatory  to  the  cele- 
brated march  with  General  Sherman  to  the  sea,  he  placed  Colonel  Atkins  in  command  of  the  2d 
brigade.  It  will  be  recollected  by  the  reader  familiar  with  the  history  of  that  great  march  that, 
when  General  Sherman  advanced  southward,  he  aimed  to  throw  his  army  between  the  rebel 
forces  and  Savannah,  and  the  task  of  deceiving  the  rebels,  and  holding  them  while  this  move- 
ment was  being  effected,  was  assigned  by  General  Kilpatrick  to  Colonel  Atkins'  brigade,  and  he 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGKAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


475 


accomplished  it  with  great  adroitness  and  skill.  He  also  made  a  brave  charge  on  the  enemy  at 
Clinton;  drove  them  to  Macon,  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles;  forced  them  into  their  works  at  that 
city,  and  held  them  until  General  Sherman  swept  to  the  eastward,  leaving  him  with  the  enemy  in 
his  rear,  and  nothing  before  him  to  impede  his  rapid  progress.  Colonel  Atkins  greatly  distin- 
guished himself  at  Waynesboro,  where  Wheeler,  with  his  army,  met  with  a  sad  defeat.  While 
charging  with  his  troops  against  the  rebel  columns,  Colonel  Atkins  had  his  color-bearer  shot  down 
by  his  side,  and  at  that  moment  his  brigade  flag  caught  the  eye  of  the  enemy,  who  poured  in  a 
terrific  flood  of  fire,  but  the  brave  colonel  halted  not  for  a  moment,  but  coolly  kept  at  the  front, 
and  soon  heard  the  deafening  cheers  of  his  victorious  troops. 

On  reaching  Savannah  the  colonel  was  brevetted  brigadier-general  for  gallantry,  and  was 
assigned  to  duty  under  his  brevet  rank  by  special  order  of  President  Lincoln,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  when  mustered  out,  he  was  brevetted  major-general,  these  honors  being  conferred  by 
order  of  President  Lincoln. 

"In  all  stations  as  a  commanding  officer,"  writes  the  historian  of  Stephenson  county,  "he  was 
popular  with  both  the  rank  and  file.  He  was  a  perfect  disciplinarian,  and  was  kind  and  consid- 
erate to  the  men  under  him.  His  courage  and  his  judgment  as  a  strategist  won  their  confidence, 
and  they  readily  and  heartily  supported  him  wherever  he  led  them."  , 

At  the  close  of  the  war  General  Atkins  returned  to  Freeport,  and  was  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Freeport  "Journal"  from  1867  to  1874.  He  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Freeport  upon  the 
recommendation  of  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne,  the  congressman  at  the  commencement  of  President 
Johnson's  term  of  office,  and  was  successively  reappointed,  twice  by  President  Grant,  once  by 
President  Hayes,  and  again  by  President  Arthur,  and  still  holds  that  position.  He  is  one  of  the 
proprietors  and  editors  of  the  Freeport  "  Republican."  In  August,  1865,  he  was  married  to 
Eleanor  Hope  Swain,  daughter  of  Hon.  David  L.  Swain,  ex-governor  of  North  Carolina,  and 
president  of  the  university  at  Chapel  Hill,  that  state.  Mrs.  Atkins  departed  this  life  at  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina,  June  12,  1881,  leaving  three  children  :  Eleanor  Hope,  Smith  Dykins,  Jr.,  and 
Susan  Annie.  

WASHINGTON    E.   COOK. 

LA  CON. 

WASHINGTON  EBENEZER  COOK  was  a  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Leonora  (Combs)  Cook, 
and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Augusta,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  December  29,  1808.  His 
grandfathers  on  both  sides  were  early  settlers  in  Augusta,  that  part  of  the  town  being  called 
Cook's  Corners.  When  Washington  was  eleven  years  old  his  father  died,  and  the  son  went  to 
Clinton,  having  no  schooling  after  that  age.  He  became  an  apprentice  at  the  hatter's  trade,  but  left 
it  just  before  his  time  had  expired,  on  account  of  poor  health.  He  held  clerkships  in  stores  and 
hotels  in  New  York  city  till  of  age;  then  went  to  Honesdale,  in  his  native  state;  became  a  mer- 
chant's clerk,  and  May  16,  1832,  was  married  to  Miss  Eunice  A.  Kellogg,  daughter  of  Eliphalet 
Kellogg,  of  Bethany,  a  prominent  citizen,  and  for  several  years  a  county  officer.  Mr.  Cook  kept 
a  large  hotel  in  Bethany  for  four  years,  and  then  moved  to  Dunkirk,  in  the  western  part  of  the 
state,  where  he  assisted  in  the  preliminary  surveys  of  a  railroad  between  Buffalo,  New  York,  and 
Erie,  Pennsylvania. 

In  1837  our  subject  came  as  far  west  as  Birmingham,  Ohio,  where  he  was  a  merchanut  until 
the  spring  of  1846,  at  which  time  he  came  to  Marshall  county,  and  settled  on  land  three  miles 
west  of  Henry.  He  sold  out,  and,  May  i,  '849,  moved  into  that  village.  In  the  following 
autumn  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  and  in  the  following  spring  settled  in  Lacon,  the 
county  seat,  holding  that  office  for  three  terms,  or  twelve  years.  On  retiring  from  that  post  of 
official  duty,  he  devoted  his  time  to  the  supervision  of  his  own  affairs,  having  accumulated  a 
handsome  property. 

Mr,  Cook  was  a  supervisor  for  ten  years,  and   held  various  other  local  offices,  being  for  years 


476  UNITED    STATES  B10GRA  r/I  ICAI.    DICTIONARY. 

one  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  place.  He  was  a  candidate  for  the  legislature  while  in  Ohio,  and 
for  the  lower  house  and  the  senate  of  this  state,  and  was  the  leader  of  the  democratic  party  in 
Marshall  county  for  a  long  time.  He  died  at  the  Matteson  House,  Chicago,  January  7,  1879,  and 
was  buried  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Masonic  order,  he  being  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  last 
charter  member  of  the  Peoria  Commandery.  His  funeral  was  very  largely  attended  by  the  fra- 
ternity of  that  order,  and  by  the  citizens  generally  of  the  city  of  Lacon  and  vicinity,  the  circuit 
court  adjourning  for  that  purpose.  He  was  a  man  greatly  esteemed  by  everybody  who  knew 
him;  was  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church,  a  warm  friend  of  the  poor,  and  in  all  respects 
a  true  and  valuable  citizen.  Self-taught  and  self-disciplined,  he  was  well  trained  and  well 
informed,  and  emphatically  a  manly  man. 

Mr.  Cook  left  a  widow  and  three  children  to  mourn  his  loss,  one  son,  Martin  K.,  having  died 
at  twenty-six  years  of  age.  That  son  was  a  captain  in  the  late  civil  war;  was  at  first  on  the  staff  of 
General  Hurlburt,  and  then  of  General  Canby,  and  married  a  Miss  Buchanan,  of  Memphis,  Ten- 
nessee. George  W.  E.,  the  eldest  child,  is  on  the  homestead  with  his  mother,  faithfully  attending 
to  the  large  property  left  by  his  father.  Helen  J.  is  the  wife  of  D.  W.  Warner,  of  Radersburgh, 
Montana  Territory,  and  Belle  V.  is  the  wife  of  S.  M.  Garrett,  lawyer,  at  Lacpn. 


ARTHUR   J.  GALLAGHER. 

DECA  TUR. 

OF  the  many  able  men  who  have  graced  the  legal  profession  with  eminent  learning  and  judi- 
cial ability  no  one  surpasses  the  late  Arthur  J.  Gallagher.  He  is  a  native  of  Tyrone  county, 
North  of  Ireland,  and  was  born  at  Strabane,  May  2,  1828,  the  youngest  of  eight  children,  seven 
sons  and  one  daughter.  His  father  immigrated  to  America  when  Arthur  was  about  a  year  old, 
and  settled  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  where  he  resided,  enjoying  excellent  school  advantages 
until  twelve  years  of  age.  His  mother  having  died  seven  years  previously,  he  came  west  with  an 
elder  brother,  who  established  himself  in  the  dry  goods  business  at  Saint  Louis,  Missouri. 
Arthur  soon  afterward  lived  a  short  time  on  a  farm  in  Illinois,  below  Saint  Louis,  and  for  a  brief 
.period  was  employed  in  a  store  in  that  vicinity.  Not  fancying  the  life  of  a  farmer,  he  returned  to 
Saint  Louis,  and  for  several  years  was  a  student  in  Saint  Joseph's  College,  studying  the  classic 
languages  and  becoming  well  acquainted  with  French  and  German.  Here  he  acquired  a  good 
education.  His  mind  was  strong,  comprehensive  and  active,  and  he  acquired  much  useful  knowl- 
edge by  the  reading  of  books  in  his  youth,  which  his  strong  and  retentive  memory  enabled  him 
to  retain  for  future  uses. 

The  Mexican  war  broke  out  in  1846,  when  he  was  but  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  enlisted  in 
the  2d  regiment  of  Illinois  infantry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Bissell,  afterward  governor  of  the 
state.  He  enlisted  for  one  year;  was  in  the  memorable  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  and  was  honorably 
discharged  after  serving  fourteen  months.  He  then  entered  the  office  of  Judge  Underwood,  at 
Belleville,  where  he  assiduously  pursued  the  study  of  the  law,  making  rapid  progress.  He  studied 
nineteen  hours  per  day,  and  as  a  natural  consequence  with  one  of  so  keen  perceptions  and  clear 
mind  he  was  soon  prepared,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Belleville.  He  removed  to  Vandalia 
in  1848,  where  he  made  good  progress  in  his  profession,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  secure  sev- 
eral valuable  friends,  who  adhered  to  him  through  life.  He  was  appointed  register  of  the  land 
office  at  Vandalia  by  President  Pierce,  and  in  1852  was  elected  to  the  legislature  from  Fayette 
county.  In  1854  he  removed  to  Chicago;  acted  as  attorney  for  the  Illinois  Central  railroad,  and 
began  the  practice  of  the  law,  remaining  there  about  six  months,  when  he  accepted  an  offer  of 
partnership  with  Hon.  Richard  J.  Oglesby  and  Sheridan  Wait,  under  the  firm  name  of  Oglesby, 
Wait  and  Gallagher. 

He  was  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age  at  this  time,  with  brilliant  talents,  vigorous  and  studious. 
He  prepared  his  cases  with  great  care,  and  investigated  every  subject  of  litigation  with  great 
patience,  and  he  soon  attained  a  high  position  at  the  Macon  county  bar. 


H.  L  Cop  par   Jr.  i    C  = 


LIBRARY 

SiTy  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

In  1862  he  raised  a  company  of  cavalry,  and  was  attached  to  the  7th  Illinois  infantry,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  William  Pitt  Kellogg,  afterward  governor  of  Louisiana.  He  remained  in  the 
army  about  a  year.  The  bar  unanimously  urged  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  judge  of  the  old 
sixteenth  circuit,  to  which  office  he  was  elected  without  opposition  in  1867.  He  held  that  office 
until  1873,  presiding  with  a  clearness,  candor  and  ability  that  won  for  him  many  high  encomiums 
by  all  having  business  in  his  courts.  He  then  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he 
followed  up  to  the  time  of  his  demise,  practicing  exclusively  in  the  higher  courts,  always  uphold- 
ing the  highest  standard  of  professional  ethics.  He  was  an  effective  speaker,  logical  and  pro- 
found, lucid  and  luminous,  true  to  himself,  his  clients,  the  courts  and  his  brethren  at  the  bar,  who 
hold  him  in  affectionate  remembrance.  His  kindness  to  younger  members  of  the  bar  is  often 
remarked  by  the  recipients  of  favors  from  his  generous  hand.  He  never  spoke  unkindly  of  a 
brother  lawyer,  and  always  treated  his  opponents  .with  the  utmost  fairness. 

He  was  married  June  27,  1865,  to  Miss  Rachel  Smith,  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement  and 
excellent  attainments,  the  daughter  of  Hon.  E.  O.  Smith,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Macon  county. 
They  had  one  son,  Arthur,  born  in  November,  1870. 

Previous  to  the  war  Judge  Gallagher  was  a  democrat,  but  subsequently  became  an  earnest 
republican.  He  died  of  heart  disease  suddenly  in  his  office  on  the  afternoon  of  June  23,  1879. 
His  death  spread  a  universal  gloom  over  the  whole  community.  All  realized  that  his  family, 
friends  and  community  had  met  with  an  irreparable  loss,  and  the  bar  its  brightest  intellect. 

At  a  bar  meeting  held  after  his  demise  high  tribute  to  his  memory  and  resolutions  of  condol- 
ence to  his  bereaved  friends  were  passed. 

An  estimate  of  his  character  as  a  lawyer  may  be  drawn  from  the  remarks  of  his  successor 
on  the  bench  of  the  sixteenth  circuit,  made  when  the  resolutions  of  the  Macon  county  bar  were 
placed  upon  the  records  of  the  court: 

"As  a  lawyer,  it  is  not  hazarding  too  much  to  say  that  hfe  was  the  peer  of  any  lawyer  in  the 
state.  With  a  marvelously  clear  and  comprehensive  mind,  habits  of  industry,  a  large  and  varied 
practice,  involving  great  interests,  he  rose  rapidly  to  a  just  and  honorable  distinction  in  his  profes- 
sion, until  at  last  he  stood  among  the  foremost  of  its  known  and  recognized  masters.  The  law  to 
him  was  a  goddess,  at  whose  shrine  he  constantly  worshiped  with  the  most  unrelenting  devotion. 
He  drank  deeply  and  freely  from  the  fountains  of  learning  and  wisdom  of  the  ages,  until  his 
mind  became  a  store-house  filled  with  the  ripest  knowledge  of  his  profession,  from  which  he 
might  always  draw  without  stint  and  to  the  advantage  of  those  he  sought  to  instruct.  He  was 
never  boisterous  or  rude  to  his  antagonist  or  the  court.  Conscious  of  his  strength  and  power,  he 
was  dignified  and  courteous  in  his  intercourse  with  all  men.  Brave  and  determined  in  all  things 
as  Jove,  he  was  yet  modest  and  gentle  as  a  woman.  In  nothing  did  his  high  character  as  a  lawyer 
appear  more  clearly  than  in  his  sincere  and  honest  purpose  to  be  a  faithful  and  correct  adviser  of 
the  court." 

After  receiving  the  rewards,  distinctions  and  honors  of  his  profession  as  a  lawyer,  he 
was  called  to  the  bench  by  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  his  district  to  discharge  the  more 
arduous  and  responsible  duties  of  a  judge.  Here  it  was  that  he  justified  the  partiality  and  dis- 
cernment of  his  friends.  Every  trait  of  his  character  and  education  were  but  so  many  arguments 
in  favor  of  his  fitness  for  the  bench.  He  brought  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office  the 
learning  and  experience  which  a  large  and  varied  practice  gave  him.  He  loved  justice  and  right, 
and  hated  all  wrong,  fraud  and  injustice  with  a  perfect  mind.  He  carried  to  the  bench  that  same 
gentle  and  patient  quality  of  heart  and  mind  which  had  distinguished  him  at  the  bar  above  his 
brethren.  His  face  was  as  immovable  on  the  bench  as  the  sphinx.  No  lawyer  could  ever  tell 
from  any  manifestations  of  his  while  hearing  an  argument  what  the  judgment  would  be.  He 
had  that  rare  quality  of  listening  patiently  and  quietly  to  what  was  said,  and  determining  at  once 
between  possible  error  and  naked  truth.  No  man  ever  sat  upon  the  bench  who  was  more  justly 
beloved  by  the  bar  and  the  people  than  Judge  Gallagher,  nor  more  deeply  mourned  by  those  who 
knew  him  best. 


480  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

As  a  citizen  he  had  no  superior.  He  believed  in  the  supremacy  of  the  law  and  its  strict 
enforcement  to  maintain  good  order  in  society.  A  brave  soldier,  he  fought  in  the  first  instance 
in  defense  of  his  country's  honor,  and  secondly  to  preserve  inviolate  the  greatest  and  noblest 
republic  on  earth. 

His  reliance  upon  the  Supreme  Being  he  retained  from  his  youth  up,  as  may  be  seen  from  an 
incident  which  occurred:  When  a  boy  in  Saint  Louis,  through  an  act  of  courtesy  to  older  people, 
he  was  prevented  from  taking  a  ferryboat  from  the  shore.  He  saw  the  boat  blown  to  fragments 
in  mid-stream.  And  once  in  Mexico  a  slight  circumstance  prevented  the  assassination  of  himself 
and  a  comrade.  These  circumstances  made  lasting  impressions  upon  his  mind. 

He  had  great  self-control,  and  never  allowed  the  contests  in  the  court-room  to  provoke  his 
anger  or  draw  from  him  an  unkind  remark,  and  in  no  place  was  the  warmth  of  his  heart  more 
noticeable  or  more  highly  appreciated  than  in  his  home,  where  his  loss  is  most  keenly  felt. 

His  is  the  true  fame  ;  not  lying  in  broad  rumor  nor  in  the  glittering  foil  set  off  to  the 
world,  but  that  fame  based  upon  good  works,  upon  duty  done,  and  a  life  beyond  reproach,  which 
grows  and  blossoms  in  immortal  soil. 


JOSEPH  GIBSON  ENGLISH. 

DANVILLE. 

THE  subject  of  this  biography  is  a  native  of  Ohio  county,  Indiana,  and  was  born  December 
20,  1820,  the  son  of  Charles  English  and  Ann  (Wright)  English.  His  father  was  a  carpen- 
ter and  blacksmith  by  trade.  He  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  whence  he  went  with  his 
parents  to  Nova  Scotia  ;  later  he  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  married.  The  mother  of 
our  subject  was  a  native  of  England.'  In  1829,  his  parents  having  settled  near  Perryville,  Indiana, 
Joseph  began  attending-school,  at  the  old  log  school-house  at  that  place.  When  fourteen  years  of 
age,  with  the  meager  education  which  could  be  afforded  by  the  schools  of  that  day,  in  a  newly 
settled  country,  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  and  going  to  La  Fayette,  Indiana,  he  en- 
gaged to  work  in  the  store  of  Mr.  John  Taylor,  receiving  for  his  services,  his  board  and  clothes, 
until  he  should  attain  his  majority,  after  which  he  was  to  receive  a  salary.  After  five  years  of 
faithful  service,  Joseph  being  then  about  nineteen  years  old,  his  employer  failed  in  business,  and 
he  was  again  thrown  upon  the  world,  with  no  means  other  than  his  own  native  ability,  the  knowl- 
edge which  he  had  gained,  and  a  determined  purpose  to  succeed.  His  first  move  was  to  return 
to  Perryville,  where  he  was  employed  as  clerk  for  different  parties  for  some  six  years,  during 
which  time,  in  1843,  he  was  married  to  Miss'Mary  Hicks,  a  daughter  of  George  Hicks.  In  1844, 
in  partnership  with  his  father-in-law,  he  opened  a  store  of  general  merchandise,  and  built  up  an 
extensive  trade,  which  he  conducted  with  eminent  success,  until  1852,  when  he  sold  his  interest 
and  removed  to  his  present  home  in  Danville,  Illinois.  In  the  following  year  he  associated  him- 
self with  J.  L.  Tincher,  and  opened  a  dry  goods  store,  which  they  conducted  with  marked 
success  for  three  years.  In  1856,  the  Stock  Security  Bank  having  become  insolvent,  Mr.  English 
was  appointed  one  of  the  assignees;  and  while  engaged  in  closing  up  its  affairs,  seeing  a  demand 
for  more  banking  facilities,  he  again  associated  himself  with  Mr.  Tincher,  and  together  they 
opened  the  Danville  bank,  and  conducted  a  private  banking  business  for  about  seven  years.  In 
1863  he  organized  the  First  National  Bank  of  Danville,  and  from  that  time  until  the  present, 
1882,  has  been  president  and  general  business  manager  of  the  same,  and  it  is  but  just  to  say  that 
to  his  executive  and  financial  ability,  and  thorough  integrity,  must  be  attributed  the  success  of 
the  institution,  and  the  unbounded  confidence  in  which  it  is  held  by  the  community.  Aside  from 
his  banking  enterprise  Mr.  English,  in  1866,  organized  and  put  into  successful  operation  the  Dan- 
ville Gas  Light  and  Coal  Company,  and  during  the  same  year  organized  the  Spring  Hill  Ceme- 
tery Company,  of  both  of  which  he  has  since  continued  to  act  as  president. 

Public-spirited  and    generous,  he  has  liberally  contributed  of    his  means,  and  unsparingly 


UNITED    STATES   RfOGRAPIffCAL    DICTIONARY.  48  I 

devoted  his  time  to  all  enterprises  of  a  public  nature.  Upon  the  building  of  the  Indinapolis,  Bur- 
lington and  Western,  and  the  Cincinnati,  Evansville  and  Indiana  railroads,  he  was  most  active  in 
securing  their  location  most  favorable  to  his  city,  and  of  the  latter  he  has  been  a  director  since 
1876. 

Although  often  solicited,  Mr.  English  has  uniformly  declined  political  preferment,  finding  in 
his  legitimate  business  more  congenial  employment  and  ample  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  abili- 
ties. He  was  formerly  a  democrat  in  political  sentiment,  but  in  1862,  when  that  party  adopted 
the  peace  platform,  and  declared  the  war  a  failure,  he  withdrew  from  it,  and  has  since  been  iden- 
tified with  the  republican  party.  In  his  religious  views  he  is  a  Methodist,  having  united  with  that 
church  in  1856,  and  gives  his  most  earnest  support  to  every  movement  tending  to  the  religious  or 
educational  welfare  of  the  community  in  which  he  resides. 

Mr.  English  has  been  twice  married;  by  his  first  wife,  who  died  November  17,  1864,  there 
were  born  to  him  four  sons  and  two  daughters.  In  1865  he  was  married  to  Maria  L.  Partlow,  of 
Joliet,  Illinois,  by  whom  he  has  had  two  sons. 

Such  in  brief,  is  an  outline  of  the  life  of  one,  who  by  his  own  energy,  enterprise  and  unaided 
effort  has  risen  to  a  position  of  honor,  and  made  for  himself  a  name  worthy  to  be  classed  among 
the  self-made  men  of  Illinois,  and  in  its  perusal  there  is  found  an  example  most  worthy  of  emula- 
tion. 

RICHARD  JAMES    HANNA. 

KANKAKEE. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  on  the  old  John  Jay  farm,  Staten  Island,  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 24,  1835,  of  a  h»rdy  race  of  sons  of  Neptune,  on  the  maternal  side.  His  mother  was 
Elizabeth  (Bird)  Hanna,  of  the  well  known  Bird  family  of  Carlisle,  Cumberland,  England.  His 
father,  Thomas  Hanna,  was  of  Scotch  origin,  and  a  descendant  of  the  well  known  active  partici- 
pators, on  the  English  side,  during  the  Irish  rebellion.  With  a  limited  education,  but  with  a 
brave  heart,  young  Hanna  started  on  the  sea  of  life,  entering  upon  an  apprenticeship  to  a  house 
carpenter,  a  capacity  in  which,  even  at  this  early  age,  he  exhibited  an  aptitude  and  assiduity 
which  has  followed  him  through  all  his  subsequent  career,  in  all  that  he  has  undertaken,  and 
which  might  well  be  emulated  by  others. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  removed  to  the  West,  and  settled  at  Kankakee, 
Illinois,  having  previously  (August  7,  1854)  married  Miss  Ann  Freth,  daughter  of  James  Freth,  of 
New  York,  a  gentleman  of  English  descent.  During  1855  and  1856  he  was  engaged  in  building 
and  contracting,  after  which,  until  1862,  he  devoted  himself  to  mercantile  pursuits,  in  both  of 
which  enterprises  he  worked  with  a  will  and  energy,  and  attained  a  degree  of  success  that  im- 
pressed all  who  knew  him.  His  zeal  and  integrity  were  manifest  in  all  his  transactions,  and  with 
such  attributes,  Richard  James  Hanna  may  be,  and  is,  numbered  among  the  few  who  have  attained 
their  popularity  and  position  by  their  own  endeavors,  combined  with  the  strictest  honesty.  He 
is  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  most  successful  merchants  in  the  city  of  Kankakee,  hence  it  is  not 
surprising  that  he  has  been  called  to  represent  that  city  in  its  council.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
board  of  education;  a  member  of  the  board  of  supervisors,  and  a  leading  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church.  As  a  Master  Mason,  he  is  esteemed  by  his  brother  Masons.  He  was  a  delegate  .to 
the  Chicago  republican  national  convention  in  1880,  and  was  one  of  the  306  to  whom  was  given 
the  medal. 

In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  ii3th  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  and  was  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  captain  of  the  sist  United  States  colored  infantry,  July  16,  1863,  and  promoted  to  major, 
May  5,  1865,  which  position  he  retained  until  the  regiment  was  mustered  out,  in  June,  1865,  at 
Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana.  During  the  whole  time  he  served  with  the  army,  although  he  was 
slightly  wounded  on  two  occasions,  he  never  absented  himself  a  day  from  duty,  or  was  placed  on 
tin-  sick  list.  He  served  with  his  regiment  at  the  battles  of  Walnut  Hills,  Vicksburg,  December, 


482  UNITED    STATKS  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

1862;  Arkansas  Post  in  January,  1863;  and  took  part  in  the  hard  fighting  of  June  19  and  22,  and 
in  the  forty  days'  siege  of  Vicksburg,  which  followed.  In  July,  1863,  he  was  transferred  to  the 
colored  service,  which  was  utilized  for  garrison  duty,  and  the  keeping  open  of  the  Mississippi, 
which  was  successfully  accomplished,  until  January,  1865.  At  that  time  he  was  ordered  to  New 
Orleans,  and  thence  to  Brancas,  Florida,  to  take  part  in  the  Mobile  campaign,  under  General  E. 
R.  S.  Canby,  who  was  more  recently  murdered  by  the  Modoc  Indians,  while  attending  a  peace 
conference.  At  length,  however,  he  arrived  with  the  troops  in  front  of  the  Old  Spanish  Fort 
works,  opposite  Mobile,  April  i,  1865.  There  they  had  some  nine  days'  hard  fighting,  and  even- 
tually captured  the  forts  by  storming,  April  9.  Finally,  he  was  moved  with  the  troops  to  the  Red 
River  country,  Alexandria,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  quiet  the  turbulent  elements  of  the  com- 
munity—  a  very  necessary  measure,  considering  the  tumult  which  was  rife  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Hanna  is  a  man  of  robust  physique,  and  commanding  stature,  with  a  line  of  feature  which 
would  indicate  a  determined  will,  which  no  difficulties  could  daunt,  and  that  nothing  could  deter 
him  when  having  undertaken  and  determined  to  carry  out  a  purpose.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  integrity,  and  both  in  business  relations,  and  official  position  as  postmaster  of  Kankakee 
(a  position  he  was  appointed  to  in  March.  1882),  he  is  held  in  the  highest  estimation  for  his  civil 
and  affable  manner;  and  within  his  social  circle  he  is  esteemed  for  his  affectionate,  beneficent  and 
pious  characteristics,  as  well  as  for  his  ever-ready  and  willing  hand  to  help  the  poor,  the  sick  and 
needy.  In  a  word,  he  is  a  thorough  representative  of  the  American  gentleman. 


GEORGE  WILLARD. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE  WILLARD,  lawyer,  of  the  firm  of  Willard  and  Driggs,  came  of  very  early  New 
England  stock.  The  progenitor  of  the  family  in  this  country,  Major  Simon  Willard,  was  born 
at  Horsmonden,  Kent  county,  England,  in  1605,  and  came  to  Boston  in  1634.  He  was  early  called 
into  public  service,  and  during  a  period  of  forty  years  held  important  public  trusts,  such  as  legis- 
lator, judge  and  military  commander,  until  his  death  in  1676.  His  second  son,  Samuel,  graduated 
from  Harvard  College  in  1659,  and  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  old  South  Church,  in  Boston, 
in  1678,  and  continued  until  his  death  in  1707.  He  was  also  president  of  Harvard  College  from  1701 
until  his  death,  but  with  title  of  vice  president,  because  of  his  residence  in  Boston  instead  of  Cam- 
bridge. Major  Simon  Willard's  nine  sons,  and  five  of  his  eight  daughters,  were  married,  lived 
to  mature  age,  and  left  numerous  descendants,  of  whom  we  may  mention  Rev.  Josiah  Willard, 
a  tutor  in  Harvard  College  in  1698,  and  afterward  secretary  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  judge  of  probate  and  one  of  the  executive  council  of  Suffolk  ;  Rev.  Joseph  Willard,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College  in  1714,  and  master  of  arts  in  Harvard  College  in  1723;  Rev.  Joseph 
Willard,  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  1765,  and  for  many  years  after  president  of  that  insti- 
tution; Colonel  Josiah  Willard,  commander  of  Fort  Dummer  in  1750;  Daniel  Willard.  a  mer- 
chant in  Boston,  and  son-in-law  of  Rev.  Cotton  Mather;  Colonel  Samuel  Willard,  of  Lancaster, 
who  was  in  command  of  a  regiment  at  the  reduction  of  Louisburgh  in  1745;  Doctor  Nahum 
Willard,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  with  whom  President  John  Adams  resided  when  a  student 
at.law  with  Mr.  Putnam  in  1756;  Colonel  Abijah  Willard,  commander  of  a  regiment  under  Lord 
Amherst  in  1759,  and  a  brother-in-law  of  Colonel  William  Prescott,  of  Bunker  Hill  fame;  Solo- 
mon Willard,  architect  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument;  Major  Willard  Moore,  who  was  fatally  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  while  commanding  a  new  regiment  raised  in  Cambridge;  Robert 
Treat  Paine,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  declaration  of  independence;  Doctor  John  Willard,  of  Ver- 
mont, member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1793,  a  member  of  the  council  of  censors  in 
1799,  and  United  States  marshal  from  1801  to  1810,  and  Judge  John  Willard,  of  Saratoga,  New 
York. 

Benjamin,  the  eighth   son  of    Major  Simon  Willard,  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Worcester 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


485 


county,  Massachusetts.  He  died  in  1732.  Joseph  Willard,  a  son  of  Benjamin,  held  the  rank  of 
major  in  the  military  service  of  Massachusetts  colony.  He  died  at  Grafton  in  1774,  where  he  had 
lived  more  than  fifty  years.  His  son,  Lieutenant  Isaac  Willard,  died  at  Worcester  in  1806,  leaving  a 
son,  Johnson,  who  was  born  in  1786,  and  who  became  one  of  the  pioneers  of  northern  New  York, 
settling  in  Jefferson  county  in  1815,  where,  in  1833,  he  married  Margaret  Becker,  a  native  of 
Johnstown,  New  York,  and  the  mother  of  our  subject.  She  died  in  1849. 

George  Willard,  who  was  the  youngest  son  and  next  to  the  youngest  child  in  a  family  of  sev- 
enteen children,  was  born  at  Natural  Bridge,  New  York,  April  15,  1839.  His  father  was  a  farmer 
and  lumber  dealer,  well  advanced  in  years  when  George  became  old  enough  to  assist,  and  the 
principal  care  of  the  farm  and  mill  devolved  upon  him.  He  had  long  desired  the  advantages 
which  a  liberal  education  would  bring  to  him  in  after  life,  but  all  his  brothers  having  gone 
west,  he  yielded  to  his  sense  of  duty  to  remain  at  home  and  add  to  the  comfort  of  his  aged 
sire.  George  was  ten  years  old  when  his  mother  died,  and  upon  his  father's  death,  in  June, 
1858,  an  older  son,  who  had  returned  from  the  West,  was  induced  to  remain  and  manage  the 
estate  until  the  youngest  daughter  should  arrive  at  legal  age,  when  the  property  might  be 
distributed.  George  soon  entered  Gouverneur  College,  in  Saint  Lawrence  county,  but  at  the 
expiration  of  the  fall  term,  1858,  went  to  Saint  Charles,  Illinois,  where  several  of  his  sisters 
resided,  and  there  continued  his  studies  until  the  March  following,  when  he  procured  an  outfit 
and  joined  a  company  gotten  up  by  ex-Sheriff  B.  C.  Yates,  of  Kane  county,  Illinois,  who  pro- 
posed to  go  to  Pike's  Peak  by  water  route  from  Chicago  in  a  steamboat  built  for  that  purpose, 
the  engine  and  boiler  of  which  were  to  be  used  in  running  a  quartz  mill  to  be  set  up  in  the  new 
Eldorado.  Accordingly,  March  30,  1859,  Captain  Yates'  improvised  steamboat,  with  the  full  com- 
pany on  board,  started  from  the  dock  below  Lake  street  bridge,  and  amid  the  cheers  of  a  large 
crowd  steamed  up  the  south  branch  of  the  Chicago  River.  After  reaching  the  Missouri  River 
the  progress  of  the  boat  was  slow  beyond  expectation,  and  long  before  reaching  Leavenworth  the 
boat's  machinery  was  nearly  worn  out,  and  would  soon  be  incapable  of  propelling  the  boat  fur- 
ther up  the  rapid  current  of  that  stream.  The  captain  concluded,  therefore,  to  sell  his  boat, 
settle  with  the  members  of  his  company,  and  return  to  Chicago,  which  he  did.  The  subject 
of  our  sketch  continued  the  journey  as  far  as  Leavenworth,  where  he  met  the  returning  tide  of 
gold  seekers,  and  after  a  few  months'  stay  in  Kansas  returned  to  Illinois.  The  expenses  of  this 
venture  largely  exceeded  the  amount  received  on  leaving  home.  To  pay  the  excess,  and  acquire 
a  sufficient  surplus  to  continue  his  studies,  he  labored  until  the  autumn  of  1861 — in  the  summers 
on  his  brother's  farm,  near  Janesville,  Wisconsin,  and  in  the  winters  in  the  pine  woods  of  that 
state.  George  had  early  conceived  a  desire  to  become  a  lawyer,  but  it  was  not  until  the  fall  of 
1859  that  he  fully  determined  to  do  so.  His  purpose  then  became  fixed,  and  he  took  a  few  well 
chosen  volumes  with  him  to  the  lumber  camp  that  winter.  In  the  autumn  of  1861  he  entered 
upon  a  course  of  studies  at  Bryant  and  Stratton's  college  in  Chicago,  and  completed  the  same 
in  1862.  The  next  year  he  commenced  keeping  the  accounts  of  a  mercantile  firm,  and  by  arrange- 
ment was  allowed  to  spend  a  portion  of  the  time  reading  law,  which  he  did,  first  in  the  office 
of  S.  B.  Perry  and  afterward,  in  January,  1864,  in  the  office  of  Hon.  H.  W.  Blodgett,  in  whom  he 
found  a  most  valuable  friend. 

In  June,  1864,  our  subject  responded  to  the  call  of  the  government  for  volunteers  for  ninety 
days'  service,  enlisting  as  a  private  in  company  B,  i32d  Illinois  regiment,  and  was  afterward  elected 
first  sergeant  of  the  company.  Returning  in  October  he  resumed  his  studies  in  the  office  of  Judge 
Blodgett,  and  having  attended  a  sufficient  course  of  lectures  before  the  law  school  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  was  graduated  from  that  department  of  the  institution  in  June,  1865,  and  was 
immediately  admitted  to  practice.  In  1870  he  was  appointed  local  attorney  for  the  Chicago  and 
North-Western  Railway  Company  in  Chicago,  and  in  1873,  assistant  solicitor  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Company,  holding  both  offices  until  1874,  and  the  last-named  office,  with  but  slight  intermission, 
until  February,  1881,  when  a  copartnership  was  formed  with  Mr.  Driggs,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the 
48 


486  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

firm  were  appointed  solicitors  for  the  Pennsylvania  Company  and  the  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati 
and  Saint  Louis  Railway  Company. 

Mr.  Willard  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Western  Railroad  Association  for  five  years, 
and  master  in  chancery  of  the  circuit  court  at  Chicago  for  six  years. 

He  joined  a  Congregational  church  at  Allen's  Grove,  Wisconsin,  in  1860,  and  is  now  a  member 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Hyde  Park,  where  he  has  resided/.since  1868,  and  for  which 
municipality  he  was  treasurer  in  1879  and  1882. 

He  married,  November  6,  1865,  Miss  Fannie  J.  Rodden,  of  Burlington,  Vermont.  They  have 
four  children,  named,  respectively,  George  Rodden,  William  Blodgett,  Bessie  and  Grace. 


HON.   WILLIAM  E.   MASON. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  ERNEST  MASON,  attorney-at-law,  and  state  senator,  is  a  son  of  Lewis  J.  and 
Nancy  (Winslow)  Mason,  and  was  born  at  Franklinville,  Cattaraugus  county,  New  York, 
July  7,  1850.  Both  parents  were  also  born  in  that  state.  Nancy  Winslow  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Edward  Winslow,  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower  in  1620,  and  was  governor  of  the  Plymouth 
colony  in  1633,  1634  and  1646.  He  was  the  man  who  offered  himself  as  a  hostage  to  the  Indian 
chief,  Massasoit.  In  1857,  when  our  subject  was  seven  years  old,  the  family  immigrated  to  Iowa, 
and  settled  at  Bentonsport,  Van  Buren  county,  nine  miles  from  the  Missouri  line,  where  Lewis 
Mason  worked  part  of  the  time  at  his  trade,  that  of  a  wagon-maker,  and  part  of  the  time  at  hotel- 
keeping.  He  was  a  prominent  man  in  Van  Buren  county,  at  one  period  president  of  the  board  of 
supervisors,  and  always  an  active  politician  of  the  abolition  school.  Naturally  warm  hearted,  and 
of  a  kindly  and  humane  disposition,  he  hated  oppression  with  a  perfect  hatred,  and  -never  hesi- 
tated to  aid  the  slave  in  trying  to  obtain  his  freedom.  Living  in  southeastern  Iowa,  only  nine 
miles  from  the  boundary  line  of  slavery,  he  kept,  from  1857  to  1863,  the  first  station  in  a  free  state 
on  the  underground  railroad,  and  helped  many  a  poor  fugitive  on  his  way  to  Canada,  sometimes 
whole  squads  of  them  at  a  time. 

He  was  a  speaker  of  great  power,  and  sometimes  held  public  meetings  in  school  houses  and 
other  places,  when  he  would  portray  the  cruelties  of  slavery  in  a  very  vivid  manner,  and  with  all 
the  sarcasm  of  the  keenest  invective.  Sometimes  he  was  threatened  to  be  turned  out  by  the  pro- 
slavery  democrats  in  his  audience,  but  that  only  emboldened  him,  and  raised  the  pitch  of  his  elo- 
quence. He  lived  to  see  all  the  slaves  free,  and  died  at  the  close  of  the  slaveholders'  rebellion, 
when  William  was  about  fifteen  years  old.  The  widow  died  a  few  years  later. 

Mr.  Mason  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Bentonsport;  taught  school  from  sixteen 
to  twenty  years  of  age  in  Van  Buren  county  and  at  Des  Moines;  read  law  with  Hon.  Thomas  F. 
Withrow,  then  of  Des  Moines,  and  now  general  solicitor  for  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  rail- 
road, with  residence  in  Chicago,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Des  Moines  in  1870,  before 
he  had  reached  his  majority.  Mr.  Mason  practiced  in  Des  Moines  until  the  spring  of  1872,  being 
in  the  office  with  Mr.  Withrow,  and  then  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  soon  built  up  a  large  prac- 
tice. A  gentleman  who  has  often  met  Mr.  Mason  in  court  thus  speaks  of  him: 

"As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Mason  is  successful  beyond  the  average  practitioner,  by  reason  of  a  combi- 
nation of  qualities  and  qualifications,  which  would,  in  any  business  or  profession,  insure  success, 
namely:  a  certain  aggressive  force,  coupled  with  a  keen  but  never  playful  humor;  an  incisive 
manner  of  cross-examination,  aided  by  a  marvelous  memory,  which,  in  the  case  of  a  contuma- 
cious or  smart  witness,  is  especially  effective;  a  clear,  ringing  voice,  under  perfect  control,  and,  on 
occasion,  a  peculiar,  pathetic  quality,  which  blends  admirably  with  the  earnest  and  almost  aggres- 
sive manner  referred  to.  In  short,  there  is  in  his  manner  or  matter  no  nonsense  or  filigree  work 
whatever.  He  never  resorts  to  any  pedantic  tricks  or  highflown  periods  in  argument  before  court 
or  jury.  Though  naturally  gifted  with  sentiment  of  the  emotional  quality,  he  yet  never  descends 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  487 

to  the  usual  methods  of  working  up  a  jury.  His  style,  if  any  he  has,  is  distinguished  for  almost 
a  blunt  directness  of  utterance.  Though  never  commonplace  in  his  language,  the  suspicion  of 
preparedness  or  previous  elaboration  would  not  occur.  The  temptation,  so  commonly  yielded  to 
by  lawyers,  old  and  young,  of  startling  emphasis  or  mountebankish  attitudes  in  speaking  for 
effect,  he  never  yields  to.  He  never  indulges  in  elaborate  arguments  before  either  court  or  jury; 
nor  obtrudes  many  authorities,  but  speaks  right  on,  and  to  the  point,  and  to  the  merits.  And 
last,  but  not  least,  and  therein  he  holds  his  greatest  popularity,  he  makes  his  client's  cause  his  own, 
and  because  of  these  qualifications  —  a  combination  of  heart,  brains  and  conscience  —  he  has 
never  lost  a  jury  case  in  the  course  of  ten  years'  practice." 

He  is  the  Chicago  attorney  for  the  Illinois  Central  railroad.  Mr.  Mason  was  a  member  of  the 
thirty-first  general  assembly  from  the  old  ninth  district,  and  in  November,  1882,  was  elected  to 
the  state  senate  from  the  new  fifth  district,  which  embraces  the  northwestern  part  of  the  city  of 
Chicago.  He  is  chairman  of  the  committee  on  warehouses,  and  on  the  committees  on  judiciary, 
judicial  department,  corporations,  insurance,  military  affairs  and  miscellany. 

Senator  Mason  became  thoroughly  imbued  with  his  father's  political  sentiments  when  quite 
young,  and  was  a  free-soiler  and  a  republican  long  before  he  had  a  vote.  He  could  not  be  any- 
thing else  without  doing  violence  to  the  manliest  instincts  of  his  nature.  Senator  Mason  intro- 
duced the  bill  in  the  thirty-first  general  assembly  for  the  establishment  of  the  industrial  school 
for  girls,  and  is  now  a  director  of  that  school.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  Freemasonry,  an  Odd- 
Fellow,  and  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

The  wife  of  Senator  Mason  was  Edith  White,  daughter  of  George  White,  now  living  in  Des 
Moines.  They  were  married  June  n,  1873,  and  have  four  children:  Lewis  Francis,  Ethel  Wins- 
low.  Ruth  White  and  Winifred  Sprague. 


REV.   ROBERT    D.    MILLER. 

PE  TERSE  URGH. 

ROBERT  D.  MILLER,  superintendent  of  schools  in  Menard  county,  was  born  near  Sedalia, 
Pettis  county,  Missouri,  .February  3,  1838.  His  father,  William  A.  Miller,  was  born  in 
Kentucky  in  1804;  immigrated  to  Missouri  in  1820;  was  a  member  of  the  Missouri  constitu- 
tional convention  at  twenty-two  years  of  age,  a  farmer,  politician,  and  legislator,  and  died  in  1847. 
He  married  Agnes  C.  Mitchell,  who  was  born  in  1805  in  Tennessee,  and  is  now  living  with  a 
son  in  Oregon,  being  in  her  seventy-ninth  year.  She  is  a  woman  of  strong  mind  and  tenacious 
memory,  and  still  writes  long  letters  devoid  of  interlineations  or  misspelt  words.  They  are 
models  in  penmanship  and  composition.  Her  father,  Captain  Thomas  Mitchell,  moved  to  Mis- 
souri in  1814,  and  there  died. 

Our  subject  attended  a  district  school  until  fifteen  years  old,  and  finished  his  education  at 
Chapel  Hill  College,  Missouri,  leaving  in  the  early  part  of  the  senior  year.  He  taught  school  nine 
years  in  Missouri  and  five  in  Illinois.  While  teaching  he  studied  medicine  for  eighteen  months 
and  then  abandoned  it.  He  also  read  law  in  1858-60,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  September, 
1860. 

Mr.  Miller  joined  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church  in  September,  1861;  was  ordained  at 
Easton,  Missouri,  in  1864,  and  held  pastorates  in  that  state  at  Platt  City  and  Barry,  and  in  Menard 
county,  this  state,  at  Greenview  and  Petersburgh.  Since  January,  1882,  he  has  been  filling  the 
pulpit  the  second  time  at  Greenview,  his  residence  remaining  at  Petersburgh.  His  first  pastorate 
at  Greenview  was  in  the  early  period  of  his  ministry. 

Mr.  Miller  was  appointed  county  superintendent  of  schools  in  January,  1877;  elected  to  the 
same  office  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year;  was  again  appointed  for  another  year,  and  reflected 
in  1882.  He  is  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  that  office  that  the  county  has  ever  had,  and  is 
admirably  adapted  to  perform  its  duties,  being  an  experienced  teacher  and  a  studious  and  pro- 
gressive man. 


488  UNITED   STATES   RIOGRAPHICAI.   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Miller  is  not  only  a  good  general  scholar,  but  has  paid  considerable  attention  to  the  sci- 
ence of  geology,  and  has  made  a  specialty  of  the  study  of  archaeology  and  zoology.  There  are 
very  few,  if  any,  men  of  better  culture  in  Menard  county  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  With- 
out any  tinge  of  pedantry,  he  is  very  interesting  in  conversation,  and  is  a  modest  listener  when 
others  are  talking. 

While  a  resident  of  Missouri,  December  24,  1856,  Mr.  Miller  was  married  to  Miss  Charlotte  A. 
Riche,  of  Buchanan  county,  and  they  have  six  children  living,  all  at  home,  and  had  one  son, 
George  Mitchell,  killed  by  the  cars  in  March,  1879,  aged  ten  years.  The  living  are  Sarah  M., 
Mollie  A.,  Emma  E.,  Leyria  A.,  Rosa  P.  and  Robert  D.  F. 


LEROY  B.  FIRMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  widely  known  throughout  the  country,  particularly  in,  the  West, 
first  in  connection  with  the  Gamewell  fire-alarm  telegraph  system,  which  he  introduced  into 
all  the  principal  cities  west  of  New  York,  and  afterward  as  the  originator  of  the  American  Dis- 
trict Telegraph  of  Chicago,  and  latterly  as  the  efficient  manager  of  the  Chicago  Telephone  Com- 
pany, a  consolidation  of  the  Bell  and  Edison  Telephone  Companies  of  Chicago.  These  various 
systems  of  inter-communication  are  largely  indebted  to  his  ingenuity  and  persistent  energy  for 
the  marvelous  efficiency  which  have  rendered  them  well-nigh  indispensable  in  our  modern  life. 
From  the  time  when  he  learned  telegraphy,  in  1858,  at  odd  intervals  while  buying  grain  for  a 
flouring  mill  at  Bloom ington,  to  the  present  time,  his  life  has  been  devoted  to  the  study  and 
development  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  municipal  life. 
Remove  from  private  residences  alone  in  the  city  of  Chicago  the  comfort,  convenience  and  secu- 
rity which  the  telegraph  and  telephone  service  has  brought  by  his  hand,  and  it  would  be  like 
returning  to  the  days  of  the  stage-coach  and  weekly  mail. 

His  life  has  thus  far  been  a  quiet  and  uneventful  one,  but  an  exceedingly  busy  and  useful  one. 
He  has  never  interested  himself  in  politics,  but  is  nevertheless  a  pronounced  republican  in  senti- 
ment. Leaving  others  to  the  doubtful  honors  or  profits  of  political  life,  he  has  devoted  himself 
assiduously  to  his  business,  which  has  secured  to  him  the  most  enviable  honor  of  a  public  bene- 
factor, and  very  satisfactory  profits  as  well. 

Mr.  Firman  is  a  native  of  Otsego  county,  New  York,  and  of  American  parentage.  His  father's 
name  is  Horace  Firman,  a  farmer,  and  his  mother,  Laura  B.  (Brown)  Firman.  He  was  born  Decem- 
ber 4,  1836,  and  spent  his  early  life  on  the  farm.  He  received  what  education  he  could  get  at  the 
district  school  of  his  native  place  till  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  determined  to  begin  life  for 
himself. 

In  1851  he  was  seized  with  the  western  fever,  which  shortly  carried  him  off,  and  he  landed  in 
Beloit,  Wisconsin.  Here  he  soon  found  work  suited  to  his  years,  and  not  only  supported  himself, 
but  laid  up  money,  and  in  1854  invested  it  in  a  small  grocery'  store  at  the  little  village  of  Elroy, 
in  Stephenson  county,  Illinois.  Here  he  remained  for  about  two  years,  when  he  sold  out  and 
started  overland  for  California.  He  was  not  destined,  however,  to  reach  the  Golden  State,  but 
was  prostrated  by  sickness  on  reaching  Christian  county,  Illinois,  which  effectually  checked  the 
western  fever  by  one  of  a  more  serious  nature.  Partially  recovering  therefrom,  he  decided  to  visit 
his  father's  home  once  more,  and  among  the  scenes  of  his  early  boyhood  regain  the  health  and 
and  strength  he  had  lost.  Here  he  spent  a  few  happy  months,  and  in  1858  returned  west  fully 
recovered.  This  time  he  brought  up  in  Bloomington,  and  at  once  found  employment  buying 
wheat  for  a  flouring  mill. 

While  in  this  business  he  was  frequently  in  the  telegraph  office,  and  speedily  mastered  the 
wondeiful  art  of  talking  by  lightning.  With  unusual  industry  his  spare  moments  were  devoted 
to  acquiring  skill  in  manipulating  the  wires,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  capable  of  discharging  its 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  489 

duties  he  received  an  office  at  Gilman.  Soon  after  entering  upon  his  work  he  added  the  agency 
of  the  American  express.  With  economy  in  his  expenditures  he  continued  to  lay  up  money,  and 
invested  it  in  the  lands  of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  at  $10  per  acre.  As  fast  as  he  was  able 
he  put  it  under  cultivation,  and  after  keeping  it  four  years  sold  it  at  $40  per  acre.  In  1862  he  was 
transferred  to  Tolono,  on  the  same  road;  was  given  charge  of  both  the  telegraph  and  the  ticket 
offices,  and  his  salary  doubled.  Here  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  came  to 
Chicago  and  entered  into  the  service  of  the  city.  He  was  at  once  appointed  chief  operator  in  the 
fire-alarm  telegraph  office,  where  he  remained  but  a  few  months  when  the  board  of  fire  commis- 
sioners gave  him  leave  of  absence,  under  full  pay  for  a  year  unless  sooner  recalled,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  visiting  the  chief  cities  of  the  country  and  inspecting  their  various  systems  of  fire-alarm 
telegraphy  for  the  benefit  of  the  city  of  Chicago. 

He  completed  his  work  in  six  months  and  was  recalled:  On  his  return  he  was  offered  a  salary 
of  $3,000  a  year  and  traveling  expenses  as  general  western  agent  of  the  Gamewell  Fire-Alarm 
Telegraph  Company.  He  promptly  accepted,  and  was  so  successful  that  in  about  eight  months 
he  was  given  control  of  their  system  in  all  territory  west  of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  an  equal 
share  with  four  others  in  the  net  profits  of  the  business  in  lieu  of  a  salary. 

He  was  a  great  gainer  by  the  change,  and  the  business  greatly  increasing  on  his  hands,  he  took 
E.  B.  Chandler  into  partnership,  with  headquarters  at  Chicago.  The  style  of  the  firm  was 
Firman  and  Chandler,  and  investing  their  surplus  in  Chicago  real  estate,  they  were  soon  com- 
pelled to  add  the  purchase  and  sale  of  real  estate  to  their  business. 

In  1872  Mr.  Firman  organized  the  American  District  Telegraph  Company,  and  put  it  into  suc- 
cessful operation.  The  business  of  this  corporation  was  to  put  up  private  wires  running  to  a 
central  office,  with  a  set  of  signals,  by  which  private  citizens  could,  from  their  residences,  call  for 
any  service  they  stood  in  need  of,  from  shoveling  the  snow  from  the  sidewalk  to  the  attendance 
of  a  physician,  the  capture  of  a  burglar  or  the  extinguishment  of  an  incipient  fire.  Burglar 
alarms  were  attached  to  doors  and  windows,  and  thieves  have  often  been  captured  through  sig- 
nals they  themselves  sent  to  police  headquarters,  without  even  disturbing  the  family  slumbers. 
'In  this  way  vacant  houses  are  cared  for  during  the  absence  of  the  family;  thieves,  fires,  burglars 
or  meddlesome  servants  detected,  and  all  without  the  trouble  and  expense  of  watchmen.  This 
most  admirable  service  extended  so  rapidly  in  the  city  that  Mr.  Firman  was  very  soon  obliged  to 
turn  his  entire  attention  to  its  management,  and  December  i,  1878,  dissolved  partnership  with 
Mr.  Chandler,  and  turned  the  old  business  over  to  him. 

When  Mr.  Bell  sent  the  first  telephones  to  Chicago  for  exhibition  Mr.  Firman  with  others  exam- 
ined them  with  that  care  and  interest  which  a  new  invention  in  one's  own  calling  always  develops. 
The  opinions  of  the  electricians  who  examined  them  were,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  so  at 
variance  with  the  results  which  have  since  developed  that  it  sounds  strangely  now  to  repeat  the 
remarks  made  on  that  occasion. 

The  almost  universal  opinion  was  adverse  to  the  applicability  of  the  instrument  for  general 
purposes,  while  all  confessed  it  a  marvel  and  a  very  clever  laboratory  instrument.  But  Mr.  Fir- 
man saw  and  applied  all  his  energies  to  make  others  see  its  utility  as  a  means  of  communication 
between  parties  at  a  distance.  Only  a  cast-iron  will  could  have  carried  the  point  as  he  did  against 
what  people  believed  their  better  judgment;  but  he  won  at  last,  and  less  than  a  dozen  accepted 
contracts  for  an  aggregation  of  wires,  which  was  the  nucleus  of  the  present  exchange,  with  its 
three  thousand  subscribers  and  a  dozen  sub-offices.  The  subscriber  of  to-day  knows  nothing  of 
the  disheartening  rebuffs  he  received,  the  continuous  objections  he  met,  and  the  difficulties  he 
overcame  in  his  efforts  to  teach  the  people,  and  put  upon  a  stable  foundation  this  now  popular 
exchange.  But  he  was  the  man  for  the  work.  In  his  peculiar  quiet  and  winning  way,  using  now 
this  argument,  now  that,  adapting  himself  to  his  listener,  earnest  and  persistent,  but  gentlemanly 
and  dignified,  he  succeeded,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  eleven  original  subscribers  found  them- 
selves notified  daily,  and  often  hourly,  of  accessions  to  their  number. 

Then   came    Edison's   carbon   transmitter,  and   communications   improved.      Every  subscriber 


490  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

brought  another,  and  the  work  went  on  more  bravely  and  rapidly.  The  opposition  —  the  Bell — 
interest,  seeing  the  success  of  Mr.  Firman's  exchange,  commissioned  and  equipped  an  army  of 
invasion,  and  a  second  exchange  was  brought  into  the  field.  The  advent  of  the  new  company 
stirred  up  a  brisk  competition,  and  canvassers  were  put  into  the  field  by  both  parties.  In  a  short 
time  Chicago  had  outstripped  every  other  city  in  the  Union  in  the  number  of  subscribers  to  its 
exchange  system,  in  addition  to  which  large  numbers  of  private  lines  were  built  and  equipped  by 
the  Edison  Company  under  Mr.  Firman.  The  Chicago  success  stirred  up  the  whole  West,  and 
even  New  York  and  all  the  principal  eastern  cities  sent  representatives  again  and  again  to  witness 
Chicago's  latest  triumph,  who,  coming  armed  with  unbelief,  returned  clothed  with  conviction. 
But  now  the  rivalry  between  the  two  companies  assumed  another  phase,  and  appeals  to  the  courts 
lent  additional  interest  and  added  bitterness  to  the  exciting  contest.  At  last,  however,  the  grand 
fight  at  headquarters  in  the  East  was  brought  to  a  close,  and  the  rivalry  ended  by  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  opposing  interests,  and  the  door  was  opened  for  a  mutual  settlement  in  the  West. 
This  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  1881  by  the  formation  of  an  entirely  new  company,  who  pur- 
chased the  vested  rights  of  both.  Thus  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  and  the  American  District 
Telegraph  Company  both  disappeared  in  the  newer  and  stronger  corporation  of  the  Chicago 
Telephone  Company.  With  this  new  company  Mr.  Firman  is  still  identified,  and  it  is  needless  to 
add  brings  his  long  experience  and  unrivaled  ability  to  the  management  of  its  rapidly-increasing 
interests.  There  seems  to  be  practically  no  limit  to  the  usefulness  or  extension  of  this  invention. 
Improvements  are  constantly  going  on,  and  it  now  seems  probable  that  all  the  large  cities  of 
the  country  will  soon  be  as  effectually  connected  by  telephone  as  they  are  now  by  telegraph 
service.  A  short  time  ago  it  was  considered  impossible  to  communicate  by  telephone  outside  of 
the  city,  but  within  the  past  few  months  all  the  cities  within  a  radius  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
have  regular  communication  with  Chicago  by  telephone.  Mr.  Firman  is  an  enthusiast  in  his 
business,  and  with  his  inventive  and  practical  mind  and  undiminished  energy  and  ardor  much 
may  be  hoped  for  in  the  improvement  and  extension  of  this  means  of  communication. 

In  society  Mr.  Firman  is  an  extremely  sociable  and  friendly  man.  He  is  a  Master  Mason  and 
a  member  of  Hesperia  Lodge,  No.  411,  and  a  Knight  Templar  of  the  Red  Cross  of  Constantine.- 
None  make  friends  more  readily  or  retain  them  more  firmly.  He  is  not  a  schemer,  but  makes 
friendships  unconsciously  on  the  principle  that  "he  who  would  have  friends  must  show  himself 
friendly." 

PHILO  CASTLE. 

MEN  DOT  A. 

A  MONO  the  Green  Mountain  boys  who  settled  in  La  Salle  county  thirty  years  ago,  and  have  been 
/X  successful  in  turning  pennies  and  the  soil,  is  Philo  Castle,  who  was  born  in  Wilmington,  Wind- 
ham  county,  September  25,  1818.  His  father,  Philo  Castle,  Sr.,  was  a  native  of  Windham  county, 
Connecticut,  and  a  son  of  Timothy  Castle.  The  mother  of  Philo  was  Jerusha  Dix,  who  was  born 
in  Windham  county,  Vermont.  The  son  finished  his  education  at  the  Shelburne  Falls  Academy, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  attended  for  five  or  six  terms.  He  taught  school  one  winter  at  Jackson- 
ville, town  of  Whitingham,  Vermont,  and  another  in  Heath,  Massachusetts,  and  has  always  been 
engaged  in  farming. 

In  the  autumn  of  1853  Mr.  Castle  came  to  Mendota,  and  settled  on  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres,  on  the  line  of  the  corporation  on  the  east  side,  and  there  he  has  lived  for  thirty 
years,  improving  his  land  and  setting  a  good  example  of  industry.  Thirty-four  acres  of  his  farm 
he  rents  for  the  Mendota  Union  Fair  grounds.  He  takes  great  interest  in  agricultural  matters, 
and  is  a  thoroughgoing  business  man.  He  owns  several  buildings  in  the  city  of  Mendota,  and  is 
of  the  firm  of  Kellenberger  and  Company,  dealers  in  agricultural  implements,  etc.  He  is  secre- 
tary of  the  Farmers'  Insurance  Company  and  an  alderman,  and  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace 
for  the  last  twenty  years  or  more.  He  has  also  served  at  different  times  as  a  member  of  the 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


49  I 


school  board,  and  has  held  nearly  every  office  in  the  township,  bearing  his  full  share  of  such  bur- 
dens, and  discharging  the  duties  of  every  position  with  promptness  and  fidelity.  At  one  period 
he  was  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Mendota.  Mr.  Castle  represented  for  several 
years  half  a  dozen  of  the  best  fire-insurance  companies  in  the  United  States,  and  was  eminently 
successful  in  that  business,  as  in  every  other  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  attention. 

In  politics  Mr.  Castle  was  originally  a  whig,  with  anti-slavery  leaning;  voted  the  republican 
ticket  in  1856  and  1860,  and  has  since  been  quite  independent,  acting  part  of  the  time  with  the 
democratic  party  and  latterly  with  the  greenbackers  or  nationals,  voting  for  General  Weaver  for 
president  in  1.880.  Mr.  Castle  does  his  own  thinking  on  all  subjects,  and  consults  his  own  judg- 
ment in  exercising  the  elective  franchise. 

Mr.  Castle  was  first  married,  in  1844,  to  Miss  Emily  Myers,  of  Reedsboro,  Vermont,  she  dying 
in  1856.  leaving  no  issue.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Silas  Myers,  of  Reedsboro,  Bennington 
county,  a  well  educated  woman,  a  teacher  in  early  life,  and  an  exemplary  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist church.  Mr.  Castle  was  married  the  second  time,  in  1858,  to  Miss  Frances  P.  Dix,  of  Niag- 
ara county,  New  York,  having  by  her  three  children:  Alexander  P.,  Ida  J.  and  Henry  D.  Mrs. 
Castle  is  a  graduate  of  the  Albany  Normal  University,  and  was  a  teacher  for  several  years.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  a  faithful  worker  in  the  temperance  cause.  Her  father, 
Daniel  Dix,  is  now  living  in  Iowa,  being  in  his  eighty-seventh  year.  The  mother  of  Mr.  Castle 
lived  to  be  ninety-two  years  old,  and  belonged  to  a  family  of  great  longevity. 


HON.   WILLIAM    H.   HARPER. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARPER,  manager  of  the  Chicago  and  Pacific  elevator,  and  a  member 
of  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  is  a  native  of  Tippecanoe  county,  Indiana,  his  birth 
being  dated  May  4,  1845.  His  parents,  William  and  Eliza  Jane  (Ramsey)  Harper,  were  natives 
of  the  Old  Dominion.  The  grandfather  of  William  Harper  took  up  arms  against  George  III  in 
1777-83.  When  three  years  old  the  subject  of  this  sketch  came  into  this  state  with  his  family, 
which  settled  on  a  farm  in  Woodford  county,  and,  as  is  the  custom  with  most  farmers'  sons,  he 
attended  a  district  school  in  the  winters  and  aided  in  cultivating  the  land  the  rest  of  the  year.  In 
that  manner  he  developed  and  hardened  his  muscles,  and  fitted  himself  for  the  stern  duties  of  life, 

In  1864,  when  nineteen  years  of  age,  Mr.  Harper  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  B,  I45th 
Illinois  infantry,  a  three  months'  regiment,  and  served  until  mustered  out.  Not  long  after  the 
rebellion  had  collapsed  Mr.  Harper  came  to  Chicago,  and  took  a  full  course  of  studies  at  East- 
man's Commercial  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated.  Returning  to  Woodford  county,  he 
engaged  in  the  stock,  grain  and  shipping  business,  remaining  there  until  1868,  when  he  came 
back  to  Chicago,  and  since  that  date  has  here  found  ample  scope  for  his  vigorous  mind  and 
body  and  his  splendid  business  capacities. 

Mr.  Harper  was  engaged  in  looking  after  his  business  affairs. in  the  commission  line  until  1872, 
the  year  after  the  great  Chicago  fire,  when  he  was  appointed  chief  grain  inspector,  a  position  for 
which  he  was  admirably  qualified,  and  the  duties  of  which  he  discharged  to  the  unqualified  satis- 
faction of  the  board  of  trade  and  all  parties  concerned.  His  term  of  service  expired  in  1875,  at 
which  time  Mr.  Harper  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Chicago  and  Pacific  (now  the  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  and  Saint  Paul)  Railroad  Company,  and  built  the  elevator  known  by  the  name  of  the 
first  line.  Of  that  large  establishment  he  has  the  management,  in  which  he  is  very  efficient,  and 
shows  himself  to  be  a  first-class  business  man. 

In  the  summer  of  1882  the  republicans  of  the  second  senatorial  district,  composed  of  the  fourth 
ward  of  Chicago  and  Hyde  Park  and  Lake  townships,  in  looking  around  for  suitable  candidates 
for  representatives,  selected  Mr.  Harper  as  one  of  the  number,  and  elected  him.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  wealthy  and  influential  constituencies  in  Cook  county,  and  the  choice  has  proved  a  happy 


492  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

one,  for  Mr.  Harper  is  energetic  and  public-spirited,  and  looks  carefully  after  the  interests  of  tfie 
state  at  large  as  well  as  the  city  of  Chicago,  being  a  man  of  broad  views.  He  is  the  author  of 
the  so-called  Harper  bill,  and  is  a  strong  advocate  of  high  license,  which  he  believes  to  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  people. 

He  has  taken  the  fourteenth  degree  in  Masonry,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club 
and  other  social  and  commercial  organizations.  July  16,  1868,  Mr.  Harper  was  married  to  Miss 
Mollie  J.  Perry,  of  Metamora,  Woodford  county,  and  they  have  two  daughters  and  one  son,  their 
names  being  Fannie  Angle,  Roy  Beveridge  and  Hazel  Glen.  The  family  attend  the  Fifth  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

HON.    MILO  ERWIN. 

MARION. 

• 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch  is  a  prominent  lawyer  of  the  Williamson  county  bar, 
and  a  member  of  the  general  assembly.  He  is  a  native  of  the  county  in  which  he  lives, 
and  was  born  October  24,  1847,  while  his  father,  Robert  P.  Erwin,  was  fighting  the  Mexicans. 
The  mother  of  Milo  was  Elizabeth  Furlong,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  Her  husband  was  born  in 
Illinois.  He  was  a  merchant  and  mill-owner.  Our  subject  finished  his  literary  education  in  the 
Model  department  of  the  Normal  University,  at  Normal,  and  his  legal  at  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan, Ann  Arbor,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1872.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  in  practice  at 
Marion,  and  he  has  a  good  run  of  business  in  the  several  courts  of  the  state.  Mr.  Erwin  is  well 
read  in  his  profession,  prompt  and  expeditious  in  attending  to  business,  upright  and  honorable  in 
all  his  dealings,  and  stands  remarkably  high  with  his  people. 

He  was  city  attorney  from  1873  to  1877 ;  was  the  republican  candidate  for  the  state  senate  from 
the  old  47th  district,  in  1874,  and  again  in  1878,  and  at  the  latter  election  reduced  the  usual  dem- 
ocratic majority  of  1500  to  a  little  over  200.  He  was  nominated  for  the  lower  house  in  1880,  for 
the  same  district,  and  was  elected.  He  gave  so  good  satisfaction  to  his  constituents  that  he  was 
renominated,  and  returned  to  the  House  from  the  new  5ist  district.  He  is  so  great  a  favorite 
with  his  party  that  his  nomination  has  been  by  acclamation  every  time.  He  is  known  in  his  part 
of  the  state  as  the  "sun-burnt  orator,"  he  being  quite  effective  on  the  stump. 

In  the  thirty-third  general  assembly  he  was  chairman  of  the  education  committee,  and  was 
on  a  half-a-dozen  other  committees,  and  attended  faithfully  to  the  business  of  the  house. 

Mr.  Erwin  is  the  author  of  the  "  History  of  Williamson  County,"  including  the  bloody  vendetta 
and  the  Secession  movements.  He  is  a  seventh  degree  Freemason,  and  has  been  high  priest  of 
the  Marion  Chapter,  No.  100.  He  is  also  an  Odd-Fellow. 

Mr.  Erwin  has  traveled  over  the  western  provinces  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  partly  for  rec- 
reation, and  partly  to  enlarge  his  stores  of  knowledge.  He  has  an  inquiring  mind,  and  luckily  is 
never  satisfied  with  present  attainments,  either  in  law  or  in  any  other  branch  of  knowledge. 


ALEXANDER    McCOY. 

CHICAGO. 

OF  the  distinguished  members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  we  are  pleased  to  record  the  name  of  Alex- 
ander McCoy.  Well  read  in  all  the  intricacies  of  his  profession,  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  rules  of  practice  in  all  of  the  courts,  both  state  and  federal,  possessing  a  comprehensive 
mind,  being  a  logical  reasoner  with  keen  perceptions,  he  readily  grasps  his  subject,  and  possessing 
the  power  of  analysis  to  an  eminent  degree,  his  judgment  is  almost  unerring;  a  valuable  coun- 
selor, and  pursuing  strict  integrity,  sincerity  and  true  fidelity,  he  has  won  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  the  courts  before  whom  he  has  practiced.  By  honorable  dealing  he  has  retained  the 
confidence  of  his  brethren  at  the  bar  as  well  as  the  community  at  large.  For  uprightness,  straight- 


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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

forward  conduct  and  true  manhood,  Alexander  McCoy  has  no  superior;  so  sincere  and  truthful 
in  his  manner  of  presenting  his  cases  to  the  jury  does  he  manifest  himself,  that  his  words  have 
great  weight,  and  his  efforts  are  almost  universally  crowned  with  success.  He  is  not  a  flashy 
speaker,  but  his  illustrations  are  apt;  he  speaks  to  the  point,  and  keeps  close  to  his  subject;  being 
clear  in  his  own  mind,  he  never  confuses  his  hearers  by  introducing  matter  foreign  to  his  subject. 

He  is  a  gentleman  of  fine  presence,  being  about  six  feet  tall,  well  proportioned,  and  dignified 
in  his  demeanor,  courteous  and  kind  in  his  intercourse  with  mankind,  he  is  highly  prized  by  his 
large  circle  of  friends  for  his  moral  worth  and  intellectual  endowments. 

Alexander  McCoy  is  of  Scotch  descent,  and  was  born  in  West  Findley  township,  Washington 
county,  Pennsylvania.  His  father,  John  McCoy,  was  of  pure  Scotch  parentage,  and  son  of  Daniel 
McCoy,  a  captain  in  the  revolutionary  war.  His  mother,  Jane  (Brice)  McCoy,  was  a  daughter  of 
Rev.  John  Brice,  who  organized,  and  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Three  Ridges,  now  West  Alexandria,  Pennsylvania. 

At  the  classical  school  at  West  Alexandria,  under  the  instruction  of  Rev.  Doctor  McClusky, 
and  others,  he  was  prepared  to  enter  the  junior  class  half  advanced,  at  Washington  College,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  the  fall  of  1842.  Having  spent  some  time  after  graduation  in  teaching  at  home,  and 
subsequently  as  teacher  of  languages  in  Vermillion  Institute,  at  Haysville,  Ohio,  he  entered  the 
law  office  of  Given  and  Barcroft  as  a  student,  at  Millersburgh,  Ohio,  where  he  made  rapid  pro- 
gress in  the  rudiments  of  his  profession,  and  after  a  thorough  preparation  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  by  the  supreme  court  of  Ohio,  in  the  winter  of  1850.  He  then  removed  to  Peoria,  Illinois, 
where  he  located  to  practice  his  profession. 

A  great  contest  was  then  carried  on  in  the  courts  in  Peoria  and  adjoining  counties,  between 
parties  holding  lands  under  tax  titles  accruing  under  the  state  authorities,  and  parties  claiming 
the  same  under  patent  given  to  soldiers  for  said  lands  by  the  general  government. 

To  prepare  himself  for  this  litigation  he  spent  nearly  a  year  in  the  county  clerk's  office  of 
Peoria  county,  where  the  tax  titles  originated. 

February  i,  1851,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Henry  Grove,  under  the  partnership  name  of 
Grove  and  McCoy,  at  Peoria,  and  they  at  once  entered  upon  the  successful  practice  of  the  law, 
doing  a  very  extensive  business,  with  a  still  increasing  practice.  In  the  fall  of  1856  he  was  elected 
state's  attorney  for  the  then  i6th  judicial  district,  for  a  term  of  four  years.  The  duties  of  his 
office,  together  with  the  increased  labor  of  his  partnership,  proved  to  be  too  severe  for  his  health, 
and  hemorrhage  from  the  lungs  compelled  a  dissolution  of  his  partnership  in  1858.  His  health 
gradually  improving,  he  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  prosecutor  in  his  district  with  such 
ability  and  fidelity  that  at  the  expiration  of  this  term,  he  was  in  1860  reflected  for  another  term 
of  four  years. 

Still  continuing  to  improve  in  health,  in  1861  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  N. 
H.  Purple,  ex-judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  whose  term  of  office  had  expired,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Purple  and  McCoy.  This  partnership  continued  until  dissolved  by  the  death  of 
Judge  Purple,  in  August,  1863. 

In  the  fall  of  1864,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  people,  he  became  a  candidate  to  the  leg- 
islature. During  the  session  of  1865  he  was  awarded  the  chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  judi- 
ciary, thus  giving  him  the  first  place  upon  the  floor  of  the  house,  as  a  legislator.  Mr.  McCoy  was 
soon  an  acknowledged  leader,  his  counsel  was  always  sought  when  important  matters  were  up  for 
consideration;  he  devoted  his  time  and  attention  strictly  to  the  interest  of  his  constituents.  He 
was  of  great  value  to  the  state,  and  particularly  to  that  section  represented  by  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1867  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Judge  M.  Williamson  and  John  S.  Stevens, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Williamson,  McCoy  and  Stevens.  This  partnership  was  dissolved  by  the 
death  of  Judge  Williamson  in  1868,  after  which  the  business  was  carried  on  under  the  firm  name 
of  McCoy  and  Stevens.  Their  business  was  large  and  lucrative,  embracing  not  only  the  practice 
in  the  surrounding  counties  but  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and  the  circuit  and  district 

44 


496  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

courts  of  the  United  States  at  Chicago.  The  domestic  life  of  Mr.  McCoy  has  been  one  of  vary- 
ing light  and  shade. 

He  was  married  October  7,  1857,  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Mathews,  of  Lee,  New  Hampshire,  an  esti- 
mable lady,  of  fine  accomplishments,  and  a  graduate  of  the  female  seminary  of  Mount  Holyoke. 
Massachusetts.  In  1863  she  was  suddenly  taken  from  him,  leaving  an  infant  daughter  in  his  care. 

He  was  married  a  second  time  June  23,  1869,  to  Miss  Lucinda  E.  Button,  of  Chicago,  a  very 
worthy  lady,  possessed  of  high  intellectual  and  social  qualities,  and  surrounded  by  many  friends. 
With  his  wife  and  daughter  he  immediately  went  abroad,  visiting  England,  and  making  the  usual 
tour  of  the  continent.  In  1870  he  returned  to  Peoria,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
in  company  with  J.  S.  Stevens,  his  former  partner. 

In  May,  1871,  at  the  urgent  solicitations  of  many  friends  in  Chicago,  he  removed  to  that  city, 
and  entered  into  partnership  with  George  F.  Harding,  and  with  him  actively  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  In  the  great  conflagration  of  October  9,  1871,  he  lost  his  extensive  and 
valuable  library.  In  the  year  1872,  Lorin  G.  Pratt,  a  lawyer  of  great  experience,  force,  and 
remarkable  quickness  of  perception,  became  associated  with  him  and  Mr.  Harding,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Harding,  McCoy  and  Pratt.  Mr.  Harding  retired  from  the  firm  in  1875.  The  business 
was  then  carried  on  in  the  name  of  McCoy  and  Pratt.  From  this  time  on  their  business  continued 
to  increase  rapidly.  All  branches  of  litigation  were  committed  to  their  charge.  Important  suits 
involving  the  most  intricate  questions  of  commercial  law,  such  as  arise  in  great  cities,  were  daily 
intrusted  to  their  care,  and  for  the  last  five  years  they  were  largely  employed  in  railroad  litigation. 
September  23,  1881,  Mr.  Pratt  died  suddenly  of  heart  disease,  and  the  firm  was  broken  up,  but  the 
business  of  the  firm  has  been  continued  up  to  the  present  time  by  Mr.  McCoy,  who  works  assidu- 
ously early  and  late,  in  attending  to  the  wants  of  his  numerous  clients,  who  confide  in  him,  and 
rely  upon  his  able  counsel,  and  have  learned  by  experience  to  respect  him  for  his  eminent  ability 
in  every  branch  of  the  profession  which  he  honors  by  his  high-minded,  honorable  dealing  with 
all  with  whom  he  meets. 


J.   B.   M<  KIN  LEY. 

CHAMPAIGN. 

AMONG  the  self-made  men  of  Champaign  none  deserve  more  honorable  mention  than  the 
t\.  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  Ross  county,  Ohio,  February,  1821.  His  parents, 
Thomas  and  Alice  (Barclay)  McKinley,  were  of  Irish  descent,  and  were  among  the  early  pioneer 
settlers  of  Ohio,  settling  there  in  1815,  five  miles  from  Chillicothe,  which  was  then  capital  of  the 
state.  Mr.  McKinley  spent  his  early  life  on  the  farm,  attending  the  common  schools,  and  subse- 
quently attended  the  Salem  Academy  about  four  years,  where  he  completed  his  school  education. 
In  1847  he  started  for  the  West,  and  landed  in  Hennepin,  Putnam  county,  Illinois.  Here  he 
taught  school  for  about  two  years,  and  at  the  same  time  commenced  the  study  of  law.  In  the 
spring  of  1849  he  removed  to  Petersburgh,  and  completed  his  studies  with  the  late  William 
Macon,  and  in  1850  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Peters- 
burgh,  but,  after  three  years,  removed  to  Clinton,  De  Witt  county,  in  1853.  Here  he  practiced 
with  success  until  1857,  when,  seeing  there  were  better  advantages  in  Champaign,  he  removed 
thither,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home,  and  become  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
bar.  In  1863  he  formed  a  partnership  with  A.  C.  Burnham,  a  former  student  under  him,  under 
the  firm  name  of  McKinley  and  Burnham.  Three  years  later  Mr.  Burnham  withdrew  from  the 
firm,  and  the  business  was  continued  by  Mr.  McKinley,  who  devoted  himself  largely  to  chancery 
and  real-estate  matters,  and  investing  money  to  some  extent  for  friends  in  the  way  of  farm  loans, 
mortgages  and  different  investments.  This  branch  of  the  business  gradually  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that,  in  1871,  he  gave  up  the  law,  giving  his  entire  attention  to  the  mortgage  and  brokerage 
business,  in  which  he  has  been  verv  successful. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


497 


He  continued  alone  until  March,  1871,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his  former  partner 
and  Mr.  Tulleys,  under  the  firm  name  of  Burnham,  McKinley  and  Tulleys.  The  firm  represented 
considerable  capital,  and  managed  an  eminently  successful  business,  and  although  the  whole 
county  shortly  afterward  was  stricken  with  a  financial  crisis,  by  skillful  management  they  carried 
on  a  very  successful  business,  to  the  gratification  and  delight  of  the  different  members  of  the 
firm,  which  continued  some  five  years.  Mr.  McKinley,  however,  continued  in  the  same  business, 
shortly  afterward  taking  into  partnership  with  himself  Edward  Heliker.  Their  business  increased 
very  rapidly,  and  in  order  to  find  suitable  investments  for  their  large  capital  they  found  it  neces- 
sary to  establish  branch  offices,  the  first  of  which  they  started  at  Jefferson,  Iowa,  which  Mr.  Heli- 
ker took  charge  of,  when  W.  B.  McKinley,  a  nephew,  was  taken  into  the  firm,  who  is  still  in  con- 
nection with  the  home  office,  and  in  1879  William  H.  Lanning  was  taken  into  the  firm,  and  now 
has  charge  of  their  office  at  Hastings, -Nebraska.  '  In  July,  1881.  William  Stull  was  also  taken  into 
the  firm,  and  given  charge  of  the  office  at  Lincoln,  Nebraska.  By  the  careful  management  of  Mr. 
McKinley,  who  is  the  leading  man  in  the  business,  they  are  now  in  a  very  prosperous  condition, 
and  have  the  promise  of  a  bright  future. 

In  politics  he  is  a. republican,  but  has  never  taken  an  active  part.  In  religion  he  has  been  a 
worthy  and  prominent  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  with  which  he  connected  himself  in 
early  youth. 

He  was  married  in  1860  at  Racine,  Wisconsin,  to  Miss  Jennie  Sanford,  a  lady  of  high  literary 
attainments.  Mr.  McKinley  has  always  manifested  great  public  spirit,  and  contributed  materially 
to  many  public  enterprises.  He  has,  since  early  childhood,  led  a  very  industrious  and  busy  life, 
and  the  high  position  he  has  reached  has  been  due  alone  to  his  determined  will  and  perseverance, 
and  fair  and  upright  dealing.  He  has  not  only  been  financially  prospered,  but  has  won  to  him- 
self a  large  number  of  true  friends. 


FREDERICK    COLE,    M.I). 

EL.  f  A  SO. 

ONE  of  the  best-educated  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Woodford  county  is  he  whose  name 
stands  at  the  head  of  this  sketch,  and  who  is  United  States  examining  surgeon  for  pensions, 
and  surgeon  for  two  railroads.  He  is  a  native  of  York  county,  Maine,  being  born  in  the  town  of 
Cornish,  March  30,  1829.  His  father,  Richard  Cole,  a  miller,  justice  of  the  peace,  etc.,  and  his 
grandfather,  Asahel  Cole,  were  also  natives  of  Maine.  His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Hannah  Barker,  was  born  in  Cornish,  and  belonged  to  a  wealthy  pioneer  family  in  that  town. 

Frederick  Cole  received  an  academic  education,  and  taught  school  in  his  native  state  until 
1852,  when  he  came"  west,  and  after  spending  a  short  half  year  in  Madison,  Wisconsin,  he  came 
into  this  state,  and  taught  school  in  Kendall  and  Winnebago  counties,  finishing  at  Rockford, 
teaching  in  all,  at  the  East  and  West,  about  twelve  years. 

He  read  medicine  with  Doctor  James  McArthur,  of  Rockford;  attended  lectures  at  Rush 
Medical  College,  Chicago;  received  his  diploma  in  February,  1865,  and  went  immediately  into 
the  army  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  1518!  Illinois  infantry,  which  was  stationed  in  Georgia,  and 
which  was  mustered  out  in  January,  1866.  On  leaving  the  service,  Doctor  Cole  located  at  Anna- 
wan,  Henry  county,  this  state,  and  in  December,  1867,  settled  in  El  Paso.  In  1870  he  took  the 
ad  eundem  degree  at  Bellevue  Hospital  College,  New  York  city. 

Few  physicians  in  this  section  have  taken  as  much  pains  as  Doctor  Cole  in  preparing  for 
practice,  or  have  succeeded  as  well  in  the  profession.  He  does  all  the  surgery  in  and  near  El 
Paso,  performing  many  difficult  operations,  and  having  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  community 
in  his  skill.  He  is  surgeon  for  the  Wabash,  Saint  Louis  and  Pacific  and  the  Illinois  Central 
roads,  which  are  bisected  at  El  Paso. 

Doctor  Cole  has  been  secretary  of  the  Woodford  County  Medical  Association  since  its  organ- 


49<S  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

ization,  in  1870,  and  of  the  North  Central  Medical  Association,  which  comprises  five  counties, 
since  its  organization,  in  1876.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  and  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  and  has  a  somewhat  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  frater- 
nity outside,  as  well  as  inside,  this  state.  The  doctor  writes  more  or  less  for  periodicals  devoted 
to  his  profession,  and  some  of  his  addresses  delivered,  and  essays  read  before  medical  socie- 
ties, have  been  published  in  pamphlet  form.  An  address  which  he  delivered  before  the  Woodford 
County  Association  in  1871,  entitled  "Our  Profession,"  lies  before  us  in  a  neat  pamphlet,  and  is 
beautifully  written,  and  shows  a  fine  appreciation  of  the  dignity  of  the  medical  profession.  "Con- 
servative Surgery  "  is  another  thoughtful  paper  from  his  pen,  printed  from  the  transactions  of  the 
state  society,  in  1881,  being  reports  of  two  difficult  cases  of  which  he  had  the  handling.  This 
latter  pamphlet  must  be  very  valuable  to  the  profession,  and  is  well  worthy  of  its  reproduction  in 
its  present  form. 

The  doctor  is  somewhat  of  a  politician,  being  entirely  republican,  the  leader,  in  fact,  of  his 
party  in  Woodford  county,  and  chairman  of  the  county  central  committee.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  senatorial  district  committee,  which  district  comprises  the  counties  of  Marshall,  Woodford 
and  Tazewell.  He  is  a  Chapter  Mason,  and  has  been  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  and  held  other 
offices  in  the  order. 

His  wife  was  Miss  Louisa  J.  Wheeler,  of  Rockford,  their  marriage  occurring  in  November, 
1862.  We  believe  they  have  no  children.  Mrs.  Cole  was  educated  at  the  noted  Rockford  Semi- 
nary, and  is  proficient  in  three  or  four  languages.  She  teaches  German,  is  also  a  profuse  trans- 
lator, and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  scholars  in  that  language  in  this  vicinity.  The  doctor 
himself  takes  great  interest  in  educational  matters,  and  is  now  serving  his  sixth  or  seventh  con- 
secutive year  as  a  member  of  the  local  school  board.  He  has  been  alderman,  also,  and  was  the 
chief  engineer  in  securing  the  excellent  water  works  of  his  city,  he  being  very  public  spirited. 


ROBERT   F.  WINSLOW. 

CHICAGO. 

ROBERT  FORBES  WINSLOW,  one  of  the  oldest  lawyers  now  practicing  in  Chicago,  is  a 
descendant  of  John  Winslow,  brother  of  one  of  the  first  governors  of  the  Plymouth  Colony. 
John  Winslow  came  over  in  the  barque,  Fortune,  and  married  Mary  Chilton,  the  first  woman  who 
landed  from  the  Mayflower.  Representatives  of  the  Winslow  family  have  always  lived  in  Boston. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  June  13,  1807.  He  is  the  fifth  generation  from  John  Winslow, 
and  a  son  of  Thomas  Winslow  and  Mary  (Forbes)  Winslow,  the  latter  being  a  native  of  the  island 
of  Bermuda.  The  late  Doctor  Forbes  Winslow,  of  England,  the  author  of  several  works  on  the 
jurisprudence  of  insanity,  and  other  medical  subjects,  was  a  brother  of  our  subject ;  so  was  also 
Rev.  Octavius  Winslow,  D.D.,  now  deceased,  late  of  England,  a  noted  Baptist  minister  and 
author.  The  late  Isaac  Winslow,  a  well  known  merchant  of  Boston,  was  a  cousin  of  Robert,  and 
Lord  Lyndurst,  once  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  was  a  second  cousin,  and  so  was  George  W. 
Irving,  who  was  minister  to  Spain  under  one  of  the  early  presidents. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  received  an  academic  education  in  New  York  city,  where  he  read 
law  with  William  Paxson  Hallet,  who  afterward  became  clerk  of  the  New  York  supreme  court. 
Mr.  Winslow  was  called  to  the  bar  in  New  York  in  1840.  He  practiced  in  New  York  until  1851  ; 
in  Fond  du  Lac,  Wisconsin,  from  1851  to  1855  ;  in  Chicago,  from  1855  to  1859,  and  in  Princeton, 
Illinois,  from  1859  to  1862,  in  this  last  place  in  partnership  with  M.  T.  Peters.  While  in  Bureau 
county  he  raised  (1861)  a  regiment  of  infantry,  by  authority  from  the  secretary  of  war,  Cameron, 
but  before  it  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  part  of  the  men  were  seduced 
away  from  his  command,  and  started  for  Missouri,  after  he  had  drilled  them  three  months  in  a 
camp  of  instruction,  established  by  the  government  at  Princeton.  They  were,  however,  arrested 
at  Alton,  by  orders  of  Governor  Yates,  and  taken  to  Camp  Butler,  and  Mr,  Winslow,  therefore, 


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OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITI-.n    STATES   RfOGKAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


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of  necessity  abandoned  his  military  plans,  but  sent  three  of  his  sons  into  the  field  who  served  till 
the  close  of  the  war. 

In  1863  Mr.  Winslow  removed  to  Lacon,  Marshall  county,  Illinois,  and  practiced  law  there  until 
1872,  when  he  returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  remained,  and  now  is  having  about  all  the 
legal  business  which  a  man  of  his  age  would  be  likely  to  desire.  He  evidently  loves  his  profes- 
sion, and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  will  require  death  to  wean  him  from  it.  His  business  is  mostly 
civil,  but  he  attends  to  both  civil  and  criminal,  and  he  is  a  sound  and  safe  lawyer. 

Colonel  Winslow  has  always  been  a  most  painstaking  lawyer.  He  is  physically  strong,  men- 
tally well  balanced,  and  possesses  great  courage  and  continuity  of  thought  and  purpose.  Rich  in 
expedient,  prompt  in  execution,  he  is  seldom  thrown  off  his  guard,  or  taken  unawares  in  a  legal 
contest.  He  is  very  systematic  and  methodical,  and  prepares  his  cases  with  great  accuracy  and 
care.  As  a  special  pleader  he  probably  has  few  equals  and  less  superiors.  His  career  at  the  bar 
has  been  a  long  and  a  successful  one. 

Mr.  Winslow  has  a  commission  framed  and  hung  up  in  his  office,  bearing  the  signature  of 
Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  appointing  him  notary  public,  and  being  dated  in  1826,  just  before 
Mr.  Winslow  had  reached  his  majority.  He  has  held  a  like  commission  as  notary  public  contin- 
uously for  fifty-five  years,  having  received  appointments  in  New  York,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois, 
and  is  probably  the  longest  holding  such  a  commission  continuously  of  any  man  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Winslow  was  joined  in  wedlock,  in  1828,  with  Miss  Caroline  McKeeby,  of  Duchess  county, 
New  York,  and  she  died  in  Fond  du  Lac,  Wisconsin,  in  1857,  leaving  nine  children,  two  of  whom 
have  since  followed  her  into  the  spirit  world.  Mr.  Winslow  is  a  member  of  the  Second  Baptist 
Church,  in  Chicago,  and  a  man  of  irreproachable  character,  and  much  respected  by  all  who  know 
him. 

DEMAS    L.   HARRIS. 

MEN  DOT  A. 

DEMAS  LINDLY  HARRIS,  one  of  the  prominent  and  successful  agriculturists  of  Lee  county, 
and  now  a  resident  of  Mendota,  La  Salle  county,  was  born  in  the  township  of  Tuscarawas, 
Stark  county,  Ohio,  May  16,  1818,  and  hence  is  of  the  same  age  as  the  state  of  Illinois.  Demas  is 
a  son  of  Stephen  and  Sibyl  (Clark)  Harris,  both  natives  of  New  Jersey,  his  father  being  born  in 
Elixabethtown  in  1780.  Stephen  Harris  was  of  English  descent  on  his  father's  side,  and  Scotch 
on  his  mother's,  she  being  a  relative  of  Gavin  Hamilton,  the  friend  of  Robert  Burns,  and  of  the 
same  family  as  that  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  statesman,  who  was  killed  in  a  duel  by  Aaron 
Burr,  in  1804. 

Stephen  Harris  settled  in  Stark  county,  Ohio,  when  Canton,  now  the  county  seat,  had  only 
three  or  four  houses,  and  Massillon  was  a  swamp  with  a  million  or  two  of  mosquitoes,  but  no 
white  men.  He  became  an  extensive  land  owner,  and  thrifty  agriculturist,  a  leader  among  men 
in  his  vicinity,  holding  various  civil  and  political  offices  of  trust  and  honor.  At  one  period  of  his 
life  he  was  in  the  ginseng  trade  at  Maysville,  Kentucky.  He  was  a  large-hearted  man,  and  not 
forgetful  to  entertain  strangers,  though  probably  he  did  not  expect  to  find  many  angels  among 
them.  He  reared  a  family  of  twelve  children,  of  whom  Demas  was  the  eighth  child,  and  he  died 
at  Chippewa,  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  in  his  eighty-third  year. 

To  the  ordinary  drill  of  a  district  school,  the  subject  of  this  notice  added  one  term  at  the 
Granville  (Ohio)  Academy,  teaching  school  two  winter  terms  before  leaving  his  native  state.  In 
1856  Mr.  Harris  immigrated  to  this  state,  following  his  older  brother,  John  H.  Harris,  and  settled 
on  a  farm  in  Lee  county,  eight  miles  from  Mendota,  La  Salle  county,  where  he  resided  for  twenty 
years,  moving  into  the  city  of  Mendota  in  1876.  He  has  400  acres  of  land  under  excellent  im- 
provement, which  he  is  now  cultivating  by  proxy.  He  has  long  been  quite  active  in  agricul- 
tural societies,  as  he  is  now  in  the  Mendota  Union  Society. 

While  a  resident  of  Lee  county,  Mr.  Harris  held  various  township  offices,  being  supervisor  for 


502  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

several  terms.  In  the  darkest  days  of  the  civil  war  (1862)  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and 
in  .the  halls  of  legislation  he  seconded  every  measure  proposed  by  Governor  Yates,  to  further  the 
interests  of  the  Union  cause,  and  the  honor  of  his  adopted  state.  His  record  in  the  legislature  is 
that  of  a  hard-working  man,  and  a  pure  patriot.  Mr.  Harris  cast  his  first  vote  for  Thomas  Cor- 
win,  for  governor,  October,  1840,  and  a  month  later  voted  for  General  William  Henry  Harrison, 
for  president,  training  in  the  ranks  of  the  whig  party  until  its  demise  in  1854.  He  was  a  free- 
soiler  from  principle,  and  naturally  and  promptly  joined  the  great  party  of  freedom,  whose  chiefs 
have  occupied  the  White  House  since  March  4,  1861. 

The  author  of  "Lacon  "  declares  that  "  the  man  of  principle  is  the  principal  man."  Mr.  Harris 
has  never  been  anything  else.  For  more  than  fifty  years  he  has  been  a  teetotaller,  and  in  his  hab- 
its generally  he  has  been  a  good  model  for  young  men  to  copy. 

Mr.  Harris  was  married  in  1843  to  Miss  Ann  Louisa  Eyles,  of  Wadsworth,  Medina  county, 
Ohio,  and  they  have  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  still  living.  Viola  M.  is  the  wife  of 
Oscar  C.  Merrifield,  of  Mendota  ;  Madison  R.  is  a  lawyer  in  Chicago,  and  lately  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  legislature;  Frank  M.  is  a  civil  engineer  on  the  government  works  at  Kansas  City,  Mis- 
souri, and  Clarinda  H.  is  the  wife  of  J.  S.  Edgecomb,  farmer,  Waltharn  township,  La  Salle  county. 

The  family  attend  the  Baptist  Church,  of  which  Mr.  Harris  is  a  liberal  supporter,  and  most  of 
his  family  are  members.  Mrs.  Merrifield  is  a  very  active  worker  in  the  church,  and  »  prominent 
member  of  the  choir. 


EDWARD    A.  WILCOX,  M.D. 

MINONK. 

EDWARD  ALEXANDER  WILCOX  has  been  a  medical  practitioner  at  Minonk  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  gained,  years  ago,  a  fine  reputation  for  skill  and  success  in  his  profession. 
This  he  has  done  by  hard  study  and  by  close  attention  to  business,  being  prompt  to  obey  every 
call,  near  or  remote,  when  not  previously  engaged.  He  was  born  at  Wattsburgh,  Erie  county, 
Pennsylvania,  September  28,  1830,  being  a  son  of  Levi  and  Nancy  (Rogers)  Wilcox.  His  father 
was  born  in  Haddam,  Connecticut;  his  mother  in  Ohio.  When  he  was  eighteen  months  old  the 
family  came  as  far  west  as  New  Philadelphia,  Ohio,  and  in  1838  settled  in  Lacon,  Marshall 
county,  this  state,  where  the  father  died  in  1851.  The  mother  is  still  living  at  her  home  in  Lacon. 
being  nearly  four-score  years  old. 

Edward  received  a  partial  academic  education  at  Lacon  and  Mount  Morris;  studied  medicine 
with  Doctor  R.  B.  Rogers;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago;  received  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  medicine  in  February,  1857,  and  after  practicing  one  year  in  Lacon,  settled  in  Minonk, 
Woodford  county.  Here  he  soon  worked  his  way  into  an  extensive  practice,  and  for  twenty  years 
he  has  been  one  of  the  hardest  working  men  in  his  profession  in  this  part  of  the  state  He  has 
written  a  very  little  for  medical  journals,  but  has  been  too  busy  to  do  much  with  the  pen.  He 
was  president  at  one  time  of  the  County  medical  society,  and  belongs  to  the  North  Central  and 
State  medical  societies,  being  quite  well  known  and  much  respected  by  the  fraternity. 

Doctor  Wilcox  is  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  has  done  much  valuable 
work  as  a  member  of  the  Minonk  school  board.  He  has  also  been  mayor  of  the  city  two  terms, 
and  is  quite  public-spirited  and  progressive.  He  was  in  the  state  senate  in  the  twenty-eighth 
and  twenty-ninth  general  assemblies,  and  in  the  twenty-eighth,  when  the  republicans  were  in 
power,  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  public  charities,  and  a  member  of  the  committees 
on  penitentiary,  mines  and  mining,  railroads,  education,  etc.  He  was  the  only  physician  in  the 
senate,  and  was  very  active  in  working  for  the  bill  legalizing  dissections.  The  doctor  was  author 
of  the  bill  revising  the  laws  in  regard  to  state  charities,  which  bill  passed  and  became  the  present 
law.  He  made  a  practical  and  very  efficient  legislator.  He  is  an  influential  man  in  his  party  in 
Woodford  county. 

Doctor  Wilcox  was  first  married  January  23,  1857,  to  Miss  Carrie  Mathis,  of  Oxbow,  Putnam 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  503 

county,  Illinois,  she  dying  March  11,  1877,  leaving  four  daughters  and  three  sons,  one  child  hav- 
ing previously  died.  S.  Elcie,  the  oldest  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  William  H.  Haggard,  of  Bloom- 
ington;  Carrie  E.  is  the  wife  of  Clay  Forney,  of  Minonk,  and  most  of  the  others  are  attending 
school.  His  second  marriage  was  July  17,  1878,  to  Miss  Victoria  Boyle,  of  Clear  Creek,  Putnam 
county,  by  whom  he  has  had  two  daughters,  burying  one  of  them. 


HON.  JAMES    A.  TAYLOR. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES  ADMIRAL  TAYLOR,  real-estate  dealer,  and  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  is  a  son  of  Augustine  and  Mary  E.  (Grogan)  Taylor,  and  was  born  in  Chicago 
April  26,  1858.  His  father  was  born  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  settled  in  Chicago  just  after 
the  Black  Hawk  war,  which  closed  in  1832,  he  being  a  veteran  of  the  war  of  1812-14.  He  is  the 
oldest  settler  in  this  city  now  living,  the  patriarch  of  the  Calumet  Club,  the  meetings  of  which 
he  usually  attends.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Chicago  when  it  was  a  village,  at  one  time  the  assessor 
of  the  whole  city,  at  another  the  sole  city  collector,  being  the  first  person  who  held  that  office. 
He  was  a  contractor  and  builder,  and  erected  the  old  court-house  which  preceded  the  one  that 
was  burnt  in  October,  1871.  His  father-in-law  was  Colonel  Grogan,  an  officer  in  the  Canadian 
rebellion  of  1837-38. 

The  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch  finished  his  education  at  the  Notre  Dame  University, 
near  South  Bend,  Indiana,  where  he  took  an  English  course  of  studies,  and  after  leaving  that 
institution  he  traveled  extensively  over  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  this  country,  partly  for 
recreation,  but  largely  in  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

In  1881  Mr.  Taylor  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business,  his  office  being  in  the  Metropolitan 
Block,  La  Salle  street.  He  has  made  a  good  start  in  that  line.  In  1882  his  democratic  friends  in 
the  fifth  senatorial  district  nominated  him  for  the  lower  house  of  the  thirty-third  general  assem- 
bly, and  in  that  capacity  he  is  now  serving  the  state,  being,  with  one  exception,  the  youngest 
member  of  that  body.  He  is  inexperienced,  but  quick  to  learn,  and  is  a  young  man  who  does  his 
own  thinking. 

He  is  on  the  committee  on  contingent  expenses,  county  and  township  organizations  and 
militia.  When  the  time  came  for  the  nomination  of  candidates  by  each  party  for  the  United 
States  senate  Mr.  Taylor  was  designated  as  one  of  the  democrats  to  nominate  General  J.  M.  Pal- 
mer, which  he  did  in  a  speech  for  which  he  was  highly  complimented  by  the  press. 

In  religion  Mr.  Taylor  is  a  Roman  Catholic.  He  possesses  a  tolerant  spirit  and  an  excellent 
moral  character.  Seemingly  his  future  is  full  of  promise. 


JAMES   W.  CRAIG. 

MA  TTOON. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  June  29,  1844,  in  Coles  county,  Illinois,  a  few  miles  north 
of  Charleston.     His  father  was  Isaac  N.  Craig,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  the  maiden 
name  of  his  mother  was  Elizabeth  Blozer.     Thev  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois,  and 
were  married  in  Coles  county,  where  they  still  reside. 

Mr.  Craig  received  his  early  education  in  the  country  schools  while  living  on  the  farm'.  He 
left  home  at  an  early  age,  and  passed  through  several  years  of  hard  struggle  for  an  education. 
When  he  had  reached  twenty  years  of  age  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Colonel  O.  B.  Ficklen,  of 
Charleston,  where  he  studied,  and  subsequently  attended  the  law  department  of  the  Michigan 
University,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867.  He  then  formed  a  partnership  with  Colonel 
Ficklen,  and  practiced  with  him  in  Charleston  one  year,  going  to  Mattoon  in  May,  1868,  the  part- 


504  I'NITKn    STATES  KrOGRAPHICAI.   DICTIONARY. 

nership  continuing,  he  having  charge  of  the  Mattoon  office.  This  business  was  carried  on  very 
successfully  until  1872,  when  the  firm  dissolved.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Craig  was 
elected  state's  attorney  for  Coles  county,  being  the  only  democrat  elected  on  his  ticket,  and 
became  widely  known  throughout  the  state,  there  being  at  that  time  an  unusual  amount  of  crime. 
At  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  he  gave  his  attention  again  to  his  practice,  which  has  been 
gradually  on  the  increase. 

In  1872  I.  B.  Craig,  his  younger  brother,  who  had  previously  been  a  student  of  the  old  firm, 
and  who  was  also  a  graduate  of  Michigan  University,  was  taken  into  the  business,  which  has  since 
been  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Craig  and  Craig.  This  is  now  one  of  the  leading  law- 
firms  in  Mattoon,  having  a  well  known  reputation  throughout  eastern  Illinois.  They  also  carry 
on,  in  connection  with  the  law  business,  a  mortgage,  brokerage  and  loan  business,  which  is  prin- 
cipally under  the  supervision  of  the  younger  member  of  the  firm. 

The  firm  have  also  been  among  the  most  active  workers  in  the  coal  enterprise  of  Mattoon, 
being  large  stockholders,  and  I.  B.  Craig  being  secretary  of  the  company,  which  promises  to  be 
one  of  the  most  successful  of  Illinois,  as  the  coal  is  superior  in  quality  to  any  found  in  the  state, 
and  is  said  to  be  in  abundance,  and  it  was  found  by  three  years'  hard  labor  and  after  many  dis- 
couragements in  sinking  a  shaft  9,004  feet  deep,  at  an  expense  of  something  over  $150,000. 

In  politics  Mr.  Craig  has  always  been  an  active  worker  with  the  democratic  party,  and  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Cincinnati  convention,  which  nominated  General  Hancock  for  president  in  1880. 

Mr.  Craig  was  married  June  17,  1868,  to  Miss  Mary  Chilton,  near  Charleston.  Mr.  Craig  is 
eminently  a  self-made  man,  and  one  who  has  toiled  hard,  and  fully  appreciates  the  success  which 
he  has  attained.  His  great  determination  and  perseverance,  and  the  confidence  of  a  large  client- 
age, betoken  for  him  a  bright  future,  as  the  firm  may  be  said  to  now  be  just  starting  their  business 
career,  which  promises  to  soon  stand  at  the  head  of  the  leading  law  firms  of  eastern  Illinois. 


HON.    ROBERT    M.    A.    HAWK. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

ROBERT  M.  A.  HAWK,  late  representative  of  the  sixth  congressional  district,  was  born  in 
Hancock   county,  Indiana,  April  23,  1839.      His   parents,  William   H.   Hawk  and   Hannah 
(Moffitt)  Hawk,  were  natives  of  Abingdon,  Washington  county,  Virginia.     The  early  life  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  spent  in  his  native  town,  where  he  received  the  rudiments  of  an  educa- 
tion at  the  public  schools. 

After  the  death  of  his  mother,  in  1844,  and  one  year's  residence  with  his  uncle,  Captain  Will- 
iam Moffitt,  of  Rush  county,  Indiana,  he  removed  with  his  father's  family  to  Carroll  county,  Illinois. 
Major  Hawk  was  emphatically  a  product  of  the  Great  West,  and  grew  up  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions  furnished  by  its  purity,  simplicity  and  social  equality.  He  resided  in  Mount  Carroll 
almost  without  interruption  since  his  first  removal  there,  in  1846.  Until  1856  he  attended  the 
common  schools  of  Carroll  county,  when  he  was  placed  under  the  tutelage  of  his  cousin,  who  kept 
a  private  school,  and  by  whom  he  was  prepared  for  college.  In  1861  he  entered  Eureka  College, 
but  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  abandoned  his  studies  to  enlist  in  the  Union  army.  While 
at  home  spending  his  summer  vacation,  he  helped  to  raise  a  company,  and  was  mustered  in  as 
first  lieutenant  of  company  C,  92d  Illinois  infantry.  He  was  made  captain  of  his  company  in 
February,  1863,  and  breveted  major  for  meritorious  services,  April  10,  1865.  He  served  with  his 
regiment  in  central  Kentucky  during  the  winter  of  1862,  and  in  the  Tullahoma  and  Chattanooga 
campaigns  in  the  summer  of  1863.  He  was  detailed  with  his  company  for  duty  at  General  Rose- 
crans'  headquarters  for  two  months  during  and  after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  September  19 
and  20,  1863.  In  the  spring  of  1864  he  was  attached  to  Kilpatrick's  division  of  cavalry,  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  battles  and  marches  of  the  Atlanta  campaign.  He  made  the  grand  march 
with  Sherman's  army  from  Atlanta  to  the  sea,  and  through  the  Carolinas,  his  regiment  being 


K  , L.  Cooler.  Jr.  Se  CD 


l.'BRARY 

OF  THE 

'of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  rO7 

constantly  on  duty,  and  almost  daily  skirmishing  with  the  enemy.  At  Deep  Creek,  North  Caro- 
lina, April  12,  1865,  he  was  severely,  and  it  was  supposed  mortally,  wounded,  his  wounds  result- 
ing in  the  amputation  of  the  right  leg  above  the  knee.  He  has  never  been  able  to  wear  an 
artificial  limb,  but  relies  upon  a  peculiarly  constructed  cane  of  his  own  invention. 

After  the  war  was  over,  he  married,  July  21,  1865,  Miss  Mary  G.  Clark,  of  Eureka.  Although 
always  a  busy  man,  he  found  time  since  the  war  to  complete  a  full  course  of  law  studies.  At  the 
November  election  in  1865  he  was  elected,  by  his  republican  friends,  clerk  of  Carroll  county, 
which  office  he  filled  with  such  satisfaction  that  he  was  reflected  successively  in  1869,  1873,  and 
1877.  In  1877  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  forty-sixth  congress  on  the  republican  ticket.  He 
took  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  extra  session  of  1878,  making  a  speech  on  the  army  appro- 
priation bill,  April  2,  1879.  He  served  also  on  the  committee  on  expenditures  of  the  war  depart- 
ment, and  on  the  militia.  His  principal  speeches  were  made  March  20,  1880,  on  the  bill  to 
facilitate  the  refunding  of  the  national  debt;  February  25,  1881,  on  apportionment  of  representa- 
tives under  the  tenth  census;  and  March  3,  1881,  on  the  reorganization  of  the  militia.  He  also 
delivered  a  fine  oration  at  Oregon,  Illinois,  September  4,  1876,  on  the  occasion  of  the  reunion  of 
the  92d  regiment  of  infantry,  and  one  at  Byron,  May  30,  1877,  on  decoration  day,  both  of  which 
were  considered  as  very  fine  efforts,  and  widely  read. 

Major  Hawk  was  a  man  of  very  fine  presence,  of  commanding  appearance,  full  of  personal 
magnetism,  and  made  a  very  effective  and  convincing  speech,  without  laying  claim  to  cultivated 
and  polished  oratory.  His  honest  and  manly  course  in  congress  gave  such  universal  satisfaction 
that  upon  the  expiration  of  the  forty-sixth,  he  was  triumphantly  returned  to  the  forty-seventh 
congress.  At  the  republican  convention  held  at  Freeport  in  June,  1882,  Major  Hawk  was  renom- 
inated,  and  died  a  few  weeks  afterward. 


COLONEL   ROBERT   H.   McFADDEN. 

MA  TTOON. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  settled  in  Illinois  as  early  as  1850,  a  poor  boy,  with  very  limited 
resources,  and  built  the  first  house  in  the  now  prosperous  city  of  Mattoon.  He  was  born 
September  13,  1833,  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Zanesville,  Ohio.  His  father  was  Robert 
McFadden,  a  cabinet-maker  by  trade,  and  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Nancy  Burrel, 
whose  parents  were  old  Virginia  people,  who  moved  to  Ohio  at  an  early  date.  His  paternal 
ancestry  is  traced  back  to  the  North  of  Ireland,  whence  his  grandfather  emigrated  to  America, 
settling  first  in  Pennsylvania  and  subsequently  in  Ohio. 

Robert  received  his  education  at  Farview,  Ohio,  where  he  improved  every  advantage  afforded 
by  his  limited  means,  and  at  the  same  time  worked  with  his  father,  learning  the  trade  of  a  cabi- 
net-maker. At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left  home  and  started  for  the  Great  West  to  seek  his  fortune. 
He  reached  Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1850,  and  worked  at  different  points,  and  traveled  on  foot  to 
Shelby  county,  where  he  spent  some  time. 

In  1853  he  removed  to  Coles  county,  settling  in  the  village  of  -Paradise,  which  was  then  a 
small  settlement.  There  he  followed  his  trade  until  1855,  when  he  removed  to  Mattoon,  con- 
tinuing in  the  same  business,  and  erected  the  first  building,  the  same  being  raised  March  28,  1855. 
In  September  of  the  same  year  he  married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Noovell.  of  Mattoon.  Theirs  was  the 
first  wedding  that  had  ever  taken  place  in  the  village. 

April  19,  1861,  he  entered  the  army  as  second  lieutenant,  company  B,  2d  Illinois  infantry,  for 
three  months'  service,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  he  assisted  in  organizing  another  com- 
pany, and  entered  the  service  for  three  years  as  first  lieutenant,  company  D,  4ist  Illinois  infantry, 
and  served  faithfully  in  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  under  General  Sherman,  and  through  all  the 
important  battles  of  the  South,  his  regiment  participating  in  twenty-eight  regular  engagements. 
From  the  position  of  first  lieutenant  he  was  promoted  from  time  to  time  for  bravery,  and  at  the 
50 


508  UNITED    STATES   RfOdKA  rilfCAI.    DICTIONARY. 

end  of  his  three  years'  service  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel,  and  assigned  to  the  53d  Illinois. 
and  was  soon  promoted  to  colonel,  in  which  position  he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Since  the  close  of  the  war  Colonel  McFadden  has  been  an  active  and  useful  citizen  of  Mat- 
toon,  taking  a  great  interest  in  all  public  enterprises  and  objects  tending  to  the  general  good  of 
the  town,  which  owes  a  great  deal  to  his  influence. 

He  is  a  republican  and  an  active  politician,  and  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  republican 
party,  casting  his  first  vote  for  Fremont  in  1856.  He  has  been  alderman  for  two  terms,  mayor 
one  term,  also  police  magistrate,  and  is  now  justice  of  the  peace,  and  one  of  the  most  respected 
citizens  of  Mattoon. 

SAMUEL    L.   GILL. 

PEOKIA. 

SAMUEL  LINCH  GILL,  late  sheriff  of  Peoria  county,  is  a  son  of  James  and  Rebecca  (Linen) 
Gill,  his  birth  being  dated  March  4,  1833,  in  Gloucester  county,  New  Jersey.  His  father  was 
born  in  the  same  county,  and  his  mother  in  Salem  county,  that  state.  Her  father  was  a  captain 
in  the  continental  army.  James  Gill  was  a  farmer,  and  reared  the  son  in  the  same  pursuit,  giving 
him  a  district-school  education.  When  he  had  reached  his  majority,  in  1854,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  came  to  Peoria  county,  and  settled  on  a  farm  near  Elmwood,  improving  it  until  1865,  when 
he  came  into  the  city  of  Peoria  to  accept  the  post  of  deputy  sheriff  under  George  C.  McFadden. 
Disposing  of  his  farm,  in  1866  he  moved  his  family  into  the  city,  where  he  has  since  resided.  In 
1870  he  was  elected  sheriff,  and  held  the  office  one  term,  remaining  in  the  office  as  deputy  under 
Frank  Hitchcock  until  1880,  excepting  one  year  (1872),  when  he  was  chief  of  police,  when  he  was 
again  elected  sheriff.  He  made  an  active  and  efficient  official,  always  on  the  alert  in  the  line  of 
duty,  but  in  1882  party  spirit  ran  very  high;  the  lines  were  very  closely  drawn,  and  Mr.  Gill  was 
defeated  for  reelection.  The  contest,  however,  was  very  close,  he  coming  within  less  than  one 
hundred  votes  of  an  election  in  a  county  usually  having  about  six  hundred  democratic  majority. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  Peoria  county.  His  politics  are  republican,  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  any  other  man  in  the  county  has  spent  more  time  and  money  in  working  for  the  interests  of 
his  party,  he  believing  that  the  welfare  of  the  country  depends  upon  its  perpetuation  in  power. 
He  is  a  Master  Mason. 

Mr.  Gill  was  married  in  1857  to  Miss  Anna  Elizabeth  Hurff,  of  Elmwood,  and  they  have  two 
children,  Carrie  May  and  Wellington  E.,  the  latter  being  in  the  stamp  department  of  the  revenue 
office,  Peoria. 

Since  leaving  the  office  of  sheriff  Mr.  Gill  has  been  ticket  agent  in  the  interest  of  the  Wabash, 
Saint  Louis  and  Pacific  railroad.  About  ten  years  ago  he  bought  a  second  farm,  which  he  sold 
in  1882.  Most  of  his  property  lies  in  the  city  of  Peoria  and  in  a  silver  mine  in  Georgetown, 
Colorado,  which  he  owns  in  company  with  several  other  parties.  He  is  a  first-class  business  man, 
and  a  highly  useful  citizen. 


HON.  THEODORE   STIMMING. 

CHICAGO. 

THEODORE  STIMMING,  one  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  from  the  sixth  senatorial 
district,  was  born  in  Prenzlau,  near  Berlin,  Prussia,  April  2,  1830.  His  parents  were  Gott- 
lieb Slimming,  hatter,  and  Friedricke  (Langmeier)  Slimming.  He  was  educated  at  the  Joachims- 
thai  Gymnasium,  at  Berlin,  one  of  the  largest  and  best  institutions  for  educalional  purposes  in 
that  city,  and  was  graduated  for  ihe  purpose  of  qualifying  himself  for  one  year's  military  service. 
Mr.  Slimming  was  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house  for  two  years,  and  then  participated  in  the  revo- 
lution of  1848,  being  a  youth  of  eighteen  summers.  He  became  an  exile,  coming  to  this  counlry 
in  the  spring  of  1849;  worked  a  while  on  the  Lake  Shore  railroad,  east  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  1509 

then  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  and  was  the  owner  of  a 
riding  school. 

September  26,  1854,  Mr.  Slimming  was  married  to  Miss  Frederikee  Arns,  and  went  to  Dubuque, 
Iowa.  He  was  a  merchant  there  when  the  stars  and  stripes  were  stricken  down  in  Charleston, 
South  Carolina.  Prompt  to  obey  the  call  of  his  adopted  country  for  volunteers  to  save  the  Union, 
he  enlisted  April  19,  1861,  in  company  H,  ist  Iowa  infantry,  and  served  in  that  regiment  for  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  days,  the  regiment  generously  offering  to  remain  in  the  service  until  after  the 
bloody  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek,  in  which  the  brave  General  Lyon  fell.  He  reenlisted  in  August, 
1862,  as  first  lieutenant  of  company  B,  3151  Iowa  infantry.  He  was  promoted,  step  by  step,  for 
meritorious  conduct  on  the  field  of  battle,  until  he  became  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regiment, 
which  was  mustered  out  July  5,  1865,  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  with  only  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  men. 

On  leaving  the  service  Colonel  Slimming  returned  lo  Dubuque,  boughl  out  the  Conlinenlal 
Hotel,  and  was  its  proprietor  until  the  autumrv'of  1872,  when  he  went  to  Chicago,  and  became 
a  traveling  agent  for  a  San  Francisco  house. 

In  1878  the  colonel  was  appoinled  superinlendenl  of  Ihe  norlh  division  posloffice,  which  post 
he  held  until  elected  to  his  seal  in  the  legislature,  in  November,  1882.  He  is  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  federal  relations,  and  on  the  committees  on  license,  militia,  municipal  affairs  and 
education.  He  is  one  of  the  most  diligent  men  in  the  house,  punctual  in  his  atlendance  in  the 
commitlee  rooms  and  always  in  his  seal  when  Ihe  legislalure  is  in  session.  He  evidently  believes 
in  earning  all  the  money  which  the  state  pays  him. 

Colonel  Slimming  came  lo  Ihis  country  as  a  lover  of  freedom,  and  a  free-soiler  from  instincl, 
and  was  one  of  Ihe  firsl  Germans  in  Ihe  Uniled  slates  to  join  Ihe  greal  party  of  freedom,  which 
finally  unriveted  the  chains  from  4,000,000  slaves.  In  Dubuque,  where  the  writer  first  knew  Col- 
onel Slimming,  he  was  an  indefatigable  laborer  in  Ihe  interests  of  his  party,  which  could  always 
rely  upon  him  for  heavy  work  during  a  canvass  and  at  the  polls.  He  is  an  upright,  striclly  hon- 
orable man,  and  has  greal  influence,  particularly  among  counlrymen  of  his  nalivity. 

Colonel  Slimming  has  been  an  Odd-Fellow  for  many  years,  and  has  passed  all  Ihe  chairs  in 
Ihe  encampment  He  has  a  family  of  six  children  living  and  has  losl  Iwo. 


T 


LEONARD   WELLS  VOLK. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

HE  old  adage,  "There  is  no  excellence  wilhoul  labor,"  never  found  a  more  failhful  illuslra- 
lion  lhan  in  Ihe  hislory  of  Leonard  W.  Volk.  Il  is  Ihe  old  story  of  genius  confronted  with 
the  impossible,  yet  scaling  its  walls  by  the  force  of  ils  own  inspiralion.  Hugh  Miller  found  Ihe 
dumb  granite  of  his  nalive  hills  instincl  wilh  reason  and  full  of  wisdom,  bul  dumb  and  wilhoul 
an  inlerpreler.  He  gave  il  a  voice;  he  placed  il  upon  Ihe  stand,  and  the  world  in  astonishmenl 
read,  "The  Teslimony  of  Ihe  Rocks."  Bul  in  Ihe  hands  of  Miller  Ihe  slubborn  granile  spoke  ils 
own  tongue  and  gave  its  own  record;  he  could  only  interprel  it, 'while  in  the  hands  of  the 
sculptor  it  becomes  as  plastic  as  the  clay,  speaks  at  his  command,  and  utlers  all  his  Ihoughls.  He 
gives  it  life,  he  ^lollies  il  wilh  beauly,  he  leaches  il  his  native  tongue,  and  it  inlerprels  him. 
Hugh  Miller  found  Ihe  angel  in  Ihe  stone,  gave  him  liberty  and  became  his  interpreter.  Leon- 
ard W.  Volk  changed  the  slone  into  an  angel,  gave  it  life  and  speech,  and  made  il  speak  for  him. 
Leonard  W.  Volk  had  genius,  and  it  could  no  more  be  repressed  than  the  bursting  bud  in  spring. 
The  early  years  of  his  boyhood  spenl  in  drudgery  upon  the  lillle  stony  farms  in  Berkshire, 
Massachusetls;  Ihe  long  apprenliceship  with  mallei  and  chisel  in  the  marble  shop  of  his  father; 
the  years  of  patienl  loil  al  his  trade  of  marble  cutter  to  earn  bread  for  his  family;  the  biller  dis- 
appoinlmenls,  the  hopes  deferred,  the  years  of  wailing,  Ihe  heavy  losses,  and  Ihe  sorrows  Ihal  are 
the  heritage  of  all  —  these  were  but  as  the  frosts  of  winter;  the  spring  musl  come  al  last. 


t;iO  I'.vi TE J)  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Volk  was  born  in  -Wellstown,  Hamilton  county,  New  York,  November  7,  1828,  and  is 
descended  from  some  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  that  state.  His  father,  Garret  Volk,  worked  at  his 
trade  for  many  years  in  New  York  city,  and  finished  one  of  the  ten  marble  Corinthian  capitals  sup- 
porting the  dome  of  the  old  New  York  city  hall.  Leonard  was  one  of  a  family  of  eight  sons,  sev- 
eral of  whom  followed  the  occupation  of  his  father,  and  four  daughters.  Much  of  his  youth  was 
spent  on  his  father's  "  Hager's  Pond  "  farm  in  Berkshire,  Massachusetts,  but  from  the  age  of 
sixteen  till  twenty  he  spent  the  time  mostly  in  the  marble  quarries  and  works  of  western  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  York. 

While  engaged  ivith  his  brother  Cornelius  at  Bethany,  New  York,  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Miss  Emily  C.  Barlow,  cousin  of  the  future  Senator  Douglas,  who,  seven  years  afterward, 
became  his  wife.  She  was  the  star  of  his  empire,  and  with  her  parents  moved  west  to  Saint 
Louis,  whither  he  followed  her  in  1848. 

In  1849  or  1850  he  first  attempted  modeling,  and  copied  in  marble  Hart's  bust  of  Henry  Clay, 
supposed  to  be  the  first  work  of  the  kind  executed  west  of  the  Mississippi  in  that  material.  He 
also  received  a  commission  from  Archbishop  Kenrick  to  execute  two  alto-relievo  medallions  of 
Major  Biddle  and  wife  for  their  mausoleum.  But  this  branch  of  his  art  did  not  prove  remunera- 
tive at  that  early  day,  and  he  was  forced  to  depend  chiefly  on  his  trade  for  his  support. 

In  1852  he  married,  at  Dubuque,  and  settled  in  Galena,  Illinois,  where  he  soon  after  received  a 
visit  from  Judge  Douglas,  who  strongly  urged  a  removal  to  Chicago.  He  did  not,  however,  heed  the 
advice,  but  returned  after  a  time  to  Saint  Louis,  and  thence  to  Rock  Island,  where  he  engaged  in 
business  with  his  brother  Cornelius.  In  1855  he  received  another  visit  from  his  distinguished 
cousin,  who  then  generously  proffered  the  necessary  means  to  enable  him  to  go  to  Italy,  and  spend 
a  few  years  in  the  study  of  his  art.  "I  do  not  ask  you,"  said  Judge  Douglas,  "to  accept  it  as  a 
gift,  but  beg  you  to  consider  it  as  a  loan,  to  be  repaid  when  you  are  able;  but  never  give  yourself 
any  concern  about  it." 

This  generous  offer  occasioned  the  utmost  joy  to  the  struggling  artist,  who,  leaving  his  wife 
and  infant  son  to  the  care  of  his  brother  Abram  in  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  set  sail  from  New 
York  for  Europe,  on  the  ship  Columbia,  September,  1855.  Taking  in  Liverpool,  London,  with  its 
museum,  Elgin  marbles  and  other  fine  statuary;  the  world's  exposition  at  Paris;  thence  to  Mar- 
seilles, and  landing  at  Civita  Vecchia,  the  old  seaport  of  Rome.  He  was  cordially  greeted  by  Craw- 
ford, Ives,  Rogers,  Bartholomew  and  other  artists  from  America,  located  in  the  Eternal  City. 
While  at  Rome  he  executed  a  full-size  statue  in  marble  of  the  "Boy  Washington  Cutting  the 
Cherry  Tree,"  which  was  admired.  The  first  letter  from  home  announced  the  sudden  death  of 
his  little  son  Arthur  Douglas.  At  the  end  of  about  two  years  spent  in  Rome  and  Florence  in 
arduous  study,  he  sailed  from  Leghorn,  and  after  a  perilous  voyage  of  seventy-four  days,  landed 
in  New  York.  From  Pittsfield,  with  his  family,  he  came  on  to  Chicago  at  once  and  opened  a 
studio. 

His  first  work  was  the  modeling  of  a  bust  of  his  patron,  for  which  Douglas  gave  him  many 
sittings.  He  also  executed  many  cameo  likenesses  of  his  friends  at  $30  each,  and  a  life-size,  full- 
length  statue  of  a  boy  in  marble,  for  which  he  received  $250.  In  1858,  during  the  exciting  can- 
vass for  the  Illinois  senatorial  seat  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  he  made  a  life-size  statue  of  the 
judge  for  $800.  This  statue  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  first  fine  art  exposition  in  the  North- 
west, which,  with  .the  assistance  of  Rev.  William  Barry,  then  the  secretary.of  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society,  Mr.  Volk  organized  "in  1859.  He  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the 
exposition,  and  it  proved  a  great  success. 

The  winter  of  1859-60  was  spent  in  Washington,  publishing  a  statuette  of  Douglas,  and  the 
following  spring  he  modeled  a  bust  of  Lincoln  from  the  life.  This  was  afterward  cut  in  marble 
and  sold  to  the  Crosby  Art  Association,  and  sent  to  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1867.  The  presiden- 
tial canvass  of  1860  created  a  large  demand  for  the  busts  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  and  he  made 
a  business  of  publishing  them. 

S.H.n  after  the  death  of  Douglas,  he  was  mainly  instrumental  in  organizing  the  Douglas  Mon- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  511 

ument  Association.  He  was  elected  secretary,  and  his  design  for  the  proposed  monument  was 
the  one  selected  by  the  board  of  trustees.  The  work  of  collecting  funds,  however,  was  greatly 
retarded  by  the  war,  and  in  December,  1868,  Mr.  Volk  resigned  his  position  of  secretary,  and  went 
to  Europe.  The  original  model  of  the  design  was  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  of  1871,  during  his 
absence,  but  reproduced,  with  some  changes,  when  in  1877  the  legislature  appropriated  the  sum 
of  $50,000  for  the  furtherance  of  the  work;  a  year  later,  $9,000  more  to  complete  it.  He  subse- 
quently received,  successively,  from  the  state  commissioners,  orders  to  execute  in  bronze  a  colos- 
sal statue  of  Douglas,  to  surmount  the  monument,  for  $8,000;  four  symbolical  statues,  heroic  size, 
for  the  pedestals  at  the  four  corners  of  the  mausoleum,  representing  "Justice,"  "History," 
"Illinois,"  and  "Eloquence,"  for  $6,500;  and  four  bas-reliefs  of  appropriate  designs  for  the  four 
sides  of  the  base  of  the  shaft,  for  $4,800.  The  whole  was  finally  completed,  and  the  last  piece  put 
in  place,  August,  1881. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  Mr.  Volk  enlisted  in  a  Chicago  company,  but  the  quota  of  75,000 
having  been  filled,  they  were  disbanded.  During  the  war  he  was  busy  in  various  art  enterprises. 
He,  with  others,  obtained  a  charter  for  an  association  for  a  public  art  gallery;  rented  for  twenty 
years  an  elegant  marble-front  building  on  Adams  street  for  the  gallery  and  studios,  which  was 
destroyed  by  the  great  fire.  He  executed  many  works  of  art,  and  paid  much  attention  to  monu- 
ments for  parks,  cemeteries,  etc.  He  spent  much  time  to  aid  the  two  great  Chicago  sanitary 
fairs,  in  1863  and  1865.  After  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  he  had  a  great  demand  for  copies  of 
his  bust. 

The  winter  of  1868-69  he  spent  in  Rome.  While  at  Rome,  Miss  Charlotte  Cushman,  then 
residing  there,  called  his  attention  to  a  soldiers'  and  sailors'  monument  to  be  erected  at  Rock- 
ford,  Illinois.  He  immediately  returned,  and  competed  with  many  others  for  the  work,  receiving 
the  award.  The  fall  of  the  dome  of  the  court-house,  however,  indefinitely  postponed  the  work, 
and  it  is  not  yet  completed.  He  at  the  same  time  competed  for  the  McPherson  monument,  at 
Cincinnati,  and  took  the  second  premium  for  design,  but  the  contract  was  awarded  to  a  Cincin- 
natian. 

His  life  was  now  a  very  busy  one.  He  executed  a  large  number  of  orders  for  statues  and 
busts.  One  of  the  most  extensive  was  for  the  mausoleum  of  Henry  Keep,  the  late  president  of  the 
Chicago  and  North-Western  railway,  erected  at  Watertown,  New  York.  He  executed  in  fine 
statuary  marble  full-length  statues  of  Mrs.  Keep  and  her  daughter,  and  a  bust  of  Mr.  Keep, 
finished  at  Rome,  which  were  placed  in  its  interior,  the  memorial  costing,  when  complete,  $100,000. 

December,  1870,  he  again  went  abroad,  taking  his  family  with  him,  now  consisting  of  one  son, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  Volk,  fourteen  years  old,  and  a  daughter,  Elizabeth  Nora,  aged  nine  years. 
They  sailed  on  the  Pacific  Mail  steamer,  Arizona,  from  New  York,  which  passed  through  the  Suez 
canal,  and  which  they  left  at  Malta,  and  thence  to  Rome,  by  way  of  Naples.  While  busy  at 
work  in  1871,  the  news  of  the  great  fire  reached  him,  and  the  complete  destruction  of  his  prop- 
erty on  Washington  street.  There  was  very  little  insurance  paid.  This  was  a  severe  blow,  and 
prostrated  him  financially.  He,  however,  remained  in  Rome  till  July,  1872.  On  his  way  home 
he  stopped  over  in  Paris;  met  a  Chicago  gentleman  of  wealth  —  a  prominent  lumberman;  pro- 
posed to  him  to  invest  in  Italian  block-marble  for  the  burned  city  in  the  West;  received  $7,000 
from  him;  returned  to  Carrara,  purchased  400  tons,  partly  loaded  on  vessel  at  Genoa,  and  partly 
in  the  yards  at  Carrara,  and  shipped  the  whole  to  New  York.  This  was  sent  forward  on  the  New 
York  and  Erie  railway,  and  delivered  in  Chicago, —  the  first  cargo  ever  sent  direct  from  Italy  to 
Chicago.  This  was  an  opportune  arrival,  but  the  profits  were  indifferent,  owing  to  a  strike  of  the 
marble-cutters  of  New  York,  which  left  a  glut  on  the  market  there,  and  .lowered  the  price  here. 
The  great  fire,  besides  destroying  his  building  and  consuming  several  fine  pieces  of  work  which 
had  not  yet  been  delivered,  greatly  injured  him.  The  general  financial  ruin  following  caused 
the  withdrawal  of  orders  already  given,  and  preventing  the  giving  of  others  contemplated. 
He  has,  however,  found  general  employment  in  his  profession,  which  has  greatly  and  rapidly 
improved  within  a  few  years. 


512  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Among  his  later  works  is  the  Geo.  B.  Armstrong  memorial,  at  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
Custom  House  square,  and  a  bust  of  the  late  Geo.  B.  Carpenter;  also  a  life-size  bust  of  the  late 
senator  from  Michigan,  Zach  Chandler,  taken  immediately  after  his  sudden  death  in  Chicago. 
This  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Hon.  Jesse  Spaulding.  Among  the  last  works  completed  by  him 
are  busts  of  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard,  President  Grover,  of  Dearborn  Seminary,  John  Deere,  of  Moline, 
and  the  pioneer  minister,  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter. 


SAMUEL    H.   BLANK. 

PETERSBURG!!. 

SAMUEL  HARRISON  BLANK,  attorney-at-law,  is  a  native  of  Menard  county,  in  which  he 
still  lives.  He  is  a  son  of  George  Blane,  a  farmer  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  Mary 
M.  (Alkire)  Blane,  daughter  of  John  Alkire,  a  very  early  settler  in  Menard  county.  Samuel 
received  an  academic  or  high-school  education,  including  the  advanced  English  branches,  and 
was  on  his  father's  farm  until  the  second  year  of  the  civil  war.  In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Blane 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  K,  io6th  Illinois  infantry.  During  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  in 
the  summer  of  1863,  he  was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant  for  meritorious  conduct.  Some 
months  afterward  he  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  and  a  little  later  to  the  rank  of  captain. 
He  was  mustered  out  at  Springfield  in  the  summer  of  1865. 

While  Captain  Blane  was  in  the  army  his  father  died,  and  the  estate  was  divided  among  the 
children,  and  on  coming  out  of  the  service  he  married,  January  4,  1866,  Mary  Jane  Spear,  of 
Menard  county,  and  settled  on  a  farm  of  his  own  near  Greenview,  this  county.  He  continued  to 
cultivate  it  until  1874,  reading  law  also  during  the  last  two  or  three  years.  He  was  examined  in 
Springfield  at  the  January  term  of  the  supreme  court,  held  in  1874,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
January  9  of  that  year.. 

Since  that  date  Captain  Blane  has  been  in  constant  practice,  his  business  extending  into  the 
several  state  and  federal  courts.  He  is  very  studious,  and  is  a  rising  man  at  Menard  county  bar. 
A  gentleman  who  has  known  him  intimately  for  years  states  that  he  is  a  diligent  student;  pays 
very  close  attention  to  his  business;  is  a  good  pleader;  handles  his  cases  with  ability  and  skill;  is 
upright  and  honorable  in  all  his  dealings,  and  is  making  a  decided  success  in  his  profession. 

The  affiliations  of  Captain  Blane  are  with  the  republican  party,  and  for  several  years  he  has 
been  chairman  of  the  republican  county  central  committee.  He  is  an  earnest  and  influential 
worker  in  the  interests  of  his  party;  a  third-degree  Mason;  a  member  of  the  Disciple  Church; 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school,  and  a  conscientious,  thoroughgoing  laborer  in  more  than 
one  good  cause. 

Captain  and  Mrs.  Blane  buried  one  daughter  (Eva  Maria)  in  infancy,  and  have  four  children 
living:  Frank  E.,  Leonora  Agnes,  Lucretia  lona  and  Myrtle. 


ASA   H.  DANFORTH. 

WASHINGTON. 

A~1ONG  the  early  settlers  and  successful  business  men  of  Tazewell  county  ranks  Asa  Hamilton 
Danforth,  a  native  of  the  Old  Bay  State.     He  was  born  at  Norton,  near  Taunton,  June  4, 
1813,  being  a  son  of  Asa.  and  Hannah  (Walker)  Danforth.     His  father  was  born  in  the  same  state, 
and  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-14.     His  mother  died  when  he  was  quite  young. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  an  ordinary  English  education.  In  1830  he  went  to  Fall  River, 
Massachusetts,  and  learned  the  cabinet-maker's  trade,  and  four  years  later  was  engaged  a  short 
time  manufacturing  furniture  and  fanning  mills  at  Milford,  Pennsylvania.  He  removed  thence 
to  Coshocton,  Ohio,  where  he  manufactured  similar  mills  and  did  considerable  turning. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  z.\\ 

v>  *J 

In  1835  Mr.  Danforth  came  to  Washington,  his  present  home,  the  town  then  having  little  more 
than  a  local  population,  with  few  people  to  do  the  inhabiting.  Needing  hydraulic  power,  and 
there  being  none  in  the  place,  he  utilized  two  large  dogs,  of  which  he  was  the  proprietor.  Con- 
structing a  large  cylindrical  wheel,  he  put  one  dog  at  a  time  in  it,  and  thus  turned  his  lathe  and 
made  a  success  in  manufacturing  furniture  for  his  neighbors.  He  continued  the  cabinet-making 
business  for  a  number  of  years,  and  was  subsequently  engaged  in  several  branches  of  industry  — 
merchandising,  building,  operating  in  land,  banking,  etc.  For  some  years  he  was  connected  with 
his  brother,  George  W.  Danforth,  of  Iroquois  county,  and  in  that  county  and  Tazewell,  as  stated 
in  a  Tazewell  county  atlas,  they  built  "twelve  stores,  three  warehouses,  over  thirty  village  and 
farm  houses,  four  flouring,  planing  and  saw-mills,  and  planted  twenty-five  orchards  and  two 
nurseries." 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  man  in  Tazewell  county  has  contributed  more  largely  to  its  development 
than  Mr.  Danforth.  He  has  been  a  man  of  wonderful  enterprise  and  industry,  and  his  accumu- 
lations are  the  fruit  of  hard  work,  tact  and  wise  foresight.  He  has  one  of  the  finest  residences 
in  this  vicinity,  planned  by  himself,  and  a  model  of  convenience.  He  built  it  when  all  his  chil- 
dren were  at  home,  and  since  most  of  them  are  married  and  away  he  no  doubt  finds  it  decidedly 
roomy. 

Mr.  Danforth  was  married  February  25,  1839,  to  Miss  Catharine  A.  Rupert,  of  -Pekin,  this 
county,  and  they  have  lost  one  child  and  have  two  sons  and  three  daughters  living:  Almond  G., 
the  eldest  son,  is  of  the  firm  of  A.  G.  Danforth  and  Company,  bankers,  his  father  having  a  large 
interest  in  the  institution;  Henry  R.  is  in  the  real  estate  and  farming  business  in  Danforth,  Iro- 
quois county  (town  named  for  his  uncle);  Caroline  is  the  wife  of  Herman  W.  Snow,  of  Sheldon, 
Iroquois  county;  Harriet  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  Patrick,  same  place,  and  Catharine  H.  is  the  wife 
of  L.  S.  Rupert,  of  Bloomington,  Illinois. 

Mr.  Danforth  has  voted  the  democratic  ticket  from  Martin  Van  Buren  to  General  Hancock, 
but  he  has  steadfastly  refused  all  political  offices.  Many  years  ago  he  was  a  director  of  the  east- 
ern extension  of  what  was  known  as  the  Peoria  and  Oquawka  railroad,  and  has  been  identified 
with  other  public  enterprises,  being  a  public-spirited,  benevolent  man,  taking  pleasure  in  aid- 
ing to  develop  the  interests  of  the  community,  material,  educational,  social  and  moral. 


JOHN    DARST. 

EUREKA. 

THE  gentleman  with  whose  name  this  sketch  is  headed  was  born  in  Greene  county,  Ohio, 
November  6,  1816.  His  father,  Jacob  Darst,  was  born  in  Augusta  county,  Virginia,  and  his 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Coy,  was  a  native  of  Green  county,  Ohio.  The  grandfathers 
on  both  sides  were  from  Germany.  Mr.  Darst  received  an  ordinary  district-school  education; 
worked  on  his  father's  farm  till  of  age;  married,  November  22,  1838,  Ruhamah  Moler,  daughter 
of  John  Moler,  who  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  died  at  ninety-two  years  of  age;  then  farmed 
for  himself  in  Ohio  until  1851,  when  he  brought  his  family  to  this  state  and  settled  at  Eureka,  on 
the  farm  where  he  now  lives,  the  place  being  called  Walnut  Grove.  The  first  few  weeks  of  their 
married  life  in  Ohio,  about  the  year  1838,  they  occupied  an  abandoned  log  cabin,  with  puncheon 
floor,  .and  only  one  room;  then  adding  another  room,  and  thus  living  for  some  years. 

Mr.  Darst  was  engaged  in  farming  for  more  than  thirty  years,  renting  the  homestead  farm  to 
his  youngest  son,  Jacob  A.  Darst,  in  the  spring  of  1882.  He  had  at  one  time  about  1,600  acres, 
disposing  of  it  by  piecemeal,  as  one  by  one  his  children  became  of  age,  nine  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter reaching  their  majority.  One  son,  John  W.,  died  at  eighteen  years  of  age.  The  home  farm, 
on  which  Mr.  Darst  settled  in  1851,  has  about  250  acres,  and  like  all  the  lands  which  he  has  ever 
owned  in  this  state,  is  under  excellent  improvement.  He  has  always  kept  his  farms  well  stocked 
with  cattle,  horses,  hogs  and  sheep,  and  has  fed  most  of  his  grain,  not  wishing  to  see  any  of  it 


514  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

used  for  manufacturing  dfstilled  spirits.  His  father,  at  an  early  day,  was  a  distiller,  as  well  as 
farmer  and  blacksmith,  but  saw  the  evils  of  such  manufacture,  and  abandoned  it.  The  son,  too, 
was  early  impressed  with  the  bad  results  of  liquor  drinking,  and  has  been  a  teetotaler  for  more 
than  fifty  years. 

In  politics  Mr.  Darst  is  a  prohibitionist,  out  and  out,  and  until  slavery  was  done  away  with, 
he  was  an  abolitionist.  His  life  seems  to  have  been  a  constant  warfare  with  oppression  and  evil 
in  every  form.  Mr.  Darst  joined  the  Baptist  church  when  a  young  man,  and  afterward  changed 
to  the  Christian  church,  which  he  has  served  in  different  official  positions,  being  a  deacon  for  a 
long  time,  and  an  elder  for  the  last  fifteen  or  sixteen  years. 

When  he  came  to  what  is  now  Eureka  there  was  an  academy  started  by  the  Christian  denom- 
ination in  which  school  he  became  deeply  interested.  In  1855  a  college  charter  was  obtained,  and 
a  college  building  was  erected  a  year  or  two  later.  In  1864  a  second  building  was  put  up,  he 
being  associated  in  both  cases  with  others  in  superintending  the  work.  He  has  been  a  trustee  of 
this  excellent  institution  from  the  first,  and  has  been  its  most  liberal  donor,  having  contributed 
in  all  about  $16,000.  He  is  a  large-hearted,  generous  man,  and  an  invaluable  citizen  of  Eureka. 
Since  the  autumn  of  1882  Mr.  Darst  has  had  an  interest  in  the  Farmers'  Bank  of  Eureka,  which 
is  managed  by  his  son,  George  E.  Darst,  and  E.  O.  Lyman,  it  being  a  thriving  young  institution.- 
Mr.  Darst's  family  are  all  married  but  the  two  youngest  sons,  and  all  have  made  a  profession  of 
religion.  Three  are  deacons  of  Christian  churches,  and  all  bear  a  good  character.  Five  of  the 
sons,  Oliver  P.,  Harrison  H.,  Leo  C.,  James  P.  and  Henry  R.,  were  in  the  late  civil  war,  the  last 
enlisting  in  his  seventeenth  year. 

Mr.  Darst  has  held  various  local  offices,  such  as  member  of  the  town  board  of  trustees,  super- 
visor, etc.,  and  has  always  stood  ready  to  bear  his  share  of  much  gratuitous  work.  He  laid  out 
the  town  of  Eureka,  in  January,  1856,  a  postoffice  having  been  established  here  three  or  four  years 
before,  and  given  that  name.  His  name  will  go  down  in  local  history  as  a  successful  farmer,  a 
warm  friend  of  education,  and  a  zealous  worker  in  the  cause  of  humanity  and  religion. 


T 


THOMAS  COLLINS  WHITESIDE. 

CHICAGO. 

HE  subject  of  this  biography  is  a  native  of  Marion,  Grant  county,  Indiana,  and  was  born 
February  28,  1837.  His  paternal  ancestry,  of  Scotch-Irish  origin,  at  an  early  day  settled  in 
Rockbridge  county,  Virginia.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  and  was  a  man  of 
remarkable  enterprise  and  force  of  character,  and  commanding  influence  in  his  community. 
Beginning  life  as  a  blacksmith,  he  rose  steadily  by  his  own  hard  work,  and  later  was  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  finally  turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods,  and 
amassed  a  handsome  fortune. 

The  mother  of  our  subject,  Matilda  (Collins)  Whiteside,  was  of  English  ancestry,  and  at  the 
time  of  her  marriage  resided  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana.  During  his  boyhood,  Thomas  received 
fair  educational  advantages,  and  preparatory  to  entering  college,  pursued  a  course  of  study  at 
Farmers  College,  in  College  Hill,  Ohio.  Completing  his  course  there,  he,  in  the  fall  of  1855, 
entered  Union  College,  at  Schenectady,  New  York,  of  which  the  renowned  Doctor  Nott  was  at 
that  time  president.  In  college  he  was  a  thorough,  earnest  and  close  student,  and  graduated 
with  high  honors  in  the  class  of  1858.  While  still  a  youth,  he  had  decided  to  enter  the  legal  pro- 
fession, and  immediately  upon  completing  his  college  course,  he  began  the  study  of  law,  at 
Logansport,  Indiana,  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Daniel  D.  Pratt,  afterward  United  States  senator,  and 
still  later,  appointed  by  President  Grant  commissioner  of  internal  revenue. 

After  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1860,  Mr.  Whiteside  settled  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  and  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  partnership  with  Leslie  Robinson.  During  this  same  year  he 
returned  to  Logansport,  and  married  Miss  Lavina  Walker,  daughter  of  Hon.  George  B.  Walker, 


C  Cm  pe-   Jr   S    DC 


EflTj     \>y    EG  W,\\,a  r-  •,    '. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  517 

of  that  place,  and  a  few  months  later  settled  at  Wabash,  where  his  father  then  resided.  In  the 
autumn  of  the  following  year,  1861,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Oliver  P.  Morton  state's  attor- 
ney in  the  eleventh  judicial  district  of  Indiana,  a  position  to  which,  at  the  expiration  of  his  term,  he 
was  elected  on  the  republican  ticket,  holding  the  same  with  marked  ability  until  the  fall  of  1864. 

During  the  winter  of  1864-5  ne  represented  the  counties  of  Kosciusko  and  Wabash  in  the 
state  legislature  on  the  republican  ticket,  and  during  his  term  of  service  had  the  honor  of  intro- 
ducing before  the  legislature  the  joint  resolution  ratifying  the  amendment  to  the  federal  consti- 
tution abolishing  slavery  in  the  United  States.  He  championed  this  measure  with  distinguished 
ability,  closing  the  debate  with  a  speech  of  great  eloquence  and  power,  and  it  was  adopted  in  the  face 
of  a  strong  opposition,  by  a  large  majority.  He  here  became  known  as  a  wise  lawmaker,  an  eloquent 
and  logical  speaker,  a  ready  debater,  and  a  man  of  scholarly  attainments.  In  June,  1865,  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Morton  judge  of  the  twenty-first  judicial  district  of  Indiana,  comprising 
five  counties,  being  at  that  time  but  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age.  In  the  fall  of  this  same 
year  Judge  Whiteside  was  elected  to  the  same  office  to  which  he  had  formerly  been  appointed,  and 
although  his  term  of  office  was  expected  to  continue  but  four  years,  through  some  legislative 
defect  he  continued  in  office  until  1871,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill-health.  Prior  to  this, 
in  1868,  he  was  a  candidate  for  congress  before  the  republican  congressional  convention  of  his 
district,  in  opposition  to  Hon.  John  U.  Pettit,  and  others,  and  received  a  complimentary  vote  of 
the  convention.  At  his  own  request,  his  name  was  withdrawn  as  a  candidate,  and  Hon.  Daniel 
D.  Pratt  was  elected  to  represent  the  district.  Again  in  1872,  he  was  nominated  for  congress  by 
the  liberal  republican  party,  for  the  eleventh  congressional  district  of  Indiana,  being  opposed  by 
Hon.  James  N.  Tyner,  postmaster-general  under  President  Grant,  and  subsequently  assistant 
postmaster-general  by  appointment  of  President  Hayes. 

In  1873  Judge  Whiteside  removed  to  Chicago,  having  regained  his  health,  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  law.  As  a  lawyer  he  ranks  among  the  leading  members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  by 
close  application  and  earnest  effort,  has  built  up  an  extensive  practice  in  both  the  state  and  fed- 
eral courts.  His  personal  and  social  qualities  are  of  a  high  order;  genial  and  generous  in  his 
manners  and  intercourse  with  others,  he  never  fails  to  make  friends.  He  is,  in  stature,  above  the 
medium,  and  has  a  dignified  and  manly  bearing.  Though  but  in  the  prime  of  life,  he  has 
achieved  what  many  strive  a  lifetime  in  gaining,  and  has  before  him  a  future  bright  with  hopes 
and  promise. 

JOSEPH    C.   KALB,  M.D. 

HEffK  Y. 

JOSEPH  CLABAUGH  KALB,  a  prominent  physician  and  surgeon  at  Henry,  Marshall  county, 
J  is  a  native  of  Franklin  county,  Ohio,  a  son  of  George  Washington  Kalb,  a  farmer,  and  Mar- 
garet (Clabaugh)  Kalb,  and  was  born  June  30,  1831.  The  family  was  originally  from  Germany; 
going  thence  to  France,  where  it  became  De  Kalb,  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject  being  a 
brother  of  Baron  De  Kalb,  who  figured  so  conspicuously  in  the  American  revolution,  and  for 
whom  De  Kalb  county,  this  state,  was  named.  The  Clabaughs  are  of  Scotch  lineage. 

Doctor  Kalb  received  an  English  and  Latin  education  at  Columbus,  Ohio;  attended  lectures 
at  Starling  College,  in  the  same  city;  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  March,  1857, 
and  practiced  at  London,  twenty  miles  west  of  Columbus,  till  the  rebellion  broke  out  In  June, 
1861,  he  went  into  the  army  as  surgeon  of  the  42d  Ohio  infantry,  Colonel  J.  A.  Garfield  com- 
mander, and  was  mustered  out  in  November,  1864.  During  the  last  year  and  a  half  the  doctor 
was  division  surgeon  on  the  staff  of  General  Albert  L.  Lee,  who  is  well  known  as  the  Kansas 
"Jay  Hawker,"  a  young  man  of  lion-like  bravery.  During  the  early  part  of  the  war  Doctor  Kalb 
formed  a  very  intimate  acquaintance  with  his  colonel,  who  afterward  became  major-general  and 
president,  and  he  has  letters  from  the  martyred  chief  written  only  a  few  months  before  he  was 
shot.  President  Garfield  seems  never  to  have  forgotten  a  friend,  whether  an  associate  in  camp- 
Si 


518  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

life,  or  in  the  halls  of  learning,  or  on  the  play  grounds  of  childhood,  and  of  all  the  friendships 
that  Doctor  Kalb  ever  formed  we  doubt  if  there  is  one  more  tender  than  that  with  the  great 
statesman,  orator  and  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation,  who  died  in  September,  1881. 

On  leaving  the  army  Doctor  Kalb  practiced  his  profession  in  Columbus  until  the  autumn  of 
1869,  when  he  came  to  this  state  and  settled  in  Henry,  where  he  has  since  done  a  general  and  suc- 
cessful professional  business.  His  experience  in  the  army  was  a  fine  school  to  him,  especially  in 
surgery,  most  of  which  he  does  in  and  around  his  present  home,  his  rides  often  extending  twenty 
to  forty  miles  away.  His  reputation  in  all  branches  of  the  healing  art  is  excellent,  and  he  has  the 
fullest  confidence  of  the  community  in  his  skill.  For  six  or  seven  years  he  was  also  in  the  drug- 
business,  selling  out  in  the  autumn  of  1882. 

Doctor  Kalb  is  a  member  of  the  National  Eclectic  Medical  Association  and  of  the  District 
Progressive  Association,  often  reading  papers  before  the  latter  body,  its  meetings  being  held  quar- 
terly. He  also  writes  occasionally  for  the  medical  journals  of  his  school,  reporting  many  truly 
interesting  cases,  and  sometimes  preparing  essays  on  medical  science  and  collateral  subjects. 

In  politics  the  subject  of  this  notice  is  a  republican  to  the  back  bone,  but  we  cannot  learn  that 
he  has  any  political  aspirations.  He  is  thoroughly  wedded  to  his  profession.  He  was  married  in 
October,  1852,  to  Miss  Serena  S.  Brown,  of  his  native  county,  and  they  have  two  children:  Clin- 
ton M.  and  Edna  E.,  both  of  whom  are  at  home. 


WILLIAM   HARVEY  WELLS. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

WILLIAM  HARVEY  WELLS  was  born  in  Tolland,  Connecticut,  February  12,  i8I2.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  in  moderate  circumstances,  and  the  son  received  no  educational 
advantages  beyond  a  few  weeks  each  year  at  a  district  school,  till  he  was  seventeen'years  of  age. 
After  spending  one  winter  at  an  academy  at  Vernon,  Connecticut,  and  one  at  an  academy  in  his 
native  town,  he  taught  a  district  school,  and  boarded  around.  He  was  afterward  associated  with 
Theodore  L.  Wright,  as  an  assistant  teacher  in  East  Hartford,  where  he  commenced  preparing 
for  college.  Most  of  his  time  during  the  day  was  spent  in  teaching,  and  his  studies  were  gen- 
erally continued  late  into  the  night.  His  labors  were  greater  than  his  strength,  and  his  eyes 
became  so  much  weakened  that  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  cherished  plan  for  entering 
college  just  as  his  preparatory  course  was  completed. 

He  had  already  given  marked  evidence  of  ability  to  teach,  and  his  ambition  now  turned  in 
that  direction.  In  1834  he  entered  the  Teachers'  Seminary,  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  which 
was  in  charge  of  Rev.  S.  R.  Hall,  and  remained  there  eight  months.  He  then  returned  to  East 
Hartford,  and  engaged  in  teaching  and  study,  but  was  recalled  to  Andover  by  Mr.  Hall  in  1836, 
and  employed  as  an  assistant  in  the  Teachers'  Seminary.  He  remained  in  this  institution  till  it 
was  merged  in  Phillips  Academy,  and  then  took  charge  of  the  English  department  of  the  acad- 
emy, where  he  continued  his  instructions  to  successive  classes  of  teachers.  During  these  years 
he  planned  and  executed  an  extensive  course  of  study  and  reading  in  English  literature,  and  here 
he  prepared  his  "School  Grammar,"  which  was  published  in  1846.  The  success  of  this  work  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  over  half  a  million  copies  of  it  have  been  sold. 

In  1845  the  trustees  of  Dartmouth  College  conferred  on  Mr.  Wells  the  honorary  degree  of 
master  of  arts. 

In  1847  he  was  elected  principal  of  the  Putnam  Free  School,  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  an 
institution  founded  by  the  munificence  of  Oliver  Putnam,  a  native  of  Newburyport.  This  school 
was  not  to  be  opened  till  1848,  but  Mr.  Wells  immediately  resigned  his  position  in  Andover,  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  a  little  needed  relaxation.  A  large  portion  of  this  interval  was  spent  in 
work  at  teachers'  institutes  in  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  His  labors 
in  Newburyport  were  commenced  in  April,.  1848,  and  he  remained  in  charge  of  the  Putnam  Free 
School  six  years. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  519 

He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Essex  County  Teachers'  Association,  one  of  the  oldest  county 
associations  in  the  country,  and  was  president  of  the  association  two  years.  He  was  one  of  the 
originators  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Teachers'  Association,  and  was  twice  elected  president  of 
that  association.  He  was  also  one  of  the  projectors  and  one  of  the  first  editors  of  the  Massachu- 
setts "  Teacher." 

In  1854  he  was  elected  principal  of  the  Westfield  State  Normal  School,  by  the  Massachusetts 
board  of  education.  Under  his  direction,  trie  school  rapidly  increased  in  numbers,  and  in  less 
than  two  years  it  became  necessary  for  the  state  to  enlarge  the  building  provided  for  its  accom- 
modation. 

In  1856  Mr.  Wells  was  appointed  superintendent  of  schools  in  Chicago,  and  his  life  at  once 
became  closely  identified  with  the  history  of  education  in  Illinois.  In  whatever  position  he  acted, 
whether  in  connection  with  the  schools  of  his  own  city,  as  a  member  of  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion, as  a  member  of  the  State  Teachers'  Association,  as  a  lecturer  at  teachers'  institutes,  or  as  a 
contributor  to  educational  literature,  he  showed  indomitable  energy,  and  a  mastery  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  education,  which  gave  him  a  recognized  position  among  the  leading  educators  of 
the  country. 

One  of  the  most  important  special  results  of  Mr.  Wells'  labors  in  the  Chicago  schools  was  the 
development  of  his  graded  course,  by  which  the  classification  of  pupils,  and  their  steps  and  pro- 
gress, were  reduced  to  a  carefully  graded  system,  from  their  first  entrance  into  the  school-room 
to  the  completion  of  their  course.  This  system  attracted  much  attention  outside  of  Chicago,  and 
its  leading  features  were  soon  adopted  in  most  of  the  large  cities  and  towns  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  This  course  of  study,  with  extracts  from  several  of  the  author's  educational  lectures 
and  reports,  was  afterward  published  in  a  volume  entitled  "The  Graded  School,"  which  became 
a  standard  work  for  teachers'  libraries. 

Mr.  Wells  held  the  office  of  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Teachers'  Association,  and  in  1863 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  National  Teachers'  Association.  In  his  inaugural  address  before 
this  association,  at  Ogdensburgh,  New  York,  in  1864,  he  dwelt  particularly  upon  the  importance 
of  cultivating  the  art  of  conversation  as  a  regular  branch  of  school  instruction,  in  connection  with 
lessons  in  language. 

In  1864  Mr.  Wells  resigned  the  office  of  superintendent  of  schools,  to  engage  in  business,  but 
his  educational  labors  did  not  cease  with  the  severance  of  this  connection.  He  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  board  of  education  much  of  the  time  since  that  date,  and  has  also  held  the 
office  of  president  of  the  board.  He  has  recently  returned  to  his  labors  as  an  author,  and  issued 
the  "  Shorter  Course  in  English  Grammar  and  Composition,"  which  has  received  the  indorsement 
of  prominent  educators  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  has  already  been  widely  adopted  in 
schools.  Of  Mr.  Wells'  labors  in  Andover,  S.  H.  Taylor,  principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  speaks 
as  follows: 

"He  was  thoroughly  earnest;  he  was  alive  to  his  work,  and  was  impelled  by  a  strong  inward 
impulse  to  do  whatever  would  secure  success  in  it.  The  clear  ring  of  his  voice  as  he  propounded, 
in  quick  succession,  questions  to  his  class,  was  sufficient  to  indicate  to  those  who  might  not  see 
the  glow  upon  his  countenance,  how  strong  a  sympathy  he  .had  with  his  work.  Indeed,  he  might 
be  said  to  be  enthusiastic  in  whatever  he  taught,  and  his  pupils  at  once  imbibed  his  spirit.  He 
resolutely  and  persistently  held  the  pupil  responsible  to  do  for  himself  all  he  supposed  to  be  in 
his  power.  Many  a  teacher  has  the  same  theory,  but  I  have  never  known  it  so  severely  reduced 
to  practice  as  in  Mr.  Wells'  system  of  teaching." 

Of  his  labors  as  superintendent  of  schools  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Luther  Haven,  president  of  the 
board  of  education,  bears  the  following  testimony: 

"  Mr.  Wells  brought  to  the  service  of  the  board  of  education  and  to  the  interests  of  the  schools 
all  those  admirable  traits  of  character  which  had  tended  so  greatly  to  enhance  his  success  and 
usefulness  in  every  position  he  had  previously  occupied,  and  these  traits  he  has  devoted  with 
untiring  industry  and  perseverance,  with  all  the  powers  of  his  well-trained  mind,  to  the  building 


1520  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAKV. 

up  of  our  public  schools,  and  placing  them  in  such  a  condition  as  to  command  the  confidence  and 
support  of  our  whole  community.  His  labors  have  been  eminently  successful.  For  the  high 
position  now  held  by  our  schools  in  the  estimation  of  our  whole  community,  for  the  harmony 
and  good  feeling  now  existing  among  all  parties  in  relation  to  them,  we  are  indebted,  in  no  small 
degree,  to  the  prudence,  care,  kindness  and  firmness  of  Mr.  Wells." 

The  following  extract  from  a  lecture  on  Self-Reliance,  delivered  by  Mr.  Wells  before  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Instruction,  embodies  one  of  the  principles  by  which  his  own  life  was  governed, 
and  which  he  never  failed  to  inculcate  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils: 

"  The  highest  and  most  important  object  of  intellectual  education  is  mental  discipline,  or  the 
power  of  using  the  mind  to  the  best  advantage.  The  price  of  this  discipline  is  effort.  However 
much  we  may  regret  that  we  do  not  live  a  century  later,  because  we  cannot  have  the  benefit  of 
the  educational  improvements  that  are  to  be  made  during  the  next  hundred  years,  of  one  thing 
we  may  rest  assured,  that  intellectual  eminence  will  be  attained  during  the  twentieth  century  just 
as  it  is  in  the  nineteenth  —  by  the  labor  of  the  brain.  We  are  not  to  look  for  any  new  discovery 
or  invention  that  will  supersede  the  necessity  of  mental  toil;  we  are  not  to  desire  it.  If  we  had 
but  to  supplicate  some  kind  genius,  and  he  would  at  once  endow  us  with  all  the  knowledge  in  the 
universe,  the  gift  would  prove  a  burden  to  us,  and  not  a  blessing.  We  must  have  the  discipline 
of  acquiring  knowledge  in  the  manner  established  by  the  Author  of  our  being,  and  without  this 
discipline  our  intellectual  stores  would  be  worse  than  useless." 


A 


HON.   NATHANIEL  MOORE. 

WE  NONA. 
MONO  the  enterprising  and  successful  farmers  in  the  eastern  part  of  Marshall  county  is 


Nathaniel  Moore,  a  native  of  Warren  county,  Ohio.  He  was  born  in  Waynesville,  August 
17,  1819,  and  was  the  youngest  son  in  a  family  of  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  all 
of  whom  lived  to  grow  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  The  three  sons  are  still  living.  The 
parents  of  these  children  are  David  and  Mary  (Brown)  Moore.  The  latter  was  born  in  Burling- 
ton county,  New  Jersey,  and  died  in  1845;  the  former  was  born  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1788,  and  is  still  living,  about  as  old  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  is  with 
his  son  in  Wenona,  and  but  for  his  blindness,  which  came  upon  him  seven  or  eight  years  ago, 
he  would  be  quite  active,  his  mental  faculties  being  sound  and  clear.  He  has  a  sister  in  Ohio 
who  is  in  her  ninety-eighth  year,  being  two  years  older  than  he  is. 

In  the  infancy  of  our  subject,  the  family  moved  to  Preble  county,  Ohio,  where  the  father  was 
engaged  in  farming.  In  his  younger  years  he  had  been  a  tailor,  but  lost  his  health,  and  changed 
his  calling.  Nathaniel  was  raised  on  a  farm,  receiving  a  district-school  education.  In  1852  he 
moved  to  Kokomo,  Indiana;  after  being  a  merchant  there  for  two  short  years,  returned  to  Ohio, 
and  in  1855  came  to  Wenona,  and  opened  a  small  dry-goods  store,  the  first  in  the  place.  He  also 
dealt  in  grain.  Two  years  afterward  he  sold  out  his  mercantile  stock,  and  went  on  his  farm, 
adjoining  the  town,  continuing  to  handle  grain  two  or  three  years  longer.  The  home  farm  has 
200  acres,  under  the  best  of  improvement,  with  a  large  and  commodious  dwelling-house  and  sev- 
eral barns  and  other  buildings  on  it,  with  every  indication  of  the  generous  fruits  of  industry 
wisely  devoted.  Mr.  Moore  has  other  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  Wenona,  in  all,  perhaps,  375  acres. 
He  has  stock  of  all  kinds,  but  latterly  has  paid  especial  attention  to  the  breeding  of  Poland-China 
hogs.  At  one  time  he  was  in  the  real-estate  business,  in  company  with  others,  and  is  still  buying 
and  selling  occasionally,  and  has  made  a  fine  success  in  this  line,  as  in  other  branches  of  business. 

He  has  held  the  offices  of  supervisor  and  school  director  several  terms;  was  sheriff  of  the 
county  one  term  during  the  civil  war,  and  was  a  member  of  the  twenty-eighth  and  twenty-ninth 
general  assemblies,  his  seat  being  on  the  republican  side.  Since  leaving  the  legislature  he  has 
sedulously  declined  all  official  positions.  Mr.  Moore  was  originally  a  whig,  of  free-soil  leanings 


STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  52! 

and  on  the  demise  of  this  party,  naturally  affiliated  with  the  great  party  of  freedom,  whose  first 
triumph  placed  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  presidential  chair. 

Mr.  Moore  was  married  in  the  autumn  of  1843,  to  Miss  Julia  Banta,  of  Preble,  Ohio,  and  they 
have  had  nine  children,  burying  three  of  them,  all  sons:  George  N.  is  a  graduate  of  Knox  Col- 
lege, Galesburgh,  an  attorney-at-law,  lately  of  Chicago,  now  mining  in  Arizona  for  his  health; 
Job  M.  W.,  likewise  a  graduate  of  Knox,  is  also  mining  in  that  territory;  Edward  E.  is  in  the 
medical  department  of  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire;  Mary  E.,  the  only  daugh- 
ter, and  Frank  A.  B.  are  at  the  Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  and  Willis  is  just  finishing 
his  studies  in  the  Wenona  schools,  preparatory  to  entering  a  higher  institution.  Mr.  Moore 
has  taken  and  is  taking  great  pains  to  educate  his  children,  counting  learning  at  a  high  value, 
particularly  in  a  country  like  this,  where  the  stability  of  its  institutions  depends  largely  upon  the 
knowledge  of  the  people.  When  in  the  legislature  he  introduced  a  bill  favoring  compulsory 
education,  being  an  early  mover  in  that  matter  in  this  state.  He  is  a  man  who  does  a  good  deal 
of  sensible  thinking. 

HON.  THOMAS  J.   HENDERSON. 

PRINCETON. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HENDERSON,  lawyer  and  member  of  congress  from  the  seventh 
congressional  district  of  Illinois,  is  a  son  of  William  H.  Henderson,  and  Sarah  M.  (Howard) 
Henderson,  and  was  born  in  Brownsville,  Haywood  county,  Tennessee,  November  29,  1824.  His 
father  was  born  in  Garrard  County,  Kentucky,  1793,  and  emigrated  early  to  the  State  of  Tennes- 
see. He  was  the  first  register  of  deeds  in  Haywood  county,  Tennessee,  and  was  also  at  one  period 
a  member  of  the  state  senate  of  that  state.  His  wife  was  a  native  of  Sampson  county,  North 
Carolina,  born  in  1804. 

In  1836  the  famjly  moved  to  Stark,  then  a  part  of  Putnam  county,  this  state,  and  while  a  resi- 
dent of  that  county  William  H.  Henderson  served  two  terms  in  the  house  of  representatives. 
In  1842  he  was  the  whig  candidate  for  lieutenant-governor.  In  1845  he  moved  to  the  state  of 
Iowa,  and  died  at  Marshalltown,  January,  1864,  his  widow  in  1879,  at  the  same  place. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  rudimentary  branches  before 
leaving  Tennessee,  and  had  made  some  progress  in  Latin,  attended  school  in  a  log  house  near 
where  Toulon  now  stands,  two  or  three  winter  terms,  and  in  his  twenty-first  year  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Iowa,  then  in  its  infancy,  and  not  very  flourishing,  and  after  studying  there  about  six 
months  returned  to  Illinois.  From  the  age  when  he  came  into  this  state,  up  to  the  time  just 
mentioned,  Mr.  Henderson  devoted  his  energies  to  farm  work,  with  the  exception  of  one  year, 
which  he  gave  to  teaching  "  young  ideas  how  to  shoot."  From  early  youth  he  had  great  fondness 
for  books  and  newspapers,  and  while  the  busiest  in  cultivating  the  soil,  kept  well  posted  on  cur- 
rent events,  doing  also  more  or  less  solid  historical  and  general  reading,  using  the  few  books  his 
father  possessed. 

On  returning  from  Iowa,  in  1846,  Mr.  Henderson  was  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store  at  Toulon 
about  a  year;  taught  school  in  the  same  town  three  months,  and  August,  1847,  was  elected  clerk 
of  the  county  commissioner's  court  of  Stark  county.  This  post  he  held  till  1849,  when  the  office 
was  changed  by  the  amended  constitution,  and  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  county  court.  He  held 
that  position  until  1853,  studying  law,  meantime,  and  previously,  and  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1852.  For  thirty  years,  except  when  in  the  public  service,  Mr.  Henderson  has  devoted  himself  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  long  ago  held  a  fair  position  among  the  legal  fraternity  in  this 
part  of  the  state.  He  was  appointed  master  in  chancery  by  the  Stark  county  circuit  court  in 
1851,  and  held  that  office  several  years.  In  1854  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  state 
legislature,  and  in  1856  to  the  state  senate,  serving  one  term  in  each  branch. 

In  1862  he  enlisted  as  a  soldier  at  Toulon,  where  he  then  resided,  and  commenced  raising  a 
company,  of  which  he  expected  to  have,  perhaps,  the  command;  but  he  was  elected  colonel  of  the 


CJ22  VNITF.D   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY, 

1 1 2th  Illinois  infantry,  and  thus  served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  having,  meanwhile,  much  of  the 
time  the  command  of  a  brigade,  and  sometimes  of  a  division. 

May  14,  1864,  at  the  battle  of  Resaca,  Georgia,  he  was  severely  wounded  by  a  shot  with  a  rifle 
through  his  right  thigh.  On  his  return  to  his  regiment  in  July  following,  he  was  complimented 
by  the  commanding  officers  of  his  corps  and  division,  Generals  Schofield  and  Cox,  by  the  organ- 
ization for  him  of  the  3rd  brigade  of  the  3rd  division  of  the  2ist  army  corps,  which  brigade  he 
afterward  commanded,  until  he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service,  June,  1865.* 

In  February,  1865,  the  above  named  generals  recommended  Colonel  Henderson  for  promotion 
to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  urging  such  promotion  in  person,  but  there  being  no  vacancy 
just  then,  the  secretary  of  war,  Mr.  Stanton,  said  he  would  nominate  the  colonel  for  a  brevet  ap- 
pointment as  brigadier-general.  He  was  accordingly  nominated  and  confirmed  brigadier-general, 
by  brevet,  for  gallant  services  in  the  Georgia  and  Tennessee  campaigns  of  1864,  and  especially  at 
the  battle  of  Franklin,  Tennessee. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  General  Henderson  resumed  the  practice  of  law  at  Toulon,  and  in 
1867  settled  in  Princeton.  In  1868  he  was  one  of  the  presidential  electors-at-large  on  the  repub- 
lican ticket;  and  in  1871,  without  solicitation  on  his  part,  he  was  appointed  collector  of  internal 
revenue  for  the  5th  collection  district,  holding  that  post  for  two  years.  In  1874  General  Hender- 
son was  elected  to  congress  for  the  6th  district,  and  was  renominated  without  opposition,  and 
reelected  three  times,  serving  in  the  44th,  45th,  46th  and  47th  congresses,  from  the  sixth  district, 
and  is  now  a  member  from  the  seventh  district  of  the  48th  congress,  being  chairman,  the  last  term, 
of  the  committee  on  military  affairs.  He  was  in  1882  nominated  without  opposition,  and  elected  a 
representative  to  the  48th  congress  from  the  seventh  district,  under  the  new  apportionment.  His 
record  in  the  lower  house  of  congress  has  been  highly  honorable,  and  led  his  friends  to  think  of 
him  as  a  suitable  man  for  the  upper  house.  In  January,  1883,  his  political  confreres  brought  him 
forward,  and  he  was  one  of  the  four  leading  candidates  on  the  republican  side  of  the  legislature, 
for  the  office  of  United  States  senator,  and  received  the  vote  of  the  members  in  his  congressional 
district.  The  general  has  the  ability  and  moral  stamina  to  fill  with  credit  any  office  in  which  his 
constituents  or  the  people  of  Illinois  might  see  fit  to  place  him. 

General  Henderson  was  married  to  Miss  Henrietta  Butler,  of  Wyoming,  Illinois,  May,  1849, 
and  they  have  four  children. 


D 


DAVID  M.  VOSBURGH,  M.D. 

EARLVfLLM:. 

AVID  MARTIN  VOSBURGH,  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  and  surgeons  in  La  Salle 
county,  is  the  son  of  a  physician,  David  J.  Vosburgh,  and  Mary  E.  (Richards)  Vosburgh,  and 
was  born  in  Evansburgh,  Crawford  county,  Pennsylvania,  July  28,  1826.  His  father  was  a  native 
of  Washington  county,  New  York,  and  his  mother  of  Connecticut.  His  grandfather,  David  Mar- 
tin Vosburgh,  for  whom  he  was  named,  was  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  June  17,  1775,  and  lost 
two  brothers  in  that  battle.  The  family  is  of  Holland  descent.  When  our  subject  was  four  years 
old  the  family  moved  to  Penn  Line,  Pennsylvania,  where  Doctor  David  J.  Vosburgh  was  a  promi- 
nent physician  and  politician  for  years,  being  at  one  time  the  democratic  nominee  for  congress, 
but  would  not  consent  to  run.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Plattsburgh,  as  assistant  surgeon,  was  with 
Colonel  (afterward  General)  Zachary  Taylor,  at  Fort  Dearborn  (Chicago),  and  was  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  1832.  He  practiced  his  profession  at  Evansburgh  and  Penn  Line  from  thirty-five  to 
forty  years,  and  died  at  Iconium,  Iowa,  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  being  as  highly  respected  as 
he  was  full  of  years.  He  lost  his  wife,  the  mother  of  David  Martin,  when  the  latter  was  two  years 
old. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  finished  his  education  at  the  Kingsville  (Ohio)  Academy;  commenced 
teaching  a  district  school  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  finished  his  labors  in  that   line,  at  an 
*"  Public  Men  of  To-Day,"  by  C.  P.  Headlev. 


UNITED    STATES  HIOGRAPIIICAL   DICTIONARY. 


523 


academy  at  Jefferson,  Ashtabula  county,  a  few  miles  from  Kingsville.  He  read  medicine  with 
Doctor  C.  E.  Cleveland,  of  Kingsville,  who  had  been  a  student  of  his  father  ;  attended  one  course 
of  lectures  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  and  another  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia,  and  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  March,  1851.  He 
spent  two  years  in  a  hospital  in  that  city  before  his  graduation;  practiced  two  years  at  Custard  - 
ville,  Pennsylvania,  and  February,  1853,  settled  in  Earlville,  La  Salle  county,  where  he  has  been 
in  steady  and  successful  practice  for  thirty  years.  When  he  first  came  into  this  state  men  of  his 
profession  were  very  much  scarcer  than  they  are  now,  and  his  rides  were  often  long  and  tedious, 
extending,  in  most  directions,  from  ten  to  twenty  miles.  The  doctor's  practice  has  always  been 
general  and  good,  and  he  has  a  fine  reputation,  alike  as  a  physician  and  surgeon.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  both  the  state  and  national  medical  societies,  and  is  quite  well  known  among  the  older 
members  of  the  fraternity,  particularly  in  Illinois.  He  has  reported  interesting  cases  for  medical 
journals,  and  has  read  no  less  than  three  essays  on  diphtheria,  before  medical  organizations,  one 
of  them  at  a  meeting  of  the  state  society. 

Doctor  Vosburgh  was  chairman  of  the  village  board  of  trustees  years  ago,  was  supervisor  two 
or  three  terms,  and  has  been  mayor  one  term.  He  takes  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  and 
was  the  leader  in  introducing  the  graded  system  of  instruction.  As  a  citizen  he  is  stirring  and 
public-spirited,  being  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  the  cause  of  reform.  He  has  been  very  active 
in  the  temperance  movement,  as  a  Good  Templar  and  Son  of  Temperance,  etc.,  for  thirty  or  forty 
years.  He  is  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  a  man  of  generous  impulses. 

He  was  originally  a  Douglas  democrat,  and  still  affiliates  with  the  party  once  led  by  that  great 
statesman.  The  doctor  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  has  held  the  several  offices  in  the  subordi- 
nate lodge  and  encampment  of  Odd-Fellows. 

He  was  first  married  June  21,  1853,10  Miss  Mary  M.  Hubbell,  of  Paw  Paw,  this  state,  she 
dying  November  2,  1854,  and  the  second  time  October  14,  1855,  to  Miss  Phebe  B.  Breese,  also  of 
Paw  Paw,  he  having  by  her  three  children,  two  daughters  and  one  son.  Mary  E.  is  the  wife  of 
George  H.  Haight,  lawyer,  of  Ottawa;  Clara  A.  is  the  wife  of  Garnett  A.  Cope,  a  partner  of  Doc- 
tor Vosburgh,  in  the  drug  business,  Earlville,  and  Charles  Breese,  who  is  engaged  in  farming, 
near  Earlville. 

Doctor  Vosburgh  is  a  member  of  the  Crawford  County  (Pennsylvania)  Association,  which  meets 
every  year,  September  10,  at  Sandwich,  De  Kalb  county,  and  of  which  he  is  and  has  long  been  the 
president. 

HON.   FRANCIS  M.  GREATHOUSE. 

HARDIN. 

T^RANCIS  MARION  GREATHOUSE,  the  leading  lawyer  in  Calhoun  county,  and  a  member 
i  of  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  is  a  native  of  this  state,  and  was  born  in  Pike  county, 
March  26,  1837.  His  parents,  Bonaparte  and  Nancy  (Williams)  Greathouse,  were  natives  of  Ken- 
tucky. They  were  members  of  the  farming  community.  The  father  died  in  1850,  the  mother  in 
1872,  both  in  Pike  county.  Francis  studied  law  with  Hon.  William  R.  Archer,  of  Pittsfield,  and 
Major  Knapp,  of  Winchester,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857,  before  he  was  of  age.  He 
practiced  at  Pittsfield  until  1870,  and  then  moved  to  Hardin,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Calhoun  county. 
A  gentleman  who  knows  him  well,  being  a  resident  of  the  same  senatorial  district,  states  that  Mr. 
Greathouse  is  at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  his  county,  being  an  excellent  counselor  and  a  first-class 
court  and  jury  lawyer.  His  practice  is  large  and  remunerative,  and  largely  criminal.  He  is  retained 
on  the  defense  in  nearly  all  the  criminal  cases  in  the  southern  part  of  his  senatorial  district. 

Mr.  Greathouse  has  been  almost  constantly  in  office  since  settling  in  Hardin.  He  was  master 
in  chancery  for  Calhoun  county  two  years,  state's  attorney  four  years,  and  county  judge  four 
years,  offices  which  he  filled  with  great  satisfaction  to  the  public.  In  1882  he  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  from  the  36th  senatorial  district,  which  is  composed  of  Pike,  Brown  and  Calhoun 


-2-|  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

counties.  He  is  on  the  committee  on  militia,  fees  and  salaries,  and  public  charters.  His  seat  is 
on  the  democratic  side  of  the  house.  He  was  a  republican  until  1866,  changing  during  the  admin- 
istration of  President  Johnson. 

Mr.  Greathouse  is  a  Master  Mason,  past  grand  in  the  subordinate  lodge  of  Odd-Fellowship,  a 
member  of  the  Disciple  or  Christian  church,  and  a  man  of  high  standing,  morally  as  well  as  legally. 

He  was  married  March  n,  1858,10  Miss  Isabel  Morris,  of  Pike  county,  and  they  have  buried 
two  children  and  have  four  living. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  a  dark  complexion  and  black  eyes,  and  is  very  compactly  built, 
being  five  feet  and  eleven  inches  tall,  and  weighing  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  pounds.  He  has  a 
pleasant  address,  and  a  cheerful  disposition,  and  his  fine  presence  would  be  likely  to  arrest  the 
attention  of  a  stranger,  whether  seen  alone  or  in  a  crowd.  He  has  considerable  magnetism,  and 
on  the  stump  always  draws  a  crowd.  With  nothing  about  him  of  the  "  lean  Cassius,"  he  is  as  jovial 
in  speech  as  he  is  solid  in  flesh,  and  invariably  keeps  his  audience  in  the  best  of  humors. 


THE  HOGE  EAMILY. 

MORRIS. 

THE  Hoge  family  in  this  country  are  a  numerous,  wealthy  and  respectable  people.  A  genea- 
logical tree  of  the  family,  prepared  by  Miss  Lucina  Hoge,  a  member  of  it  in  Ohio,  represent- 
ing nine  generations,  contains  3013  names.  The  family  name  is  variously  spelled  Hog,  Hogg, 
Hoag,  Hoge,  and  Hogue.  Its  first  representative  in  this  country  was  William  Hog,  who  came 
from  Scotland  during  the  sixteenth  century,  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania.  He  married  Barbara 
Hume,  a  relative  of  the  historian  Hume.  His  son,  William,  was  the  first  Quaker  in  the  family, 
and  removed  from  Pennsylvania  to  Virginia  in  1754.  He  had  a  family  of  seven  children:  Solo- 
mon, James,  William,  Joseph,  George,  Zebulon  and  Nancy.  The  descendants  of  Nancy  alone 
now  number  over  one  thousand  persons.  Solomon,  with  whom  the  genealogical  tree  referred  to 
begins,  was  born  May  2,  1729,  at  High  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  died  March  7,  1811,  in 
London  county,  Virginia.  He  was  married  twice,  and  was  the  father  of  eighteen  children.  Ann 
Rollins,  his  first  wife,  bore  him  eleven,  and  his  second  wife,  Mary  Nichols,  seven.  The  children 
of  the  first  wife  were  Sarah,  Joseph,  David  (died  in  infancy),  Solomon,  David  (the  second),  Ann, 
Isaac,  Mary,  Hannah,  Jane  and  Rebecca.  The  children  of  the  second  wife  were  Lydia,  William, 
Joshua,  George,  Margery,  Jesse  and  Amy.  Joshua,  his  third  child,  was  born  in  London  county, 
Virginia,  February  8,  1779,  and  died  April  25,  1854.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  the  owner  of  a  large 
property,  about  fifty  miles  from  Washington.  His  wife  was  Mary  Poole,  by  whom  he  had  ten 
children:  William,  Rebecca,  Samuel,  Amy,  Solomon,  Mary,  Isaac  Stanley  Singleton,  Lucinda, 
Ann  and  Amanda. 

The  Hoges,  from  the  time  of  ^William  the  Second,  were  all  wealthy  Quakers,  and  as  such  took 
no  active  part  in  the  revolutionary  war,  or  the  war  of  1812.  In  the  latter  war,  however,  a  tax  of 
$80  was  levied  on  the  head  of  every  Quaker  family  whenever  a  call  for  troops  was  made,  which 
stood  as  an  equivalent  for  service  in  the  army.  Although  he  lived  and  died  in  the  Quaker  faith, 
Joshua  married  "out  of  meeting,"  and  was  expelled  in  consequence.  This  incident,  followed  by 
the  perusal  of  the  works  of  Thomas  Paine,  resulted  in  his  whole  family  becoming  deists. 

After  his  family  grew  up  and  left  home,  Joshua  purchased  some  slaves  to  carry  on  his  large 
estate  of  400  acres,  to  the  great  horror  of  his  Quaker  relatives  and  friends.  After  his  death  in 
1854,  they  fell  to  the  heirs,  who  still  remained  in  Virginia,  who  permitted  them,  to  do  as  they 
pleased,  and  practically  gave  them  their  freedom,  but  they  were  not  legally  emancipated  until 
the  proclamation  of  President  Lincoln.  His  widow  survived  him  till  September  4,  1871.  Although 
never  active  in  politics,  owing,  somewhat,  doubtless,  to  their  early  training,  yet  the  Hoges  are  all 
republican  in  principle,  and  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion  were  stanch  Union  men. 

The  family  of  Joshua,  with  whom  we  have  particularly  to  do,  came  "ito  Illinois  at  an  early  day, 


OF 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

and  have  all  become  very  wealthy  land  owners  and  stock  raisers.  Their  families,  old  and  young, 
now  number  134  persons.  They  own  a  total  of  24,000  acres  of  the  choicest  land  in  the  state,  and 
raise  annually  vast  herds  of  cattle,  horses,  sheep  and  swine.  This  family  and  the  Holdermans 
intermarried,  and  together  have  owned  a  not  inconsiderable  share  of  Grundy  county,  besides 
large  tracts  in  the  adjoining  counties. 

In  person  the  Hoges  are  large  and  powerful  men,  both  intellectually  and  physically.  Their 
educational  advantages  were  extremely  limited  in  youth,  and  their  acquirements  at  school  gener- 
ally ended  with  a  slight  acquaintance  with  reading,  writing,  spelling  and  arithmetic.  Neverthe- 
less, they  have  become  men  of  broad,  general  and  varied  intellectual  acquirements.  As  practical 
farmers  and  business  men  they  have  few  superiors,  and  have  achieved  a  reputation  for  probity 
and  square  dealing.  In  manners,  they  are  true  types  of  the  genial,  hospitable,  kindly  Virginia 
gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  manage  to  make  their  visitors  extremely  comfortable. 

\  T  7ILLIAM   HOGE,  the  eldest  son  of  Joshua,  was  born  in  Loudon   county,  Virginia,  July  5; 
V  V     1801.     His  youth  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  and  his  school  days  in  a  little  log  school 
house  where  the  three  R's  covered  the  curriculum,  viz.,  "reading,  riling  and  rithmetic." 

In  November,  1826,  when  twenty-six  years  old,  he  married  Rachel  Bowles,  and  in  1829  came 
west  in  company  with  his  father,  into  Illinois,  on  a  prospecting  tour.  He  came  on  horseback  via 
Indianapolis  and  Covington,  Indiana,  to  the  country  where  now  stands  Joliet. 

He  brought  with  him  aboul  $2,000,  belonging  to  his  father,  to  invest  in  canal  lands,  which 
were  then  surveyed  and  in  market.  After  making  a  general  survey  of  the  country,  he  decided  to 
locate  on  the  great  thoroughfare  between  Chicago  and  Saint  Louis,  and  selected  a  section  and  a 
half  of  choice  level  land  lying  along  Nettle  Creek,  which,  rising  a  few  miles  to  the  northeast  of 
Ottawa,  empties  into  the  Illinois  River  at  Morris.  His  location  gave  him  timber,  water  and 
prairie,  and  cheap  transportation  by  way  of  the  canal  and  river  to  Chicago  and  Saint  Louis.  His 
commission  on  this  purchase  for  his  father  was  his  choice  of  a  quarter  section  of  the  land  he 
bought.  This  he  selected  and  returned  to  Virginia.  Two  years  later  he  was  prepared  to  move 
his  family,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1831,  reached  his  new  home.  A  great  Pennsylvania 
wagon,  drawn  by  four  horses,  carried  his  household  stuff,  while  his  wife  and  three  children,  accom- 
panied by  a  young  woman,  his  wife's  cousin,  rode  in  a  two-horse  covered  buggy.  His  brother, 
Solomon,  came  with  him  to  help  him  get  settled,  and  together  they  made  the  long,  tedious  jour- 
ney. Through  Ohio  they  got  along  very  well,  but  when  they  struck  the  state  of  Indiana  the  bot- 
tom seemed  to  have  fallen  out,  and  they  were  lefl  lo  flounder  in  bottomless  quagmires  the  whole 
breadth  of  the  state.  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  had  given  him  the  landmarks  on  the  route  from  Cov- 
ington when  he  came  out  in  1829,  and  following  the  Indian  trail  and  Hubbard's  directions  he 
came  through  at  last  without  serious  mishap.  The  journey  consumed  seven  weeks,  and  the 
weather  began  to  be  cold  before  they  could  put  up  a  shelter.  A  huge  log,  fronting  the  south  and 
east,  against  which  they  leaned  a  row  of  short  poles,  and  covered  them  with  bark  and  thatched 
with  hay,  served  as  kitchen  and  dining-room  till  a  cabin  could  be  erected.  The  big  wagon, 
divided  into  two  compartments,  did  excellent  service  as  sleeping  quarters.  The  cabin,  built 
hastily  out  on  the  prairie,  was  more  exposed,  and  proved  at  first  not  half  as  comfortable  as  the 
camp  in  the  woods,  and  the  women  and  children  thought  seriously  of  retreating  to  their  sunny 
shelter  behind  the  huge  log,  bul  a  lillle  mud  soon  stopped  the  cracks  and  shut  out  the  wind,  and 
they  passed  a  comfortable  winter. 

The  following  spring  they  put  another  half  story  on  the  cabin,  hewed  the  logs  inside  and  out, 
fixed  it  up  and  improved  it  in  various  ways,  and  lived  in  it  happily  for  many  years.  This  cabin, 
the  second  one  built  in  Grundy  county,  still  stands  a  silent  witness  to  their  early  labors,  their  joys 
and  sorrows,  their  disasters  and  successes.  In  May,  1832,  the  Sac  war  occurred,  and  Mr.  Hoge, 
with  the  rest  of  the  while  settlers,  fled  to  Ottawa.  He  started  before  day  for  Ottawa,  twenty 
miles  away,  to  get  a  plowshare  sharpened,  but,  learning  of  Ihe  outbreak  before  he  reached  the 
place,  he  returned  in  hot  hasle  lo  save  his  family. 
52 


528  UNITED    STATES   1UOGRAPIIICAI.    DICTIONARY. 

Solomon  had  gone  to  Holderman's  Grove  to  help  them  plant  corn,  and  had  there  received 
warning  with  the  rest,  through  Peppers,  the  young  Pottawattamie  Indian,  and  reached  home 
before  William.  Rachel  and  the  young  woman  were  singing  gaily,  happy  as  larks,  when  Solomon 
suddenly  burst  among  them  with  the  command  to  bundle  up  the  children  without  delay  and  start 
for  Ottawa.  After  a  few  words  of  hurried  explanation  they  all  sprang  on  the  horses,  and  carrying 
the  children  before  and  behind,  lost  no  time  in  getting  out  of  danger.  Subsequent  events,  how- 
ever, proved  that  the  family  were  really  in  no  danger.  They  and  all  they  possessed  were  singled 
out  to  be  spared  from  the  general  massacre  ordered  by  Black  Hawk.  The  reason  of  this  discrim- 
ination affords  a  fine  illustration  of  the  Indian  character.  Some  time  previously  a  company  of 
five  Pottawattamies  came  to  Hoge's  cabin,  and  by  signs  and  urgent  manifestations  of  distress 
informed  them  that  a  companion  was  in  trouble  about  five  miles  away  in  the  woods,  and  besought 
the  white  men  to  aid  him.  With  some  trepidation,  for  they  were  as  yet  ignorant  of  the  Indian 
character,  they  followed  them  down  Nettle  Creek  to  the  neighborhood  where  Morris  now  stands, 
and  found  an  Indian  writhing  upon  the  ground  in  great  pain.  He  had  fallen  from  a  tree  while 
coon  hunting,  and  had  broken  his  arm  above  the  elbow  and  dislocated  his  shoulder.  The  Indians 
had  splinted  up  the  fracture  nicely,  but  could  not  set  the  joint,  a  most  difficult  thing  to  do  at 
any  time.  When  in  Virginia,  William  at  one  time  had  occasion  to  assist  in  such  an  operation,  and 
the  surgeon  had  taken  pains  to  instruct  him  how  it  was  to  be  done.  A  large  ball  of  yarn  or  other 
hard  substance  was  to  be  pressed  with  much  strength  into  the  arm-pit  while  the  arm  was  lifted 
away  from  the  body.  The  arm  brought  back  again  as  a  lever  over  the  fulcrum  of  the  ball,  the 
joint  would  slip  into  its  place  with  a  snap. 

William  had  no  ball,  but  putting  his  arms  around  the  Indian  from  behind  he  put  his  left  fist 
into  the  pit  of  the  arm,  and  clasping  it  with  his  other  hand,  he  furnished  the  proper  fulcrum, 
while  Solomon,  using  the  broken  arm  for  a  lever,  pried  it  with  much  skill  and  care  into  its  place. 
When  the  crack  came  and  the  job  was  done  the  overjoyed  red  men  raised  a  shout,  and  executed 
a  bear  dance  around  the  whites,  hugging  them  and  shaking  hands  in  turn,  and  when  the  whites 
left  them  to  return,  the  Indians  insisted  on  loading  them  with  such  presents  as  they  had  at  hand. 
The  influence  of  this  skillful  act  of  kindness  saved  their  lives,  as  the  Indians  had  been  camped 
several  days  in  the  timber  on  Nettle  Creek,  only  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Hoge's  place, 
and  had  them  completely  in  their  power,  but,  as  a  Pottawattamie  informed  him  afterward,  they 
had  received  orders  from  Wauponsa  to  spare  them  on  that  account.  The  Quaker  family  had 
moreover,  true  to  their  principles,  observed  the  strictest  regard  for  honesty  and  fair  dealing  in  all 
their  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  and  were  much  esteemed  by  them  on  that  account.  And  we 
desire  to  place  it  upon  record,  though  it  has  often  been  stated  to  the  contrary,  what  all  the  old 
settlers  of  this  region  concur  in  testifying,  that  the  Pottawattamies  and  not  the  Sacs  were  guilty 
of  the  massacres  which  took  place  in  this  part  of  the  country.  The  young  braves  of  Wauponsa's 
band  had  been  frequently  made  drunk  by  the  white  man's  fire  water,  and  then  plundered,  cheated 
and  kicked  out  by  them,  and  they  could  not  be  restrained  from  seizing  the  opportunity  for  ven- 
geance. It  is  stated  that  not  a  house  was  burned  by  the  Indians  where  some  of  them  had  not 
been  thus  maltreated. 

The  Hoges  did  not,  however,  know  of  their  security,  but  fled  to  Ottawa  with  the  rest,  and 
assisted  in  building  the  rude  log  fort  for  protection.  They  afterward  also  went  to  Pekin,  and 
remained  late  in  August  before  venturing  to  return. 

When  the  storm  was  over,  however,  they  were  left  to  develop  their  farms  in  peace.  Mr.  Hoge 
began  in  a  small  way  to  raise  cattle,  buying  cows  and  raising  the  increase,  and  was  soon  able  to 
purchase  more  land.  This  he  did  as  fast  as  his  means  allowed,  mostly  government  lands  at  $1.25 
per  acre,  and  canal  lands  at  from  $7  to  $12.  Corn  was  his  principal  crop,  and  beef  cattle  his 
principal  stock,  and  between  them  both  he  grew  rich. 

Nine  children,  four  girls  and  five  boys,  grew  up  around  him,  and  soon  became  a  great  help. 
As  the  country  settled  up  they  married  and  settled  around  him,  until  all  have  left  the  homestead 
but  one,  Albert  E.  Hoge,  who,  at  the  age  of  forty,  is  still  unmarried,  and  takes  charge  of  the  large 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

estate  and  its  interests.  In  1843  Mr.  Hoge  buried  his  wife,  and  during  the  rebellion  lost  one  son, 
Hindley,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Franklin,  Tennessee.  His  estate  now  covers  thirty-two 
hundred  acres  of  land.  It  is  mostly  in  one  body  around  the  old  homestead,  and  is  composed  of 
tracts  of  fine  timber,  prairie,  pasture  and  meadow,  and  is  watered  by  several  artesian  wells  and 
Nettle  Creek.  His  house  and  farm  buildings  stand  in  a  fine  grove  near  the  original  spot  on  which 
his  cabin  was  erected.  Very  near  the  center  of  the  estate  is  as  lovely  a  sylvan  paradise  as  Grundy 
county  can  boast.  About  two  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  neat  cattle,  with  horses,  sheep  and  hogs, 
constitute  the  supply  of  stock  always  on  hand. 

The  early  disadvantages  under  which  Mr.  Hoge  labored  in  matters  of  school  education  did 
not  prevent  him  from  becoming  a  fast  friend  of  schools,  and  he  erected  at  his  own  expense,  in 
1835,  the  first  school  house  in  Grundy  county.  It  is  a  log  cabin  12  x  14  feet,  with  clapboard  roof, 
and  still  stands  where  it  was'first  put,  only  a  few  rods  from  his  house,  just  in  the  edge  of  the  tim- 
ber. Large  trees  two  feet  in  diameter  at  the  butt  have  grown  up  around  it,  where  only  a  hazel 
brush  thicket  grew  when  it  was  built.  Marie  Southworth,  now  an  old  lady,  and  a  widow,  Mrs. 
Marie  Whitney,  were  its  first  school  ma'ams. 

As  before  stated,  Mr.  Hoge  is  a  stanch  republican  in  politics,  but  takes  no  active  part.  He 
has  held  nearly  all  the  usual  town  offices,  but  has  always  had  an  ambition  for  the  quiet  and  peace 
of  his  family  and  home,  and  prefers  to  leave  to  others  the  turmoil  and  thankless  labor  of  political 
life.  In  religious  sentiment  he  has  become  a  deist,  and  believes  that  he  can  serve  God  no  better 
than  to  serve  his  fellow-man.  Many  efforts  have  been  made  to  convert  him,  but  all  have  so  far 
failed.  At  the  age  of  eighty-one  he  is  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  his  faculties;  is  in  sound  health, 
and  though  a  little  stiff  from  rheumatism  is  remarkably  active.  Unlike  many  old  persons  he  has 
not  become  soured  and  misanthropic,  but  is  genial,  pleasant,  mild-mannered,  hospitable,  warm- 
hearted and  companionable.  His  house,  once  so  full  of  young  company,  is  not  so  merry  now, 
but  his  latch  string  always  hangs  out,  and  a  visitor  or  stranger  is  warmly  welcomed.  There  are 
times,  however,  when  his  eight  living  children,  thirty-six  grandchildren  and  three  great-grand- 
children fill  every  nook  and  cranny  of  the  old  homestead  with  laughter,  and  all  is  merry  as 
of  yore. 

SAMUEL  HOGE,  the  second  son  of  Joshua  Hoge,  was  born  in  Fauquier  county,  Virginia, 
October  28,  1805.  His  early  youth  was  spent  in  his  native  place,  where  he  worked  on  his 
father's  farm  till  he  attained  his  majority.  When  twenty-one,  his  father  gave  him  $1,000  in  cash, 
and  in  company  with  Handley  Grigg,  his  sister  Amy's  husband,  he  went  to  Belmont  county, 
Ohio,  and  started  a  store.  After  five  years  spent  in  trade,  he  sold  out  to  his  brother-in-law,  and 
came  west  into  Grundy  county,  Illinois,  where  his  brother,  William,  had  already  become  estab- 
lished. This  was  in  the  fall  of  1834.  He  brought  with  him  about  $2,000  in  money,  and  at  once 
invested  it  in  government  land.  His  first  purchase  was  of  a  quarter-section  in  the  Illinois  River 
valley,  about  three  miles  west  of  Morris,  where  he  erected  a  log  cabin,  and  soon  after  entered  a 
full  section  at  the  head  of  the  timber  on  Nettle  Creek,  west  of  his  brother  William.  For  five 
years  he  made  his  home  in  William's  family,  but,  May  23,  1839,  married  Matilda,  the  daughter 
of  Abram  Holderman,  Sr.,  and  set  up  housekeeping  in  his  log  cabin,  near  Morris.  There  he 
remained  a  year,  during  which  he  put  up  another  house  on  Nettle  Creek,  to  which  he  removed 
the  following  April,  1840.  Both  houses  are  still  standing.  The  last-named  was  built  principally 
of  oak,  and  sided  with  black  walnut  siding,  which,  although  moss-grown,  is  as  sound  as  the  day 
it  was  put  on.  The  location  was  a  good  one,  in  the  timber  near  its  western  boundary,  on  a  rise 
of  ground  not  far  from  the  banks  of  the  creek,  and  a  splendid  spring  of  living  water  near  by. 
The  farming  land  stretched  away  to  the  west  and  south,  inviting  the  hand  of  its  owner  to  gather 
the  boundless  wealth  which  lay  locked  in  its  fertile  bosom.  Cattle  and  corn  were  then,  and  still 
remain,  the  staple  products,  but  moderate  droves  of  horses,  sheep  and  swine  received  some  atten- 
tion. 

Mr.  Hoge  was  of  robust  health,  strong  and  rugged;  a  man  of  good  judgment,  perseverance 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

and  tact;  unexceptionable  in  his  habits,  and  in  his  life  pure.  In  his  wife  he  had,  in  every  respect, 
a  worthy  companion.  On  the  one  side  Scotch  and  English,  on  the  other  German  and  Irish,  blood 
were  mingled  in  their  partnership  of  marriage,  and  prosperity  flowed  in  upon  them  as  the  natu- 
ral reward  of  the  industry  and  virtue  which  was  the  daily  habit  of  their  lives.  Fifteen  children 
came  to  them  as  the  fruit  of  their  union,  nine  of  whom  are  still  living,  and  six  married  and  set- 
tled, mostly  on  farms  in  the  vicinity. 

Mr.  Hoge  never  sold  a  foot  of  land,  but  continued  to  add  to  his  estate  from  time  to  time,  till, 
at  his  death,  he  owned  nearly  6,000  acres.  His  wife  brought  to  him.  at  the  death  of  her  father, 
560  acres,  and  by  inheritance  from  her  brother,  Dyson,  275  more.  In  addition  to  this,  she  has 
bought  a  fractional  section  of  land  in  Champaign  county,  of  508  acres,  making  a  total  of  1,343 
acres  owned  by  Mrs.  Hoge. 

While  he  lived,  Mr.  Hoge  never  deeded  any  land  to  his  children,  but  as  they  married  or  became 
of  age,  he  gave  them  the  use  of  all  they  could  care  for.  At  his  death,  however,  each  became  the 
owner  of  a  section,  and  all  have  put  up  fine  residences  and  farm  buildings.  In  1841  Mr.  Hoge 
began  to  set  out  fruit-trees,  and  continued  to  do  so  from  time  to  time,  till  he  Had  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  fruitful  orchards  in  the  county.  In  1860  he  erected  a  large  and  fine  new  resi- 
dence near  the  old,  and  finished  it  throughout,  in  keeping  with  his  wealth.  For  about  three  years 
before  his  death  he  had  been  in  failing  health,  which  gradually  declined  without  any  apparent 
cause,  till  March  13,  1881,  when  he  died.  His  physicians  thought  a  tumor  or  cancer  of  the  stom- 
ach caused  his  death,  but  nothing  is  certainly  known.  He  was  buried  on  his  own  land  in  a 
private  cemetery,  where  also  nearly  all  of  the  deceased  relatives  On  both  sides,  who  have  died  in 
Illinois,  lie  interred.  His  wife,  now  sixty-two  years  of  age,  is  almost  as  active  as  in  the  very 
height  of  her  labors,  and  the  strength  of  her  youth.  She  attends  to  her  business  matters,  looks 
after  her  stock,  keeps  track  of  her  hired  men  and  tenants,  with  the  judgment  and  skill  of  a  man  of 
business. 

Her  youngest  daughter,  Lina  M.,  is  a  talented  and  well  educated  young  woman,  of  twenty- 
four.  She  is  now  completing  a  very  thorough  musical  education,  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas.  Her 
youngest  son,  Landy,  nearly  nineteen,  is  also  attending  school  at  the  same  place.  Charles,  the 
only  other  remaining  member  of  the  family  unmarried,  is  not  yet  twenty-one,  and  lives  with  his 
mother  on  the  old  homestead.  The  larger  part  of  his  inheritance  fell  to  him  at  Holderman's 
Grove,  which  he  rents;  but  himself  farms  80  acres  belonging  to  him,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
old  home.  Hendley,  the  eldest  son,  is  now  forty-two  years  old.  He  married  Miss  Virginia  Silcott, 
and  has  two  children.  Charlotte  married  William  Reardan,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  children. 
Jane  is  the  wife  of  John  Cunnea,  of  the  firm  of  Janus  Cunnea  and  Sons,  bankers,  in  Morris,  and 
has  three  children.  Joshua  is  thirty-two.  He  married  Laura  Ouigley,  and  has  one  child.  Isaac 
is  a  twin  brother  of  Joshua.  He  married  Mary  Peacock,  and  they  have  four  children.  George  is 
twenty-eight  years  old.  He  married  Ella  Quigtey,  the  sister  of  Laura,  his  brother's  wife,  and  has 
two  children.  One  son,  Abraham,  died  at  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi,  during  the  second  year  of 
the  war  of  the  rebellion.  He  never  married. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  add,  that  without  exception,  these  families  are  among  the  wealthiest  and 
most  respectable  in  Grundy  county.  They  are  all  stanch  republicans  and  public-spirited  men, 
but  are  in  no  sense  politicians.  They  can  generally  be  depended  upon  to  vote  right,  but  are  too 
busy  to  bother  with  office. 

OLOMON   HOGE  is  the  third  son  and  fifth  child  of  Joshua  Hoge.    He  was  born  in  Fauquier 
county,  Virginia,  September  18,  1809.    When  his  brother  William  moved  west,  in  1831,  he  came 
vith  him,  and  remained  till  the  following  spring  till  after  the  Blackhawk  war,  when  he  returned 
i  Virginia.     After  his  brothers  had  all  married  and  established  themselves  in  homes  of  their 
tn,  he  remained  to  care  for  his  aged  parents,  and  two  maiden  sisters.     After  the  death  of  his 
father,  in  1854,  the  entire  management  and  control  of  his  father's  estate  devolved  upon  him.    His 


<!?bST 
< 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  533 

attachment  to  his  widowed  mother  and  sisters  prevented  him  from  marrying  until  after  the  death 
of  the  former,  September  4,  1871,  when  he  came  west  and  took  possession  of  the  estate  left  him 
by  his  father  in  Grundy  county.  He  at  once  built  a  substantial  residence,  and  returning  to  Vir- 
ginia, married  Miss  Sally  Bashaw,  March  17,  1872.  This  lady  descended  from  an  old  Huguenot 
family  of  that  name,  who  fled  from  France  at  the  time  of  the  massacre,  and  were  people  of  con- 
siderable consequence  in  their  own  land.  Her  maternal  grandmother  was  a  relative  of  the  histo- 
rian Hume.  One  son,  Herman,  now  a  promising  boy  of  seven  years,  his  father's  hope  and  idol, 
is  the  fruit  of  their  union. 

Immediately  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Hoge  brought  his  wife  to  their  new  home,  where  they 
have  resided  ever  since.  With  characteristic  thrift,  Mr.  Hoge  has  greatly  improved  his  property, 
and  added  largely  to  it.  He  now  owns  about  720  acres  of  as  fine  land  as  the  sun  shines  upon, 
and,  like  his  brothers,  is  largely  engaged  in  cattle  raising.  His  wife's  brother,  R.  N.  Bashaw, 
assists  him  in  the  management  of  the  estate,  and  his  sisters,  Kate  and  Lizzie,  enliven  their  home 
by  their  pleasant  merry  ways,  and  lighten  the  cares  of  the  household. 

With  a  deeply  religious  organization,  Mr.  Hoge,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three,  is  still,  and  all 
his  life  has  been,  a  pure  deist.  The  causes  which  have  prevented  him  from  advancing  beyond 
that  stage  of  belief  have  already  been  adverted  to,  and  need  not  be  repeated,  but  we  may  add 
that  his  practical  life  has  thus  far  been  such  as  to  throw  no  dishonor  upon  the  profession  of  the 
most  devout  Christian. 

Although  he  received  but  a  very  limited  education  in  youth,  yet  his  life  has  been  one  continual 
school,  and  he  is  looked  up  to  by  many  men  of  a  far  more  liberal  education,  and  for  general  infor- 
mation on  all  subjects  has  few  superiors  among  ordinary  men. 

In  politics  he  was  an  abolitionist,  an  old  line  whig,  and  then  a  republican.  His  first  vote  was 
cast  for  Henry  Clay.  During  the  rebellion,  although  within  the  rebel  lines,  he  was  a  noted  and 
stanch  Unionist.  Although  robbed  and  spoiled  alternately  by  both  contending  forces,  and  his 
life  always  in  danger,  yet  his  courage  never  failed,  nor  did  his  devotion  to  the  Union  cause  for  a 
moment  flag.  Again  and  again  he  was  compelled  to  leave  home  and  hide  for  a  time,  to  save  his 
life.  A  rebel  victory  was  always  followed  by  threats  from  his  rebel  neighbors,  and  often  by  efforts 
to  entrap  him.  On  one  occasion  the  little  daughter  of  a  rebel  neighbor,  overhearing  her  father 
and  others  making  arrangements  to  capture  him  and  send  him  to  Libby  prison,  slipped  out  un- 
observed, and  ran  over  to  his  house,  and  after  giving  him  warning,  returned  without  being  sus- 
pected. He  wisely  heeded  it,  and  escaped,  for  the  attempt  was  made  the  following  night,  but  he 
was  out  of  harm's  way.  Moseby,  the  rebel  guerrilla  chief,  often  called  on  him,  and  oftener  sent  to 
get  northern  papers,  but  beyond  laying  him  under  contributions  for  forage  or  transportation,  or 
an  occasional  mule  or  horse,  did  him  no  harm.  Union  officers  were  furnished  with  lists  of  stanch 
Union  men  within  the  rebel  lines,  and  the  name  of  Solomon  Hoge  was  as  familiar  to  the  authori- 
ties as  that  of  Lincoln  or  Grant.  In  a  few  instances  he  was  captured  by  Union  soldiers  and 
brought  into  camp  only  to  be  politely  returned  with  an  apology  by  the  officer  in  command.  His 
constant  familiarity  with  danger,  and  his  conscious  integrity  made  him  as  bold  as  a  lion,  and  he 
did  not  know  what  fear  was.  He  was  at  one  time  returning  from  Harper's  Ferry  on  horseback, 
whither  he  had  gone  to  get  supplies  for  the  household,  when  he  observed  a  horseman  some  dis- 
tance ahead,  apparently  waiting  for  him.  They  rode  along  some  distance  together,  the  soldier, 
who  was  heavily  armed,  but  in  citizen's  clothes,  asking  him  many  questions  about  the  war,  and 
the  news  first  from  one  side  and  then  the  other;  finally  he  asked  him  directly  whether  he  was 
a  rebel  or  a  Unionist.  Mr.  Hoge,  looking  him  boldly  in  the  eye  declared  his  fidelity  to  the  Union. 
Upon  this  the  soldier  demanded  his  horse  with  an  oath.  But  although  entirely  unarmed  Mr. 
Hoge  most  positively  refused,  whereupon  his  companion  seized  his  horse  by  the  bridle,  drew  his 
pistol  and  ordered  him  to  dismount  or  he  would  instantly  shoot  him.  Keeping  his  eye  calmly 
upon  the  ruffian  he  declared  he  would  not  do  it  under  any  compulsion  whatever,  and  proceeding 
to  back  his  horse  he  drew  the  fellow  to  the  ground.  Upon  this  he  himself  dismounted,  and  the 
soldier  turned  the  muzzle  of  his  pistol  to  the  ground,  exclaimed,  "  I  too,  am  a  Union  soldier,  and 


534  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY 

would  not  shoot  you  for  a  thousand  worlds.     I  believe  you  are  the  bravest  man  on  earth.     What 
is  your  name  ?"     It  was  a  Michigan  soldier. 

Mr.  Hoge  is  not,  and  constitutionally  cannot  be  a  politician.  He  is  of  the  same  type  of 
humanity  as  John  G.  Whittier.  Calm,  gentle,  philosophic,  poetic,  a  student,  a  humanitarian,  a  non- 
combatant,  it  is  as  absurd  to  look  for  him  in  the  stormy  sea  of  politics  as  to  expect  to  find  a  tur- 
tle dove  among  carrion  crows. 


JOHN  R.   KINNEAR. 

PAX  TON. 

JOHN  R.  KINNEAR  stands  among  the  leading  lawyers  of  eastern  Illinois.  His  firm  purpose 
from  the  beginning  of  his  professional  career  has  been  to  honor  his  profession,  and  his  success 
in  this  regard  is  best  attested  by  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  community  in  which 
he  resides.  A  native  of  West  Point,  Indiana,  he  was  born  August  26,  1843.  His  parents,  Charles 
and  Ellen  (Ritchey)  Kinnear,  were  engaged  in  farming  for  a  time  at  Kingston,  Ohio,  but  in  1850 
removed  to  Walnut  Grove,  Woodford  county,  Illinois.  Here  our  subject  led  the  life  of  a  farmer 
boy,  and  received  a  good  academic  education  at  the  Washington  high  school  and  Eureka  College. 
He  afterward  pursued  the  regular  course  of  study  at  Knox  College,  Galesburgh,  for  three  and  a 
half  years,  from  the  spring  of  1859  until  August,  1862,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Gnothanii 
Society. 

In  August,  1862,  he  entered  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of  company  A,  86th  regiment  Illi- 
nois infantry,  and  carried  a  musket  for  three  years,  during  which  time  he  participated  in  several 
severe  conflicts,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a  good  and  brave  soldier.  He  was  engaged  in  the 
battles  of  Perryville,  Chickamauga,  Missionary  Ridge,  Buzzard  Point,  Resaca,  Rome,  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  Peach  Tree  Creek,  Jonesborough,  Savannah,  Averysborough  and  Burtonville,  besides 
numerous  smaller  engagements;  also  in  the  advance  on  Atlanta  and  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea, 
and  was  at  the  surrender  of  Johnson's  army  to  Sherman  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  in  April, 
1865,  and  at  the  grand  review  of  all  the  armies  at  Washington.  There  are  few  men  who  have 
lived  under  more  fire  than  he.  The  most  severe  battle  in  which  Mr.  Kinnear's  regiment  was 
engaged  was  the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mountain.  Here  the  company  went  into  the  fight  with  some 
sixty  men,  and  came  out  with  but  fifteen,  the  rest  being  killed,  wounded  and  taken  prisoners,  and 
company  A  was  afterward  known  as  the  little  company.  Our  subject  was  on  constant  duty,  and 
escaped  with  few  scratches. 

While  in  the  army  Mr.  Kinnear  kept  a  diary  preserving  facts  and  interesting  points  not  only 
in  his  company  but  regiment  and  brigade.  This  was  merely  for  his  own  personal  satisfaction, 
but  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  fact  became  known  to  Colonel  Fahnerstock  and  other  officers  of 
the  regiment  of  Peoria,  Illinois,  and  Mr.  Kinnear  was  prevailed  upon  to  write  and  publish  a  his- 
tory of  his  regiment.  He  published  a  very  successful  little  work  of  one  hundred  and  forty  pages, 
which  was  fully  appreciated  by  the  veterans  of  his  brigade  in  Illinois,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  as  it  was 
not  only  a  history  of  the  regiment,  but  of  the  brigade,  consisting  of  the  85th,  1 251)1  and  uoth 
Illinois,  52d  Ohio  and  22d  Indiana. 

In  July,  1865,  Mr.  Kinnear  began  the  study  of  law  with  Judge  Chitty,  now  of  Champaign. 
After  reading  and  studying  under  his  direction  for  two  years  he  attended  the  Union  College  of 
Law  of  Chicago,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1868,  when  he  removed 
to  Paxton,  where  he  has  since  devoted  his  entire  attention  to  his  practice. 

In  June,  1880,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  John  H.  Moffett,  who  studied  under  his  instruc- 
tion, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1880.  He  is  a  native  of  Paxton,  and  a  young  man  of  remark- 
able ability,  quick  in  perception,  shrewd  and  energetic,  and  of  undoubtedly  brilliant  prospects. 
They  are  known  as  the  law  firm  of  Kinnear  and  Moffett.  The  firm  controls  a  very  large  client- 
age, dealing  more  or  less  in  real  estate.  Mr.  Kinnear  has  been  city  prosecutor  for  three  years. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

master  in  chancery  four  years,  and  has  been  attorney  for  the  First  National  Bank  of  Ford  county 
for  twelve  years. 

He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  has  taken  quite  an  active  part  in  the  different  campaigns 
and  local  elections,  and  was  appointed  by  the  state  central  committee  to  fill  appointments  in  a 
portion  of  eastern  Illinois  in  the  canvass  for  General  Garfield  in  1880.  He  is  a  member  of  no 
church,  but  is  liberal  in  his  views  and  a  generous  supporter  of  all  good  and  religious  enterprises. 
He  is  a  public-spirited  man,  and  one  who,  when  called  upon  to  advance  any  public  interests  of 
his  community,  responds  liberally. 

Mr.  Kinnear  married,  June  2,  1868,  Miss  Rebecca  Means,  of  Bloomington.  There  are  lives  that 
are  more  sensational  in  their  career,  but  none  confer  a  greater  benefit  on  society,  and  are  more 
honored  in  Ford  county  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 


JAMES  LEE  REAT,  M.D. 

TUSCOLA, 

AMONG  the  most  prominent  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Illinois  is  he  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch,  who  has  been  long  and  honorably  connected  with  the  history  of  Douglas  county. 
His  ancestry  is  traced  back  to  Scotland,  where  the  name  was  pronounced  in  two  syllables,  with  the 
accent  on  the  last.  Two  brothers  emigrated  to  America  during  the  time  of  the  struggle  on  the 
part  of  the  colonies  for  their  independence;  one  of  whom  espoused  the  cause  of  the  rebels,  the 
term  by  which  the  patriot  colonies  were  then  known,  and  served  through  the  war  with  Washing- 
ton's forces.  The  other  sided  with  the  tories.  In  consequence  of  this  the  two  brothers  became 
alienated,  all  correspondence  was  cut  off  between  them,  and  a  total  separation  occurred  between 
the  two  branches  of  the  family. 

Doctor  Real  is  descended  from  the  one  who  cast  his  fortunes  with  those  of  the  patriots,  and 
who  after  the  war  settled  in  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  and  at  this  place  James  Real,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  born,  and  at  a  later  day  he  found  his  way  to  Ohio,  where  he  married  Susannah 
Rogers,  a  Virginian  by  birth,  and  settled  with  his  wife  in  Fairfield' county,  Ohio,  which  was  the 
birth-place  of  James  Lee  Real,  January  26,  1834.  When  our  subject  was  but  five  years  of  age 
his  parents  removed  to  Coles  county,  Illinois,  where  his  father  purchased  a  farm  on  which  he 
lived  for  a  number  of  years.  He  then  moved  to  the  city  of  Charleston,  where  he  resided  at  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1868. 

Doctor  Real's  early  education  was  such  as  could  be  derived  from  the  advantages  offered  in  a 
log  school  house,  but  later  he  attended  the  seminary  in  the  town  of  Charleston,  which  was  a 
distance  of  three  and  a  half  miles  from  his  father's  farm,  which  distance  he  generally  walked. 
Here  the  educational  advantages  were  equal  to  any  in  the  West,  being  under  the  supervision 
of  some  of  our  most  eminent  professors,  and  Mr.  Reat  soon  acquired  a  great  fondness  for 
study,  and  before  leaving  the  institution  he  obtained  a  good  collegiate  education,  subsequently 
taking  up  the  study  of  languages,  familiarizing  himself  with  Latin  and  German,  at  the  same  time 
teaching  school  a  number  of  terms.  His  natural  tastes  and  talent  were  those  of  his  chosen  profes- 
sion, which  he  began  to  cultivate  soon  after  leaving  school,  by  taking  a  regular  course  of  studies 
at  the  Medical  College,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he  graduated  in  1858.  He  also  attended  the 
Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  graduated  from  the  same. 

The  doctor,  in  order  to  complete  his  education  and  familiarize  himself  with  drugs,  engaged  for 
a  time  in  the  drug  business  at  Charleston,  Illinois,  but  afterward  sold  out  his  interests  and  traveled 
through  the  principal  states  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  seeking  a  favorable  location  for  the  prac- 
tice qf  his  profession,  and  in  1859,  on  his  way  home,  he  stopped  in  Tuscola,  Illinois,  and  in  August 
of  the  same  year  took  up  his  residence,  where  we  still  find  him.  Tuscola  was  then  but  a  small 
village,  just  springing  into  existence.  The  doctor  soon  established  a  practice  which  has  grown  as 
rapidly  as  the  now  county  seat  of  Douglas  county. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   D/CTlOffAKY. 

In  the  fall  of  1862  Doctor  Reat  received  an  appointment  as  assistant  surgeon,  and  was  assigned 
to  a  post  at  Louisville,  where  he  remained  for  some  time  in  charge  of  a  hospital.  March  2,  he 
was  commissioned  first  assistant  surgeon  of  the  2ist  regiment  Illinois  infantry  (Grant's  old  regi- 
ment); July  22,  1864,  he  was  promoted  to  surgeon  of  the  same  regiment.  Returning  to  Spring- 
field early  in  1866,  he  was  mustered  out  the  last  of  January. 

As  an  army  surgeon  Doctor  ,Reat  displayed  the  most  admirable  qualities,  performing  con- 
stantly difficult  surgical  operations,  and  giving  what  encouragement  his  kind,  religious  nature 
prompted,  to  the  suffering  and  dying,  and  the  experience  which  he  had,  in  connection  with  his 
thorough  education,  fully  qualifies  him  to  hold  the  rank  where  we  place  him  in  the  opening  of 
this  sketch.  After  the  war  he  returned  immediately  to  Tuscola,  and  resumed  his  practice,  which 
is  now  very  extensive,  he  having  a  large  consulting  practice  throughout  the  surrounding  country. 
He  also  holds  the  office  of  United  States  examining  surgeon. 

In  1861  the  doctor  married  in  Jacksonville  Miss  Sallie  C.  Callaway,  a  lady  of  fine  literary 
attainments,  and  possessing  great  Christian  virtues,  and  to  whose  encouragement,  and  kind, 
devoted  nature  he  owes  a  great  portion  of  his  success.  She  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  a 
graduate  of  Berean  College.  Her  father  was  the  well  known  late  Rev.  S.  T.  Callaway,  a  Baptist 
clergyman.  They  have  been  blessed  with  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living.  The  eldest, 
a  daughter,  is  now  at  Evanston  College,  making  painting  her  specialty,  for  which  she  has  a 
natural  talent. 

Doctor  Reat  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  with  which  denomination  his- 
wife  also  united  after  her  marriage,  in  order  that  they  might  tread  the  same  path  together.  Both 
have  also  taken  an  active  part  in  the  temperance  movement,  in  which  they  are  strong  advocates. 
The  doctor  has  always  manifested  public  spirit,  and  has  contributed  materially  to  his  immediate 
vicinity  and  county.  For  three  years  he  was  clerk  of  the  board  of  education  of  Tuscola,  ana 
while  in  that  position  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  erection  of  a  public-school  building,  which  is 
surpassed  by  few  in  the  state,  and  he  is  a  man  who  is  widely  esteemed  for  his  intrinsic  worth  and 
social  qualities. 

JUSTUS  STEVENS. 

PRINCETON. 

ONE  of  the  best  representatives  of  the  agricultural  and  stock-raising  class  in  central  Illinois 
is  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  and  who  settled  in  Princeton  more  than 
forty  years  ago.     He  was  born  and  reared  in  the  Granite  State,  where  boys  are  early  taught  to 
work;  where  habits  of  industry  are  apt  to  abide,  and  where  the  soiling  of  the  hands  is  one  of  the 
least  sins  a  lad  can  commit. 

Justus  Stevens  was  born  in  the  town  of  Boscawen,  now  Webster,  adjoining  Concord  on  the 
north,  January  8,  1819,  just  four  years  after  General  Jackson  won  his  victory  at  New  Orleans, 
behind  cotton-bags.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Stevens,  a  native  of  Canterbury,  same  state,  and  Submit 
(Newcomb)  Stevens,  who  was  born  in  Greenwich,  Massachusetts.  The  grandfather  of  Justus  was 
Simon  Stevens,  who  lost  a  brother  in  Canada  in  the  French  and  Indian  war.  The  subject  of 
these  biographical  notes  was  educated  at  the  Franklin  Academy,  near  Boscawen,  and  Patridge's 
Military  School,  at  Norwich,  Vermont.  His  father  was  a  merchant  and  general  business  man, 
and  in  due  season  the  son  turned  his  attention  in  the  same  direction,  remaining  in  his  native 
state  until  past  his  majority.  In  September,  1842,  before  Horace  Greeley  had  hinted  to  young 
men  to  go  west,  Mr.  Stevens  stuck  down  his  stakes  in  Princeton,  then  a  very  small  village,  and 
there  he  is  to-day,  in  a  prairie  town  of  5,000  well-to-do  people,  himself  second  to  none  of  them 
in  thriftiness.  He  came  here  with  toil-hardened  hands,  and  has  never  been  ashamed  to  keep 
them  so,  though  of  late  years  he  has  been  more  economical  of  his  energies  than  formerly.  For 
nearly  twenty  years  he  was  a  merchant  and  general  business  man  in  Princeton,  buying  grain, 
packing  pork,  and  shipping  all  kinds  of  farm  products  to  Chicago  and  Saint  Louis,  at  first  by  way 


H  C.Conp.r    Jr  S    Co 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  539 

of  the  Illinois  River,  and  later  by  rail.  He  had  at  one  period  between  two  and  three  thousand 
customers  in  four  different  counties,  and  was  one  of  the  best  known  men  and  one  of  the  most 
honorable  traders  in  Bureau  county. 

Mr.  Stevens  entered  a  large  tract  of  land  in  this  county  at  an  early  day,  and  when  the  civil 
war  began  he  closed  out  his  mercantile  business,  and  turned  his  whole  attention  to  farming.  He 
has  4,000  acres  in  one  general  farm,  twelve  miles  northwest  of  Princeton,  and  under  fine  improve- 
ment, and  now  managed  by  his  only  son,  Justus  M.  Stevens,  a  thoroughgoing,  efficient  business 
man.  The  old  gentleman  has  spent  no  less  than  $30,000  in  improvements  on  this  farm,  which  is 
now  devoted  largely  to  stock  raising.  Six  hundred  acres  are  planted  with  corn  annually.  He 
has  about  one  thousand  head  of  cattle,  the  same  of  hogs,  and  usually  a  hundred  horses.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  successful  farmers  and  stock-raisers  in  the  state,  and  his  great  industry  and 
shrewd  management  have  been  amply  rewarded.  When  he  built  his  present  brick  mansion  in 
Princeton,  thirty-three  or  thirty-four  years  ago,  it  was  one  of  the  best  dwelling  houses  in  the 
state,  and  one  of  the  very  first  in  which  a  furnace  was  introduced,  such  comforts  being  rare  in 
this  prairie  state  in  1850. 

Mr.  Stevens  has  held  a  few  local  offices,  such  as  he  could  not  well  avoid  accepting,  and  has 
been  thoroughly  identified  with  local  interests,  such  as  the  Princeton  public  schools,  high  school, 
the  building  of  a  first-class  hotel,  etc.  He  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  the  county  to  move  in 
organizing  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  Company,  of  which  he  was  a  director  for  some 
years.  He  also  had  a  contract  on  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  road,  and  has  shown  him- 
self at  all  times  a  wide-awake,  enterprising,  broad-minded  citizen, —  one  with  whose  services  the 
county  could  ill  dispense. 

In  June,  1842,  our  subject  was  married  to  Miss  Lurena  McConihe,  of  Merrimac,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  besides  the  son  already  mentioned,  they  have  four  daughters:  Mandana,  married  to 
James  W.  Templeton,  postmaster  at  Princeton,  and  Fannie  Harper,  Darlene  and  Blanche  N.,who 
are  at  home. 

HON.  WILLIAM   B.  ANDERSQN. 

MOUNT  VERNON. 

WILLIAM  B.  ANDERSON  was  born  April  2,  1830,  at  Mount  Vernon,  Illinois,  where  he  has 
since  resided,  and  witnessed  the  growth  of  that  place  from  a  small  hamlet  of  log  cabins 
to  the  now  beautiful  city.  His  father  was  the  late  Hon.  Stinson  H.  Anderson,  who  was  of  Scotch 
and  Irish  descent,  and  born  in  Tennessee.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Candace  Chick- 
ering.  She  was  descended  from  a  well  known  New  York  family.  His  father  was  a  man  who  had 
an  enviable  reputation  not  only  in  his  immediate  vicinity,  but  throughout  Illinois,  where  he  set- 
tled as  early  as  1825.  He  served  as  captain  of  the  dragoons  in  Florida  for  one  year,  having 
been  appointed  by  President  Jackson,  his  commission  being  signed  by  General  Cass,  who  was 
then  secretary  of  war.  He  subsequently  served  in  the  legislature  during  several  terms  of  office. 
In  1838  he  was  elected  lieutenant-governor  of  Illinois,  under  Governor  Carlin,  and  was  subse- 
quently appointed  marshal  of  the  state,  which  position  he  held  for  four  years,  Noah  Johnson,  of 
Mount  Vernon,  acting  as  his  assistant  or  deputy  marshal.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  energy, 
and  continued  active  and  vigorous  until  1857,  when  he  died  at  Mount  Vernon.* 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  remained  at  home  on  his  father's  farm  until  about  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  His  early  education  was  that  of  most  farm  boys,  and  obtained  under  difficulties.  He 
attended  Lebanon  College  for  a  time. 

In  1851  Mr.  Anderson  began  the  study  of  law  under  the  instruction  of  Judge  Walter  B.  Scates, 
now  of  Chicago,  and  in  1856  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  While  studying  he  worked  in  the  survey- 
ing business,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  defray  his  expenses.  In  1856  he  was  elected  to  the  legis- 
lature, and  was  an  active  worker  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  United  States  senate,  and  took  a 
very  active  part,  although  he  was  one  of  the  younger  members  of  that  body.  He  was  reelected 
53 


540 


UNITED    STATES  RIOGRA  TIUCAI.    DICTIONARY. 


to  the  next  session.  At  the  close  of  his  second  term  of  office  his  father  died,  and  he  then  returned 
home,  intending  to  remain  only  a  short  time,  but,  owing  to  various  circumstances,  he  concluded 
to  settle  down  on  the  farm  and  carry  on  the  business,  which  he  did,  and  since  that  time  has 
devoted  his  principal  attention  to  farming  and  stock-raising. 

Judge  Anderson  was  married  January  i,  1858,  to  Miss  Elvira  Thorn,  the  daughter  of  the  late 
William  B.  Thorn,  of  Mount  Vernon.  They  have  had  four  children,  three  boys  and  one  girl. 

In  the  fall  of  1862  Mr.  Anderson  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Union  army,  and  on  the  organi- 
zation of  the  company  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  his  regiment.  On  the  death  of 
Colonel  Yoler  he  was  promoted  to  colonel.  He  served  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  i-jth 
army  corps;  was  in  Sherman's  march  from  Chattanooga  to  the  sea,  and  took  an  important  part 
in  many  of  the  severe  struggles,  resigning  his  commission  December  25,  1864,  at  which  time  the 
secretary  of  war  (Stanton)  presented  him  with  his  promotion  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general. 

After  his  return  from  the  army  he  resumed  his  farming,  and  continued  in  private  life  until 
1868,  when  he  was  elected  democratic  elector  of  the  eleventh  district,  and  stumped  the  entire  dis- 
trict, in  joint  discussion  with  General  Ritchel,  and  in  1870  he  made  the  race  for  the  United  States 
congress  against  Hon.  John  A.  Logan  in  the  state  at  large,  but  was  defeated  after  a  severe  con- 
test, thereby  reducing  the  general  republican  majority  from  50,000  to  25,000.  During  the  same 
year  he  was  a  member  of  the  state  constitutional  convention,  which  framed  and  organized  the 
present  constitution. 

In  1871  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term  of  office.  In  1874  he 
was  elected  to  congress  by  the  greenback  party  from  the  nineteenth  district  of  Illinois,  and  was 
an  active  participant  in  the  monetary  discussions  that  came  before  the  national  assembly  during 
that  session.  In  1876  Mr.  Anderson  was  nominated  by  the  greenback  and  independent  members 
of  the  legislature  as  their  independent  candidate  for  United  States  senator,  but  missed  the  election 
by  a  very  few  votes,  and  Hon.  David  Davis  was  tak;en  by  the  party  and  elected.  Mr.  Anderson 
then  retired  from  public  life  until  1882,  when  he  was  elected  judge  of  Jefferson  county  by  the  demo- 
cratic party,  which  position  he  still  holds. 

As  jndge  he  brings  to  the  bench  a  very  wide  range  of  legal  scholarship,  is  clear  and  able  in 
his  decisions,  has  an  eminently  judicial  mind,  is  honorable  and  just,  has  merited  and  won  the 
esteem  of  the  profession,  and  is  a  pattern  of  benevolence  and  a  worthy  citizen. 


DOCTOR  WALTER  A.  STEVENS. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

AMONG  the  leading  dentists  of  Chicago  is  the  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the 
head  of  this  sketch,  and  who  has  achieved  a  splendid  reputation  in  his  profession.  This  he 
has  done  not  because  of  any  genius  in  that  direction,  but  because  he  acquired  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  his  profession,  to  start  with,  and  has  been  a  close  student  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

Walter  Augustus  Stevens  was  born  in  the  town  of  Richmond,  Ontario  county,  New  York, 
April  19,  1830,  he  being  a  son  of  Walter  and  Lucy  (Osgood)  Stevens,  His  grandfather,  Jesse 
Stevens,  a  New  Englander  by  birth,  was  a  revolutionary  pensioner,  and  lived  to  be  nearly  ninety 
years  of  age.  Our  subject  received  an  academic  education,  at  the  Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary, 
Lima,  New  York,  including  quite  a  full  course  in  the  sciences,  and  he  taught  a  district  school  six 
months  in  Canadice,  in  his  native  county.  He  worked  more  or  less  on  his  father's  farm  until  he 
had  reached  his  majority,  his  father  dying  when  this  son  was  thirteen  years  old.  During  the  period 
of  youth,  and  subsequently,  he  devoted  considerable  time  to  the  study  of  anatomy  and  physiology, 
which  studies  have  been  of  great  use  to  him  in  his  profession. 

In  the  summer  of  1857  Mr.  Stevens  came  to  the  West;  visited  Chicago  in  June  of  that  year; 
made  a  trip  through  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Missouri,  and  for  four  years  was  engaged  in  railroad- 
ing in  the  last-named  state.  Reared  in  the  North,  he  had  a  very  strong  attachment  to  the  Union, 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  541 

and  was  early  spotted  by  the  confederates  as  a  suitable  man  to  leave  the  South.  February  22, 
1861,  some  of  them  kindly  waited  upon  him  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  notified  him  that 
he  could  have  his  choice,  to  leave  forthwith  or  be  hung  at  noon.  As  he  had  never  seen  any  thing 
of  the  kind,  he  concluded  to  wait  and  witness  the  execution  !  He  waited  till  June;  the  hanging 
never  came  off,  and  he  left  in  disgust.  Taking  up  his  residence  in  Chicago,  he  studied  dental 
surgery  for  two  years  with  Doctor  Honsinger,  and  in  1863  opened  an  office  by  himself.  Since 
that  date  Doctor  Stevens  has  been  a  very  busy  man,  giving  his  time  assiduously  to  the  study,  as 
well  as  practice  of  his  profession,  of  which  he  has  made  a  grand  success.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  him  to  have  his  appointments  made  out  for  every  day  except  Sundays,  for  five  or  six 
weeks  ahead. 

Doctor  Stevens  is  a  thirty-third  degree  Mason,  and  an  active  member  of  the  supreme  council  of 
the  northern  Masonic  jurisdiction  of  the  ancient  accepted  Scottish  Rite.  He  had  charge  of  the 
Grand  Consistory  of  the  state,  when  it  was  disbanded  in  1867.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  is  a  man  of  sterling  character. 

September  22,  1862,  Doctor  Stevens  was  married  to  Miss  Elanora  Victoria  Richards,  of  Lenox, 
Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  and  they  have  three  children. 


HON.   LEWIS    D.   ERWIN. 

RUSHV1LLE. 

EWIS  DE  BOIS  ERWIN,  a  resident  of  Schuyler  county  since  1839,  and  a  prominent  man  in 
the  county  in  railroad  and  other  enterprises,  hails  from  the  Empire  State,  being  born  in 
Plattsburgh,  Clinton  county,  July  i,  1815.  His  father,  Cornelius  M.  Erwin,  and  his  grandfather, 
General  David  Erwin,  were  engaged  in  the  iron  business  in  northern  New  York,  where  the  former 
was  a  pioneer  settler.  General  Erwin  was  with  General  Washington  at  the  battles  of  Trenton 
and  Princeton,  and  was  a  general  of  the  New  York  state  militia.  Cornelius  Erwin  was  born  in 
Rutland  county,  Vermont;  married  Miss  Lucinda  Furman,  and  they  had  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren, Lewis  being  the  second  son  and  fourth  child.  In  1831  the  family  moved  to.  Birmingham, 
Ohio,  where  Mrs.  Erwin  died  in  1833.  Her  husband  died  at  Toledo,  same  state,  in  1837. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  very  limited  school  privileges  in  his  youth,  but  has  been  a 
learner  all  his  life,  and  is  a  very  well  informed  man  on  a  variety  of  subjects.  In  Ohio  he  was  with 
his  father  in  a  forge  and  blacksmith  shop;  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Toledo  for  four  years;  came 
to  Schuyler  county  in  May,  1839,  and  during  the  first  year  held  a  clerkship  near  Rushville  for 
Rensselaer  Wells. 

In  1843  Mr.  Erwin  purchased  the  first  forty  acres  of  a  farm  in  Littleton  township,  eight  miles 
north  of  town.  He  added  to  it  not  long  afterward,  and  has  been  cultivating  his  farm,  directly  or 
indirectly,  for  forty  years.  He  has  200  acres,  all  under  excellent  cultivation,  except  what  is 
reserved  for  timber.  Since  1850  he  has  resided  in  town. 

At  an  early  day,  while  living  on  his  land,  Mr.  Erwin  held  almost  every  conceivable  office,  and 
did  a  great  variety  of  gratuitous  work,  such  as  viewer  for  public  roads,  chain  carrier,  surveyor, 
township  trustee,  school  treasurer,  etc. 

In  November,  1843,  ne  was  married  to  Miss  Elvira  Wells,  daughter  of  Charles  Wells,  of  Little- 
ton township. 

Mr.  Erwin  was  deputy  sheriff  in  1844-45;  was  elected  by  his  democratic  constituents  to  the 
state  legislature  over  Judge  Minchell,  a  very  prominent  man  among  the  whigs,  afterward  a  mem- 
ber of  the  constitutional  convention,  and  at  his  death  a  judge  of  the  circuit  court;  was  again 
elected  to  the  legislature  in  1856,  and  was  reflected  in  1858  and  1860,  serving,  in  all,  four  terms  and 
five  sessions,  including  an  extra  one  in  1861.  In  that  last  session,  as  we  see  by  the  records,  he 
was  placed  by  the  republicans  on  the  enlarged  finance  committee,  and  heartily  cooperated  with 
the  friends  of  the  government  in  raising  money  to  equip  men  and  to  aid  in  putting  down  the 


542 


r. \ITI-.D    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY, 


rebellion.  After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  in  1863,  money  was 
voted  for  the  relief  of  the  wounded  soldiers.  Mr.  Erwin  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission for  the  disbursement  of  those  funds,  and  he  went  to  the  South  and  faithfully  performed 
his  duties.  Meanwhile,  before  being  elected  to  the  legislature  the  second  time,  he  held  the  offices 
of  sheriff  and  clerk  of  the  circuit  court. 

He  was  for  years  quite  prominent  in  the  Schuyler  County  Agricultural  Society,  at  times  pay- 
ing out,  with  other  officers,  considerable  of  his  own  money  in  order  to  keep  its  credit  good. 

Mr.  Erwin  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  lay  out  what  was  known  as  the  Peoria 
and  Hannibal  road,  and  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  Buda  and  Rushville  branch  of  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  and  Quincy  road.  He  aided  in  getting  the  bill  for  its  charter  through  the  legislature, 
and  in  securing  stock  for  the  road;  was  a  director  for  nine  or  ten  years,  then  vice  president,  and 
finally,  the  last  year  before  it  passed  into  other  hands,  he  was  president  of  the  company. 

Nobody  who  knows  Lewis  Erwin  will  question  his  energy,  his  enterprise,  his  public  spirit  or 
his  executive  ability.  He  has  shown  himself  competent  and  eminently  trustworthy  in  every  posi- 
tion in  which  he  has  been  placed  by  the  people.  He  is  not  only  self-educated,  but  in  all  respects 
a  self-made  man. 

He  is  an  elder  and  trustee  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  man  the  purity  of  whose  life  is 
unquestioned.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Erwin  have  ten  children  living,  and  have  buried  one  son. 


THOMAS   MUNROE..M.D. 

RUSHVILLE. 

THOMAS  Munroe,  physician  and  surgeon,  has  been  practicing  his  profession  in  Rushville  for 
forty  years,  and  is  well  known  in  Schuyler  county.  He  is  a  son  of  John  Munroe,  in  early 
and  middle  life  a  shoe  manufacturer  and  shoe  dealer  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  and  later,  post- 
master in  that  place,  where  Thomas  was  born,  January  4,  1807.  His  mother  was  Ann  Wells,  who 
was  English  on  her  father's  side,  and  German  on  her  mother's.  John  Munroe  was  a  confidential 
agent  of  the  government  during  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country.  William  Munroe; 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  one  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  men,  residing  in  and  near  An- 
napolis, who,  in  1774,  signed  a  protest  against  certain  acts  of  the  colonial  government  then  under 
British  rule,  and  when  war  broke  out  the  next  year  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colonies  against 
King  George. 

Doctor  Munroe  was  educated  at  Saint  John's  College,  Annapolis,  taking  the  full  classical 
course,  finishing  in  1826;  studied  medicine  in  that  place  with  Doctor  Dennis  Claude,  who  had 
been  a  surgeon  in  the  army;  attended  lectures  at  the  University  of  Maryland,  Baltimore;  received 
his  medical  degree  in  1829:  practiced  at  Baltimore  until  1835;  came  to  this  state  in  December  of 
that  year;  practiced  at  Jacksonville,  Morgan  county,  until  1843,  and  then  settled  in  Rushville. 
Here  he  was  in  steady  practice  till  1862,  when  he  was  appointed  surgeon  of  the  ngth  Illinois 
infantry;  which  was  in  the  i6th  army  corps,  and  he  remained  in  the  service  until  June,  1864,  when 
his  health  broke  down  and  he  resigned.  Returning  to  Rushville,  he  resumed  practice,  which  he 
still  continues,  though  in  a  restricted  degree.  He  rarely  goes  into  the  country,  but  does  a  village 
and  office  practice.  He  has  always  been  a  careful  man,  the  people  have  great  confidence  in  his 
skill,  and  his  old  rural  patrons  would  be  glad  to  send  for  him,  but  he  refers  them  to  a  younger 
class  of  practitioners. 

Doctor  Munroe  has  been  largely  identified  with  the  cause  of  education;  was  a  school  director 
for  a  number  of  years,  was  a  director  of  a  female  academy,  which  once  had  an  existence  in  Rush- 
ville, and  was  a  subscriber  to  a  fund  for  building  a  house  for  a  private  school,  which  house  was 
afterward  sold  fora  public  school. 

The  doctor  was  for  years  a  class  leader  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  is  now,  and 
has  been  for  a  long  time,  a  steward  and  trustee  of  that  religious  body.  While  at  Jacksonville,  he 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  543 

was  one  of  the  men  who  introduced  the  Washingtonians  into  that  place,  having  long  been  an 
indefatigable  worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance.  His  heart  is  on  the  right  side  of  every  reforma- 
tory movement. 

Before  settling  in  Rushville,  Doctor  Munroe  was  married  in  1841,  to  Miss  Annis  Hinman,  from 
Utica,  New  York,  daughter  of  Major  Benjamin  Hinman,  a  descendant  in  direct  line  from  Sergeant 
Edward  Hinman,  who  settled  in  Stratford,  Connecticut,  about  1650.  Her  father  was  an  officer 
in  the  revolutionary  army,  one  of  thirteen  Hinmanswho  were  commissioned  during  the  war,  from 
Woodbury,  Connecticut.  He  was  aid  to  General  Greene.  He  married  Anna  Keyser,  daughter  of 
Captain  John  Keyser,  who,  with  two  sons,  was  a  prisoner  in  Canada  for  three  years.  Mrs.  Munroe 
is  a  niece  of  General  Ephraim  Hinman,  a  noted  revolutionary  officer. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Munroe  have  had  seven  children,  losing  their  first-born,  John,  in  infancy. 
Thomas,  the  eldest  son  living,  is  a  lumber  manufacturer,  Muskegon,  Michigan;  James  Edward,  a- 
graduate  with  honors  of  the  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  is  a  lawyer,  Chicago;  Mary  Anna  is  at 
home;  Hinman  and  Charles  G.,  are  in  business  in  Rushville,  and  William,  also  a  graduate  of 
Illinois  College,  is  a  law  student,  Rushville,  and  local  editor  of  the  "  Schuyler  Citizens." 


J.   H.   MAXWELL,   M.D. 

NE  WTON. 

PROMINENT  among  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Jasper  county,  is  J.  H.  Maxwell, 
who  was  born  December  26,  1835.  His  father  was  William  Maxwell,  of  Scotch  ancestry, 
a  farmer  by  occupation.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Martha  Utter;  she  also  was  of 
Scotch  ancestry,  and  both  are  of  revolutionary  stock.  Samuel  Utter,  an  uncle  of  our  subject, 
was  a  companion  of  Hon.  Samuel  Houston,  governor  of  Texas,  and  a  member  of  the  United 
States  senate,  and  they  served  side  by  side  in  the  Creek  war. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  passed  his  early  education  and  life  on  his  father's  farm,  his  experi- 
ences being  those  common  to  most  farmer  boys  ;  he  worked  during  the  busy  seasons  and  attended 
school  during  the  winters.  Later  he  was  sent  to  the  seminary  at  Paris,  Illinois.  When  twenty- 
four  years  of  age  he  began  to  study  for  his  profession  wjth  Doctor  S.  York,  who  was  subsequently 
assassinated  in  Charleston  after  delivering  a  political  address  in  1864,  just  previous  to  the  close 
of  the  war,  and  while  he  was  serving  in  the  54th  Illinois  regiment. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  Doctor  Maxwell  enlisted  as  private  in  company  A,  38th  Illinois 
infantry,  and  passed  his  examination,  and  was  appointed  as  a  steward.  He  served  as  such  until 
August  14,  1863,  then  as  assistant  surgeon  until  the  close  of  the  war,  being  appointed  on  the 
brigade  amputating  staff  during  the  Atlanta  campaign.  He  was  subsequently  assigned  to  a  de- 
tachment of  troops,  and  afterward  served  with  the  loist  Ohio  regiment,  the  2ist  Illinois  regiment, 
and  in  various  hospitals  till  the  close  of  the  war;  and  was  mustered  out  October  8,  1864,  and 
reached  home  in  time  to  vote  for  President  Lincoln.  While  in  the  service,  although  quite  young, 
he  did  some  brave  work,  which  fully  prepared  him  to  bravely  meet  the  duties  of  his  profession. 
As  a  surgeon  he  possesses  rare  skill,  and  is  known  throughout  a  wide  range  of  country. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Doctor  Maxwell  entered  the  medical  college  of  Ohio,  at  Cincinnati, 
where  he  graduated.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Newton,  in  1865,  and  in  the  same 
year  was  appointed  United  States  examining  surgeon,  a  position  which  he  still  holds.  When 
he  came  to  Newton  there  were  then  four  other  physicians  in  the  town,  all  of  whom  have  either 
moved  away  or  are  dead,  with  the  exception  of  Doctor  Franke,  who  is  now  an  invalid,  and  in 
a  delicate  state  of  health,  so  Doctor  Maxwell  is  now  the  oldest  practitioner  of  Newton,  and  has 
been  eminently  successful  both  financially  and  in  his  profession.  Benevolent  and  public-spirited, 
he  has  done  much  for  the  improvement  of  his  town,  and  erected  several  buildings. 

In  March,  1882,  his  residence  and  its  contents  were  burned  to  ashes,  and  in  its  place  now  stands 
the  handsomest  house  in  Jasper  county,  which  is  a  beauti'ful  home  fully  enjoyed  by  the  doctor  and 


544  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY, 

his  family,  and  is  the  pride  of  the  city  of  Newton.  The  doctor  also  takes  great  pride  in  his  sani- 
tary and  agricultural  influence  over  the  county,  by  which  it  has  been  materially  benefited,  and  a 
great  deal  of  malaria  and  other  diseases  avoided. 

In  1866  Doctor  Maxwell  married  Miss  Mary  Hays,  of  Florence,  Pennsylvania.     They  have  had 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living. 

.Both  the  doctor  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Newton,  in  which 
they  are  active  workers. 

In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  an  active  worker  in  the  local  elections. 


IRWIN   DUNLAP. 

JA  CKSON  VILLE. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  was  recently  sheriff  of  Morgan  county  for  six 
consecutive  years,  and  is  now  treasurer  of  the  county.  He  is  a  popular  and  trustworthy 
official,  and  performs  every  duty  with  promptness  and  efficiency.  He  is  a  son  of  Stephen  and 
Dicy  (Runkle)  Dunlap,  and  was  born  in  Champaign  county,  Ohio,  March  12,  1835.  His 
paternal  grandfather  was  James  Dunlap,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  Baptist  minister  for  sixty 
years,  dying  in  Morgan  county  when  past  ninety  years  of  age.  Dicy  Runkle  was  a  native  of 
Ohio,  and  granddaughter  of  a  German  who  came  to  this  country  in  the  last  century. 

In  1840,  when  Irwin  was  five  years  old,  the  family  came  to  this  state  and  settled  in  Jackson- 
ville. His  father  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  was  a  merchant  in  early  and  middle  life,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1877,  was  a  farmer  and  stock  dealer  in  this  county.  His  widow  is  still  living. 

Irwin  Dunlap  finished  his  education  in  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  where  he  attended  two 
years;  was  reared  on  the  farm  until  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  of  age;  sold  goods  awhile  for  other 
parties,  and  was  subsequently  in  the  mercantile  trade  for  himself  until  1874,  when  he  was  elected 
sheriff.  He  was  reelected  twice,  served  three  full  terms;  was  deputy-sheriff  in  1880-82;  in  No- 
vember of  the  latter  year,  was  elected  county  treasurer,  and  is  serving  his  first  term  in  the  latter 
office.  Some  years  ago  he  was  treasurer  of  township  No.  15-9,  and  was  alderman  of  the  first 
ward  in  Jacksonville  two  years.  , 

His  politics  are  democratic,  and  he  never  fails  to  draw  the  full  vote  of  his  party,  and  often 
more.  He  is  one  of  the  truest,  most  straightforward  men  in  Morgan  county.  He  is  an  Odd- 
Fellow,  and  has  passed  through  all  the  chairs,  and  represented  the  local  lodge  in  the  grand  lodge 
of  the  state.  Mr.  Dunlap  is  a  director  of  the  Covenant  Mutual  Benefit  Insurance  Company,  of 
Galesburgh,  an  Odd-Fellow's  organization. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Dunlap  was  Mary  T.  Layton,  daughter  of  William  T.  Layton,  of  Morgan 
county.  They  were  married  in  1857,  and  have  one  son,  Mi.llard  F.,  who  is  assistant  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Jacksonville. 


JOAB  MERSHON. 

VERMONT. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  has  been  a  resident  of  Vermont,  Fulton  county,  since  1838,  and 
one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  county  for  nearly  forty  years.  He  is  a  son  of  Henry 
Mershon,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  and  Ruth  (Dilworth)  Mershon,  whose  ancestors  were  from  Eng- 
land. The  Mershon  family  was  from  France,  coming  over  to  Long  Island  about  1693.  The  pro- 
genitor went  back  to  France,  or  started  to  go,  and  was  never  heard  of,  leaving  a  son  on  Long 
Island.  From  that  son  sprang  the  Mershons  in  this  country,  who  settled  at  first  in  New  Jersey, 
and  have  since  spread  over  many  states  of  the  Union. 

In  his  youth  Joab  had  a  fair  drill  in  the  rudimentary  branches  of  knowledge,  which  he  subse- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  545 

quently  enlarged  by  private  study;  learned  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker,  and  when  of  age  became  a 
drover,  going  into  Maryland,  purchasing  cattle  and  driving  them  to  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  born,  January  26,  1812. 

In  1838  we  find  Mr.  Mershon  in  Vermont,  then  hardly  the  beginning  of  a  village,  and  having 
one  shoemaker,  whom  our  subject  bought  out  the  next  spring,  Between  two  and  three  years 
later  he  became  a  general  merchant,  and  that  business  he  has  never  discontinued,  he  being  a 
partner  of  his  son  Henry.  He  was  for  many  years  a  pork  packer,  putting  up  some  years  as  high 
as  3000  hogs.  He  also  held  at  times  a  great  deal  of  wheat,  and  was  a  manufacturer  of  flour  for 
some  years. 

In  1868  he  started  a  private  bank,  in  connection  with  C.  B.  Cox,  Jr.,  a  nephew  of  his,  and  when 
Mr.  Cox  died  Mr.  Mershon  continued  the  institution  under  the  firm  name  of  J.  Mershon  and  Com- 
pany. This  banking  house  has  proved  a  firm,  popular  and  very  prosperous  institution.  No 
financial  panic  has  shaken  it  one  iota. 

Farming  and  cattle  raising  and  cattle  feeding  has  been  another  prosperous  branch  of  business 
with  our  subject,  who  seems  to  have  succeeded,  like  Midas,  in  turning  everything  he  touches  into 
gold.  He  has  given  his  children  more  or  less  land,  and  now  has  about  900  acres  in  his  own  name. 

Mr.  Mershon  was  married  at  Vermont  in  1841,  to  Miss  Sarah  Dilworth,  who  was  from  Ohio; 
and  they  have  five  children:  Henry,  the  merchant  already  named;  Rebecca,  wife  of  Frank  Durell, 
merchant,  Vermont;  Demarius  G.,  who  is  at  home;  Rhodes  D.,  livery  keeper  and  farmer,  Ver- 
mont, and  Milton  S.,  merchant,  Vermont. 

The  great  success  of  Mr.  Mershon  in  a  business  point  of  view,  is  owing,  no  doubt,  to  his 
economical  habits  to  start  with,  and  prudent  and  judicious  management  all  his  days.  Honesty 
he  has  found  the  best  policy,  and  coupled  with  industry  it  has  been  his  exceeding  great  reward. 
He  has  lived  a  life  of  the  strictest  integrity;  has  dealt  fairly  with  everybody;  has  worn  his  relig- 
ion as  an  every-day  garment,  and  has  gained  not  only  the  respect,  but  the  highest  esteem  of  a 
very  wide  circle  of  acquaintances.  Let  young  men  study  his  life. 


BENJAMIN   CHADSEY. 

RUSHVILLE. 

BENJAMIN  CHADSEY  is  one  of  the  patriarchs  of  Schuyler  county,  and  a  walking  encyclopae- 
dia as  regards  the  history  of  the  county.  Although  eighty-seven  years  old,  his  memory  is 
quite  clear,  and  his  mental  faculties  in  general  are  active  and  strong.  He  is  a  well  preserved  man, 
and  but  for  a  stiffness  of  the  left  leg,  caused  by  a  broad-axe  cut  on  the  knee  joint,  he  would  be 
very  active  for  a  man  who  is  pushing  on  toward  his  ninetieth  year. 

Mr.  Chadsey  was  born  at  Georgia,  Franklin  county,  Vermont,  August  16,  1796,  and  conse- 
quently, if  alive  when  this  book  is  delivered  (autumn  of  1883),  will  be  in  his  eighty-eighth  year. 
His  parents  were  Benjamin  Chadsey,  Sr  ,  and  Jerusha  Nichols,  the  former  a  native  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  the  latter  of  Vermont.  The  great-grandfather  of  our  subject  was  William  Chadsey, 
who  was  a  Quaker,  and  came  from  Wales  to  Rhode  Island,  and  settled  where  the  town  of 
.Warwick  now  stands.  Many  of  the  descendants  of  this  pioneer,  who  came  soon  after  Roger 
Williams,  are  still  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Narragansett  Bay.  The  family  is  remotely  related  to 
General  Greene,  of  revolutionary  fame.  The  members  did  not  all  imbibe  Quaker  principles,  for 
one  or  two  of  them  carried  muskets  in  1775-82. 

Benjamin  Chadsey,  Sr.,  was  a  farmer  in  moderate  circumstances,  and  Benjamin,  Jr.,  being  the 
fourth  child,  yet  eldest  son,  in  a  family  of  nine  children,  had  to  abandon  his  mental  training  at  an 
early  age,  and  help  support  the  family,  which  moved  to  Essex  county,  New  York,  in  his  infancy. 
A  few  years  later,  they  went  to  Ohio,  and  thence  to  Indiana.  The  father  died  near  Vincennes,  in 
August,  1812,  and  the  mother  in  February,  1813. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  our  subject  enlisted  (1812)  in  the  war  against  England,  and  served  a 


UNITED   STATES  flfOOKAPfffCAf.   DICTIONARY. 

little  more  than  two  years.  He  was  near  Vincennes  when  General  Harrison  fought  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe  in  1811.  Zachar  Taylor,  "Old  Rough  and  Ready,"  then  a  captain  of  one  of  the 
companies,  was  a  warm  friend  of  Benjamin  Chadsey,  Sr.,  and  was  very  kind  to  the  son,  who  was 
mustered  out  at  Fort  Knox,  Vincennes,  in  June,  1815. 

Mr.  Chadsey  had  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  from  the  close  of  the  war  until  1825  he 
followed  it  in  western  Indiana  and  eastern  Illinois. 

December  i,  1822,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Rachel  Johnson,  of  Vermillion  county,  this  state  ; 
in  1824  he  visited  Schuyler  county,  where  he  had  land  drawn  as  a  bounty  for  military  service,  and 
which  was  situated  two  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  where  Rushville,  the  county  seat,  now 
stands.  Here  he  concluded  to  pitch  his  tent  for  life,  a  few  days'  march  nearer  the  father  of 
waters,  and  in  November,  1825,  he  brought  his  young  wife  and  two  children  into  this  wild  prairie 
country,  where  red  men  were  abundant,  and  white  men,  like  angels'  visits,  few  and  far  between. 
Here  he  lived  for  some  years  in  a  very  humble  manner,  but  like  Cincinnatus,  he  was  "awful  at 
the  plow,"  and  the  upturned  sod  rewarded  him  for  his  industry. 

Mr.  Chadsey  was  one  of  the  three  commissioners  appointed  by  the  legislature  to  locate  the 
count}"  seat,  which  they  called  Rushville,  because  of  the  great  admiration  which  one  of  the  com- 
missioners had  for  Doctor  Richard  Rush,  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Chadsey  built  the  court  house, 
which  stood  in  the  public  square  from  1830  to  the  close  of  1882.  He  is  identified  with  other  enter- 
prises in  the  county,  and  has  usually  been  regarded  as  one  of  its  progressive  citizens.  He  was  a 
justice  of  the  peace  for  years,  but  has  never  sought  office. 

Mr.  Chadsey  cast  his  first  presidential  vote  for  John  Quincy  Adams;  was  a  national  republican; 
then  a  whig ;  a  free  soiler  in  1848,  voting  for  Van  Buren  and  Adams  on  the  Buffalo  platform  ;  an 
anti-slavery  man  until  1855,  and  has  since  been  a  republican.  He  has  always  thought  for  himself, 
and  regarding  all  causes  which  he  espouses,  he  can  give  a  reason  for  his  belief  and  acts. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chadsey  have  buried  one  child,  Benjamin,  and  have  seven  living.  Henry 
Clay  is  near  Rushville  ;  John  Quincy  Adams  is  with  his  parents  in  the  old  homestead  ;  Calvin  is 
near  Elmira,  New  York  ;  George  W.  is  in  Poweshiek  county,  Iowa ;  James  and  William  are  in 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  and  Jerusha  N.,  the  oldest  of  all,  is  the  wife  of  Felix  G.  Clark, 
register  of  the  United  States  land  office,  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  The  first  six  children  were  all  born 
on  Sunday  morning,  which  we  mention  simply  as  a  singular  coincidence. 


GEORGE  W.  NESBITT,  M.D. 

5  YCAMORE. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  NESBITT,  son  of  Henry  and  Eleanor  (Smith)  Nesbitt,  was  born 
r  in  Attica,  Wyoming  county,  New  York,  August  20,  1837.  His  father  was  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  and  born  in  the  County  of  Cavan,  North  of  Ireland,  coming  to  this  country  when  sixteen 
years  old;  and  his  mother  was  a  native  of  Washington  county,  New  York.  George  was  educated 
at  that  old  and  popular  institution,  the  Genesee  and  Wyoming  Seminary,  at  Alexander,  his  studies 
embracing  the  higher  mathematics,  and  Latin,  Greek,  German  and  French  languages.  His  father 
was  a  farmer,  but  the  son  did  not  take  to  agricultural  pursuits,  his  tastes  leading  to  the  medical 
profession.  He  studied  with  Doctor  H.  B.  Miller,  of  Alexander;  attended  lectures  at  the  Buffalo 
Medical  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1866;  and  after  practicing  in  that  city  one 
year,  being  also,  at  the  same  time,  in  company  with  Doctor  McCray  in  the  wholesale  and  retail 
drug  business,  came  to  this  state,  and  settled  at  Sycamore,  where  he  soon  built  up  a  liberal  prac- 
tice, and  has  obtained  a  highly  creditable  standing  in  the  fraternity.  He  has  a  well  selected 
medical  library,  takes  an  unusually  large  number  of  periodicals  devoted  to  the  profession,  and  of 
which  he  makes  the  best  of  use,  and  writes  himself  more  or  less  for  the  medical  press.  He  has 
also  lectured  on  hygiene  and  cognate  subjects  before  teachers'  institutes,  and  is  both  a  ready 
writer  and  fluent  speaker  on  all  subjects  pertaining  to  the  laws  of  health,  and  to  the  branches 
generally  of  his  profession. 


HC  Coip.r   Jf    I    Ci 


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OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  549 

The  doctor  is  a  member  of  the  De  Kalb  County  Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society.  He  was  vice-president  of  the  last-named  body  in 
1881;  and  was  again  elected  to  the  same  office  in  1883;  chairman  of  the  committee  on  obstetrics 
in  1880;  a  member  of  the  committee  on  the  practice  of  medicine  in  1881,  and  on  gynecology  in 
1882. 

In  June,  1882,  he  read  an  essay  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
held  at  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota,  on  a  new  plan  of  treatment  of  ununited  fracture  of  the  shaft  of  the 
femur.  The  essay  was  received  with  strong  approval,  and  was  ably  discussed  by  leading  surgeons 
of  the  United  States.  Doctor  Nesbitt  was  the  first  to  use  nitro-glycerine  in  pernicious  anemia. 
He  is  thoroughly  wedded  to  his  profession,  which  is  very  exacting  on  his  time,  and  he  has  held 
but  very  few  offices  of  any  kind.  The  only  ones  that  we  can  recall  at  this  time  are  those  of  alder- 
man of  the  old  second  ward  two  or  three  terms,  and  secretary  one  year  of  the  chapter,  he  being  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason. 

The  doctor  has  quite  a  taste  for  stock  raising,  and  has  several  farms  in  Kansas  on  which  he  is 
breeding  thoroughbred  horses  and  graded  cattle  and  sheep.  Pecuniarily,  as  in  every  other 
respect,  he  has  made  a  success  of  his  profession.  June  3,  1864,  he  was  joined  in  marriage  with 
Mary  H.  Davis,  daughter  of  David  Davis,  of  Chippewa,  Ontario,  and  they  have  two  sons  and  one 
daughter. 

HON.   L.  S.  WILCOX,  M.  D. 

CHAMPAIGN. 

ArtONG  the  younger  class  of  physicians  who  appear  in  this  work  no  one  probably  stands 
higher  in  the  practice  than  Doctor  Levi  Spencer  Wilcox,  mayor  of  Champaign.  Levi  has 
been  the  family  name  for  four  generations.  He  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  was  born  at  Lacon, 
Marshall  county,  August  7,  1847.  His  parents  were  the  late  Hon.  Levi  Wilcox,  M.D.,  and  Nancy 
(Rogers)  Wilcox,  who  were  among  the  early  pioneer  settlers  of  Illinois,  moving  thither  from  Ohio 
in  1838. 

His  father,  a  man  of  great  ability  and  influence,  was  born  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  about 
1800.  Shortly  after  entering  his  profession  he  came  west,  and  at  first  practiced  in  New  Lisbon, 
Ohio,  where  he  married,  and  in  1838  settled  in  Lacon,  Marshall  county,  where  he  had  great 
success.  He  was  the  first  county  treasurer  of  Marshall  county  and  mayor  of  Lacon,  and  an 
active  citi/en  in  the  early  history  of  both  the  town  and  city,  and  one  whose  record  was  well 
known  throughout  central  Illinois.  He  died  suddenly  of  cholera  in  1851,  leaving  his  wife  the 
mother  of  six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  grew  up  to  maturity.  The 
eldest  son,  Hon.  E.  A.  Wilcox,  is  practicing  medicine  at  Minonk,  Illinois.  The  second  son,  Lieu- 
tenant A.  R.  Wilcox,  enlisted  in  the  Union  army,  company  B,  nth  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  and 
was  fatally  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson,  and  died  a  month  later.  The  third  son,  who 
was  but  three  and  a  half  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Doctor  Wilcox  received  his  early  education  at  the  public  high  school  of  Lacon,  completing 
his  literary  course  at  the  Northwestern  University,  at  Evanston,  Illinois,  from  which  institution 
he  graduated,  after  five  years'  study,  in  1871. 

He  then  continued  the  study  of  medicine  at  the  Chicago  Medical  College,  finishing  his  studies 
at  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital,  New  York,  and  after  a  regular  course  of  study  there  he 
obtained  his  diploma  in  1873.  Returning  to  the  West  he  settled  in  Magnolia,  Putnam  county, 
where  he  began  his  practice,  meeting  with  encouraging  success.  He  continued  there  until 
1875,  when  he  removed  to  Champaign.  Here  he  found  several  older  physicians,  who  had  an 
established  practice,  and  at  first  he  met  with  some  discouragement,  but  the  citizens  of  Champaign 
and  vicinity  soon  found  out  his  true  value,  and  now  he  is  one  of  the  leading  physicians  of  Cham- 
paign county. 

In  politics  Doctor  Wilcox  is  a  republican,  but  has  never  entered  the  political  field  as  a  candi- 
54 


550 


I'M  TED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


date  for  office,  although  he  has  been  honored  by  several  local  positions.  He  has  been  supervisor 
for  three  years,  and  has  been  elected  two  terms  mayor  of  Champaign,  which  office  he  now  holds, 
honorably  and  faithfully  discharging  his  duties. 

Doctor  Wilcox  was  married  July  2,  1873,  to  Miss  Alice  Yaple,  of  Mendon,  Michigan,  a  lady  of 
high  literary  attainments,  and  a  graduate  of  the  Northwestern  Female  College,  at  Evanston,  of 
the  class  of  1871.  They  have  one  child,  Mae. 

In  his  profession  he  has  built  up  his  own  reputation  by  his  skill  and  energy,  and  acquired  an 
extensive  practice.  He  possesses  a  fine  intellect,  and  devotes  a  great  deal  of  time  to  scientific 
study  and  improvement  of  his  natural  talent  in  his  calling,  and  there  is  undoubtedly  before  him 
a  promising  future.  He  is  a  genial  gentleman,  a  prompt  business  man  and  a  generous  friend, 
and  thoroughly  merits  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  his  fellow  citizens. 


THE    BLACK    FAMILY. 

VIRGINIA. 

THE  Black  family,  several  members  of  which  are  living  in  Cass  county,  are  of  good  patriotic 
stock,  William  Black,  Sr.,  being  one  of  the  first  officers  in  the  country  to  refuse  to  continue 
allegiance  to  the  English  government.  He  was  a  militia  captain  in  1765-73,  and  died  just  before 
the  colonial  forces  were  mustered  to  resist  British  oppression.  He  married  a  Miss  Beard,  and  had 
two  sons,  of  whom  we  shall  speak.  Thomas  G.  was  born  in  Mecklenburgh  county,  North  Caro- 
lina, in  1772;  married  Miss  Polly  Callaham,  and  died  in  1823,  and  his  wife  in  1853. 

William  Black,  Jr.,  the  other  son,  was  born  in  Georgia,  and  married  in  Tennessee,  December 
4,  1823,  Mary  S.  Vaughn,  and  they  had  ten  children,  six  of  them  being  born  in  Tennessee 
and  the  last  four  in  what  is  now  Scott  county,  Illinois.  The  family  came  to  this  state  in  1834, 
and  William  Black  moved  to  Cass  county  in  1846,  and  settled  on  a  farm  six  miles'southeast  of 
Virginia.  He  reared  his  family  in  habits  of  industry, —  the  eight  who  lived  to  grow  up, —  and 
he  now  resides  in  the  village  of  Virginia,  being  in  his  eighty-eighth  year,  and  in  the  enjoyment 
of  fair  health.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  was  an  elder  until  superannuated  a 
few  years  ago.  His  wife  died  in  1881,  aged  seventy-eight  years.  She  was  a  very  hospitable 
woman,  a  warm-hearted  Christian  mother,  and  did  her  full  share  in  moulding  the  character  of  her 
children,  all  of  whom  are  members  of  the  Christian  church. 

We  proceed  to  mention  briefly  each  one  of  these  children: 

Thomas  Gallespie,  the  eldest  child,  born  June  15,  1825,  studied  medicine,  and  is  in  practice  at 
Clayton,  Adams  county,  this  state.  [See  full  sketch  of  him  in  this  volume.] 

Amanda  C.,  born  May  25,  1826,  died  July  23,  1837. 

Joseph  Franklin,  born  February  23,  1828,  was  a  farmer  in  early  life,  but,  having  considerable 
mechanical  talent,  he  invented  a  self-raking  reaper,  and  finally  a  binding  attachment,  which  was 
purchased  by  the  Walter  A.  Wood  Manufacturing  Company,  and  is  used  on  their  machines.  He 
is  a  prominent  architect,  residing  in  the  village  of  Virginia,  and  living  with  his  second  wife. 
Several  of  the  fine  public  buildings  in  Jacksonville,  Springfield  and  other  cities  in  central  Illinois 
were  designed  and  built  by  him. 

William  Littleton,  born  June  8,  1829,  was  a  farmer  until  four  or  five  years  ago,  when  he  formed 
a  partnership  with  his  youngest  brother,  John,  in  the  mercantile  trade,  the  firm  name  being  Black 
Brothers,  Virginia.  His  wife  died  in  1879.  leaving  three  daughters.  He  has  long  been  a  leading 
man  in  this  county  in  agricultural  matters;  is  the  inventor  of  a  gang  plow  and  of  an  attachment 
to  a  corn  planter,  which  has  proved  a  success.  Financially  he  k>  one  of  the  ablest  members  of 
the  family. 

Richmond  Vaughn,  born  October  27,  1831,  served  three  years  in  the  ii4th  Illinois  infantry, 
coming  out  as  captain,  and  for  the  last  twenty  years  or  more  has  been  a  farmer  near  Nebraska 
City. 


r. \rrp.D  STATKS  niocRArirrcAL  DICTIONARY 


55' 


John  Jefferson,  -born  October  24,  1833,  died  August,  1839. 

Green  Vardiman,  born  August  3,  1836,  served  a  short  time  in  the  civil  war,  is  a  dentist  in  Jack- 
sonville, this  state,  has  a  family,  and  a  high  standing  in  his  profession.  He  is  president  of  the 
state  board  of  dental  examiners. 

James  Berry,  the  seventh  son,  was  born  October  9,  1839,  in  Scott  county;  finished  his  educa- 
tion in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Academy,  Virginia,  and  Normal  University,  Bloomington; 
commenced  teaching  school  at  nineteen  years  of  age;  in  the  autumn  of  1861,  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  company  C,  3d  Illinois  cavalry;  served  nearly  two  years,  being  in  trie  battle  of  Pea  Ridge, 
Missouri,  and  with  Sherman  immediately  preceding  the  siege  of  Vicksburg;  was  promoted  to  first 
lieutenant,  and  resigned  his  commission  in  the  spring  of  1863  on  account  of  ill  health.  Return- 
ing to  Virginia,  Lieutenant  Black  resumed  teaching;  was  an  instructor  at  Jacksonville,  in  the  state 
institution  for  the  blind,  in  1864-66,  and  afterward  principal  of  the  public  schools  of  that  city.  In 
1869  he  went  on  his  father's  farm,  and  was  engaged  in  tilling  the  soil  when,  in  1873,  he  was  elected 
on  the  republican  ticket  to  the  office  of  clerk  of  Cass  county.  He  was  reflected  in  1877,  and 
served,  in  all,  nine  consecutive  years,  giving  great  satisfaction  to  the  public.  Since  July,  1878,  he 
has  been  cashier  of  the  Centennial  National  Bank  of  Virginia,  and  shows  himself  to  be  a  first- 
class  financier.  He  married,  July  i,  1867,  Miss  Eliza  J.  Edwing,  daughter  of  the  late  William 
Edwing,  of  Jacksonville,  and  they  have  one  daughter,  May,  aged  eight  years. 

Mary  J.,  the  youngest  daughter  of  William  Black,  was  born  December  13,  1840.  She  married 
George  A.  Beard,  a  prominent  farmer  in  Cass  county,  in  1857,  and  died  in  1874. 

John,  the  youngest  of  the  ten  children,  was  born  December  21,  1844;  is  a  graduate  of  Pitts- 
burgh Commercial  College;  married  Maggie  Blair,  March  15,  1866,  and  has  been  in  the  mercantile 
business  in  Virginia  since  1876.  He  commenced  business  by  opening  a  farm  in  Nebraska,  which 
he  still  owns,  but  his  health  failed  and  he  had  to  change  his  business. 

The  Black  family,  as  is  here  seen,  is  not  only  of  good  patriotic  stock,  as  we  stated  at  the  start, 
but  there  seems  to  be  no  diminution,  no  thinning  of  the  blood  in  the  family.  No  less  than  four 
grandsons  of  William  Black,  Sr.,  in  one  family,  volunteered  to  aid  in  saving  the  Union,  and  all 
showed  that  the  true  elements  of  manhood  are  in  their  natures.  William  Black,  Jr.,  in  his  extreme 
old  age,  can  look  back  with  pride  on  the  family  which  he  has  reared.  There  is  no  better  class  of 
people  in  Cass  county. 

CHARLES   H.  WIDMAYER. 

JACKSONVILLE. 
CHARLES  HENRY  WIDMAYER,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Jacksonville,  and  a  leading  butcher 


and  packer  in  the  place,  is  a  native  of  the  kingdom  of  Wittenburg,  Germany,  and  was  born 
in  Markgreinngen,  March  4,  1841.  His  father  was  Jacob  Widmayer,  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  who 
brought  his  family  to  this  country  in  1854,  when  Charles  was  thirteen  years  of  age.  He  settled  at 
Niagara  Falls,  where  he  died  of  the  cholera  in  less  than  two  months  after  he  reached  that  place. 
His  widow  is  still  living,  her  home  being  in  Hampshire,  Kane  county,  this  state. 

Charles  finished  his  education  in  the  old  country  ;  learned  the  butcher's  trade;  came  to  Illinois 
in  1857  ;  worked  at  his  trade  in  Chicago  until  the  spring  of  1862,  and  then  went  to  Oregon  via 
the  overland  route,  in  the  government  employ.  He  spent  three  years  in  butchering  in  eastern 
Oregon  and  the  Territory  of  Idaho,  being  one  of  the  first  settlers  at  Pioneer  City,  Idaho.  He 
went  thence  into  Montana  Territory  ;  spent  four  months  in  Nevada  City,  and  returned  to  the  East 
via  Panama  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war.  Mr.  Widmayer  had  a  variety  of  experiences  in  frontier 
life,  and,  like  Mark  Twain,  knows  what  roughing  it  means.  His  account  of  some  of  his  adven- 
tures is  quite  amusing. 

In  the  spring  of  1865  our  subject  opened  a  meat  market  at  Jacksonville,  and  has  been  doing  a 
successful  business  here  since  that  date.  For  years  he  was  of  the  firm  of  Wiegand  and  Widmayer, 
but  since  the  death  of  his  partner  in  July,  1882,  the  firm  name  has  been  Widmayer  and  Wiegand, 


552  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

the  estate  of  his  late  partner  being  represented  in  the  firm,  which  is  doing  more  or  less  packing 
the  year  round,  and  one  or  two  years  did  a  large  business  in  that  branch.  No  butcher  and  meat 
dealer  in  Jacksonville  is  more  popular  than  the  subject  of  this  notice,  or  has  made  a  greater  suc- 
cess in  his  business.  He  is  a  hard  worker  and  an  honest  dealer,  and  makes  many  friends.  In  all 
his  transactions  his  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond. 

He  was  alderman  of  the  first  ward,  four  years,  and  served  the  city  so  well  in  that  capacity, 
that  in  1882  he  was  elected  mayor,  overcoming  a  republican  majority  of  three  hundred  votes,  and 
at  the  time  this  sketch  is  written,  he  is  faithfully  performing  the  duties  of  that  office.  He  is  public- 
spirited,  and  works  hard  in  the  general  interests  of  the  city.  His  affiliations  have  always  been 
with  the  democratic  party.  During  the  civil  war  he  was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, so  much  so  that  in  the  mountains  he  was  called  an  abolitionist  by  the  southern  sympathizers. 
Mr.  Widmayer  is  a  true  lover  of  his  adopted  country ;  he  is  a  deacon  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
Jacksonville,  and  does  all  he  can  to  support  such  institutions,  being  a  truly  valuable  citizen. 

He  was  married,  August  13,  1865,  at  Hampshire,  Kane  county,  to  Miss  Louisa  Ream,  and  they 
have  lost  one  daughter,  and  have  four  daughters  and  three  sons  living. 


GEORGE   LITTLE. 

RUSHVILLE. 

EORGE  LITTLE  is  the  oldest  merchant  in  Schuyler  county,  and  is  connected  with  one  of 
the  oldest  mercantile  houses  in  the  state.  The  firm  of  Little  and  Ray  was  formed  in  1844, 
and  is  still  doing  business  here,  having  stood  up  manfully  through  all  the  financial  cyclones 
which  have  swept  over  the  country  during  the  last  forty  years. 

Mr.  Little  was  born  in  Columbia.  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania,  February  9,  1808,  being  a 
son  of  James  and  Rebecca  (Greer)  Little.  His  father  was  born  in  the  County  of  Tyrone,  Ireland, 
in  1786,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1805.  George  was  the  fourth  child  in  a  family  of  six  children, 
four  yet  living.  He  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Columbia,  and  quite  early  in  life 
took  charge  of  a  shoe  manufactory  for  his  father,  learning  the  trade,  that  he  might  have  a  clearer 
insight  into  the  business.  In  1837  James  Little  came  to  this  state  and  settled  in  Rushville,  where 
he  died  in  1851,  and  his  widow  in  1864.  George  had  preceded  his  parents,  coming  the  year 
before,  and  engaging  in  mercantile  business  in  1836.  The  firm  of  Little  and  Ray,  formed  May  i, 
1844,  has  not  up  to  this  date  (January,  1883)  been  dissolved,  though  Mr.  Ray  died  in  January, 
1 88 1.*  His  son,  George  C.  Ray,  is  in  the  firm,  which  has  the  name  of  Little,  Ray  and  Company. 
They  keep  a  general  store,  and  are  doing  an  immense  business.  Theirs  is  not  only  the  oldest, 
but  stanchest  house  in  town,  and  its  record  is  a  synonym  for  integrity,  as  well  as  firmness. 

Mr.  Little  was  married,  September,  1840,  to  Mary  J.  Lloyd,  daughter  of  Thomas  Lloyd  of  Co- 
lumbia, and  she  died  in  1848,  leaving  three  children,  only  one  of  them  now  living,  Mary  R.,  the 
wife  of  William  H.  Scripps,  of  Rushville.  In  1852  Mr.  Little  was  married  to  Miss  Lydia  E. 
Scripps,  daughter  of  the  late  George  H.  Scripps.  She  is  the  mother  of  five  children,  only  three  of 
them  now  living.  William  died  in  1860,  George  died  in  Colorado  in  1880,  John  S.  is  a  clerk  in 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Rushville,  of  which  his  father  is  president,  and  Grace  and  Virginia 
Ella  are  students  in  the  well  known  schools  at  Evanston,  near  Chicago. 

Mr.  Little  has  lived  a  very  busy  yet  somewhat  quiet  life,  having  held  only  one  or  two  public 

'  Hon.    William  H.  Ray  was  a  native  of  Dutchess  county,  New  York,  born  in  1812.     He  received  in  youth  a  Urn- 
education,  to  which  he  added  in  middle  and  later  life;  came  to  Rushville  in  1834,  and  was  a  merchant  here  till  his 
leath,  January  25,  1881.     For  years  he  was  a  leading  man  in  Schuyler  county.     He  was  a  personal  friend  and  politi- 
.1  assoc.ate  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  represented  his  district  in  congress  in  1872-73.     At  the  organization  of  the  First 
Bank  of  Rushville  in  May,  1865,  he  was  chosen  president,  and  held  that  office  till  his  death.     He  was  a  true 
an,  and  showed  a  sound  judgment  and  the  strictest  integrity  in  all  his  transactions.     His  family  and  the  citizens  gen- 
erally of  the  county,  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  record. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  553 

posts,  in  the  municipality  of  the  town.  He  was  formerly  a  whig,  and  latterly  has  been  a  republi- 
can, but  has  left  the  offices  for  persons  who  like  honors  of  that  kind.  He  is  very  much  of  a  home 
body,  and  prefers  domestic  repose  to  public  turmoil.  He  and  his  family  attend  the  Methodist 
Church,  of  which  he  is  a  liberal  supporter.  He  is  generous-hearted,  and  is  not  apt  to  forget  the 
poor  or  unfortunate. 


E 


EDWIN   T.  DISOSWAY. 

IIENR  Y. 

DVVIN  THEODORE  DISOSWAY,  insurance  agent,  city  collector  of  Henry,  Marshall  county, 
is  of  Huguenot  descent,  and  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  January  13,  1820.  His  father, 
Israel  Disosway,  born  on  Staten  Island,  was  a  graduate  of  Columbia  College,  and  a  merchant, 
dying  in  Iroquois  county,  Illinois,  only  a  few  years  ago,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years,  and  his 
mother  was  Letitia  Budd  McCullough,  a  native  of  Warren  county,  New  Jersey,  and  a  daughter  of 
Colonel  McCullough,  a  prominent  man  in  that  county.  She  died  at  about  eighty  years  of  age. 
One  of  the  daughters  of  Israel  Disosway  is  married  to  Rev.  Doctor  Deems,  of  New  York  city. 

Edwin  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  New  York  city;  was  in  his  father's  store  awhile 
in  that  city,  their  residence  being  part  of  the  time  in  New  Jersey,  and  for  ten  years  he  was  in 
trade  for  himself  at  Stony  Creek,  Dinwiddie  county,  Virginia,  he  being  also  postmaster  at  the 
same  time,  under  presidents  Taylor  and  Fillmore. 

In  the  spring  of  1859  Mr.  Disosway  came  to  Henry,  Marshall  county,  and  was  a  clerk  first  in 
a  store,  and  then  in  a  bank,  a  short  time  in  each  position;  was  subsequently  a  banker,  in  company 
with  J.  N.  Purple,  and  a  little  later  cashier  for  John  G.  Ferguson,  of  El  Paso,  his  family  remain- 
ing in  Henry. 

He  married  Miss  Rebecca  Davis,  ef  Washington,  Warren  county,  New  Jersey,  in  1848,  and 
while  he  was  at  El  Paso,  October,  1866,  she  died,  and  he  returned  to  Henry.  Soon  afterward  he 
was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  that  office  he  still  holds.  For  some  years  he  has  also  been 
engaged  in  fire  insurance.  He  has  held  various  local  offices,  such  as  town  clerk,  city  clerk,  city 
treasurer,  and  is  now  city  collector,  also  notary  public. 

Mr.  Disosway  was  in  early  and  middle  life  a  whig;  has  been  a  republican  since  there  was  such 
a  party,  and  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason,  serving  for  ten  or  twelve  years  as  secretary  of  Henry  Lodge, 
No.  119.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  since  early  manhood,  and 
has  held  all  the  offices  which  a  layman  can  hold  in  that  organization.  He  is  leader  of  the  choir, 
an  earnest  Sunday-school  worker,  zealous  in  the  temperance  cause,  and  president  of  the  Red 
Ribbon  Club.  He  is  a  small  man,  physically,  but  large-hearted,  and  his  instincts  are  all  in  the 
right  direction.  His  children  living  are:  Sarah  Virginia,  Israel  Theodore,  Lena,  Robert,  Emmet, 
Linda  May,  and  Charles  N.,  the  eldest  son  and  youngest  daughter  being  married. 


B 


BARTON    BISHOPP. 

SHELDON. 

ARTON  BISHOPP  was  born  in  England,  November  28,  1838.  He  is  the  son  of  Edward  B. 
and-  Matilda  Elizabeth  (David)  Bishopp.  At  the  time  of  his  birth  his  parents  pursued  an 
agricultural  life  in  England,  but  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1853,  settling  in  Sheldon 
township,  where  they  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  only 
the  usual  educational  advantages  afforded  by  the  common  schools  of  England.  His  tastes  being 
of  a  mechanical  turn,  he  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  carpenter's  trade,  which  he  fol- 
lowed very  successfully  for  about  ten  years,  engaging  very  extensively  in  contracting  and  build- 
ing, making  considerable  money. 

About  the  year  1867  Mr.  Bishopp  gave  up  the  carpenter  and  contracting  business,  and  bought 


554 


UNITED    STATES   RIOGRAPIUCAI.    DfCTIO.V.  I  A'  )'. 


a'  farm  near  Sheldon.  Here  he  engaged  very  extensively  in  farming  and  cattle  raising,  and  a 
greater  portion  of  his  time  was  devoted  extensively  to  dealing  and  operating  in  live  stock,  prin- 
cipally in  buying  and  fatting  cattle  for  market.  In  1871  he  embarked  in  the  lumber,  grain  and 
coal  business  at  Sheldon,  where  he  has  facilities  for  doing  a  large  and  profitable  business,  which 
he  continued  with  a  marked  success  until  1882,  when,  in  addition  to  his  already  well  established 
business,  he  bought  the  only  extensive  hardware  enterprise  in  Sheldon,  and  in  fact  in  Iroquois 
county.  He  has  in  his  business  about  $40,000  capital,  employing  in  the  busy  time  as  high  as 
fifteen  hands,  and,  in  addition  to  his  mercantile  pursuits,  he  has  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  the 
county,  of  350  acres,  which  is  also  run  under  his  management.  In  connection  with  his  farm  he  is 
running  a  large  hay  press  in  Sheldon. 

In  politics  Mr.  Bishopp  is  a  republican,  but  has  never  been  an  office  seeker  or  taken  any  promi- 
nent part,  but  has  always  been  a  public  benefactor,  to  whom  the  town  of  Sheldon  is  largely 
indebted  for  her  growth  and  prosperity.  He  was  elected  supervisor  in  1877,  and  since  that  time 
has  been  reelected,  and  holds  that  office  at  .the  present  time.  He  is  a  member  of  the  school 
board,  in  which  he  is  deeply  interested  and  an  energetic  worker. 

In  religion  he  is  liberal,  but  is  a  good,  conscientious,  honorable  man,  and  a  generous  supporter 
of  all  good  causes,  and  it  may  be  said  that  he  is  never  called  upon  for  any  public  or  religious 
cause  but  that  he  responds  liberally. 

He  was  married  in  the  fall  of  1867  to  Miss  Martha  A.  Moore,  of  Watseka.  Mr.  Bishopp  is 
emphatically  a  self-made  man,  commencing  life  in  straitened  circumstances.  By  his  own  energy 
and  perseverance  he  has  made  for  himself  an  honorable  name,  and  gained  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens. 


ALFRED  SAMPLE. 

PAXTON. 

ALFRED  SAMPLE  was  born  in  Butler  county,  Ohio,  November  27,  1846.  His  parents  were 
James  Sample,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  Jane  (Beard)  Sample,  who  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. His  father  was  a  farmer  and  stock-dealer,  and  engaged  in  railroad  business,  and  was  a 
man  of  good  reputation,  well  known  in  the  western  country.  Our  subject  received  his  early 
training  on  the  farm  and  at  the  village  school,  which  he  attended  until  about  eleven  years  of  age, 
when  he  gave  to  agricultural  pursuits  his  entire  attention.  In  the  year  1857  he  removed  with 
his  parents  to  Livingston  county,  Illinois.  In  the  second  year  of  the  civil  war,  although  but  six- 
teen years  old,  he,  in  November,  1863,  enlisted  in  company  G,  I29th  regiment  Illinois  infantry, 
and  immediately  went  into  active  service.  He  was  in  General  Sherman's  campaign  and  march 
to  Atlanta.  In  the  battle  of  Resaca  he  was  severely  wounded  in  the  breast,  and  had  one  arm 
broken,  on  account  of  which,  being  unfitted  for  duty,  he  was  honorably  discharged  December  6, 
1864. 

After  leaving  the  army  he  entered  Eureka  College,  where  he  remained  three  years,  going 
thence  to  Monmouth,  where  he  completed  his  education,  having  taken  a  special  course  in  both 
colleges,  and  given  special  attention  to  the  classics  and  to  mathematics.  While  at  college  he 
taught  school  at  different  intervals  during  vacations  and  for  one  year  after  leaving  college.  He 
then  began  the  study  of  law  under  the  instruction  of  Colonel  R.  G.  Ingersoll,  whose  history  is 
found  elsewhere  in  this  work,  which  he  continued  until  1871,  when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
During  the  same  year  he  came  to  Paxton,  where  he  has  since  practiced  with  success. 

Mr.  Sample  is  a  republican  in  political  sentiment,  but  has  not  allowed  political  matters  to  inter- 
fere with  his  profession,  and  yet,  although  he  has  never  sought  political  preferment,  he  was 
chosen  a  presidential  elector  in  the  Garfield  campaign,  and  has  been  state's  attorney  for  eight 
years  and  city  attorney  for  four  years,  facts  which  show  the  appreciation  the  citizens  of  Ford 
county  have  for  the  man,  who  is  among  the  most  active  and  enterprising  citizens  of  Paxton. 


UNITED    STATES  ftrOCKA  PHICA  /.    DlC'I'tQNAK  Y.  555 

Mr.  Sample  was  married  in  September,  1875,  to  Miss  Florence  A.  Cook,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Cook,  who  is  well  known  in  state  history,  and  who  was  brought  prominently  before  the  public  in 
our  late  war. 

Mr.  Sample  has  accumulated  a  handsome  property,  and  besides  his  home  in  Paxton  possesses 
other  lands  in  his  county,  and  is  looked  up  to  as  an  enterprising,  upright  and  valuable  citizen. 


HON.   WILLIAM    P.    GALLON. 

JA  CKSONVILLE. 

W'lLLIAM  PIERCE  GALLON,  lawyer,  and  late  member  of  the  state  senate,  hails  from 
Franklin  county,  Indiana,  being  born  at  Laurel,  March  28,  1836.  His  father,  Dennis  C. 
Gallon,  a  merchant,  was  born  in  Mason  county,  Kentucky,  and  married  Caroline  Lamb,  a  native 
of  the  same  county.  The  great-grandfather  of  our  subject  was  from  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Ken- 
tucky, where  William  Gallon,  the  father  of  Dennis  C.,  was  born.  In  1843,  when  William  was  seven 
years  old,  the  family  came  to  Morgan  county,  where  the  father  died  in  1879.  The  widow  is  still 
living. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  Illinois  College,  taking  the  full  scientific  course; 
read  law  with  Hon.  Cyrus  Epler,  now  judge  of  the  seventh  judicial  circuit  of  this  state;  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  1860;  opened  an  office  in  Logan  county,  and  was  there  when  the  civil  war 
commenced.  He  went  into  the  army  in  August,  1861,  as  second  lieutenant  of  cavalry,  4th  Illinois 
regiment,  and  served  nearly  three  years,  coming  out  as  first  lieutenant.  He  was  in  the  battles  of 
Fort  Henry,  Fort  Donelson  and  Shiloh,  and  in,  numerous  skirmishes,  and  in  December,  1862, 
received  a  wound  while  in  northern  Mississippi,  laying  him  up  for  several  weeks. 

On  leaving  the  army  Mr.  Gallon  spent  two  years  at  Natchez,  Mississippi;  was  then  (1867) 
appointed  United  States  agent  for  the  Omaha  Indians,  spending  two  years  at  the  agency  in  north- 
ern Nebraska.  He  returned  to  Natchez  in  1869,  and  remained  there  until  1872,  when  he  settled 
in  Jacksonville. 

In  1876  Mr.  Gallon  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature;  served  one  term,  and  in 
1878  was  elected  to  the  senate,  in  which  body  he  also  served  one  term,  representing  Morgan  and 
Greene  counties.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  senate. 

Mr.  Gallon  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1860,  and  has  since  acted  with  the  democratic  party. 
During  an  important  canvass  he  usually  takes  the  field,  and  when  he  does  he  makes  a  valiant  fight 
for  his  party's  ticket. 

He  was  married,  March  24,  1868,  to  Miss  Nannie  W.  Thornhill,  of  Natchez,  and  they  have 
buried  one  son  and  have  five  children  living. 

The  legal  business  of  our  subject  extends  into  all  the  courts  in  which  the  lawyers  of  Jackson- 
ville have  any  practice,  and  he  is  making  a  noteworthy  success  in  his  profession.  He  is  a  man 
of  fine  talents,  a  strong  and  clear  reasoner,  a  forcible  and  eloquent  speaker,  and  has  great  influ- 
ence with  a  jury. 

JOSEPH   B.  TITUS. 

SULLIVAN 

AMONG  the  leading  members  of  the  bar  in  Moultrie  county  is  Joseph  B.  Titus,  who  was  born 
in  Franklin  county,  Indiana,  January  24,  1838.     His  parents  were  George  W.  and   Elizabeth 
(Bennett)  Titus,  the  mother's  ancestry  dating  back  to  the  revolutionary  period  of  our  country, 
where  the  family  name  is  indelibly  stamped  in  history.     In  1858  they  moved  to  Moultrie  county, 
settling  near  the  present  site  of  Sullivan,  and  engaged  in  farming. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  received  his  first  educational  training  at  the  public  school  while 
working  on  his  father's  farm,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  attended  the  Brookville  high  school  for 


556  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

two  years,  when  he  entered  Miami  University,  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  which  was  then  one  of  the  most 
leading  institutions  in  the  West.  Here  he  graduated  with  the  class  of  1858.  He  then  immedi- 
ately began  the  study  of  law  with  J.  G.  Douglas,  of  Cincinnati,  and  after  graduating  from  the 
law  college,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1860.  Mr.  Titus,  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  came  to 
Sullivan  to  begin  the  practice  of  his  profession,  engaging  in  a  general  practice  and  meeting  with 
good  success. 

In  1865  he  was  elected  by  the  democratic  party  county  clerk  of  Moultrie  county,  and  gave 
entire  satisfaction  to  his  fellow  citizens.  At  the  end  of  his  term  of  office,  in  1869,  Mr.  Titus 
went  into  the  banking  and  loan  business,  but  the  financial  crisis  which  occurred  soon  after- 
ward, proving  disastrous  to  many  through  the  land,  did  not  pass  him  without  leaving  the 
effect  of  a  most  severe  shock,  and  in  1873  he  closed  up  his  business,  and  had  left  but  a  small  por- 
tion of  his  fortune  and  a  few  buildings  and  some  unimproved  property,  which,  owing  to  the 
increase  of  real  estate,  subsequently  became  of  value. 

Being  overworked  during  this  financial  depression,  Mr.  Titus  suffered  from  a  broken-down 
constitution,  and  spent  the  next  few  years  in  travel  and  recruiting  his  health.  After  leaving  Sul- 
livan he  spent  some  time  in  California.  He  then  crossed  the  Pacific,  and  after  spending  some 
time  in  China  and  Japan  and  different  points  of  interest  along  the  Asiatic  shores,  he  went  to  Aus- 
tralia, and  thence  to  Valparaiso  and  numerous  places  along  the  Pacific  coast,  subsequently  return- 
ing again  to  California.  He  visited  all  the  principal  points  of  interest,  and  afterward  spent  one 
year  in  Arizona,  returning  to  Sullivan  in  1878. 

Immediately  after  his  return  Mr.  Titus  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  at  the  same  time  giving 
some  attention  to  farming.  The  property  which  he  had  saved  had  increased  in  value.  In  his 
business  he  has  been  very  successful,  building  up  a  very  lucrative  practice  and  acquiring  a 
good  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  while  his  farming  enterprises  have  likewise  been  financially  suc- 
cessful. He  has,  since  his  return,  taken  an  active  part  in  the  public  interests  of  the  county.  The 
opera  house,  which  he  built  previous  to  his  embarrassment,  and  which  is  still  owned  by  the  family, 
is  one  of  the  finest  in  central  Illinois,  outside  of  the  large  cities.  Mr.  Titus  is  emphatically  a  self- 
made  man,  and  has  been  very  successful,  and,  notwithstanding  his  misfortunes,  the  same  spirit 
and  energy  which  enabled  him  to  gain  his  first  success  has  enabled  him  to  retrieve  his  losses, 
which  must  be  said  to  his  credit,  and  in  which  his  friends  feel  a  just  satisfaction. 


FREDERICK  SMITH. 

PEKIN. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  at  the  head  of  the  great  manufactories  of  Pekin,  and  is  also  iden- 
tified largely  with  mercantile,  banking  and  other  important  interests  of  the  city,  and  he  has 
done  much  to  build  it  up.  He  is  a  native  of  Hanover,  Germany,  a  son  of  Conrad  Smith  and  Mar- 
garet (Van  de  Velde)  Smith;  and  dates  his  birth  June  20,  1829.  He  had  a  common-school  drill; 
served  five  years  as  an  apprentice  to  the  blacksmith's  trade  in  Germany;  came  to  Pekin  in  1849, 
and  here  worked  at  his  trade  for  nine  years,  being,  of  the  firm  of  T.  and  H.  Smith  and  Company. 
The  firm  was  composed  at  first  of  Teis  Smith,  Henry  Smith,  Frederick  Smith  and  Luppe  Luppen. 
Henry  Smith  died  in  1859,  and  Teis  Smith*  in  1870.  Dietrich  C.  Smith  and  Habbe  Velde  have, 
since  its  formation,  been  taken  into  the  firm,  whose  name  has  never  been  changed. 

The  original  parties  were  industrious  mechanics,  with  very  little  capital  in  the  aggregate,  and 
they  commenced  in  a  small  shop  and  with  common  farm  wagons,  with  now  and  then  a  buggy. 
Their  work  being  first-class,  and  giving  good  satisfaction,  their  business  soon  began  to  increase, 
and  their  shops  to  multiply  and  expand.  In  a  few  years  their  operations  became  so  large  that 

*Teis  Smith,  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  T.  and  H.  Smith  and  Company,  was,  in  his  day,  the  leader  in  all 
enterprises  undertaken  by  that  noted  firm,  and  was  prominent  in  railroad  projects,  politics  ^nd  local  movements  of 
rvrrv  kind  calculated  to  benefit  the  community. 


by  E  fVWillia  ms  &   Bra  NY 


of  I. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  559 

they  were  obliged  to  divide,  and  build  a  separate  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  plows,  cultiva- 
tors, etc.,  the  manufacture  of  which  they  commenced  more  than  a  score  of  years  ago.  In  1879  the 
Pekin  Plow  Company  was  organized  by  the  old  firm,  and  it  gives  employment  to  about  150 
workmen,  a  like  force  being  in  the  wagon  and  carriage  shops.  The  several  buildings  are  substan- 
tial brick  structures,  all  of  them  either  two  or  three  stories  high,  and,  with  the  yards,  cover  between 
two  and  three  acres  of  ground.  An  intimation  of  the  kind  of  implements,  etc.,  made  by  the  Plow 
company  may  be  found  in  a  sketch  of  Luppe  Luppen,  whose  portrait  follows  Mr.  Smith's. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  general  superintendent  of  the  manufactory,  and  has  the  plac- 
ing of  the  goods  in  the  market,  that  being  latterly  his  main  work.  He  is  managing  his  part  with 
great  success,  being  both  a  thorough-going  and  very  competent  business  man.  The  growth  of 
the  enterprise  with  which  he  is  connected  would  be  a  wonder  anywhere  outside  the  West. 

Simultaneously  with  the  growth  of  the  manufactories  of  these  parties,  sprang  up  other  enter- 
prises of  their  own.  A  handsome  store,  a  lumber  yard,  a  grain  office,  and  a  bank,  were  all  called 
for  in  time,  and  forthcoming,  our  subject  having  an  interest  in  all  of  them.  The  handsome  store 
is  in  the  name  of  Smith,  Velde  and  Company;  the  lumber  office,  Smith,  Feltman  and  Company; 
the  grain  department,  Smith,  Hippen  and  Company,  and  the  bank,  Teis  Smith  and  Company, 
all  prosperous  branches  of  business,  and  managed  on  strict  and  honorable  business  principles. 

While  absorbed  in  worldly  matters,  Mr.  Smith  does  uot  neglect  other  duties;  he  is  an  active 
Christian,  an  office  bearer  in  the  German  Methodist  church,  and  a  man  of  most  excellent  charac- 
ter. The  wife  of  our  subject  was  Miss  Louisa  Grondenberg,  of  Pekin,  their  union  taking  place 
May  6,  1855.  They  have  nine  children,  seven  sons  and  two  daughters. 


o 


HON.  GEORGE  W.  STIFF. 

PRINCETON. 

NE  of  the  most  eminent  men  on  the  circuit  bench  in  Illinois  is  George  Washington  Stipp, 
who  is  self-educated  and  self-made  in  the  true  sense  of  the  terms.  He  began  and  ended 
his  school  drill  in  a  log  school-house,  in  Champaign  county,  Ohio,  where  he  was  born  March  2, 
1818.  His  father  was  Peter  Stipp,  a  farmer  in  early  life,  later  a  school  teacher  and  preacher,  he 
belonging  to  the  so-called  New  Light  denomination.  He  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  was  a  soldier 
in  the  second  war  with  England.  He  married  Elizabeth  Harrison,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Stipp  commenced  reading  law  at  Bellefontaine,  Ohio,  with  William  Lawrence;  came  to 
Canton,  in  this  state,  in  1845,  before  finishing  his  legal  studies;  went  into  the  Mexican  war  in 
1846,  as  first  lieutenant,  company  K,  4th  Illinois  infantry,  Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  commander; 
returning  to  Bellefontaine  the  next  year,  resumed  his  studies;  finished  them  at  the  Cincinnati  law 
school;  returned  to  Canton,  March,  1848,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Mason  county,  this 
state,  in  May  of  that  year,  Hon.  Richard  Yates  being  one  of  his  examiners. 

Mr.  Stipp  practiced  a  few  years  at  Lewiston,  Fulton  county,  being  at  one  period  a  partner  of 
Hon.  Lewis  J.  Ross,  since  a  member  of  congress.  In  the  autumn  of  1853,  Mr.  Stipp  settled  in 
Princeton,  and  soon  took  a  high  position  at  the  Bureau  county  bar.. 

He  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county  in  1857,  and  held  the  office  between  one 
and  two  years.  September,  1861,  he  went  into  the  army  as  captain,  company  B,  Yates  sharp- 
shooters, afterward  64th  Illinois  infantry,  and  served  until  December,  1862,  when  he  resigned  on 
account  of  ill  health.  He  came  out  as  major  of  the  regiment. 

Mr.  Stipp  has  a  judicial  turn  of  mind,  and  it  became  evident  some  years  ago  that  he  had,  in  a 
marked  degree,  the  qualities  which  fitted  him  fora  jurist,  and  in  June,  1879,  he  was  elected  judge 
of  the  gth  judicial  circuit,  an  office  which  he  still  fills  with  much  credit  to  the  bench,  and  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  public.  He  has  profound  legal  attainments,  seems  to  be  equally  well 
versed  in  civil  and  criminal  law,  has  no  disposition  to  reward  friends  or  punish  enemies,  if  he  has 
any,  and  hence  is  unbiased  by  prejudice,  impartitil,  cool,  self-poised  and  emphatically  a  just  judge. 
55 


560  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  politics  he  was  originally  a  whig,  voted  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  president  in  1860,  and 
has  since  affiliated  with  the  democratic  party. 

Judge  Stipp  was  married  May  29,  1849,  to  Miss  Louisa  C.  Wolf,  of  West  Liberty,  Ohio,  and 
they  have  ten  children,  four  of  whom,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  are  married.  Most  of  the 
others  are  pursuing  their  studies. 


WINFIELD   S.  EVERHART. 

TOLEDO. 

ONE  of  the  most  prominent  attorneys  of  Cumberland  county  is  W.  S.  Everhart,  successor  to 
the  late  law  firm  of  Decius  and  Everhart.  The  senior  member  of  the  firm  was  the  late  Judge 
Decius,  whose  reputation  and  ability  as  an  attorney  was  known  throughout  the  state  of  Illinois. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Leasburgh,  Ohio,  November  18,  1850.-  His  parents,  Captain 
Philip  and  Susan  (Staley)  Everhart,  settled  in  Ohio  at  an  early  date,  and  his  father  took  an  active 
part  in  the  late  civil  war.  He  entered  as  private  in  company  C,  5ist  Ohio  infantry,  and  was 
gradually  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain.  They  moved  to  Illinois  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  settling  in  Cumberland  county  in  1866. 

Winfield  spent  his  early  days  as  most  farmer  boys  do,  working  on  the  farm  summers  and 
attending  the  district  school  during  the  winter  months.  He  afterward  went  to  school  for  a  time 
at  Neoga,  and  still  later  attended  the  University  of  Illinois  for  four  years.  In  September,  1875, 
he  began  the  study  of  law  with  the  late  Judge  Decius,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in 
1878,  and  became  associated  with  his  preceptor,  under  the  firm  name  of  Decius  and  Everhart. 
Their  business  was  very  large  and  lucrative,  and  so  continued  until  the  death  of  Judge  Decius, 
which  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1882.  The  business  is  now  continued  by  Mr.  Everhart,  who  is  a 
thorough  lawyer,  being  a  careful  and  safe  counsellor  and  an  advocate  of  more  than  ordinary 
ability.  He  is  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  his  energy  never  lags  while  working  for  the  inter- 
ests of  his  clients.  He  has  a  large  and  convenient  office,  and  a  well  selected  library  of  nearly 
one  thousand  volumes. 

In  January,  1883,  Mr.  Everhart  formed  a  partnership  with  W.  L.  Bruster,  and  they  are  con- 
ducting a  mortgage,  brokerage  and  loan  business,  which  promises  to  be  a  great  success. 

In  politics  Mr.  Everhart  is  a  republican,  and  a  very  active  worker  in  the  party,  entering  vigor- 
ously into  the  work  at  each  campaign,  but  has  never  sought  political  preferment,  choosing  to 
devote  himself  entirely  to  his  profession,  in  which  he  finds  ample  scope  for  the  gratification  of  his 
highest  ambition. 


o 


SAMUEL  BURGE. 

TOULON. 

NE  of  the  best  representatives  of  the  business  interests  of  Toulon  is  Samuel  Burge,  banker, 
of  the  firm  of  Burge  and  Dewey.  His  record  will  show  what  a  young  man  of  industrious, 
economical  and  good  business  habits  can  do  for  himself  with  no  legacy  but  the  example  of  pious 
parents,  and  no  capital  but  a  good  constitution,  and  the  art  of  turning  an  honest  penny  to  the 
best  advantage. 

Samuel  Burge  was  born  in  Enfield,  New  Hampshire,  October  21,  1844,  the  son  of  Rev.  Benja- 
min Burge,  a  Congregational  minister,  whose  last  charge  was  at  Enfield,  and  who  died  in  1848. 
The  mother  of  Samuel  was  Lucretia  Dewey,  a  native  of  Hanover,  New  Hampshire.  Her  mother 
was  a  Pinneo,  who  was  of  Huguenot  descent,  and  whose  mother  died  when  about  one  hundred 
years  old.  Mrs.  Burge  is  still  living,  being  with  her  son  in  Toulon. 

Our  subject  left  New  Hampshire  with  his  mother  and  an  only  sister  in  1853;  resided  three 
years  in  Lewiston,  Fulton  county,  Illinois,  and  then  came  to  Toulon,  where  he  finished  his  educa- 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  561 

tion  in  the  public  schools.  He  commenced  his  business  career  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  his  mater- 
nal uncle,  Samuel  M.  Dewey,  by  whom  he  was  employed  until  the  close  of  1865,  excepting  six 
months  in  1864,  when  he  was  in  the  service,  in  company  H,  I44th  Illinois  infantry.  January  i, 
1866,  Mr.  Burge  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Dewey,  Lowman  and  Company,  Mr.  Dewey 
having  previously  (1865)  formed  a  partnership  with  William  Lowman,  and  they  had  started  an 
exchange  bank,  in  connection  with  their  general  store.  In  the  autumn  of  1866  Mr.  Dewey  died, 
and  January  i,  following,  the  firm  was  dissolved,  Mr.  Burge  continuing  the  mercantile  and  bank- 
ing business,  in  connection  with  the  estate,  under  the  firm  name  of  Dewey  and  Burge. 

In  1869  our  subject  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  store;  in  1870,  bought  out  the  interest  of  the 
estate,  and  the  firm  of  Samuel  Burge  and  Company,  bankers,  continued  until  January  i,  1879,  when 
Charles  P.  Dewey,  a  cousin  of  Mr.  Burge,  joined  him,  forming  the  firm  of  Burge  and  Dewey.  They 
are  doing  a  thrifty  business,  and  have  a  first-class  standing  among  the  bankers  in  this  part  of  the 
state.  They  pay  the  largest  internal  revenue  tax  outside  of  Peoria,  in  the  5th  collection  district. 

Mr.  Burge  has  kept  almost  entirely  out  of  politics,  and  with  the  exception  of  school  treasurer, 
and  member  of  the  village  board  of  trustees,  has  held,  we  believe,  no  civil  office.  He  was  for  some 
years  a  trustee  of  the  Congregational  Church,  with  which  he  is  connected,  and  has  done  more  or 
less  work  in  the  Sunday-school.  He  gives  the  gospel  a  generous  support,  and  is  not  unmindful 
of  the  poor.  No  village  or  city  can  have  too  many  citizens  of  this  class. 

Mr.  Burge  was  married,  September  i,  1870,  to  Miss  Alice  Lowman,  daughter  of  William  Low- 
man, already  mentioned,  and  they  have  three  children  living,  and  buried  one  daughter  in  infancy. 

Mr.  Burge  has  considerable  property  in  the  village  of  Toulon;  owns  two  or  three  farms  in  this 
county,  and  has  other  farms  and  lands  in  company  with  his  partner,  in  all  something  like  1000 
acres.  His  entire  accumulations  are  the  fruits  of  untiring  industry,  prudent  foresight  and  honest 
dealing,  and  his  history,  brief  as  it  is,  has  a  lesson  in  it  for  younger  men. 


LE 


HON.   LEWIS  W.  ROSS. 

LE  WISTON. 
EWIS  WINANS  ROSS,  lawyer,  and  formerly  a  member  of  congress,  is  a  son  of  Ossian  M. 


and  Mary  (Winans)  Ross,  and  was  born  in  Seneca  Falls,  New  York,  December  8,  1812.  His 
father  and  grandfather,  Joseph  Ross,  were  also  natives  of  that  state,  and  belonged  to  an  old  and 
numerous  New  York  family,  whose  members  are  now  scattered  probably  over  half  the  states  in 
the  Union. 

In  1881  our  subject  paid  a  visit  to  the  old  homestead  and  burial  place  of  his  ancestors,  where 
he  had  not  been  for  more  than  sixty  years.;  and  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he  found  any  one 
familiar  with  the  scene  of  his  childhood  three-score  years  ago.  Apple  trees  were  pointed  out  to 
him  which  were  planted  by  his  maternal  grandfather  ninety  years  ago.  He  was  also  shown  the 
cellar  of  the  house  in  which  he  was  born. 

In  1821  Ossian  Ross  moved  to  Madison  county,  Illinois,  and  the  next  year  he  brought  his 
family  to  Fulton  county.  He  laid  out  the  town  of  Lewiston,  and  was  postmaster  here,  and  also 
sheriff  of  Fulton  county.  Subsequently  he  laid  out  Havana,  the  shire  town  of  Mason  county,  and 
was  postmaster  of  Havana,  where  he  died  in  1836. 

Lewis  finished  his  literary  education  at  Jacksonville  College,  in  which  he  spent  three  years. 
Rev.  Edward  Beecher,  D.D.,  being  president.  He  read  law  at  Jacksonville  with  Josiah  Lamborn; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1837,  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Fulton  county  bar.  Indeed,  as  an  advocate,  he  had  but  few  peers  in  central  Illinois.  His  influ- 
ence with  a  jury  and  his  success  were  wonderful.  As  a  stump  speaker,  he  also  excelled,  being  an 
adroit  and  powerful  debater  and  a  fine  rhetorician.  People  would  go  a  long  distance  to  hear  him. 

Mr.  Ross  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  from  1840  to  1844,  serving  in  that  body  with 
Abraham  Lincoln,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Thomas  Drummond,  Governor  Bissell,  and  other  men 


562  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

since  quite  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  the  state  and  nation.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
last  two  constitutional  conventions,  and  his  fine  legal  mind  was  of  great  se'rvice  in  such  bodies. 
Mr.  Ross  served  one  year  in  the  Mexican  war,  being  captain  of  company  K,  4th  Illinois  regiment 
Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  commander. 

He  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1862,  and  served  three  terms.  He  has  always  affiliated  with 
the  democratic  party,  and  has  repeatedly  represented  it  in  state  and  national  conventions.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Charleston  and  Baltimore  conventions  which  met  in  1860,  and  he  aided  in 
nominating  Judge  Douglas  at  the  latter  place;  and  was  a  delegate  in  1876  to  the  convention 
which  met  at  St.  Louis  and  nominated  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  and  to  the  Cincinnati  convention  which 
nominated  General  Hancock,  in  1880.  In  politics,  in  law  and  in  other  respects,  Mr.  Ross  has  long 
been  one  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  Fulton  county. 

On  leaving  congress,  he  was  for  a  while  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  but  retired  from  busi- 
ness some  years  ago,  devoting  most  of  his  time  latterly  to  taking  care  of  his  property.  He  has 
about  twenty-five  hundred  acres  of  excellent  farm  land  in  this  county,  three  hundred  acres  of  it 
near  Lewiston,  and  has  considerable  property  in  town.  He  has  made  a  fine  record  both  as  a 
lawyer  and  a  financier. 

June  13,  1839,  Mr.  Ross  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Frances  M.  Simms,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  they  have  had  twelve  children,  only  six  of  them  now  living ;  John  W.,  a  lawyer,  is  in 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia  ;  Lewis  C.,  Frank  R.,  Pike  C.,  and  Jennie,  are  in  Lewiston  ; 
and  Fanny  W.  is  the  wife  of  H.  J.  Latshaw,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri. 


COLONEL  THOMAS  HAMER. 

. 

VERMONT. 

ONE  of  the  older  class  of  settlers  and  prominent  men  of  Fulton  county  is  Thomas  Hamer,  a 
resident  of  Vermont  since  1846.  He  was  born  in  Union  county,  Pennsylvania,  June  i,  1818, 
being  a  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  (Seibert)  Hamer.  His  father  was  born  in  the  same  state,  and 
was  a  son  of  Thomas  Hamer,  who  came  from  Scotland  to  Pennsylvania  before  the  revolution, 
settled  in  Northumberland  county,  and  was  the  first  sheriff  of  that  county.  This  progenitor  of 
the  family  in  this  country  married  Elizabeth  Lyon,  and  they  had  eight  children,  the  seventh  child 
being  James,  who  settled  in  Vermont  in  1846,  and  was  here  engaged  in  farming  until  his  death  in 
1871.  The  mother  of  our  subject  died  in  1877. 

Thomas  was  reared  on  a  farm ;  had  a  thorough  academic  education  in  his  native  state,  and  taught 
a  school  at  Table  Grove  during  the  first  winter  that  he  spent  in  this  state.  He  had  been  a  clerk 
in  a  store  before  leaving  the  East,  and  on  finishing  his  school  here,  took  a  similar  situation  with 
Joab  Mershon,  holding  it  for  two  years.  He  then  formed  a  partnership  with  James  A.  Russell 
and  Richard  Johnson  in  the  dry-goods  trade,  and  the  firm  did  a  thrifty  business  until  the  spring 
of  1851,  when  the  store  was  plundered  and  burnt,  entailing  a  heavy  loss  —  heavy  for  country  mer- 
chants. 

Mr.  Hamer  was  in  partnership  with  E.  and  P.  Hamer,  cousins,  from  1856  to  1861,  when  the  war 
broke  out ;  and  when  the  3d  Illinois  cavalry  was  mustered  in,  he  was  appointed  first  major.  He 
resigned  in  a  short  year,  and  aided  in  raising  the  84th  Illinois  infantry,  of  which  he  was  commis- 
sioned lieutenant-colonel.  Colonel  Hamer  was  slightly  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Stone  River, 
but  refused  to  absent  himself  from  the  field  the  next  day,  and  behaved  himself  so  gallantly  that 
his  men  gave  him  a  gold  watch  as  a  testimonial  of  their  admiration  of  his  bravery.  His  wound 
finally  compelled  him  to  resign. 

In  1864,  Colonel  Hamer  resumed  the  mercantile  business,  which  he  carried  on  until  1876,  when 
he  sold  out.  He  is  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  notary  public,  and  the  former  office  largely  occu- 
pies his  time.  He  does  a  general  collecting  business,  and  deals  also  in  real  estate.  He  is  a  strictly 
honest  man,  and  prompt  as  well  as  reliable.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  town  council,  county 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  563 

supervisor,  etc.,  and  has  always  shown  a  good  deal  of  public  spirit  and  enterprise.  He  drew  up 
the  original  bill  for  the  charter  of  the  Peoria  and  Hannibal  railroad,  now  part  of  the  Buda  and 
Rushville  branch  of  the  Chicago.  Burlington  and  Quincy  railroad,  and  was  one  of  the  directors, 
and  later  the  vice  president  of  that  road. 

He  has  been  quite  prominent  in  politics,  and  at  three  autumn  elections  was  a  republican  can- 
didate for  the  legislature  in  a  strong  democratic  county,  drawing  more  than  the  full  party  vote, 
and  running  a  long  way  ahead  of  his  ticket.  He  has  been  a  delegate  to  every  county  convention 
of  his  party  since  he  came  into  the  state,  and  is  often  a  delegate  to  state  conventions.  He  was 
made  president  of  the  annual  army  reunion  held  at  Springfield  in  1880.  The  Colonel  holds  a 
membership  in  The  Joe  Hooker  Post  (Canton),  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Fulton  County  Soldiers'  Reunion.  In  Freemasonry  he  belongs  to  the  chapter  and 
council ;  is  well  known  among  the  brotherhood  of  the  state,  and  is  also  high  up  in  Odd-Fellow- 
ship, having  taken  all  the  degrees  pertaining  to  the  order. 

Colonel  Hamer  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  for  many  years  ;  has 
held  different  offices  in  that  body  ;  is  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  is  known  among 
the  Christian  workers  in  the  southern  part  of  the  county,  as  earnest  and  indefatigable  in  his  efforts 
to  do  good. 

In  1850  he  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  E.  Johnson,  daughter  of  Franklin  Johnson,  a  native  of 
New  York  state,  and  they  had  seven  children,  only  two  of  them  now  living ;  Wylie,  wife  of  Ansel 
Amrine,  produce  dealer,  Vermont,  and  Le  Ray,  late  a  student  at  Hedding  College,  Abingdon, 
and  now  a  cadet  at  West  Point.  Mrs.  Hamer  died  April  13,  1871,  and  the  Colonel  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  M.  Johnson,  sister  of  his  first  wife,  August  10,  1876. 


M 


MERTON  DUNLAP. 

PAX  TON. 

ERTON  DUNLAP  is  a  native  of  the  town  of  Leyden,  Cook  county,  Illinois,  and  was  born 
October  18,  1845,  the  son  of  th^  late  Hon.  M.  L.  and  Emiline  (Pierce)  Dunlap,  both  of 
whom  were  natives  of  New  York  state.  His  father  was  a  farmer  by  occupation  and  a  man  of 
decided  character  and  widely  felt  influence.  He  was,  until  his  death,  a  prominent  writer  for  hor- 
ticultural and  agricultural  journals,  and  was  the  agricultural  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  "Tri- 
bune "  for  twenty-five  years.  While  farming  in  Champaign  county,  where  he  moved  in  1857,  he 
engaged  extensively  in  the  nursery  business,  and  was  one  of  the  most  successful  in  that  line  in  Illi- 
nois, and  although  he  has  passed  away,  the  fruits  of  his  labors  are  found  on  many  farms  in  the 
Northwest,  and  his  old  homestead,  which  is  still  the  home  of  his  widow,  has  on  it  one  of  the  finest 
orchards  of  the  state,  containing  ninety  acres  of  well  selected  fruit  trees. 

Merton  received  his  early  education  in  the  public  schools,  subsequently  attending  the  Illinois 
College,  at  Jacksonville,  for  two  sessions,  and  obtained  a  good  practical  English  education.  He 
has  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  German  language,  having  spoken  it  from  boyhood,  and  has  since 
been  a  close  student  of  science,  and  has  never  ceased  to  avail  himself  of  any  opportunity  for 
improvement.  He  was  brought  up  in  the  occupation  of  his  father,  and  for  a  time  followed  the 
same  business,  being  one  of  the  nursery  firm  of  M.  L.  Dunlap  and  Sons,  Champaign  county, 
where  he  continued  until  1872,  when  he  moved  to  Patton  township,  Ford  county,  and  there 
engaged  in  the  same  pursuits,  and  met  with  good  success,  building  up  a  very  flourishing  business. 

In  1873  Mr.  Dunlap  was,  to  his  great  surprise,  and  without  any  solicitation  on  his  part,  nomi- 
nated for  county  clerk.  There  were  several  candidates  before  the  convention,  and  no  one  having 
a  majority,  Mr.  Dunlap,  who  was  secretary  of  the  convention,  was  taken  up  and  nominated 
almost  unanimously.  At  his  second  and  third  nominations  he  had  no  opposition  in  his  own 
party,  and  at  his  last  election  his  popularity  was  shown  to  such  an  extent  that  his  political  oppo- 
nents made  no  nomination  against  him,  and  placed  his  name  on  their  tickets. 


564  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARV. 

Since  he  began  his  official  career  Mr.  Dunlap  has  given  up  his  agricultural  pursuits,  devoting 
all  his  spare  time  to  the  study  of  law,  and  in  1880  was  admitted  by  the  supreme  court  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  bar.  He  has  also  given  some  attention  to  journalism,  and  is  a  frequent  and 
highly  appreciated  contributor  of  the  press. 

In  religion  Mr.  Dunlap  is  a  Methodist,  and  a  prominent  worker  in  the  Paxton  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  and  an  earnest  worker  iit  the  Sabbath  school,  of  which  he  is  superintendent,  which 
position  he  has  held  for  the  past  eleven  years.  In  discharging  his  religious  duties  he  displays 
the  same  earnestness  as  in  business  affairs,  and  does  valuable  service  in  his  religious  work. 

He  married,  September  26,  1867,  Miss  Mattie  L.  Beecher,  a  lady  descended  from  good  old  Con- 
necticut stock  and  Puritan  ancestry,  and  a  distant  relative  of  the  well  known  Beecher  family, 
posssesing  high  attainments  and  distinguished  for  her  marked  womanly  and  Christian  virtues. 
They  have  had  three  children,  Harry,  Edith  and  Cora,  two  of  whom,  Harry  and  Cora,  are  living. 
The  oldest  daughter,  Edith,  died  in  1881. 

Mr.  Dunlap  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  always  participates  in  a  political  canvass.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Paxton  school  board,  has  fine  literary  tastes,  and  has  collected  a  very  large  and 
carefully  selected  library. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  an  officer  in  Mount  Olivet  Commandery.  His  good 
conversational  powers,  his  kindly  and  humane  disposition,  and  other  fine  social  traits,  greatly 
endear  him  to  his  neighbors  and  his  large  circle  of  acquaintances. 


RICHARD   K.  RICHARDSON. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  an  eminently  self-made  man,  was  born  of  Danish  parentage,  off 
the  coast  of  Denmark,  on  one  of  the  islands  in  the  North  Sea,  and  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Danish  king.  His  father  was  engaged  in  pastoral  pursuits,  and  until  thirteen  years  of 
age  Richard  was  employed  herding  sheep  and  cattle  upon  the  farm  which  his  father  owned,  and 
also  attended  the  public  schools,  the  system  of  instruction  being  similar  to  that  prevailing  in  the 
United  States. 

When  a  boy  he  was  possessed  of  a  roving  disposition,  and  having  heard  the  stories  of  the  wild 
adventures  upon  the  sea,  resolved  that  he  himself  would  test  them.  Accordingly,  when  but  thir- 
teen years  of  age,  he  embarked  on  board  a  whaler  bound  for  Santa  Cruz.  Before  they  had  been 
many  days  at  sea  the  vessel  was  cast  away,  and  our  subject,  with  others  of  the  ship's  crew, 
attempted  to  make  the  shore  in  a  boat.  In  this,  however,  they  were  unsuccessful,  for  the  boat  was 
capsized,  and  the  boy  was  saved  from  his  peril  only  by  the  timely  help  of  a  colored  native,  who 
came  to  his  rescue,  and  taking  him  upon  his  back  swam  with  him  to  the  shore.  Upon  inquiry 
the  rescued  sailors  found  themselves  upon  one  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  where  they  remained 
among  the  natives  some  three  weeks,  living  upon  roasted  corn  and  goats'  milk  and  sleeping  in  a 
stable  upon  a  bed  of  straw,  and  sheltered  from  the  sea  breeze  by  their  tarpaulins.  When  picked 
up  they  were  taken  to  Rio  Janeiro,  the  trip  lasting  about  two  months.  Here  young  Richardson 
left  his  companions,  who  applied  to  the  Danish  consul  for  assistance  and  passports  to  Danish 
ports,  and  with  that  enterprise  and  independence  which  has  characterized  his  subsequent  life, 
shipped  upon  the  Brannen,  in  command  of  Captain  Wenke,  in  whom  he  found  a  true  friend,  and 
with  whom  he  sailed  some  three  years. 

After  leaving  the  employ  of  Captain  Wenke  he  took  passage  on  an  American  ship  to  New 
York,  whence  he  shipped  on  board  the  Shakespeare  for  Portugal.  On  this  latter  voyage  he  was 
wrecked  at  sea,  but  being  rescued  applied  to  the  American  consul  for  help,  and  through  his 
assistance  secured  a  situation  on  board  a  Spanish  vessel.  He  was  next  engaged  in  the  cattle  trade 
between  Rio  Janeiro  and  Monteviedo,  but  the  business  being  unsuited  to  his  tastes  he  soon 
abandoned  it  and  returned  to  New  York.  Here  he  took  a  situation  on  a  European  packet  ship, 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  565 

which  plied  between  Bremen  and  New  York,  under  Captain  Blancke,  and  continued  thus  employed 
for  about  three  years.  It  was  on  his  last  trip  to  New  York  that  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
Miss  Elizabeth  Roese,  to  whom  he  was  married  by  Rev.  James  Hartman  immediately  upon 
arriving  at  that  port.  Two  days  later  he  started  for  the  West,  and  settled  at  Chicago,  where  he 
at  once  began  working  in  the  lumber  business  on  the  docks.  Soon  afterward  he  secured  a  situation 
with  the  North-Western  Railway  Company,  and  by  carefully  husbanding  his  resources  he  was 
ablet  to  invest  in  real  estate,  and  in  a  few  years  found  himself  possessed  of  a  handsome  competency. 

Still  retaining  his  old  love  for  the  sailor's  life,  he  passed  the  summer  of  1852  sailing  upon  the 
lakes.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  became  superintendent,  having  charge  of  about  two  hun- 
dred hands,  in  a  sail-making  establishment,  but  was  compelled  to  give  up  the  position  on  account 
of  failing  health.  His  next  business  association  was  with  a  mercantile  house,  where  he  showed 
such  adaptability  and  efficiency  that  he  was  soon  promoted  to  the  position  of  salesman,  with  a 
salary  of  $3,500. 

With  this  he  was  gradually  adding  to  his  little  fortune,  which  was  constantly  increasing  under 
his  careful  management,  when  occurred  the  great  fire  of  October  9,  1871,  involving  him  in  the 
loss  of  some  ten  thousand  dollars.  But  with  that  spirit  of  determination  which  characterized  so 
many  of  Chicago's  business  men  during  the  trials  of  that  dire  disaster,  he  again  went  to  work, 
continuing  in  the  employ  of  the  same  mercantile  house  until  1873.  At  that  time  there  being  some- 
indications  of  growing  activity  in  real  estate,  Mr.  Richardson  invested  a  large  amount  of  money 
in  the  suburb  of  Jefferson.  The  investment,  however,  was  an  unfortunate  one,  and  he  soon  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  to  the,gentleman  with  whom  he  had  engaged  in  the  enterprise. 

Such  is  the  brief  outline  of  our  subject's  life-history.  Through  all  his  busy  and  varied  career 
he  has  been  known  as  a  self-reliant,  enterprising,  honest  man,  and  still,  with  the  strength  and 
vigor  of  a  sturdy  manhood,  devotes  his  attention  to  his  business  with  unabated  energy.  As  seen 
from  the  simple  story  of  his  life,  he  began  with  nothing  save  his  own  native  talents,  and  by 
persistent  effort  and  determination  never  to  give  up,  has  risen  from  obscurity  to  a  position  of 
influence. 

JAMES  W.  ENGLISH.' 

CARROLLTON. 

JAMES  WARTH  ENGLISH,  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Greene  county  bar,  is  a  son  of 
Doctor  Nathaniel  English,  and  Hannah  (Warth)  English,  and  was  born  in  Mason  county, 
West  Virginia,  March  n,  1829.  His  father  was  a  prominent  physician,  and  died  at  Jacksonville, 
in  1881.  His  maternal  grandfather,  John  Warth,  was  a  scout  in  the  second  contest  with  England. 
In  the  spring  of  1836  Doctor  English  went  to  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  and  in  December  of  that  year 
came  into  this  state,  settling  at  Jacksonville,  where  our  subject  finished  his  education  in  Illinois 
College,  being  graduated  in  1848. 

He  read  law  at  first  with  Hon.  Richard  Yates,  afterward  governor  of  the  state,  and  William 
Brown,  and  subsequently  with  David  A.  Smith.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  Illi- 
nois in  1850,  in  the  federal  courts  in  1860,  and  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  in  1873. 
Like  many  other  young  lawyers,  Mr.  English  had  a  hard  struggle  during  the  first  four  or  five 
years  of  his  professional  life,  but  he  was  studious  and  painstaking,  and  gradually  worked  his  way 
upward.'and  for  years  has  stood  in  the  front  rank  among  the  attorneys  in  this  part  of  the  state. 
In  1856,  as  we  learn  from  the  "  History  of  Greene  County,"  Mr.  English  came  to  Carrollton, 
where'  his  ability  was  soon  recognized,  and  the  following  year  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  responsi- 
ble position  of  state's  attorney.  He  served  in  that  capacity  in  an  able  manner  until  1860. 

In  1869  Mr.  English  was  elected  to  the  constitutional  convention,  and  proved  an  industrious 
worker  and  valuable  member  of  that  body,  serving  on  such  important  committees  as  those  of 
revision.and  adjustment,  finance,  state  institutions  and  public  buildings,  etc. 

In  1871  Mr.  English  moved  to  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  and  returned  to  Carrollton  in  August, 


566  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

1877.  Here  he  has  done  his  best  work  at  the  bar ;  here  his  talents  are  best  appreciated,  and  here 
he  has  achieved  his  best  success.  He  is  noted  for  his  generous  fund  of  intelligence,  his  shrewd- 
ness, his  faithfulness  to  his  client,  his  deference  to  the  court  and  his  honesty  in  the  profession, 
and  in  all  the  relations  in  life. 

Mr.  English  is  a  Knight  Templar,  has  been  master  of  the  local  lodge,  and  high  priest  of  the 
chapter,  and  he  has  passed  through  all  the  degrees  in  Odd  Fellowship.  His  political  affiliations 
have  always  been  with  the  democratic  party. 

Two  years  after  being  admitted  to  practice  at  Jacksonville,  Mr.  English  married  (October  6, 
1852)  Eliza,  daughter  of  Henry  Stryker,  formerly  a  merchant,  Jacksonville,  and  sister  of  Henry 
Stryker,  Jr.,  an  attorney-at-law,  in  that  city.  The  fruit  of  this  union  is  six  children,  all  yet  living 
but  Maria.  The  names  of  the  others  are  Julia,  Clara  L.,  Charlotte,  Nathaniel  and  Henry. 


I 


HON.  JOHN  D.  CATON,  LL.D. 

CHICAGO. 

OHN  DEAN  CATON  was  born  in  Monroe,  Orange  county,  New  York,  March  19,  1812.  His 
J  grandfather,  once  connected  with  the  British  army,  settled  on  the  Potomac  in  Virginia,  where 
he  resided  at  the  time  of  the  revolution.  Two  of  his  sons  joined  the  patriots,  one  of  whom,  Rob- 
ert, was  only  fourteen  years  of  age.  Having  served  through  the  war,  Robert  settled  down  as  a 
farmer  near  the  Hudson.  He  laid  down  his  arms  as  a  soldier,  but  became  at  the  same  time  a 
preacher  among  the  Friends,  of  which  society  he  was  a  zealous  member.  John  was  the  fifteenth 
child  and  twelfth  son  of  this  venerable  patriarch,  who  died  when  he  was  three  years  old.  Soon 
afterward  his  family  removed  to  Paris,  Oneida  county.  Here,  at  the  age  of  five,  the  boy  com- 
menced attending  the  common  school.  At  the  age  of  nine  he  began  to  work  industriously  on  the 
farm  during  the  spring  and  summer,  and  during  the  winter  months  he  pursued  with  avidity  his 
studies  in  the  district  school.  At  sixteen,  he  entered  the  academy  at  Utica,  where  he  remained 
one  year,  and  at  seventeen  commenced  teaching.  He  entered  the  Grosvenor  high  school  at  Rome, 
in  1841,  and  pursued  his  studies  with  zeal  and  ardor,  applying  himself  specially  to  surveying. 
Upon  leaving  the  academy,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  with  Beardsley  and  Matterson  at 
Utica.  In  1833  he  started  for  Michigan,  where  he  learned  of  a  hitherto  unknown  place,  called 
Chicago,  to  which  he  directed  his  footsteps,  and  found  it  chiefly  a  collection  of  rude  huts,  in  a 
low,  swampy  place,  containing  about  two  hundred  persons.  His  office  was  at  first  peripatetic, 
and  for  his  consultations  he  occupied  the  most  convenient  box  or  barrel.  He  was  the  first  attor- 
ney who  instituted  a  suit  in  a  court  of  record  of  Cook  county.  On  a  brig,  Queen  Charlotte,  being 
the  same  brig  that  was  taken  from  the  British  by  Commodore  Perry,  he  tried  the  first  jury  cases 
ever  tried  in  Cook,  Will  and  Kane  counties. 

To  gain  admittance  to  the  bar,  he  was  compelled  to  journey  to  Greenville,  Bond  county,  a  dis- 
tance of  three  hundred  miles,  on  horseback,  the  journey  being  through  the  silent  forests  and 
almost  untrodden  prairies,  stretching  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Ohio  River.  A  severe  and  pro- 
tracted illness  resulted  from  this  journey,  on  recovering  from  which  Mr.  Caton  applied  himself 
with  assiduity  to  his  profession.  In  1835  he  returned  to  New  Hartford,  New  York,  where  he  was 
married  to  Laura  Adelaide  Sherrill,  and  the  wedding  trip  was  made  by  way  of  the  lakes  to  Chi- 
cago. In  1836  he  formed  a  partnership  with  N.  B.  Judd,  a  former  schoolmate  and  friend. 

In  1839  Mr.  Caton,  owing  to  failing  health,  removed  to  Plainfield,  Illinois,  where  he  purchased 
a  farm  of  fifteen  hundred  acres,  and  for  several  years  was  at  once  farmer  and  lawyer.  With 
returning  vigor  he  bestowed  more  time  upon  his  practice,  and  in  1842  Governor  Carlin  appointed 
him  as  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state  for  the  winter.  There  were  then  nine  judges,  each 
presiding  over  a  circuit  in  the  summer,  and  together  holding  the  appellate  court  in  the  winter. 
Being  at  this  time  but  thirty  years  of  age,  he  failed  of  an  election  to  the  supreme  bench;  but 
Governor  Ford  soon  appointed  him  to  fill  another  vacancy.  He  was  elected  by  the  legislature  on 


EX-CHIEF- JUSTICE  OF  UilNTJIS. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERGITV  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES   RIOGKA  Til  1CA I    DICTIONARY.  569 

the  expiration  of  his  second  appointment,  and  served  until,  in  1849,  the  supreme  court  was  reor- 
ganized under  the  new  constitution.  He  was  then  chosen  as  one  of  the  three  judges  of  that  court, 
Judges  Trumbull  and  Treat  being  his  associates.  From  that  time  he  continued  upon  the  supreme 
bench  until  1864,  when  he  resigned,  having  served  in  the  temple  of  justice  for  about  twenty-two 
years,  during  more  than  six  years  of  which  he  presided  as  chief-justice. 

Having  studied  telegraphy,  and  becoming  greatly  interested  in  the  art,  he  constructed  the  Illi- 
nois and  Mississippi  lines,  which  in  1867  were  leased  to  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 

Of  his  many  public  addresses,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  are  those  made  upon  his  resigna- 
tion from  the  supreme  bench,  and  upon  his  presentation,  on  behalf  of  the  western  alumni,  of  the 
Perry  H.  Smith  Library  Hall,  to  the  trustees  of  Hamilton  College.  As  a  literary  man  Judge 
Caton's  style  is  simple,  lucid,  perspicuous  and  elegant.  He  is  never  sensational,  never  florid  01 
even  highly  ornate.  He  seeks  to  express  his  thoughts  in  the  clearest  manner,  and  in  the  most 
concise  form  consistent  with  an  easy  and  graceful  style.  Some  of  his  productions  are  really  clas- 
sical in  style  and  diction. 

Judge  Caton's  fame,  however,  must  rest  chiefly  upon  his  judicial  decisions,  promulgated  from 
the  supreme  bench,  and  which  are  contained  in  thirty  volumes  of  the  Illinois  Reports.  These 
opinions  are  models  of  style  and  monuments  of  research. 


ALFRED  CASTLE,  M.D. 

WYOMING. 

ALFRED  CASTLE,  one  of  the  older  class  of  physicians  and  surgeons  in  central  Illinois,  is  a 
son  of  Samuel  and  Phebe  (Parmlee)  Castle,  and  was  born  in  Sullivan,  Madison  county,  New 
York,  September  22,  1806.     His  fattier  was  born  in  Richmond,  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts, 
and  was  a  music  composer,  a  music  teacher,  and  a  cousin  of  General  Ethan  Allen.     He  belonged  • 
to  an  old  Connecticut  family,  of  Irish  lineage.     The  Parmlees  were  of  Belgian  extraction. 

Our  subject  received  an  academic  education,  including  Latin,  studying  part  of  the  time  with 
that  eminent  linguist,  Doctor  Silsbee,  of  Cazenovia,  New  York.  He  read  medicine  at  Brockport 
and  Pittsford,  Monroe  county,  New  York  ;  attended  lectures  at  the  Berkshire  Medical  College, 
Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  and  the  Vermont  Medical 
College,  Woodstock.  He  was  also  at  one  period  a  resident  graduate  at  Harvard  College,  and 
likewise  at  the  Massachusetts  Hospital,  Boston.  Probably  no  medical  man  now  living  in  Illinois 
has  taken  more  pains  to  fit  himself  for  his  profession  than  Doctor  Castle,  or  has  ever  had  more  fully 
the  respect  of  the  people  in  the  bounds  of  his  rides.  He  practiced  two  years  at  Brockport  before 
taking  his  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  which  he  chose  to  receive  at  the  Berkshire  school,  and 
which  was  conferred  in  1834.  He  was  immediately  invited  to  become  a  partner  of  Doctor  Gideon 
Tabor,  an  eminent  physician  of  Clarkson,  Monroe  county,  with  whom  he  practiced  about  two 
years.  While  thus  engaged,  May  19,  1835,  Doctor  Castle  was  married  to  Maria  P.  Dana,  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Daniel  Dana,  who  had  command  of  the  Vermont  troops  in  1812-14,  and  who 
held  a  commission  under  President  Madison  in  the  regular  army.  Her  great-grandfather  was 
General  Israel  Putnam  ;  and  here  we  may  add  that  Colonel  Warner,  who  led  the  Vermont  forces 
at  the  battle  of  Bennington,  was  a  cousin  of  Ebenezer  Castle,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject. 

In  June,  1836,  Doctor  Castle  started  for  Peoria,  leaving  his  young  wife,  like  John  Gilpin's,  to 
follow  after,  but  not  immediately.  The  doctor  came  all  the  way  to  that  city  in  a  one-horse  buggy. 
The  Illinois  Valley  was  a  sickly  country  forty  and  fifty  years  ago,  and  doctors  had  their  hands  full 
of  business.  As  a  literary  writer  (Schoolcraft)  once  remarked,  a  summer  in  the  Illinois  Valley,  in 
these  days,  was  equal  in  danger  to  a  pitched  battle.  Doctor  Castle  lived  through  four  or  five 
years,  but  was  then  so  reduced  in  health  that  he  returned  to  the  East,  and  spent  between  one  and 
two  years  in  Woodstock,  Vermont,  where  he  came  in  contact  and  competition  with  several  emi- 
nent members  of  the  fraternity  —  the  faculty  of  a  medical  college.  But  he  held  his  own,  and.  his 
56 


57O  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

health  being  restored,  he  returned  to  Peoria  in  1842.  During  the  period  that  he  was  in  practice 
there,  he  was  benighted  twenty  nights,  not  daring  to  get  off  his  horse  for  fear  of  rattlesnakes  and 
wolves.  He  was  known  at  Peoria  as  the  people's  friend,  being  most  emphatically  a  self-sacrificing 
philanthropist. 

In  1836  there  was  only  one  house,  six  miles  west  of  Peoria,  between  that  city  and  Wyoming, 
Stark  county,  where  he  settled  in  1843.  '  For  forty  years  this  place  has  been  regarded  as  his  home, 
though  at  two  different  periods,  perhaps  ten  years  in  all,  he  was  at  Waukesha,  Wisconsin,  sojourn- 
ing there  merely  because  of  the  excellent  educational  advantages  of  the  college  there  located. 
He  has  had  five  children,  burying  two  of  them  in  infancy. 

Doctor  Castle  was  a  leader  in  projecting  and  building  the  road  of  which  his  elder  son  is  presi- 
dent. He  spent  much  time  and  some  money  in  putting  this  important  enterprise  through,  and 
but  for  his  untiring  zeal  and  energies,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  road  would  have  been  built. 

Doctor  Castle  was  in  extensive  practice  until  a  few  years  ago,  doing  business  in  Chicago  as 
well  as  here,  particularly  among  railroad  officials,  and  the  employes  of  such  roads.  He  has  had 
as  high  as  three  telegrams  in  a  single  day,  summoning  him  in  as  many  directions.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  no  physician  ever  practiced  in  Stark  county,  who  had  greater  popularity  than  Doctor 
Castle,  or  more  fully  the  confidence  of  the  people.  In  his  house  are  many  testimonials  of  the 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  parties  who  have  had  occasion  to  test  his  skill  and  success  in  their 
families,  among  the  testimonials  being  a  large  crayon  portrait  of  himself,  an  elegant  chair,  and 
a  gold-headed  cane,  all  presented  to  him,  and  other  presents  sent  to  his  daughter  and  grand- 
children. 

Lately  Doctor  Castle  has  done  little  more  than  office  and  consultation  practice.  Considering 
the  amount  of  work  he  has  done,  laboring  most  of  the  time  for  seven  days  in  a  week,  it  is  simply 
a  wonder  that  he  is  alive  to-day.  His  constitution  is  considerably  impaired,  but  his  mind  is  clear, 
his  memory  strong,  and  he  is  quite  entertaining  in  the  social  circle.  He  is  a  republican  of  whig 
antecedents,  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  a  man  of  unblemished  and  highly  praise- 
worthy record. 


J 


HON.  JACOB  W.   REARICK. 

BEARDSTOWN. 

ACOB  WILLIAM  REARICK,  late  judge  of  Cass  county,  is  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Anna  Maria 

(Frieze)  Rearick,  and  was  born  in  Berleburg,  Prussia,  March  17,  1833.  He  was  the  fifth  child 
in  a  family  of  seven  children.  When  he  was  four  years  old  (1837)  the  family  came  to  this  country, 
and  settled  in  Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  Jacob  received  the  ordinary  mental  training 
furnished  by  a  common  school.  There,  also,  he  learned  the  tinner's  trade  of  his  father.  In  1854 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  came  to  Beardstown,  and  two  years  afterward  his  father  followed  him. 
and  died  in  1868.  His  widow  died  in  1875. 

On  settling  in  Beardstown  our  subject  worked  as  a  journeyman  tinner  with  his  older  brother, 
Francis  H.  Rearick.  Not  long  afterward  they  formed  a  partnership,  and  the  firm  of  Rearick 
Brothers  lasted  for  seventeen  years.  The  brother  is  now  at  Galesburgh.  Since  1874  the  firm  has 
been  Rearick  and  Beatty,  the  partner  being  John  J.  Beatty,  who  is  also  an  early  settler  and  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Beardstown.  They  deal  in  hollow  ware,  hardware  and  agricultural  inple- 
ments,  as  well  as  in  tin  ware,  and  are  doing  a  thrifty  business. 

Mr.  Rearick  was  at  one  time  a  bank  director;  has  held  the  offices  of  alderman,  school  director, 
etc.,  and  was  for  five  years  judge  of  Cass  county,  his  term  ending  in  December,  1882.  He  is 
faithful  and  efficient  in  every  trust  confided  to  him,  and  is  a  popular  man  in  the  county.  His 
affiliations  are  with  the  democracy. 

Judge  Rearick  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
a  man  of  consistent  profession  and  great  sincerity  of  purpose.  He  belongs  to  a  highly  valuable 
class  of  citizens. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  57] 

He  has  a  second  wife;  the  first  was  Elizabeth  Kuhl,  daughter  of  George  Kuhl,  of  Beardstown, 
married  April  29,  1862,  she  dying  April  17,  1863,  leaving  one  son,  George  Francis,  now  a  student 
at  the  Wesleyan  University,  Delaware,  Ohio,  and  the  present  wife  was  Amanda  Sargent,  daughter 
of  W.  L.  Sargent,  of  Morgan  county,  married  April  3,  1866.  He  has  by  her  seven  children;  Elsie 
Ann,  Lydia,  John  Herman,  Susan  Alice,  Frederick,  Elizabeth,  and  Jennie. 

The  present  wife  of  Mr.  Rearick  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  as  was  also 
the  first  wife,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rearick  are  giving  their  children  a  good  moral  as  well  as  mental 
training.  The  heads  of  this  family  are  aiding  by  their  Christian  example  to  give  tone  to  society 
in  Beardstown. 


OLIVER  WHITAKER. 

TOULON. 

A4ONG  the  older  class  of  settlers  in  what  is  now  Stark  county,  Illinois,  is  Oliver  Whitaker, 
who  settled  here  in  1837,  and  was  the  first  county  clerk.  He  has  made  an  honorable  record, 
and  is  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  highly  esteemed  citizens  of  the  county.  He  was  born  in 
Tioga  county,  near  Owego,  New  York,  April  12,  1807,  being  the  son  of  Gideon  and  Jane  (Strope) 
Whitaker.  His  father  was  a  New  Englander;  his  mother  of  German  parentage. 

Oliver  attended  school  two  winters  in  the  village  of  Owego,  and  the  rest  of  his  education  he 
obtained  with  himself  for  teacher.  When  he  was  only  fourteen  years  old  he  lost  his  father,  and 
the  son  took  care  of  himself  at  that  age.  He  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade,  but  left  it  when 
twenty;  went  to  Mansfield,  Tioga  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  there  spent  ten  years  as  clerk  and 
superintendent  of  a  large  lumbering  establishment.  While  there,  in  1831,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Olivia  Wood,  who  died  in  child-bed  two  years  afterward.  In  September,  1835,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Catherine  B.  Brodhead,  a  native  of  Tioga  county,  New  York,  born  near  his  own  birthplace, 
and  in  1837  he  brought  his  second  wife  to  Illinois,  and  settled  on  land  ten  miles  northeast  of  Tou- 
lon, and  continued  to  cultivate  it  until  1843,  when  he  moved  to  the  county  seat,  his  present  home. 
Four  years  before  that  date  (1839),  on  the  organization  of  the  county,  he  had  been  elected  its 
clerk,  but  there  was  no  court  house  completed  and  ready  for  use  till  four  years  later. 

Mr.  Whitaker  held  the  office  of  county  clerk  from  1839  to  1847;  tnat  °f  circuit  clerk  from  1843 
to  1852,  and  that  of  recorder  and  circuit  clerk  from  1848  to  1852.  In  the  last-named  year  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  General  Thomas  J.  Henderson  in  the  law  and  real-estate  business,  the 
general  attending  to  the  law  department  and  our  subject  to  real  estate.  That  relationship  con* 
tinued  for  ten  years,  being  dissolved  in  1862,  though  they  still  hold  some  property,  etc.,  in  common. 
Part  of  the  time,  since  a  resident  of  Toulon,  Mr.  Whitaker  has  cultivated  as  high  as  two  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  he  still  cultivates  about  sixty,  all  of  which  adjoins  the  village.  He  has  always 
been  a  busy  man,  and  even  now  has  no  ambition  to  rust  out. 

In  1869,  just  thirty  years  after  he  was  elected  the  first  clerk  of  the  county,  he  was  again  placed 
in  that  office  by  his  partial  constituents,  and  he  served  them  with  his  usual  promptness  and  faith- 
fulness. He  has  also  held  several  offices  in  the  village  corporation,  and  has  been  notary  public 
for  more  than  forty  years.  He  is  true  to  every  trust,  and  has  the  unlimited  confidence  of  the 
people  who  know  him. 

Mr.  Whitaker  is  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  past  grand  representative  of  the  order.  In  politics  he 
was  a  democrat  until  1854,  when  the  pro-slavery  leanings  of  the  party  led  him  to  abandon  it,  and 
since  then  he  has  acted  heartily  with  the  great  party  of  freedom.  He  was  very  active  during  the 
civil  war  in  encouraging  enlistments  and  looking  after  the  interests  of  the  soldiers,  three  of  his 
own  sons  being  among  the  number. 

Mr.  Whitaker  has  had  nine  children  by  his  second  wife,  who  is  still  living,  and  is  a  sprightly 
and  cheery  old  lady.  Two  of  the  children  are  dead,  Charles  H.,  who  died  in  infancy,  and  Del- 
phine,  who  married  William  W.  Henry,  and  died  in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  in  1875.  Hannah  J.,  the 
oldest  child  living,  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  S.  S.  Kaysbier,  of  Seneca,  Kansas;  Isaac  is  the  keeper  of 


UNITED    STA'f'KS  firOGRAPITICAT.   DTCTTONARY. 

a  large  restaurant  in  Kansas  City,  Missouri;  Andrew  J.  is  in  the  comptroller's  office,  Washington, 
D.  C.;  Frederick  H.  is  in  the  New  Orleans  custom  house;  Mary  W.  is  the  wife  of  Elijah  H. 
Phelps,  real-estate  dealer,  Kansas  City;  Kate  is  the  wife  of  Henry  Blood,  farmer,  of  Valley,  Stark 
county,  and  Stella  is  the  wife  of  Frank  Matthews,  principal  of  the  high  school,  Pekin,  Illinois. 

Although  past  seventy-five  years  of  age,  Mr.  Whitaker  stands  perfectly  erect,  and  is  quite 
elastic.  He  has  been  a  total  abstainer  from  intoxicants  for  nearly  forty  years;  and  after  using 
tobacco  for  thirty  years  or  more,  abandoned  that  filthy  and  injurious  habit.  He  is  a  gentleman  of 
the  old  school,  urbane  in  manners,  cordial  in  disposition  and  has  a  pleasant  salutation  for  every- 
body. May  he  live  to  round  up  his  five-score  years. 


ALEXANDER    HULL,  M.D. 

l.F.WISTON. 

ALEXANDER  HULL,  the  leading  physician  and  surgeon  in  Lewiston,  and  a  prominent  busi- 
t\.  ness  man  in  Fulton  county,  is  a  son  of  Philip  and  Sarah  (McCracken)  Hull,  and  was  born 
in  Licking  county,  Ohio,  November  18,  1823.  His  grandfather,  John  Hull,  was  a  revolutionary 
soldier.  His  father  is  a  native  of  Harrison  county,  Virginia.  His  mother,  who  is  a  daughter  of 
Alexander  McCracken,  a  noted  pioneer  Methodist  minister  of  Ohio,  of  Scotch  extraction,  but  a 
native  of  the  North  of  Ireland,  was  born  in  Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania.  His  parents  moved 
to  Licking  county,  Ohio,  before  they  were  married,  their  union  taking  place  in  1820.  There  they 
remained  until  the  autumn  of  1838,  when  they  brought  their  family,  two  sons  and  two  daughters, 
to  this  county.  Strange  to  say,  both  parents  are  still  living,  the  father  being  in  his  eighty-eighth 
year  and  the  mother  in  her  eighty-second,  and  both  in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health  and  mental 
vigor.  From  the  spring  of  1839  to  1865  they  were  on  a  farm  four  miles  north  of  Bernadotte,  and 
since  the  latter  date  have  been  on  a  farm  one  mile  northwest  of  Lewiston,  their  youngest  daugh- 
ter, Eliza,  residing  with  them. 

The  other  daughter,  Sarah  A.,  is  the  wife  of  James  H.  Randall,  money  loaner,  Lewiston. 
William  Wesley  Hull,  the  only  brother  of  our  subject,  is  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  Lewiston. 
He  was  captain  of  a  company  in  the  i7th  Illinois  infantry  in  the  late  civil  war;  is  a  prominent 
republican,  like  his  father,  and  twice  has  been  the  standard  bearer  of  his  party  for  sheriff  in  a 
democratic  county,  coming  the  last  time  within  two  votes  of  an  election,  his  competitor  being 
•David  J.  Waggoner,  then  one  of  the  most  popular  men  for  that  position  in  the  democratic  ranks 
in  the  county. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Ohio  and  of  Fulton  county; 
continued  to  work  on  his  father's  farm  until  1844,  when  he  commenced  teaching  school,  following 
that  profession  for  three  years.  From  boyhood  up,  he  had  a  taste  for  reading,  and  by  improving 
his  spare  hours  while  on  the  farm  and  while  teaching,  he  acquired  a  good  education.  In  1847  he 
turned  his  attention  to  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  his  cousin,  Doctor  Abram  Hull,  of 
Fulton  county.  He  attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  Saint  Louis,  another  at  Rush  Medical  Col- 
lege, Chicago,  and  received  his  diploma  at  the  latter  institution  in  February,  1850. 

Doctor  Hull  commenced  practice  at  Cuba,  in  this  county,  in  the  spring  of  1850,  and  remained 
there  for  ten  years,  his  rides  being  extensive  and  his  success  quite  encouraging.  Several  difficult 
surgical  operations  which  he  performed  greatly  increased  his  reputation  for  skill.  It  was  there 
that  he  learned  that  "  nothing  succeeds  like  success." 

In  the  exciting  and  memorable  political  campaign  of  1860  the  democrats  placed  him  on  their 
ticket  for  clerk  of  the  circuit  court  and  recorder  of  Fulton  county.  He  was  elected,  moved  to 
Lewiston,  was  reelected  in  1864,  and  held  the  office  for  eight  consecutive  years.  His  official  labors 
were  performed  largely  by  deputies,  yet  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  various  details  of  the  office, 
and  saw  that  everything  was  done  in  the  best  possible  manner,  he  meanwhile  keeping  up  his  medi- 
cal and  surgical  practice,  which  he  continues  with  his  usual  vigor.  Perhaps  no  man  outside  of 


r \ITI-.D   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


573 


the  large  cities  has  performed  more  important  surgical  operations  than  he.  His  many  years 
of  successful  practice  of  his  profession  in  this  county  gives  him  now  the  advantage  of  an  extended 
and  large  consultation  practice.  This,  in  addtion  to  the  other  matters  in  which  he  is  inter- 
ested, makes  him  a  truly  busy  man. 

The  doctor  has  written  some  for  medical  periodicals,  and  also  for  political  and  other  news- 
papers, he  wielding  a  ready  and  pointed  pen.  It  is  by  such  literary  work  that  he  has  helped  on 
some  important  local  enterprises.  He  is  ambitious,  energetic  and  public-spirited,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1870,  in  connection  with  other  prominent  citizens  of  Fulton  county,  the  Fulton  Coal 
Company  was  organized,  with  Doctor  Hull  for  president.  That  office  he  still  holds,  and  to  his  judi- 
cious management  and  unflagging  energies  is  due  no  doubt,  in  a  large  measure,  the  wonderful  suc- 
cess of  this  enterprise.  He  has  also  taken  a  great  interest  in  educational  matters,  and  especially 
in  his  own  town.  He  is  president  of  the  Lewiston  school  board,  and  has  been  for  the  last  eight 
or  ten  years. 

Doctor  Hull  was  married  in  November,  1851,  to  Miss  Nancy  Permelia  Heckard,  of  this  county, 
and  they  have  one  daughter,  Carrie,  who  is  a  student  at  Saint  Mary's  School,  Knoxville. 

Doctor  Hull  is  not  only  public-spirited  and  energetic,  but  social  and  cordial  in  disposition, 
with  the  manners  of  a  gentleman.  He  is  also  a  man  of  good  morals  and  of  strictly  temperance 
habits,  and  he  is  well  calculated  to  make  and  retain  friends.  He  is  one  of  the  best-known  citi- 
zens of  Fulton  county,  and  belongs  to  a  class  who  have  done  much  to  develop  its  material 
interests. 

In  the  case  of  Doctor  Hull  the  fact  is  demonstrated  that  a  boy  may  commence  poor,  and  by 
dint  of  industry  and  honesty  by  middle  life  may  acquire  a  competency,  and  while  he  does  not  call 
himself  wealthy,  he  owns,  in  addition  to  other  property,  some  two  thousand  acres  of  land,  a  good 
deal  of  which  is  under  cultivation. 


HON.  A.  Y.  TROGDON. 

PARIS. 

AY.  TROGDON  was  born  in  Edgar  county,  Illinois,  July  8,  1833.  His  parents,  Samuel  and 
.  Eleanor  (Swafford)  Trogdon,  both  natives  of  North  Carolina,  settled  in  Illinois  about  1827, 
where  his  father  followed  the  occupations  of  blacksmith  and  tanner.  Judge  Trogdon  is  truly  the 
architect  of  his  own  fortune.  When  but  ten  years  of  age  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources, 
and  going  to  the  state  of  Iowa,  was  there  engaged  for  a  number  of  years  in  driving  oxen  and  other 
manual  labor.  His  educational  advantages  were  meager,  and  his  early  education  was  secured 
wholly  by  his  own  indefatigable  efforts  after  his  day's  work  was  done.  With  a  native  fondness 
for  study,  he  made  the  most  of  his  opportunities,  and,  by  treasuring  up  his  hard-earned  savings 
was  enabled  to  attend  Asbury  University.  After  completing  his  studies  he  settled  in  Minnesota, 
and  opened  up  a  farm,  but  not  being  satisfied  with  that  country  he  left  it  and  settled  in  Terre 
Haute,  Indiana,  and  began  the  study  of  law  under  the  instruction  of  Usher  and  Patterson.  By 
close  application  and  diligent  study  he  fitted  himself  for  examination,  and  in  1857  was  admitted 
to  the  bar. 

He  immediately  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  that  place,  but  the  following  year 
removed  to  Paris,  Illinois,  where  he  has  since  resided  and  won  an  enviable  reputation  in  his  prac- 
tice, in  which  he  has  been  actively  engaged  for  a  number  of  years.  He  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  politics,  being  an  earnest  republican,  and  in  1860  was  elected  town  clerk.  In  the  following 
year  (1865)  he  was  overwhelmingly  elected  judge  on  the  republican  ticket,  although  his  county  is 
largely  democratic.  In  1869  he  was  elected  mayor  of  Paris. 

Upon  retiring  from  his  juclgeship,  Judge  Trogdon  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  profes- 
sion, and  built  up  a  large  and  desirable  clientage,  becoming  known  as  an  able  counsellor  and  con- 
vincing advocate.  In  1877  he  was  again  elected  judge,  and  in  like  manner  again  honored  in  1882, 
the  constitutional  convention  extending  his  term  for  one  year. 


574 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


In  1859  Judge  Trogdon  married  Miss  Mary  C.  Clapp,  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  Four 
daughters  and  two  sons  have  been  born  to  them.  The  eldest,  Alice,  is  a  successful  teacher.  The 
second,  Jessie,  is  a  notary  public,  and  has  been  actively  engaged  in  her  father's  law  office. 

As  a  lawyer,  Judge  Trogdon  is  an  ornament  to  his  profession;  as  a  judge,  he  is  known  for  his 
uprightness,  fairness  and  profound  knowledge  of  the  law;  while  as  a  man  and  citizen  he  is 
respected  and  esteemed  for  his  public-spiritedness  and  true  manly  character. 


ROBERT  BLACKSTOCK. 

PAXTON. 

A1ONG  the  pioneers  of  Ford  county  is  Robert  Blackstock.  He  was  born  in  western  Canada, 
Ontario,  August  3,  1827.  His  parents  were  Rev.  Moses  Blackstock,  a  Methodist  clergyman, 
of  marked  Christian  piety,  and  Jane  (Morrow)  Blackstock,  a  lady  of  true  womanly  and  Christian 
virtues.  Both  of  them  were  of  Scotch  descent;  his  paternal  grandfather,  a  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, was  a  chaplain  for  a  Scottish  colony  under  Lord  Farnharh,  and  located  in  County  Caven, 
Ireland,  near  Dublin.  The  father  of  our  subject  united  with  the  Methodist  church  in  the  city  ol 
Dublin,  under  the  preaching  of  Gideon  Ousley,  a  Methodist  missionary  from  England.  After  his 
conversion  he  came  to  Canada  as  a  Methodist  missionary,  bringing  with  him  his  wife,  to  whom  he 
had  been  married  about  two  years.  Remaining  there  until  1858,  he  then  left  Canada  and  moved 
to  La  Fayette,  Indiana,  and  united  with  the  Northwestern  Indiana  Conference,  where  he  was  in 
active  service  until  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  September,  1876. 

Mr.  Blackstock  received  his  early  education  in  Canada,  and  was  brought  up  under  strict  relig- 
ious influence,  and  received  a  thorough  general  knowledge,  and  Christian  discipline.  When 
nineteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  harness  maker,  which  he  followed  very 
successfully  for  eight  years,  when  he  removed  to  Shawnee  Mound,  Indiana.  Here  he  remained 
for  two  years;  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising.  In  1858  he  moved  to  Ford  county,  three 
miles  west  of  the  present  site  of  Paxton,  and  there  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising  for 
twelve  years,  and  accumulated  considerable  property.  In  1870  he  moved  to  the  city  of  Paxton, 
and  engaged  to  some  extent  in  the  banking  business,  and  in  1873  became  cashier  of  the  Ford 
county  bank,  of  which  he  was  a  heavy  stock-holder,  which  position  he  still  fills  very  satisfacto- 
rily. In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  but  has  never  taken  any  active  part  in  political  matters. 

He  is  an  earnest  and  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  in  which  he  was 
reared,  and  he  is  an  active  Sunday-school  worker,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  First 
Church  of  Paxton. 

Mr.  Blackstock  was  married  in  February,  1856,  to  Miss  Emily  Meharry,  daughter  of  Hugh 
Meharry,  of  Shawnee  Mound,  Indiana. 


H 


HENRY   T.   FOSTER. 

BEARDSTOWN. 

ENRY  TRUE  FOSTER,  one  of  the  oldest  business  men  of  Beardstown  still  living  here, 
and  always  one  of  its  most  enterprising  citizens,  is  a  native  of  Union,  Lincoln  county, 
Maine.  He  was  born  February  3,  1815.  He  is  a  great-grandson  of  Edward  Foster,  who  came 
from  England  to  Massachusetts  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Edward  Foster,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  1752.  Robert  Foster,  the  father,  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  November  4,  1773.  He  married  Maria  Emerson,  of  Hampstead,  New  Hampshire, 
her  native  state,  October  24,  1799.  Robert  Foster  was  a  large  shipper  and  ship  owner,  but  during 
the  war  of  1812-14  his  property  was  mostly  destroyed  or  taken  by  the  enemy,  and  he  moved  to 
Maine  with  his  wife  and  six  children.  The  oldest  son,  Robert  Nesbit  Fester,  was  born  Christmas 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 


575 


eve,  1800.  He  finally  moved  to  New  York  city,  where  he  was  for  many  years  an  importing  mer- 
chant of  Gold  street.  He  died  at  his  home  at  Bloomfield,  New  Jersey,  in  1847.  He  left  three 
sons,  one  of  whom,  Edward  E.  Foster,  is  a  resident  of  Beardstown — a  commercial  traveler.  Rob- 
ert Foster  and  wife  had,  in  Maine,  five  children,  making  eleven,  of  whom  Henry  T.  was  the  ninth 
child.  The  family  moved  to  Thomaston,  in  Lincoln  county,  in  1826,  where  the  mother  died,  July 
i,  1831. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  finished  his  education  at  Warren  and  Newcastle  Academies,  at  sev- 
enteen years  of  age,  and  soon  after  left  his  home,  went  to  Bangor,  and  there  spent  three  years 
in  the  clothing  store  of  Thomas  Furber,  the  first  store  of  the  kind  in  that  city.  Mr.  Foster's 
father  having  lands  in  Illinois,  the  family  concluded  to  go  to  the  Great  West.  The  father,  two 
sons  and  two  daughters  left  Thomaston  early  in  September,  1835.  Stopping  two  weeks  in  New 
York,  where  were  two  sons,  Robert  N.  and  Benjamin  Emerson,  they  pursued  their  journey,  by 
way  of  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  arriving  at  Jacksonville, 
October  24,  1835.  The  family,  excepting  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  soon  moved  to  Rushville, 
Illinois,  he  finding  employment  in  the  store  of  Horn,  Babb  and  Spence,  at  Beardstown.  The 
father  and  daughters  concluded  to  return  to  the  East,  leaving  Rushville  in  the  spring  of  1836. 
They  settled  in  Westchester,  Pennsylvania,  where  Robert  Foster  died,  July  30,  1847.  The  brother, 
Abner  Foster,  *  soon  after  came  to  this  county,  and  the  two  have  been  more  or  less  associated  in 
business. 

Our  subject  has  been  a  farmer,  a  manufacturer  of  flour,  a  merchant,  and  pork  buyer  and 
packer,  as  well  as  a  large  dealer  in  grain,  and  altogether,  for  more  than  forty  years,  was  one  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  place,  interesting  himself,  meanwhile,  in  every  enterprise  calculated  to 
build  up  the  town  or  to  benefit  the  community.  In  1868  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  muni- 
cipality of  Beardstown,  and  thereby  new  life  was  infused  into  an  old  and  important  enterprise. 
We  learn  from  the  "  Cass  County  Atlas,"  and  from  other  reliable  sources  of  information,  that  the 
management  of  the  Saint  Louis,  Alton  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  Company,  having  expended 
the  money  and  energies  of  the  people  along  the  line,  suffered  the  road  to  lie  dormant  for  ten 
years,  the  work  done  going  to  waste,  and  no  outlet  by  rail  for  the  produce  of  the  country,  though 
merchants,  farmers  and  others  had  paid  heavily  in  expectation  of  such  accommodation.  Mr. 
Foster  determined  to  resuscitate  this  enterprise.  By  correspondence  with  Judge  George  Greene, 
of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  and  H.  H.  Boody,  of  New  York,  assurance  of  aid  was  obtained.  The 
attention  of  other  public-spirited  men  of  Beardstown  and  along  the  proposed  line  was  thus  turned 
to  the  work,  and  a  spirit  of  enterprise  infused  into  the  people,  that  led  to  results.  They  made 
arrangements  with  Judge  Greene  to  come  over  the  route,  and  examine  the  line  and  the  work. 
Judge  Greene  was  subsequently  made  president  of  the  company,  and  work  commenced.  A  depot 
and  offices  were  built  at  Beardstown,  the  grading  of  the  road  was  pushed,  and  rails  soon  began 
to  be  laid  from  that  city  southward,  and  before  the  expiration  of  1869  the  road  was  completed, 
and  cars  were  running  nearly  to  Whitehall,  and  continued  to  Saint  Louis  during  1870,  thus  giv- 
ing Beardstown  an  outlet,  in  addition  to  that  by  the  Illinois  River,  and  marking  an  important 
epoch  in  the  business  history  of  this  city. 

To  the  energetic  spirit  of  Mr.  Foster  and  E.  Bv  Leonard  was  due  the  extension  to  Beardstown 
of  the  Northwestern,  Springfield  and  Southeastern  (now  a  branch  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi) 
road.  This  road  is  valuable  and  important,  giving  a  direct  eastern  and  southeastern  outlet  to  all 
Atlantic  coast  cities. 

It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  another  resident  of  the  city  who  has  devoted  so  much  time  and 
energy,  or  more  means,  to  the  fostering  of  the  material  and  general  interests  of  the  place  and 

*Abner  Foster,  above  mentioned,  was  born  in  Union,  Lincoln  county,  Maine,  in  1817;  came  to  Schuyler  county, 
this  state,  in  1835;  settled  in  Beardstown  in  1838,  and  was  successively  a  merchant,  miller  and  lumber  dealer;  also  a 
farmer  for  many  years.  He  was  president  of  the  Cass  County  Bank  for  some  years,  resigning  in  1878.  Like  his 
brother,  he  has  been  a  thoroughgoing  business  man,  and  enjoys  the  high  esteem  of  the  people.  He  has  a  wife  living, 
but  his  children  are  all  dead. 


576  UNITED    STATES   IUOGRA  1'IIICA  I.    DICTIONARY. 

county  as  Mr.  Foster.  He  is,  and  has  long  been,  a  trustee,  and  is  now  a  deacon,  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church,  and  a  man  of  libeaal  Christian  character,  much  esteemed  by  all.  In  politics  he 
was  formerly  a  whig,  of  the  Henry  Clay  school,  and  in  1856  one  of  the  few  advocates  in  this  sec- 
tion of  free  soil.  He  was  a  personal  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln;  an  admirer  of  the  man,  and  an 
enthusiast  for  his  election  to  the  presidency. 

Mr.  Lincoln  appointed  Mr.  Foster  postmaster  at  Beardstown  in  1861,  which  office  he  held  for 
more  than  six  years,  then  yielding  up  the  office  for  non-support  of  Andrew  Johnson.  He  made 
an  efficient  and  popular  postmaster.  For  some  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  republican  state 
central  committee,  and  an  active  and  efficient  worker  for  the  interests  of  the  party,  in  which  work 
he  always  had  the  aid  of  his  sons  in  active  campaign. 

Mr.  Foster  was  married  at  Beardstown,  January  i,  1839,  to  Miss  Mary  De  Haven,  of  Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania.  They  have  two  sons,  Edwin  C.  Foster,  at  Beardstown,  a  general  business 
man,  and  Robert  H.  Foster,  a  merchant,  at  Minneapolis,  Minnesota.  Mr.  Foster  is  of  good  New 
England  stock;  brought  with  him  to  the  West  the  best  elements  of  that  stock,  honesty  and  integ- 
rity, and  his  influence  in  this  city  has  always  been  salutary  and  elevating. 


LORIN  GRANT  PRATT. 

CHICAGO. 

A?  an  example  of  self-reliant,  independent  and  successful  manhood,  no  one  deserves  more 
honorable  mention  among  the  self-made  men  of  Illinois  than  the  subject  of  this  biography. 
He  was  a  native  of  Chenango  county,  New  York,  and  was  born  near  Binghamton,  December  5. 
1828,  and  was  the  son  of  John  and  Clarisa  Pratt.  As  a  boy  he  possessed  undaunted  courage, 
self-reliance  and  untiring  energy,  and  with  a  native  instinct  for  study,  early  developed  a  love  for 
literary  pursuits.  He  attended  the  public  schools  of  his  native  place,  and  although  deprived  of 
the  opportunity  of  pursuing  a  course  of  classical  study  in  college,  by  a  faithful  employment  of  his 
time  he  gained  a  practical  knowledge  of  men  and  books,  which  was,  perhaps,  of  more  real  value 
to  him  in  his  active  life.  When  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  and 
during  the  ensuing  five  years  turned  his  hand  to  various  kinds  of  employment,  devoting  all  his 
spare  hours  to  reading  and  study.  His  mind  was  early  turned  toward  the  legal  profession,  by 
being  brought  into  contact  with  such  men  as  David  S.  Dickinson,  and  other  eminent  lawyers  of 
his  native  state,  and  he  determined  to  fit  himself  for  its  duties.  With  this  purpose  in  view  he,  in 
1848,  removed  to  the  West,  and  settled  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  and  there,  in  the  office  of  J.  K.  Cooper, 
began  studying  for  the  profession,  in  which  he  afterward  won  most  satisfactory  success.  Three 
years  afterward,  in  1851,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  forming  a  partnership  with  William  F. 
Bryant,  immediately  began  the  practice  of  his  profession.  This  partnership  continued  about  one 
year,  and  during  that  time  Mr.  Pratt  made  the  acquaintance  of  Judge  Norman  H.  Purple,  an  able 
lawyer  and  jurist  of  Peoria,  who  was  associated  in  business  with  a  Mr.  Sanger.  Judge  Purple, 
being  attracted  by  the  ability  and  lawyer-like  qualities  of  the  young  attorney,  proposed  that  he 
become  one  of  the  firm,  an  offer  which  was  accepted,  and  our  subject  became  the  junior  member 
of  the  firm  of  Purple,  Sanger  and  Pratt.  This  relation  continued  until  1857,  and  during  that 
time  the  business  of  the  firm  was  more  extensive  than  that  of  any  law  firm  outside  of  Chicago 
doing  business  in  the  state.  Mr.  Pratt  was  not  possessed  of  a  robust  constitution,  and  close  appli- 
cation to  study  and  work  had  so  impaired  his  health  that -he  was  forced  to  abandon  his  profes- 
sion for  a  time,  and  devote  himself  to  other  employment.  An  opportunity  soon  opened.  Pur- 
chasing an  interest  in  the  Peoria  Plow  Works,  he  gave  his  attention  to  the  business  of  the  concern, 
with  Tobey  and  Anderson,  until  the  opening  of  the  rebellion  in  1861,  when  he  bought  out  his 
partners,  and  became  sole  proprietor  of  the  business,  and  continued  it  until  he  had  amassed  a 
fortune  of  some  $200,000.  It  had  been  well  if  he  had  stopped  there;  but  his  ambition  and  enter- 
prise prompted  him  to  extend  his  business  to  other  cities,  which  necessitated  the  association  of 


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OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


579 


other  partners,  the  result  of  which  was  the  loss  of  a  large  part  of  his  accumulations.  This 
occurred  in  1871.  It  was  at  such  a  crisis  that  his  true  character  asserted  itself.  Although  the 
management  of  his  extensive  enterprise  had  fallen  upon  him,  he  had  kept  himself  posted  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  law,  carefully  watching  the  decisions  of  the  supreme  court,  and  being 
almost  daily  in  the  office  of  Alexander  McCoy,  drawing  bills  in  chancery  and  attending  to  mat- 
ters pending  in  court,  so  that  he  was  thoroughly  qualified  to  resume  the  practice  of  the  profes- 
sion, to  which  he  was  devoted.  Accordingly,  in  1872,  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  became  one  of 
the  well  known  firm  of  Harding,  McCoy  and  Pratt.  Three  years  later,  George  F.  Harding  with- 
drew from  the  business,  which  had  become  very  extensive,  and  the  name  of  the  firm  changed  to 
McCoy  and  Pratt,  and  so  continued  until  Mr.  Pratt's  death,  which  occurred  at  Chicago,  Septem- 
ber 23,  1881. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  Mr.  Pratt  had  attained  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  corporation  law- 
yer. He  had  for  some  years  been  the  general  solicitor  of  the  Chicago,  Pekin  and  Southwestern 
Railroad  Company,  and  was  frequently  retained  as  counsel  in  the  most  important  railroad  litiga- 
tion by  other  railroads. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Pratt  was  careful  and  conscientious,  and  honored  his  profession.  Far-sighted 
and  shrewd  in  the  management  of  business  matters,  he  possessed  a  high  degree  of  honor,  and  in 
all  his  dealing  was  a  man  of  uncompromising  integrity.  He  was  a  man  of  fixed  principles  and 
decided  purpose,  and  as  a  speaker  possessed  the  happy  faculty  of  saying  the  right  thing  at  the 
right  time,  and  that,  too,  in  a  manner  to  carry  conviction  to  those  whom  he  addressed. 

Though  strong  in  his  likes  and  dislikes,  and  quick  to  resent  a  wrong,  he  was  a  genial  and  social 
companion,  and  a  true  friend. 

Mr.  Pratt  was  married  July  9,  1851,  to  Mary  E.  Ireson,  daughter  of  E.  A.  Ireson,  a  Methodist 
clergyman  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  Mary  (Goodwin)  Ireson.  In  his  home  life  and  domestic 
relations  Mr.  Praft  was  kind,  gentle  and  true,  and  here  were  displayed  many  noble  qualities  of 
the  man  which  were  best  known  by  his  nearest  friends.  Though  never  possessed  of  a  strong  and 
robust  constitution,  he  was  a  great  worker,  and  by  persistent  effort,  in  the  face  of  many  discour- 
agements, pushed  his  way  upward  to  an  honorable  position  in  his  profession,  making  for  himself 
a  name  that  cannot  but  be  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 


A' 


ABEL    C.  THOMPSON. 

I'AX TON. 
BEL  CARPENTER  THOMPSON  was  born  in  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1818.     His 


parents,  John  and  Mary  (Gardner)  Thompson,  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. After  pursuing  his  studies  in  the  public  schools  of  Wyoming  Valley  he  went  to  Har- 
ford  Academy,  at  Harford,  Pennsylvania.  Leaving  school  before  completing  his  education,  he 
went  to  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  business  for  a  number  of 
years,  which  was  finally  developed  into  the  lumber  and  coal  business,  in  which  he  was  remarkably 
successful.  At  the  same  time  he  dealt  largely  in  real  estate. 

While  in  Pittston,  Mr.  Thompson  gave  considerable  attention  to  journalism,  and  for  three 
years  edited  the  Pittston  "Gazette,"  a  republican  journal  of  considerable  note.  By  reason  of 
overwork  his  health  became  greatly  impaired,  and  in  1868,  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  he  removed 
to  the  West,  and  settled  at  Paxton,  his  present  home,  and  immediately  went  into  the  banking  busi- 
ness with  S.  J.  Toy.  For  three  and  a  half  years  they  conducted  a  private  bank,  which,  at  the  end 
of  that  time,  in  1871,  became  the  First  National  Bank  of  Paxton,  with  Mr.  Thompson  as  presi- 
dent and  S.  J.  Toy,  cashier.  The  business  of  the  bank  was  continued  until  1876,  when  they  went 
into  voluntary  liquidation,  closed  up  the  National,  and  formed  the  Ford  County  Bank,  of  Thomp- 
son, Blackstock  and  Company,  as  successors  to  the  First  National  Bank,  with  Mr.  Thompson  as 
president;  Robert  Blackstock,  cashier,  and  William  M.  Blackstock,  assistant  cashier.  Mr.  Thomp- 
57 


580  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

son,  by  his  careful  and  skillful  management,  has  been  very  successful  in  all  his  undertakings  as  a 
banker,  and  is  greatly  esteemed  by  the  business  community  for  his  integrity  and  thoroughness. 

In  the  various  transactions  of  business  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  during  the  past  quarter 
of  a  century,  he  has  acquired  such  a  reputation  for  financial  ability  and  thorough  acquaintance 
with  monetary  affairs  that,  when  the  panic  of  1873  occurred,  he  carried  all  the  public  interests 
intrusted  to  him  successfully  and  triumphantly  through  that  financial  crisis,  and  was  compelled 
to  take  a  large  amount  of  property  on  indebtedness,  which,  however,  in  later  years  turned  out  to 
be  very  profitable,  owing  to  the  rise  of  property  in  the  West. 

In  politics  he  is  an  active  republican.  In  religion  he  is  a  worthy  and  prominent  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  where  he  has  long  been  an  earnest  worker  in  the  church  and 
Sunday  school.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  First  Methodist  Church  of  Paxton.  He  is  a 
great  public  benefactor,  and  has  assisted  in  building  all  the  various^  churches  of  Paxton.  He  is 
liberal  in  his  views,  and  is  a  supporter  of  all  good  causes. 

Mr.  Thompson  was  married,  October  30,  1844,  to  Miss  Catharine  S.  Brown,  of  Exeter,  Penn- 
sylvania. They  have  one  daughter,  who  is  the  wife  of  Israel  J.  Sutton,  a  dealer  in  real  estate  and 
fine  stock,  of  Paxton.  They  all  live  together  in  their  luxurious  home,  which  is  considered  the 
finest  property,  not  only  in  Paxton,  but  in  Ford  county.  The  house  is  a  fine,  substantially  built 
structure,  surrounded  by  twenty-six  acres  of  ground,  well  laid  out  in  fruit  trees  and  shrubbery, 
which  is  the  pride  of  the  city. 


HON.  DIETRICH  C.  SMITH. 

PEKIN. 

DIETRICH  CONRAD  SMITH,  banker  and  manufacturer,  and  late  member  of  congress  from 
the  thirteenth  district,  is  a  native  of  Hanover,  Germany;  a  son  of  Conrad  and  Margaret 
(Van  de  Velde)  Smith,  and  was  born  April  4,  1840.  Religious  persecution  was  prevalent  in  Ger- 
many thirty  and  forty  years  ago,  and  on  that  account  the  family  came  to  this  country,  in  1849, 
and  settled  in  Pekin. 

Dietrich  was  pursuing  his  classical  studies  in  Quincy  College  when  the  civil  war  burst  upon  the 
land,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  enlist  in  defense  of  his  adopted  country,  first  for  three  months. 
He  went  into  company  F,  8th  Illinois  infantry,  Colonel  Oglesby,  commander;  reenlisted  for  three 
years  as  second  lieutenant  of  company  I,  same  regiment,  and  was  in  the  battles  of  Fort  Henry, 
Fort  Donelson,  and  Shiloh,  and  was  severely  wounded  in  the  last  battle.  He  returned  to  the 
field  in  the  summer  of  1862,  and  resigned  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  being  entirely  unfit  for 
military  duty. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  hardware  firm  of  Smith,  Velde  and  Company,  and  in  September, 
1863,  was  married,  at  Beardstown,  Cass  county,  to  Miss  Carrie  Pieper,  who  is  of  German  extrac- 
tion. Soon  afterward,  his  health  having  greatly  improved,  he  raised  a  company  for  the  1391!! 
Illinois  infantry;  went  to  the  front  as  captain  of  company  C,  remaining  until  the  collapse  of  the 
rebellion. 

In  1866  Captain  Smith  engaged  in  private  banking,  in  the  firm  of  Teis,  Smith  and  Company, 
an  institution  of  good  standing,  and  doing  a  large  business.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Pekin 
Plow  Company;  of  Smith,  Hippen  and  Company,  grain  merchants,  and  of  T.  and  H.  Smith  and 
Company,  wagon  and  carriage  makers,  of.  which  last  firm  he  is  the  financier.  Prior  to  the  panic 
of  1873,  Mr.  Smith  was  connected  with  several  railroads  centering  in  Pekin,  holding  different 
offices  in  these  corporations.  He  is  a  man  of  much  public  enterprise,  and  is  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  pushing  disposition  of  the  age.  He  has  held  such  local  offices  as  alderman,  school 
inspector,  supervisor,  etc.,  and  was  a  member  of  the  thirtieth  general  assembly,  taking  great 
interest  in  river  and  canal  improvements,  and  whatever  would  benefit  the  state.  Step  by  step,  he 
rose  from  an  alderman  to  a  legislator,  preparatory  to  a  higher  step.  Captain  Smith  was  a  mem- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  581 

her  of  the  forty-seventh  congress,  and  though  a  new  man  in  the  house,  he  was  placed  second  on 
the  committee  on  banking  and  currency,  which  committee  had  in  charge  the  rechartering  of  the 
national  banks  of  the  United  States. 

He  is  a  Master  Mason;  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  since  he  was 
sixteen  years  old;  is  an  earnest  Sunday-school  worker;  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
German  Methodist  College,  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  general  confer- 
ence which  met  at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  in  1872,  and  to  the  ecumenical  conference  which  met  in 
London,  England,  in  1881.  He  is  known  far  and  wide  as  a  man  of  solid  Christian  character, 
enlisted  for  life  in  the  warfare  against  evil.  Captain  and  Mrs.  Smith  have  six  children,  five  sons 
and  one  daughter,  all  of  them,  who  are  old  enough,  being  engaged  in  study. 


T 


DANIEL  ABBOTT. 

CANTON. 

1HE  gentleman  with  whose  name  we  head  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Fulton  county,  this  state, 
and  was  born  at  Farmington,  May  21,  1838,  his  parents  being  John  Wesley  Abbott,  a  farmer, 
and  a  native  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  Christina  (Babbett)  Abbott.  Her  father  was  also 
a  Pennsylvanian.  Daniel  finished  his  literary  studies  at  Lombard  University,  Galesburgh;  taught 
a  public  school  two  terms;  commenced  his  legal  studies  at  Galesburgh  in  1859;  pursued  them  two 
and  a  half  years,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Springfield  in  January,  1866.  His  practice 
extends  in  the  several  state  and  federal  courts,  and  he  has  made  a  success  in  his  profession.  He 
prepares  his  cases  with  a  good  deal  of  care,  and  his  points  are  well  taken;  is  clear  and  logical  as  a 
talker,  but  not  fluent,  but  his  candor  and  sincerity  favorably  impress  a  jury,  His  judgment  as  a 
counselor  is  excellent,  and  he  is  not  likely  to  encourage  litigation  where  it  can  be  avoided. 

Mr.  Abbott  is  in  partnership  with  Clifton  N.  Henkle,  in  the  insurance,  collecting  and  real- 
estate  business,  in  which  branch  he  is  also  doing  well.  He  is  straightforward,  prompt  and  relia- 
ble, and  has  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  community. 

He  has  been  city  attorney,  alderman,  mayor  two  terms,  and  was  state's  attorney  from  1872  to 
1880,  filling  that  office,  as  he  has  filled  every  other,  with  marked  ability. 

His  politics  are  democratic,  and  he  cast  his  first  vote  for  president  in  1860  for  that  brilliant 
statesman,  Hon.  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas.  Mr.  Abbott  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  an  Odd-Fellow. 

He  was  joined  in  marriage,  November  12,  1863,  to  Miss  Amelia  W.  Weller,  daughter  of  Daniel 
Weller,  of  Ogle  county,  this  state,  and  they  have  had  six  children,  only  four  of  them,  two  sons 
and  two  daughters,  now  living.  The  sons,  Charles  D.  and  John  C.,  are  attending  the  normal 
school  at  Dixon,  and  the  daughters,  Mary  F.  and  Grace  M.,  are  attending  the  Peoria  Academy. 
Mrs.  Abbott  died  May  19,  1881. 


DAVID  E.  EDRINGTON. 

CRESTON. 

DAVID  ELSTON  EDRINGTON,  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  in  Ogle  county,  is  a  son  of  John 
and  Eda  (Elston)  Edrington,  and  was  born  in  Gallatin  county,  Kentucky,  December  27, 
1819.  Both  parents  were  born  in  that  county.  His  grandfather,  John  Edrington,  Sr.,  was  a 
native  of  the  Old  Dominion.  David  received  an  English  education,  restricted  to  the  rudimentary 
branches,  and  farmed  with  his  father  in  Kentucky  until  1837,  when  he  came  into  this  state,  and 
settled  twelve  miles  northwest  of  where  Creston  now  stands.  There  he  made  a  claim,  entered 
160  acres,  and  began  to  improve  it.  This  part  of  the  state  at  that  time  was  very  sparsely  settled, 
there  being  only  two  families  within  six  or  seven  miles  of  him.  Deer  were  abundant;  prairie 
wolves  furnished  the  nocturnal  music,  and  the  name  of  prairie  chickens  and  other  wild  fowl  was 
legion. 


582  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Edrington  purchased  farms  from  time  to  time,  and  by  industry,  was  greatly  prospered. 
In  1865  he  moved  into  Creston;  opened  a  grocery  and  general  store  (all  but  dry  goods),  and  the 
next  year  added  hardware,  clothing,  boots  and  shoes,  etc.  He  has  always  been  an  upright, 
straightforward  dealer,  and  hence  has  secured  the  best  class  of  customers  and  done  a  thrifty 
business.  He  is  prudent  and  economical,  as  well  as  honest,  and  is  in  very  comfortable  circum- 
stances. 

Since  settling  in  Creston,  Mr.  Edrington  has  been  a  member  of  the  corporation  board  at  sun- 
dry times,  but  has  held  few  offices,  being  very  much  disposed  to  live  not  only  a  quiet,  but 
retired  life.  In  politics  he  was  originally  an  abolitionist,  and  has  voted  the  republican  ticket 
since  1856.  Many  years  ago  he  joined  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  church,  but  now  holds  connection 
with  no  church,  though  he  is  living  an  exemplary  Christian  life,  greatly  respected  by  his  neigh- 
bors for  the  kindly  and  humane  qualities  of  his  heart.  He  has  long  been  a  total  abstainer  from 
all  intoxicating  beverages,  and  in  his  habits  generally  sets  a  good  example  to  the  young. 

Mr.  Edrington  was  first  married  in  May,  1843,  to  Miss  Philena  Potter,  of  Ogle  county,  she 
dying  in  1868,  leaving  one  son,  Albert,  who  was  killed  by  the  cars  a  few  months  afterward;  and 
the  second  time,  December  i,  1869,  to  Mrs.  Achsah  (Andrus)  Woodard,  of  De  Kalb  county,  hav- 
ing by  her  one  child,  Sophronia  Achsah,  aged  twelve  years. 


EDWIN  B.   HARPHAM,  M.D. 

HA  VAN  A. 

EDWIN  BATES  HARPHAM,  one  of  the  oldest  medical  men  of  Mason  county,  dates  his  birth 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  April  14,  1814,  he  being  a  son  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Bates) 
Harpham.  His  father,  a  son  of  Samuel  Harpham,  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  and 
belonged  to  a  family  of  seventeen  children,  fourteen  of  whom  grew  to  womanhood  or  manhood. 
Edwin  is  the  eldest  child  in  a  family  of  seven  children,  all  yet  living  but  one  daughter.  In  1819 
the  family  left  Philadelphia,  and  settled  on  a  farm  at  Hartford,  near  Aurora,  Dearborn  county, 
Indiana,  where  our  subject  attended  the  common  schools  of  the  day,  and  by  dint  of  diligence 
picked  up  some  knowledge  of  mathematics  and  Latin,  he  being  unsatisfied  with  his  literary 
attainments. 

He  read  medicine  with  Doctor  Crookshanks,  of  Hartford;  attended  lectures  at  the  Ohio  Medi- 
cal College,  Cincinnati,  and  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1843,  having  previously 
practiced  to  a  limited  extent. 

In  April,  1844,  Doctor  Harpham  was  married  to  Miss  Laura  Holliday,  of  Aurora,  Indiana,  and 
the  next  November  brought  his  young  bride  to  Havana,  where  they  have  lived  for  nearly  forty 
years.  There  was  no  surplus  of  physicians  in  those  early  days,  and  very  few  of  them  within 
twenty-five  miles  of  Havana.  The  result  was  that  his  rides  were  often  very  long,  and  usually 
very  laborious.  Rain  or  shine,  good  roads  or  bad,  day  or  night,  near  or  far,  a  physician  must 
obey  the  demands  of  frail  humanity,  and,  in  a  new  country,  be  in  his  saddle  and  off  promptly. 
No  other  class  of  professional  men  are  half  so  much  exposed,  and  have  such  wear  and  tear  of  the 
constitution. 

Nearly  twenty  years  ago  Doctor  Harpham  bought  a  drug  store,  and  soon  began  to  slightly 
shorten  his  rides.  He  has  now  cut  off  entirely  his  country  practice,  and  seeks  none  anywhere.  A 
few  families,  whose  physician  he  has  been  from  the  start,  are  reluctant  to  call  any  other.  These 
he  visits,  his  presence  merely  having  a  soothing,  if  not  a  healing  power.  He  does  some  consulta- 
tion practice,  and  the  people  have  great  confidence  in  his  wisdom,  as  well  as  skill. 

Many  years  ago  Doctor  Harpham  was  school  superintendent  one  or  two  terms,  and  he  has 
done  some  work  as  a  school  director,  but  has  never  sought  office.  He  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason. 
His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  where  he  attends. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Harpham  have  had  three  children,  losing  one  of  them,  Corinne,  when  five 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  583 

years  old.  Oscar  Holliday,  the  son,  is  a  hardware  merchant,  Havana,  and  Lucy  E.  is  the  wife  of 
Doctor  Joseph  B.  Browning,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  and  Rush  Medical  College,  and 
practicing  at  Havana. 

In  the  summer  of  1882  Doctor  Harpham  went  to  the  old  country  for  the  first  time,  and  visited 
Lincolnshire,  but  found  scarcely  a  person  of  his  name.  The  family  had  followed  his  father  to 
this  country,  and  are  scattered  all  the  way  from  Illinois  to  the  Pacific  slope.  The  Harphams 
originated  in  Yorkshire,  where  a  few  of  the  name  are  still  living.  Considering  his  hardships  at 
an  early  day,  the  Doctor  is  a.  well  preserved  man,  his  constitution  being  sound  and  his  mind  per- 
fectly clear.  He  is  held  in  great  esteem  by  all  his  acquaintances. 


THOMAS   COOPER. 

PEKIN. 

ONE  of  the  best  known  men  in  Tazewell  county,  is  Thomas  Cooper,  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Pekin,  arid  treasurer  of  the  county.  He  is  a  man  of  the  strictest  rectitude,  of  good  social 
qualities,  and  a  favorite  of  the  democratic  party,  to  which  he  has  always  belonged.  He  is  a  Cin- 
cinnatian  by  birth,  and  was  ushered  into  the  world  February  2,  1830,  his  parents  being  William 
and  Mary  (Beal)  Cooper.  His  grandfather,  Joseph  Cooper,  was  a  soldier  under  General  Wayne, 
and  with  him  in  several  engagements.  The  family  moved  from  Virginia  to  Ohio,  where  William 
Cooper,  who  was  a  contractor,  was  born.  The  Beals  were  a  Pennsylvania  family. 

Thomas  Cooper  learned  the  potter's  trade,  in  Ohio;  at  seventeen  years  of  age  (1847)  went 
into  the  Mexican  war,  enlisting  at  New  Orleans  in  a  Palmetto  regiment,  and  serving  one  year; 
came  to  Tazewell  county,  in  1848,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Morton  township,  where  he  lived  for 
twenty-five  years.  He  still  owns  the  farm,  which  consists  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
of  well  improved  land.  While  engaged  directly  in  agricultural  pursuits,  Mr.  Cooper  was  kept 
constantly  in  one  or  more  offices,  such  as  commissioner  of  highways,  school  director,  etc. 

In  1873  he  moved  into  Pekin  to  take  charge  of  the  county  treasurer's  office.  He  is  now  serv- 
ing on  his  fifth  term,  being  elected  the  last  time  for  the  term  of  four  years.  His  constituents 
have  unbounded  confidence  in  his  honesty,  and  in  his  hands  the  funds  of  the  county  are  in  safe 
keeping.  Mr.  Cooper  is  also  serving  his  second  term  as  mayor,  and,  being  quite  public-spirited, 
he  seems  to  be  the  proper  man  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  city  government.  He  is  a  Master  Mason. 

Mayor  Cooper  was  united  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Margaret  A.  Strickland,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
in  1849,  and  the  fruits  of  this  union  are  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  yet  living. 


JOHN    H.  VOLK. 

CHICAGO. 

WHEN  the  attainments  in  art  or  the  achievements  of  genius  can  be  brought  into  requisition 
to  beautify  the  useful,  to  adorn  the  habitations  of  mankind,  the  structures  devoted  to 
business,  refinement  and  education,  or  the  temples  of  worship,  to  elevate  civilization,  and  raise 
the  standard  and  tastes  of  mankind  to  the  appreciation  of  the  aesthetic  in  every  department  in 
life,  it. betokens  advancement  in  the  right  direction.  This  is  forcibly  illustrated  in  the  calling 
and  career  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

John  H.  Volk  was  born  May  8,  1840,  at  Avon  Springs,  New  York.  His  father,  John  Volk,  was 
a  designer  of  monuments,  and  possessed  a  cultivated  taste  in  sculpture,  which  perhaps  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  early  bent  of  the  mind  of  our  subject  in  that  direction.  The  parents  of  young 
Volk  removed  from  New  York  to  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  in  his  childhood,  where  he  spent  his 
early  life,  having  the  ordinary  advantages  for  education  afforded  New  England  boys  of  that 
period,  and  always  standing  first  in  his  class  in  the  studies  then  taught.  At  the  age  of  ten  years, 


584  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

in  performing  a  reckless  feat  of  swimming  across  the  Housatonic  River,  one  cold  April  day,  amid 
the  floating  ice,  Master  Volk  came  near  paying  his  last  tribute  to  all  earthly  scenes.  Though 
successful  in  the  act,  the  penalty  was  an  eight  years'  sickness,  and  a  consequent  interruption  of 
studies  so  well  begun. 

Notwithstanding  he  was  now  compelled  to  look  upon  his  companions  during  their  sports  of 
agility  and  strength  (among  whom  he  had  been  a  leader)  without  being  able  to  participate,  he 
kept  up  a  course  of  living  and  treatment  to  restore  the  sound  body,  his  studies,  also,  not  being 
neglected.  This,  with  a  determined  will  and  an  iron  constitution,  have  brought  him  up  to  the 
average  health  of  mankind,  and  perhaps  the  exercise  of  this  will  power  to  live  and  to  be,  devel- 
oped the  force,  courage  and  self-reliant  nature  that  he  has  always  shown  in  the  trials  and  adver- 
sities of  life. 

Meanwhile,  his  parents  had  removed  to  the  shores  of  the  Deerfield  River,  near  the  town  of 
Charlemont,  where  his  beloved  mother,  Paulina  Volk,  whose  maiden  name  was  Race,  a  most 
intelligent  and  worthy  lady,  died;  and,  as  is  too  often  the  case  when  the  mother  is  called  away 
by  death,  the  family  was  broken  up,  the  sisters  (four  in  number)  and  one  brother  being  cared  for 
by  the. eldest  members  of  the  family.  The  same  courageous,  self-reliant  spirit  pervading  each, 
they  were  enabled  to  secure  excellent  educations,  and  are  esteemed  for  their  intelligence  and 
uprightness,  and  as  worthy  representatives  of  the  best  of  New  England's  sons  and  daughters. 
To  better  enable  him  to  render  assistance  to  the  sisters  and  brother  he  loved,  young  Volk  came 
west,  landing  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  without  a  dollar;  thence,  obtaining  assistance  a  part  of  the 
way,  and  the  remainder,  some  twenty  miles,  walking,  to  Warren,  Ohio,  where  he  had  learned  a 
marble  carver  was  wanted,  in  which  art,  at  that  early  age,  he  was  considered  very  skilled,  and 
accounted  one  of  the  best  generally  informed  in  the  trade,  succeeding  in  getting  employment  for 
a  few  months.  He  afterward  turned  his  attention  to  teaching  penmanship,  visiting  the  lower 
part  of  the  state  of  Indiana,  and  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  about  a  year.  Then  returning 
home,  on  a  visit  to  his  sisters  for  a  short  period,  he  again  came  west,  remaining  about  two  years 
in  Kalamazoo,  Eaton  Rapids  and  Wayne,  in  the  state  of  Michigan.  Mr.  Volk's  early  instruction 
in  architectural,  mechanical  and  art  drawing,  and  his  study  of  perspective,  together  with  model- 
ing and  reproduction  in  plaster,  have  been  of  great  service  to  him  in  directing  workmen,  and  in 
selecting  those  best  fitted  for  especial  branches  of  monumental  art. 

He  was  early  instructed  in  sculpture  by  his  father,  who  was  also  the  instructor  of  his  own  younger 
brothers,  but  because  of  its 'meager  compensation  in  this  country,  he  wisely  abandoned  the  pur- 
suit as  a  specialty,  using  his  knowledge  thereof  only  in  connection  with  cemetery  memorials, 
which  often  call  for  the  highest  perfection  in  the  ideal,  as  well  as  in  the  less  artistic  busts.  Mr. 
Volk  next  came  to  Chicago,  soon  starting  out  as  a  traveling  agent  for  the  Chicago  Marble  and 
Granite  Manufacturing  Company,  which  company,  through  his  skill  and  efforts,  were  largely 
indebted  to  him  for  their  monumental  patronage.  The  fire  of  1871  dissolving  the  company,  Mr. 
Volk  then  commenced  business  for  himself  in  Chicago,  and  has.  unaided,  built  up  the  leading 
monumental  business  of  the  Northwest. 

His  inheritance  of  artistic  taste  has  been  well  cultivated  and  applied,  which,  together  with  his 
fine  business  qualifications,  entitles  him  to  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  Chicago's  leading 
citizens,  many  of  whom  are  of  the  same  self-make,  having  cultivation  and  tastes  leading  them  to 
the  beautiful  in  art,  and  to  seek  an  appropriateness  in  monumental  memorials  for  their  loved 
ones. 

Having  secured  this  prestige  among  monumental  artists,  he  will  most  assuredly  retain  it,  and 
continue  to  elevate  the  character  and  tone  of  his  calling,  and  to  beautify  the  cemeteries  in  the 
land  with  many  more  of  his  original  and  appropriate  designs,  now  to  be  found  in  nearly  all  the 
prominent  cemeteries  of  the  country.  As  an  inventor,  Mr.  Volk  has  produced  some  creditable 
work,  and  is  now  engaged  on  other  devices  involving  very  intricate  machinery. 

Nine  years  ago,  Mr.  Volk  married  Miss  Hattie  E.,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  M.  C.  Town, 
of  Elgin,  Illinois,  a  prominent  banker  of  the  state,  their  union  being  blest  by  three  children,  the 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  585 

first-born,  a  daughter,  living  not  quite  three  years.  Mr.  Volk  is  now  in  the  prime  of  manhood. 
He  is  a  gentleman  of  integrity,  is  a  good  citizen,  and  has  many  excellent  qualities  as  a  man. 
Thougli  to  strangers  he  may  seem  reserved,  upon  acquaintance  he  is  of  a  genial  nature,  and  his 
friendships,  formed  with  discrimination,  are  enduring.  Being  now  young,  he  may  hopefully  look 
to  the  future  for  greater  attainments  and  success. 


CAPTAIN   SAMUEL  BIVENS. 

HA  VANA. 

THE  treasurer  of  the  county  of  Mason,  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch 
is  a  Buckeye  by  birth,  a  native  of  Pike  county,  born  August  21,  1838.  His  parents,  William 
and  Belalah  (Burton)  Bivens,  were  born  in  Salem  county,  New  Jersey,  and  died  in  Ohio.  Samuel 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  state,  and  was  engaged  in  farming  with  his  father 
until  the  civil  war  broke  out.  In  August,  1862,  he  went  into  the  service  as  second  lieutenant, 
company  C,  nyth  Ohio  infantry,  and  at  the  end  of  one  year  he  was  ordered  by  Governor  Todd  to 
enlist  a  battery,  of  which  he  was  made  captain,  and  which  was  assigned  to  the  23d  army  corps. 
He  was' in  all  the  engagements  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  and  at  the  siege  of  Nashville,  under 
General  Thomas.  He  was  mustered  out  at  Camp  Dominion,  Ohio,  August  i,  1865,  after  being  in 
the  service  four  years.  The  military  record  of  Captain  Bivens  is  that  of  a  brave  young  patriot, 
who  seemed  to  have  no  disposition  to  sheathe  his  sword  until  the  last  armed  enemy  of  the  Union 
had  laid  down  his  arms. 

In  October,  1865,  he  came  into  this  state,  and  after  remaining  one  year  at  Lincoln,  Logan 
county,  where  he  was  a  stock  shipper,  he  settled  in  Mason  City,  Mason  county.  There  he  engaged 
in  the  sale  of  hardware  and  agricultural  implements,  continuing  that  business  with  great  success 
until  the  autumn  of  1873,  when  he  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  county.  He  was  reelected  four 
times,  and  has  held  the  office  ten  years  in  succession,  managing  the  finances  of  the  county  in  a 
most  satisfactory  manner. 

He  is  a  republican,  living  in  a  strong  democratic  county,  and  for  some  years  was  the  only 
republican  candidate  for  a  county  office  who  won  in  the  race.  He  has  all  the  elements  of  popu- 
larity—  cordiality,  courtesy  and  integrity;  is  a  safe  man  with  whom  to  intrust  public  funds,  and 
will  be  likely  to  retain  his  present  office  as  long  as  he  desires  it.  During  the  ten  years  that  he  has 
resided  in  Havana  he  has  made  many  friends,  and  has  been  quite  useful  in  encouraging  enter- 
prises. He  was  at  one  time  president  of  the  Illinois  River  Bridge  Company;  is  a  very  active, 
enterprising  man,  and  people  in  the  county  who  have  known  him  the  longest  and  most  intimately 
are  his  warmest  friends. 

Captain  Bivens  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  Free  Masonry,  and  has  held  various  offices  in  the 
order.  He  was  married  January  25,  1883,  to  Miss  Eva  Covington,  of  Havana. 


JAMES  C.  WILLCOXEN. 

LE  IVISTON. 

JAMES  CALVIN  WILLCOXEN,  farmer  and  stock  raiser,  banker,  manufacturer,  etc.,  is  a  son 
of  Elijah  Willcoxen,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  Charlotte  (Galloway)  Willcoxen,  of  the 
same  state,  and  was  born  in  Estell  county,  July  23,  1829.     The  next  year  the  family  came  into  this 
county,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Liverpool  township,  six  miles  northeast  of  Lewiston,  where 
Elijah  Willcoxen  died  in  1860,  and  his  widow  in  1876. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  very  ordinary  school  privileges,  and  was  engaged  in  farming 
and  stock  raising  almost  exclusively  until  1848,  when  he  added  other  pursuits.  In  1869  he  moved 
into  Lewiston,  and  became  a  partner  in  the  banking  house  of  King,  Turner  and  Company,  which 


586  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

institution  was  converted  into  the  First  National  Bank  in  1871.  Mr.  Willcoxen  is  one  of  its 
heaviest  stockholders  and  a  director.  For  several  years  he  had  an  interest  in  two  or  three  mer- 
cantile houses  in  this  town,  withdrawing  from  the  last  one  only  two  or  three  years  ago. 

For  a  long  time  he  has  been  engaged  in  lumbering,  having  an  interest  in  several  saw-mills, 
giving  his  attention  latterly  to  the  supplying  of  railroads  with  ties,  cord  wood,  etc.,  in  which 
branch  he  is  doing  an  immense  business,  furnishing  supplies  for  at  least  five  or  six  companies. 

Mr.  Willcoxen  is,  we  believe,  much  the  largest  land  owner  in  Fulton  county,  he  having,  in  all, 
at  least  7,000  acres.  Nearly  all  of  it  is  in  this  county,  4,000  of  it  being  in  Waterford  township, 
five  miles  southeast  of  Lewiston.  Not  less  than  2,000  acres  of  his  lands  are  under  cultivation. 
One  of  his  best  farms,  having  1,000  acres,  is  in  Waterford  township.  For  many  years  Mr.  Will- 
coxen has  devoted  considerable  attention  to  stock  raising — fine  grades  of  cattle,  horses,  hogs,  etc. 

No  man  in  Fulton  county  is  doing  more  to  develop  its  agricultural  and  other  interests  than 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  is  a  man  of  great  force  of  character,  of  almost  herculean  ener- 
gies, ah  iron  constitution,  and  his  motive  power  is  sensibly  felt  in  nearly  every  enterprise  which 
has  any  likelihood  of  succeeding.  It  is  this  class  of  men  who  are  the  town  builders  of  the  West. 

Mr.  Willcoxen  was  first  married  in  Putnam  township,  this  county,  September  18,  1851,  to  Miss 
Carissa  Putnam,  daughter  of  Harrison  Putnam,  of  Ohio,  and  she  died  July  8,  1877,  leaving  six 
children:  Alice  A.  is  the  wife  of  Jacob  Gray  veal,  of  Liverpool  township;  Lewis  K.  is  a  farmer 
and  prominent  stock  raiser  in  Lewiston  township;  Emma  C.  is  the  wife  of  Joseph  Downin,  of 
Nebraska,  and  Laura  N.,  Mary  C.  and  Oliver  L.  are  pursuing  their  studies,  Mary  in  Wisconsin 
and  the  other  two  at  home.  Mr.  Willcoxen  was  married  the  second  time  in  September,  1879,  to 
Miss  Alice  Hair,  of  Lewiston,  and  they  have  one  son,  James  C.,  Jr. 


JUDGE   VAN   H.    HIGGINS. 

CHICAGO. 

VAN  HOLLIS  HIGGINS,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best-known  lawyers  of  the  Chicago  bar,  was 
born  in  Genesee  county,  New  York,  February  20,  1821.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1837,  and 
during  the  winter  of  1843  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Illinois,  and  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Iroquois  county,  where  he  remained  two  years,  after  which  he  removed  to 
Galena,  and  there  formed  a  partnership  with  Judge  Pratt,  which  continued  until  about  1849. 
During  his  residence  in  Galena  he  served  two  years  as  city  attorney,  but,  desiring  a  larger  field  of 
usefulness,  he  returned  to  Chicago  in  the  autumn  of  1852,  and  the  next  year  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Hon.  Corydon  Beckwith  and  B.  F.  Strother,  under  the  firm  name  of  Higgins,  Beckwith 
and  Strother,  and  enjoyed  a  very  extensive  and  successful  practice  until  the  fall  of  1858,  when  he 
was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  the  following  year  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  superior  court 
of  Chicago,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until  the  autumn  of  1865,  when  he  resigned  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  the  law,  forming  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Leonard  Swett,  which  law  firm  con- 
tinued until  the  fall  of  1872,  when,  having  been  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  Babcock  Manu- 
facturing Company,  his  connection  with  the  law  firm  was  dissolved. 

January  i,  1876,  he  retired  from  active  participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  company,  having 
accepted  the  financial  agency  of  the  Charter  Oak  Life  Insurance  Company,  for  all  of  the  western 
states. 

In  personal  appearance  Judge  Higgins  has  a  fine  natural  judicial  presence.  He  is  tall,  well 
formed,  and  of  a  commanding  figure,  while  his  face  shows  refinement  and  culture,  as  well  as 
firmness  and  decision  of  character.  Judge  Higgins  combines  many  qualities  rarely  found  in 
combination.  It  would  not  be  claimed  for  him  that  he  is  a  man  of  genius,  but  for  such  a  com- 
munity as  he  has  lived  in  and  still  lives,  he  possesses  a  talent  more  serviceable  to  himself  and  the 
community  in  which  he  lives  than  genius  itself.  He  is,  first  of  all,  as  a  citizen,  a  man  of  great 
public  spirit,  and  is  in  feeling  and  character  a  typical  western  man.  From  the  beginning  Judge 


H.CC,,p,r  Jr  S    C, 


USRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  589 

Higgins  has  seen,  with  a  vision  clearer  than  most  men,  not  only  the  probabilities  but  the  possi- 
bilities of  this  Great  West,  and  what  a  quarter  of  a  ce'ntury  and  more  ago  he  so  clearly  saw,  and 
what  he  so  confidently  prophesied,  he  has  diligently  worked  to  realize. 

Politically,  Judge  Higgins  has  been,  ever  since  the  organization  of  the  republican  party,  a 
republican.  A  stanch  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln  before  his  nomination,  after  his  election  he  stood  by 
him,  exhibiting  in  his  support  the  same  patient  common  sense  and  ability  to  adapt  means  to  ends 
which  characterized  our  great  president.  The  Union  cause  found  no  more  practical  supporter 
during  the  war,  and  particularly  its  early  periods,  than  Judge  Higgins.  He  was,  if  not  the  origi- 
nator, at  least  one  of  the  earliest  of  our  citizens  to  discover  the  necessity  for  organized  action 
among  the  friends  of  the  Union,  and  did  as  much  as,  and  perhaps  more  than,  any  other  man  to 
perfect  the  organization  of  that  body,  the  character  and  work  of  which  ought  always  to  live  in 
our  history,  the  Union  Defense  Committee  of  the  City  of  Chicago.  In  season  and  out  of  season, 
the  judge  was  tireless  in  the  maturing  and  formulating  of  schemes  for  recruiting  our  armies,  and 
his  practical  suggestions  as  to  the  selection  of  methods  were  generally  adopted,  and  in  a  great 
part  through  the  exertions  and  influence  of  the  Union  Defense  Committee,  Chicago,  and  indeed 
the  state,  was  enabled  to  fill  its  quota  substantially  without  a  draft. 

The  part  which  the  judge  took  in  politics  at  that  time  was  beyond  the  effort  of  the  mere 
partisan,  and  at  no  time  has  he  been  mixed  up  or  identified  with  merely  partisan  contests  or 
squabbles. 

As  a  business  man,  Judge  Higgins  is  perhaps  the  ablest  who  has  ever  occupied  in  this  city  a 
judicial  position.  His  knowledge  of  business  men  and  business  methods  makes  him  exceedingly 
useful  as  a  judge,  for  his  legal  knowledge  (and  it  is  very  great)  in  his  hands  was  made  applicable 
to  business  matters  and  the  affairs  of  every-day  life.  As  a  judge  he  did  not  deal  with  the  law 
merely  in  the  abstract.  He  not  only  knew  a  great  deal  about  law,  but  he  knew  a  great  deal  of 
law.  He  not  only  knew,  for  example,  the  law  of  commercial  paper,  but  when  the  maker,  the 
payee  and  the  guarantor  of  a  promissory  note  were  in  court  before  him,  he  could  apply  those 
principles  to  those  parties.  His  business  and  methodical  habits  enabled  him  to  dispatch  judicial 
business  with  remarkable  rapidity  and  accuracy.  The  court  room  in  which  Judge  Higgins  pre- 
sided was  a  place  for  the  administration  of  justice  according  to  the  forms  and  principles  of  law, 
and  justice  was  there  administered  intelligently,  courteously  and  speedily.  A  painstaking  stu- 
dent, we  have  perhaps  never  had  at  our  bar,  nor  upon  the  bench,  a  man  more  completely  abreast 
of  current  statutory  enactments  and  legal  adjudications  than  Judge  Higgins.  His  memory  of 
adjudged  cases  was  something  marvelous,  and  his  knowledge  of  those  cases  was  so  methodized 
and  arranged  in  his  own  mind,  that  he  was  never  confused  by  their  number,  and  his  keen,  thor- 
oughly critical  and  analytical  mind  enabled  him  with  great  accuracy  to  discriminate  cases,  and  to 
detect  false  analogies,  a  capacity  absolutely  essential  to  the  proper  administration  of  justice,  and 
which  distinguishes  the  mere  case-hunter  and  recollecter  from  the  great  lawyer. 

In  its  general  make-up,  so  distinctively  is  Judge  Higgins'  mind  a  legal  one  that  no  length  of 
time  devoted  to  other  pursuits  than  that  of  the  law  would  ever  leave  him  anything  less  than  a 
fine  lawyer.  He  reasons  upon  legal  propositions  naturally  and  in  a  legal  way.  As  has  been  said, 
his  habits  of  thought  and  mind  are  methodical,  well  arranged,  and  the  mere  machinery  of  his  court 
was  in  such  beautiful  working  order  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  any  lawyer  who  had  prepared  his 
case,  and  understood  it,  to  appear  before  Judge  Higgins  with  it.  To  young  men,  ambitious  of 
genuine  distinction  at  the  bar,  and  exhibiting  that  ambition  by  a  thorough  preparation  of  their 
cases  at  all  points,  Judge  Higgins  was  always  most  courteous  and  attentive.  Nothing  seemed  to 
gratify  him  more  than  honest  preparation  by  the  lawyers  who  appeared  before  him,  and  no  lawyer 
practicing  in  his  court  could  fail  to  observe  that  however  new  the  point  which  he  presented,  or 
however  much  opposed  it  seemed  to  be  to  the  general  current  of  authority,  it  would  receive  from 
Judge  Higgins  the  most  careful  and  patient  attention,  and  he  had  the  personal  and  intellectual 
courage  and  ability  to  sustain  such  points  whenever  sound  reason  seemed  to  justify  it. 

Upon  the  bench  Judge  Higgins  had  no  pets  or  favorites.  No  complaints  were  made  of 
58 


5  go  UNITED   STATES  KIOGKAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

uncourteous  treatment.  In  judicial  manner  he  was  a  model.  His  courtesy  never  descended  to 
undue  familiarity.  He  held  the  bar  in  respect,  and  they  respected  him,  and  the  lawyer  appear- 
ing before  Judge  Higgins  felt  that  he  was  called  upon  to  do  his  best.  Devoted  for  the  last  few 
years  to  extended  business  pursuits,  having  charge  of  great  financial  interests,  the  judicial  career 
of  Judge  Higgins,  and  indeed  his  professional  career,  are  practically  unknown  to  the  younger 
members  of  the  bar  practicing  in  this  city.  But  to  those  still  living,  whose  pleasure  it  was  to 
appear  before  him  when  he  was  upon  the  bench,  his  wide  learning,  his  genial  manners,  his  uni- 
form courtesy,  his  promptness  and  his  splendid  methods,  will  always  be  held  in  honor  and  grate- 
ful remembrance. 

In  many  respects  Judge  Higgins  may  be  considered  as  one  of  the  principal,  and  one  of  the 
most  honored,  architects  of  this  great  city.  Its  broad,  far-reaching  business  enterprise,  its  saga- 
city, its  dignified  and  spotless  jurisprudence,  its  professional  learning  and  culture,  its  personal 
probity,  and  the  general  correctness  of  its  private  life,  all  find  a  most  worthy  exemplar  in  the  life 
and  career  of  Van  H.  Higgins. 


MICHAEL  DELANY. 

OLNE  Y. 

HARDSHIPS  and  struggles  in  early  life  often  prove  blessings  in  disguise,  and  it  is  not  infre- 
quently that  they  develop  in  those  called  to  endure  them  that  independence  and  self-reliance, 
which  enable  them  in  after  years  to  triumph  over  obstacles  which  otherwise  would  prove  to  them 
insurmountable.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  of  this  class,  being  emphatically  a  self-made  man. 
Michael  Delany  was  born  in  Broome  county,  New  York,  November  3.  1854.  His  father  was  Patrick 
Delany,  a  tanner  by  trade.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother,  who  is  still  living,  was  Ann  Dwyer. 
They  were  both  natives  of  Ireland.  They  emigrated  from  New  York  state  to  the  West  in  1860, 
settling  in  Richland  county,  Illinois.  The  father  was  a  section  boss  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
railroad  until  1867,  when  he  died,  leaving  a  widow  with  eight  small  children,  of  whom  Michael 
was  next  to  the  eldest.  Prior  to  this  he  (Patrick)  had  purchased  a  farm,  contracting  a  debt  of 
$1,000,  which  with  other  smaller  debts,  added  to  the  burden  of  the  family.  Michael  was  then 
thirteen  years  of  age.  His  education  had  been  sadly  neglected,  owing  to  circumstances  beyond 
his  control,  and  he  was  dependent  almost  wholly  upon  his  own  exertions  for  knowledge,  for  which 
he  had  a  native  longing,  which  he,  in  a  measure,  gratified  by  improving  in  study  his  leisure 
hours  after  his  day's  work  was  done,  and  other  spare  moments.  After  his  father's  death  he  began 
to  support  the  family.  He  first  obtained  work  on  the  railroad,  filling  various  positions  for  three 
years,  after  which  he  went  to  Kentucky  and  hired  out  as  mash  hand,  in  the  distillery  of  Colonel 
Berry,  at  $25  a  month  and  board.  At  the  end  of  three  months  the  colonel  gave  him  a  position  in 
his  office  at  $40  per  month.  This  position  he  held  for  three  years,  and  from  his  earnings  paid  the 
entire  debt,  besides  helping  the  family  at  the  same  time.  Owing  to  his  over-exertion  and  privation 
in  order  to  save  money,  his  health  became  impaired,  and  he  was  compelled  to  return  home, 
where  he  was  stricken  down  with  typhoid  fever,  which  disabled  him  for  several  months. 

In  the  summer  of  1874  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  and  enlisted  in  the  United  States  army,  whence 
he  was  sent  to  Saint  Louis,  and  there  was  detailed  in  the  general  recruiting  service.  He  was  first 
sent  to  Baltimore,  but  finally  transferred  back  to  Saint  Louis,  where  he  remained  until  1875,  going 
with  recruits  to  different  parts  of  the  army.  He  then  made  application  to  join  General  Custer  in 
his  expedition  against  the  Sioux,  and  arrived  at  Fort  Lincoln  May  4,  1876.  One  week  later  they 
started  on  their  way  through  Dakota  to  Montana.  While  on  the  field  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  sergeant,  and  the  company  soon  participated  in  the  famous  Custer  massacre,  which  occur- 
red June  25-27,  1876.  Mr.  Delany  was  severely  wounded  in  this  battle,  and,  July  9,  was  sent  to 
Fort  Lincoln  for  treatment,  where  he  remained  until  the  following  year,  when  he  again  accom- 
panied his  regiment  against  the  hostile  Indians  in  Montana,  and  participated  in  the  battle  of 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


59' 


Bear  Paw  Mountains,  with  the  Nex  Perce  Indians,  under  Chief  Joseph,  September  i,  1877.  In  this 
engagement  he  received  his  almost  fatal  wound.  He  was  shot  first  in  the  hip,  while  charging 
with  his  company;  next  his  horse  was  shot  from  under  him,  and  he  was  then  shot  in  the  breast, 
where  the  bullet  still  remains.  He  was  then  taken  prisoner,  but  his  friends  stole  his  almost  life- 
less body  from  the  Indians,  twelve  hours  later,  and  for  several  months  thereafter  he  remained 
speechless  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  and  until  June,  1878,  remained  in  the  hospital. 

After  his  recovery  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Illinois,  remaining  there  under  treatment,  and 
recruiting  until  1881.  In  the  mean  time,  in  1880,  he  began  the  study  of  law,  while  at  home,  and  in 
1881  came  to  Olney,  where  he  continued  his  studies,  and  in  1882  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar, 
and  immediately  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Olney,  taking  at  once  a  front  rank  among 
the  younger  attorneys,  and  is  now  one  of  the  most  prominent  young  men  in  Richland  county. 

In  politics  Mr.  Delany  is  a  democrat;  his  religious  views  are  Catholic.  He  is  a  man  of  indom- 
itable will,  energetic,  persevering  and  honorable,  and  with  wide  experience  and  knowledge  of 
men.  His  talent  and  fitness  for  his  professional  work,  and  his  loyalty  to  manly  principle,  must 
attain  to  that  success  which  cannot  but  follow  persistent  and  honest  effort. 


T 


THOMAS    B.   BOYD. 

CHICAGO. 

HOMAS  BOTTERNLY  BOYD,  a  successful  real-estate  dealer,  dates  his  birth  at  Hopkins- 
ville,  Christian  county,  Kentucky,  April  6,  1844,  being  a  son  of  David  and  Mary  Elizabeth 
(Ogg)  Boyd.  His  father  and  paternal  grandfather  were  born  in  Virginia,  and  his  mother  was 
from  Tennessee.  He  received  only  an  ordinary  English  education;  worked  on  his  father's  farm 
until  thirteen  years  old,  when  he  became  an  apprentice  to  the  cabinet-maker's  trade  at  Hopkins- 
ville,  at  which  business  he  was  working  when  the  civil  war  broke  out.  He  espoused  the  Union 
side,  and  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  two  or  three  months  before  President  Lincoln  took  his  seat,  was 
corporal  of  a  home-guard  regiment.  When  the  25th  Kentucky  infantry  was  raised  he  enlisted, 
and  was  mustered  in  as  second  lieutenant  of  company  A,  and  served  until  after  the  battle  of 
Shiloh  (spring  of  1862),  when  he  resigned.  Returning  to  his  native  state,  in  May  of  that  year,  he 
raised  a  company  for  the  8th  Kentucky  cavalry,  a  twelve  months'  regiment,  and  was  second  lieu- 
tenant of  company  B.  When  the  time  of  service  of  that  regiment  had  expired,  he  recruited  com- 
pany A  of  the  ist  Kentucky  veteran  troops,  and  commanded  that  company  until  the  close  of 'the 
war,  coming  out  of  nearly  four  years'  service  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

An  incident  connected  with  Mr.  Boyd's  early  camp  life  is  well  worth  recording,  as  it  is  a  good 
illustration  of  his  character.  On  one  occasion  he  and  his  comrades  in  arms  heard  that  the  rebel 
General  Buckner  was  on  his  way  to  capture  them,  having  an  army  of  7,000  men.  They  instantly 
dispersed,  and  each  man  fled  for  his  life.  Mr.  Boyd  borrowed  a  neighbor's  swift  horse,  and  made 
his  escape  to  Evansville,  Indiana,  selling  the  horse  for  $85.  A  year  later,  feeling  a  little  conscience 
smitten,  he  returned  to  the  place  where  he  had  disposed  of  the  animal,  which,  in  the  interim,  had 
changed  hands  once  or  twice,  found  it  in  the  hands  of  a  farmer,  and  in  prime  condition,  bought 
it  for  $125,  and  took  it  back  to  the  pastuje  whence  he  had  taken  it.  Instances  of  this  kind  must 
be  very  rare;  indeed,  we  have  never  heard  of  one  to  match  it.  The  deed  was  characteristic  of 
the  man. 

Not  long  after  the  rebellion  had  closed,  Mr.  Boyd  went  to  Saint  Louis,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  the  clothing  business  until  1868,  when  he  closed  out,  and  the  next  year  settled  in  Chicago. 
Here  he  has  been  engaged  in  real  estate,  doing  largely  a  city  business,  but  now  and  then  dispos- 
ing of  a  farm.  He  came  here  in  moderate  circumstances,  but  has  attended  very  closely  to  his 
business,  has  dealt  fairly  and  honorably  with  all  parties,  and,  winning  the  confidence  of  the  com- 
munity, has  been  eminently  successful,  placing  himself  in  very  comfortable  circumstances. 

Another  anecdote,  having  reference  to  his  early  life,  his  business  transactions  and  his  ideas  of 


UNITED    STATES   HrOGRArillCAr.    DfCTfONAKY. 

integrity,  is  worth  putting  on  record.  Not  long  before  civil  war  burst  upon  the  nation,  and  while 
still  a  poor  apprentice  boy,  Mr.  Boyd  bought  $60  worth  of  clothing,  and  gave  his  note  for  the 
same.  War  broke  out  before  the  note  was  due;  the  whole  country  was  in  commotion;  business 
matters  were  forgotten,  and  his  transaction  with  the  clothier  passed  out  of  his  mind.  At  the  end 
of  twenty  years,  and  when  it  was  outlawed,  the  note  made  its  appearance  one  morning  in  the 
hands  of  an  old  smiling  friend.  Mr.  Boyd  looked  at  it,  recognized  the  poorly  written  signature, 
the  best,  however,  that  he  could  do  in  boyhood,  and  canceled  the  note,  with  solid  satisfaction  and 
absolute  delight.  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  and  our  subject  has  verified  the  truthfulness  of 
the  adage  in  all  his  business  transactions. 


REV.  ICHABOD  CLARK,   U.D. 

ROCKFORD.     . 

~*HE  writer  of  this  sketch  first  met  Rev.  Ichabod  Clark  at  Nunda,  New  York,  in  1845.  The 
preacher  was  then  in  his  prime,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  strong  men  in  the  Baptist 
denomination  in  western  New  York.  He  had  great  power  in  the  pulpit  for  more  than  forty  years, 
becoming  a  pastor  at  nineteen,  and  continuing  to  hold  pastorates  nearly  all  the  time  until  the 
close  of  his  life,  sweeping  revivals  often  attending  his  pulpit  fulminations. 

Ichabod  Clark  was  born  in  Franklin  county,  Massachusetts,  October  30,  1802,  removing  thence 
with  the  family  to  Truxton,  New  York,  in  1818.  He  had  made  a  profession  of  religion  two  years 
before,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  when  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  At  nineteen  he  became  pas- 
tor of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Scipio,  where  he  was  ordained  in  September,  1824,  and  in  the  same 
year  he  married  Miss  Esther  Daniels.  After  a  pastorate  of  seven  years  at  Scipio,  Mr.  Clark 
removed  to  Lockport,  and  continued  to  preach  in  western  New  York,  in  succession,  at  La  Grange, 
Batavia,  Le  Roy,  Brockport  and  Nunda,  until  1848.  In  all  those  places  his  labors  were  greatly 
blessed,  and  strong  churches  were  made  stronger,  or  feeble  ones  built  up. 

In  1848,  Mr.  Clark  came  to  Illinois*,  under  a  commission  of  the  New  York  Baptist  State  Con- 
vention, and  located  at  first  at  Galena,  settling  the  next  year  in  Rockford,  where  he  remained  for 
eleven  years.  During  that  period  more  than  seven  hundred  members  were  added  to  the  First 
Baptist  Church,  and  more  than  half  of  them,  it  is  believed,  were  led  by  his  preaching  to  Christ 
and  baptized  by  him.  While  in  Rockford,  he  spent  a  year  as  superintendent  of  the  missions  of 
the  state. 

His  first  wife  died  in  September,  1854,  and  in  November,  1855,  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Mary  C. 
(Elliott)  Hunter,  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York.  In  1860  Mr.  Clark  became  pastor  of  the 
North  Baptist  Church,  Springfield,  this  state,  and  two  years  later  returned  to  his  old  field  of 

*The  following  poem  was  written  by  a  gifted  young  lady  of  Wheatland,  New  York,  on  the  departure  of  Mr.  Clark 
for  the  West: 

THE  WELCOME  AND  FAREWELL. 

INSCRIHEl)   TO    REV.    MR.    CLARK. 

Our  Father's  hand  that  guides  us  o'er  Yet,  sadness  clouds  our  welcome  song, 

Life's  ever-surging  main,  For,  like  a  mournful  knell 

Hath  brought  the  cherished  friend  of  yore  Borne  by  the  passing  breeze  along, 

To  our  embrace  again;  Steals  in  the  low  farewell; 

How  sweet  to  welcome  one  whose  care,  The  ties  that  bind  us  heart  to  heart, 

Whose  faithful  love  'twas  ours  to  share.  Are  slowly  breaking  as  we  part. 

What  changes  since  we  gathered  last  Yet  go  — thou  chosen  one  of  God, 

Within  these  holy  walls!  Still  kneel  at  duty's  shrine; 

What  voices  from  the  hallowed  past  We  feel  the  stroke,  yet  kiss  the  rod, 

His  presence  here  recalls!  Since  nobler  work  is  thine; 

What  earnest  prayer  and  fervent  zeal—  Join  to  thy  mission  faith  and  love— 

What  toils  and  tears  for  Zion's  weal!  Farewell!  —  farewell r—  we  meet  above. 
WHKATI.AND,  April,  1848.  E.  M.  A. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  593 

labor,  at  Le  Roy,  New  York,  where  he  remained  for  five  years.  While  he  was  preaching  at 
Springfield,  in  1862,  the  University  of  Chicago  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor 
of  divinity.  Again,  October,  1867,  the  General  Association  of  Illinois  called  him  to  its  broad  and 
taxing  field  of  labors,  to  which  he  addressed  himself  with  his  accustomed  zeal,  and  astonishing 
energies,  but  his  health  soon  began  to  fail,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  (October,  1868)  he 
resigned.  Reluctant  to  leave  the  pulpit,  without  respite  from  labor,  he  took  charge  of  the  church 
at  Lockport,  Will  county,  but  before  he  had  fairly  entered  upon  pastoral  work,  in  November  his 
strength  gave  way,  and  a  few  months  afterward,  April  14,  1869,  the  exhausted  reaper  laid  down 
his  sickle  and  went  to  his  rest.  The  following  note  from  Rev.  Solomon"  Knapp,  of  Lockport,  Illi- 
nois, referring  to  the  last  days  of  Doctor  Clark,  will  be  read  with  interest: 

"  Doctor  Clark  preached  five  sermons  after  his  settlement  with  us,  on  consecutive  Sabbaths, 
the  last  of  which  those  of  us  privileged  to  be  there  will  never  forget.  For  holy  and  heavenly  fer- 
vor, for  pathos  and  power,  I  have  rarely  heard  it  equaled.  It  was  indeed  a  fit  closing  up  of  a 
long,  earnest,  successful,  and,  I  may  add,  brilliant  ministry.  It  was  my  privilege  to  see  our  dear 
brother  nearly  every  day  during  a  great  part  of  his  sickness  and  suffering,  for  he  was  a  great  suf- 
ferer. His  nervous  system  seemed  entirely  prostrated,  and  his  once  strong  constitution  entirely 
broken  up.  He  endured  his  sufferings  with  great  patience  and  trust,  'as  seeing  him  who  is 
invisible.'  Sometimes  under  extreme  nervous  irritation,  his  mind  would  pass  under  a  cloud,  and 
then  again  he  was  hopeful  and  trustful,  and  could  say,  '  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed.' 

He  was  mostly  unconscious  for  a  number  of  days  before  his  decease,  though  he  recognized  his 
friends  till  almost  the  last.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  domestic  feelings,  and  most  singularly 
attached  to  his  family.  His  wife  he  could  scarcely  consent  to  have  absent  from  his  bedside,  and 
she  with  all  but  superhuman  strength,  and  a  degree  of  devotion  that  knew  no  limits,  ministered 
to  him  day  and  night.  Previous  to  the  removal  of  the  remains  to  Rockford,  a  service  was  held  at 
the  house,  conducted  by  the  writer,  assisted  by  nearly  all  the  clergy  of  the  place." 

A  writer  who  knew  Doctor  Clark  intimately,  states  that  "  few  men  have  performed  the  amount 
of  labor  that  he  accomplished  in  his  eventful  life.  *  *  *  He  preached  thousands  of  sermons 
in  protracted  meetings,  in  which  he  labored  extensively  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  and  con- 
siderably during  his  whole  ministry.  Thousands  gathered  under  those  labors  into  the  fold  of 
Christ.  Even  during  the  last  year  of  his  active  life,  he  aided  several  pastors  most  acceptably  and 
successfully  in  this  way,  besides  all  the  other  duties  of  his  office.  His  energy,  exhibited  in  self- 
education  and  his  life  work,  were  so  indomitable  as  to  be  sublime.  His  native  preaching  power 
is  scarcely  equaled  in  one  among  a  thousand.  His  power  to  bring  all  varied  acquirements  into 
the  pulpit,  was.  rare,  and  his  all-controlling,  all  pervading  piety,  carried  his  brethren  captive  in 
the  strongest  bond  of  brotherly  love,  as  well  as  gave  him  untold  power  over  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  the  impenitent." 


LEVI   W.   McMAHAN. 

GRIGGSVILLE. 

EIVI  WHITE  McMAHAN,  miller  and  grain  dealer,  and  at  time  of  writing  mayor  of  the  city 
of  Griggsville,  had  his  birth  in  Marion  county,  Indiana,  March  31,  1841,  being  a  son  of 
William  McMahan,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  Maria  (Thomas)  McMahan,  of  the  same  state.  His 
grandfather,  George  McMahan,  was  born  in  North  Carolina.  Levi  had  his  mental  drill  in  com- 
mon schools,  mainly  of  his  native  state;  came  to  Griggsville  in  1856  with  his  parents,  and  when 
eighteen  years  old  went  into  the  confectionery  business  for  himself.  Subsequently  he  farmed  a 
few  years,  and  in  1866  engaged  in  general  merchandise. 

In  1877  Mr.  McMahan  built  a  flouring  mill,  with  five  run  of  stone,  and  the  firm  of  McMahan 
and  Company  is  manufacturing  from  35,000  to  40,000  barrels  of  flour  per  annum.  He  has  a  five- 
sixths  interest  in  the  mills.  The  Pike  Mills  are  the  only  merchant  mills  in  the  place,  and  are 
manufacturing  a  superior  brand  of  flour. 


594  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  McMahan  is  also  engaged  in  buying  and  shipping  grain,  at  which  he  is  doing  a  heavy 
business.  In  energy  and  enterprise  he  has  no  superior  in  the  place.  He  is  quite  public-spirited, 
and  has  to  bear'a  liberal  share  of  the  burdens  of  local  offices.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the  town 
before  its  incorporation  as  a  city,  three  or  four  terms;  has  been  president  of  the  school  board  the 
last  five  years;  was  town  supervisor  in  1881;  an  alderman  one  term;  and  is  serving  his  second 
term  as  the  head  of  the  municipality  of  the  city.  No  man  takes  more  interest  in  the  progress  and 
welfare  of  the  place  than  Mr.  McMahan,  or  has  given  more  time  to  the  furtherance  of  these  aims 
and  ends.  Such  citizens  are  a  blessing  to  any  community.  He  has  never  lost  his  interest  in 
agriculture,  and  is  the  owner  of  two  farms  near  the  city,  aggregating  three  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  all  under  good  improvement. 

Mr.  McMahan  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a  third-degree  Mason,  a  Knight  of  Honor  in  Odd- 
Fellowship,  and  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church.  The  sincerity  of  his  profession  no  one  doubts 
who  knows  him.  He  was  first  married  in  1861,  to  Miss  Harriet  Simmons,  of  Griggsville,  she 
dying  in  May,  1876,  leaving  three  children;  and  the  second  time  in  March,  1880,  to  Mrs.  Jennie 
(Clough)  Petrie,  her  father's  family  being  from  New  England. 


HON.   THOMAS  BREWER. 

TOLEDO. 

IT  may  be  truly  said  of  the  United  States,  that  no  country  in  the  world  is  productive  of  so  large 
a  number  of  great  men  whose  native  ability  and  unaided  efforts  have  achieved  for  them  posi- 
tions of  the  highest  distinction.  With  such,  ranks  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Thomas  Brewer 
was  born  in  Wayne  county,  Indiana,  November  15,  1819.  His  father  was  William  Brewer,  who 
was  of  English  ancestry.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Jane  McKnight,  who  was  of 
Scotch  origin;  they  were  natives  of  Tennessee,  and  among  the  early  pioneer  settlers  of  Wayne 
county,  Indiana,  coming  there  when  it  was  almost  all  a  wilderness,  and  the  Indians  and  wolves 
still  frequented  the  county.  Mr.  Brewer  had  few  educational  advantages  in  his  early  days.  A 
log  school  house  was  all  the  country  afforded,  and  his  father  was  in  limited  circumstances,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  spend  nearly  all  his  time  on  the  farm.  But,  while  thus  engaged,  he  had  a  natural 
desire  and  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  spent  all  his  spare  hours  in  learning  —  by  teaching  himself 
as  best  he  could.  When  he  had  reached  his  nineteenth  year  he  started  out  for  himself,  coming 
to  what  is  now  Cumberland  county,  working  on  different  farms,  accumulating  a  little  money,  and 
at  the  same  time  continuing  his  studies,  to  which  he  added  the  study  of  law,  borrowing  a  few 
books,  over  which  he  pored  by  the  aid  of  a  tallow  candle  after  his  day's  work  was  done.  This 
determined  perseverance  has  marked  his  whole  life,  making  it  a  grand  success.  His  first  accumu- 
lation of  money  he  used  in  aiding  his  parents,  who  were  still  poor,  and  by  his  assistance  they 
were  enabled  to  obtain  a  comfortable  home. 

In  1847  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  which  enabled  him  to  continue  his  studies  to  a 
better  advantage  ;  and  in  1848  he  was  elected  one  of  the  associate  judges  of  the  county.  In  1852 
he  was  a  candidate  for  sheriff,  and  elected  by  the  democratic  party,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his 
term  of  office,  E.  H.  Starkwater.  a  prominent  lawyer  of  the  state,  seeing  his  natural  talent,  offered 
him  a  full  partnership  if  he  would  come  with  him,  which  he  accepted.  Abandoning  farming  and 
moving  to  Greenup,  which  was  then  the  county  seat  of  Cumberland  county,  Mr.  Brewer  was  very 
shortly  afterward  admitted  to  the  bar.  They  continued  to  practice  at  Greenup  with  great  success, 
making  money  as  well  as  building  up  a  very  large  reputation  ;  and  in  1857,  when  the  county  seat 
was  moved  from  Greenup  to  Majority  Point,  now  Toledo,  they  moved  thither,  and  continued  their 
business,  the  partnership  continuing  for  about  eight  years,  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Starkwater, 
after  which  Mr.  Brewer  continued  alone. 

In  the  fall  of  1858  he  was  elected  on  the  democratic  ticket  to  the  state  legislature,  after  which 
he  returned  to  his  practice,  but  was  soon  again  elected  to  the  state  senate  for  four  years. 


UNITE!)   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  595 

In  1868,  when  the  democracy  again  rallied  its  forces  to  oppose  the  election  of  General 
Grant,  Mr.  Brewer  was  selected  in  the  state  convention  as  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  democratic 
national  convention,  held  in  New  York  city,  and  which  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  Seymour 
and  Blair.  After  returning  from  the  political  field  he  settled  down  to  his  profession,  continuing 
as  he  had  previously  done,  with  marked  success,  carrying  on  farming  at  the  same  time.  His  prac- 
tice was  general  in  its  character,  and  comprised  several  noted  criminal  cases.  He  is  a  good  advo- 
cate before  a  jury,  and  one  who  possesses  a  natural  talent  for  his  profession. 

Mr.  Brewer  has  been  married  three  times  ;  his  first  wife,  whom  he  married  in  1844,  was  Miss 
Mary  Hutton,of  Cumberland  county;  they  had  nine  children;  she  died  in  1864.  He  was  married 
again  in  1867  to  Mrs  Sarah  E.  Kirkling,  a  widowed  sister  of  his  first  wife,  and  she  died  May  4 
1872.  He  married  again,  in  1873,  Mrs.  Mary  Smith,  formerly  Mary  Bloxen  ;  they  have  had  four 
children. 

Mr.  Brewer  has  now  retired  from  active  business,  his  oldest  son,  L.  N.  Brewer,  a  young  attor- 
ney of  considerable  promise,  having  succeeded  to  his  practice. 

Mr.  Brewer  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  since  1847,  in  which  he  has 
been  an  active  worker,  and  during  recent  years,  has  been  preaching  in  the  country  and  doing 
much  good.  He  has  always  been  a  man  of  public  spirit,  doing  much  for  the  general  welfare  of 
his  country.  In  politics  he  is  an  active  democrat,  and  always  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  principles 
of  his  party. 

BENJAMIN    S.   PRETTYMAN. 

PEKIN. 

• 

BENJAMIN  STOCKLEY  PRETTYMAN,  lawyer,  is  one  of  the  early  settlers  and  prominent 
citizens  of  Tazewell  county;  he  came  hither  from  the  state  of  Delaware  in  1831,  then  a  lad 
of  a  dozen  summers.  He  has  resided  near  or  in  Pekin,  the  shire  town,  for  more  than  fifty  years  ; 
has  seen  the  country  changed  from  wild  prairie  and  wild  bottom  wood  lands,  partly  inhabited  by 
wild  beasts  and  wild  Indians,  into  well  improved  farms,  usually  from  one  hundred  and  sixty  to 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  and  Pekin  from  a  rude  landing  place  for  steamboats  in  the 
Illinois  River,  to  a  well  built  and  thriving  city  of  nearly  ten  thousand  inhabitants. 

Mr.  Prettyman  -came  from  English  and  revolutionary  stock,  his  grandfather,  Benjamin 
Prettyman,  being  at  one  period  with  Commodore  Decatur  on  the  "  Fair  America,"  and  was  captured 
and  kept  a  while  on  a  British  prison  ship.  The  family  came  from  the  old  country  at  an  early 
day,  and  settled  in  Delaware,  to  which  state  the  Prettymans  generally  scattered  over  the  country 
trace  their  ancestors.  Our  subject  was  born  in  Kent  county,  that  state,  November  21,  1819, 
being  a  son  of  Lewis  Prettyman,  a  native  of  Sussex  county,  same  state,  and  Harriet  (Mason) 
Prettyman,  who  was  born  in  Kent  county.  She  belonged  to  a  Quaker  family.  The  older  genera- 
tions of  the  Prettymans  were  Presbyterians,  with  more  or  less  Scotch  blood  in  them. 

Before  leaving  his  native  state,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  had  obtained  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
elementary  branches  of  knowledge  for  a  boy  not  yet  entered  upon  his  teens.  The  family  landed 
at  Pekin,  April  16,  1831,  and  the  son  never  had  a  quarter's  schooling,  all  told,  after  that  date.  He 
did,  however,  a  good  deal  of  self  improvement,  and  eventuallv  acquired  a  good  business  educa- 
tion. 

His-father  settled  on  land  seven  miles  from  Pekin,  opened  a  farm,  and  there  the  son  remained 
until  twenty-five  years  of  age.  His  father  was  county  surveyor,  appointed  by  the  governor,  and 
in  1840  elected  by  the  people,  his  son  serving  as  deputy. 

Mr.  Prettyman  read  law  at  Springfield  with  Robbins  and  Smeed  ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
March,  1845,  and  in  April  of  that  year  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  Ann  Haines,  who  was  from  Ohio. 

For  nearly  forty  years  Mr.  Prettyman  has  been  in  practice  at  Pekin,  and  is  the  oldest  attorney 
in  the  county.  He  is  a  thorough  student,  painstaking  in  all  his  legal  work,  investigating  a  ques- 
tion very  carefully,  and  being  very  tenacious  of  his  opinions  when  once  formed.  He  does  nothing 


596  /    VlTl-.n   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY 

hastily;  is  regarded  as  a  good  judge  of  law;  has  the  shrewdness  'not  uncommon  to  men  of  his 
profession  ;  often  shows  great  adroitness  in  managing  a  case  ;  and  before  a  jury  aims  at  candoi 
in  his  statements  and  clearness  in  his  logic.  His  character  is  above  reproach.  He  has  an  unusu- 
ally large  law  library,  of  which  he  and  two  of  his  sons  make  liberal  and  judicious  use. 

Mr.  Prettyman  was  city  attorney  some  years  ago,  and  has  been  mayor  two  or  three  terms  ;  his 
politics  have  always  been  democratic,  and  for  thirty  or  forty  years  he  has  been  one  of  the  leaders 
of  his  party  in  the  county.  He  usually  attends  county,  district,  and  state  conventions  ;  was  a 
delegate  to  the  national  convention  which  met  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  1860,  and  with 
not  more  than  two  exceptions,  has  been  a  delegate  to  every  national  convention  since  that  time. 
He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  ;  has  been  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge  several  times,  and  held  different 
offices  in  the  chapter.  He  is  also  a  scarlet  member  in  Odd-Fellowship. 

As  the  result  of  the  marriage  already  mentioned,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prettyman  have  had  fourteen 
children,  burying  seven  of  them  when  quite  young,  and  one  since.  Esther  Virginia  married  A. 
J.  Ware,  and  died  a  few  years  ago.  Mr.  Ware  is  a  lawyer  and  miner,  living  in  Colorado.  Two  of 
the  sons,  William  L.  and  Benjamin  S.,  are  lawyers  in  practice  with  their  father;  Emily  is  the  wife 
of  Doctor  William  E.  Schenck,  of  Pekin  ;  Hattie  is  the  widow  of  James  Murray,  and  living  with 
her  father;  Elizabeth  is  the  wife  of  George  Rider,  lawyer  and  master  in  chancery,  of  Pekin;  and 
Nellie  is  the  wife  of  Frederick  Smith,  manufacturer  of  agricultural  implements,  of  Pekin. 

Mr.  Prettyman  is  a  gentleman  bordering  on  the  old  school ;  is  full  of  reminiscences  of  the 
olden  times,  cordial  and  communicative,  well  informed,  and  quite  interesting  in  conversation.  He 
is  much  respected  by  all  classes  of  people,  and  especially  esteemed  by  the  older  residents  of  the 
county. 

D.   HARRY   HAMMER. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  biography  is  a  native  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  was  born  December  23, 
1840;  the  son  of  John  Hammer  and  Eliza  (Witmer)  Hammer.  His  parents  settled  at  Spring- 
field in  1837,  the  father  having  forfnerly  been  a  merchant  and  manufacturer  at  Hagerstown,  Mary- 
land. The  mother  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  a  daughter  of  John  Witmer,  a  soldier  of  the 
war  of  1812.  In  1842,  when  Harry  was  about  two  years  old,  his  family  removed  to  Ogle  county, 
and  there  he  passed  his  boyhood  and  youth  in  attending  the  district  schools,  and  in  the  ordinary 
routine  of  a  farmer  boy's  life,  and  also  during  this  period  of  his  life  learned  the  harness  and  sad- 
dlery trade,  and  during  several  winters  employed  his  time  in  teaching.  Possessed  of  a  native 
taste  for  study  and  literary  culture,  he  made  the  best  use  of  his  time,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
began  a  course  of  study  in  the  Rock  River  Seminary,  at  Mount  Morris,  Illinois.  After  graduat- 
ing from  that  institution,  having  determined  to  devote  himself  to  the  legal  profession,  he  pursued 
a  course  of  study  in  the  law  department  of  Michigan  University,  graduating  in  the  class  of  1865. 
He  afterward  spent  some  time,  traveling  through  the  several  western  and  northern  states,  and 
finally  established  himself  for  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Saint  Louis,  Missouri.  Owing,  how- 
ever, to  the  unsettled  state  of  affairs  after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  met  with  little  success,  and 
consequently  abandoned  the  law  and  began  work  at  his  trade.  He  continued  thus  employed 
until  the  following  year,  when  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Saint  Louis  by  reason  of  the  cholera 
epidemic. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Hammer  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Benjamin  F.  Taylor,  of  the  Chicago 
"Evening  Journal,"  who  was  lecturing  through  the  West,  and  following  his  advice,  removed  to 
Chicago  and  resumed  his  profession.  The  move  was  a  most  happy  one,  and  marked  the  turning 
point  in  his  life.  Entering  with  all  the  vigor  of  his  young  manhood  into  the  work  of  his  profes- 
sion, with  a  determined  purpose  to  succeed,  he  soon  made  for  himself  a  name  at  the  Chicago  bar, 
and  built  up  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice. 

In  1879  Mr.  Hammer  was  appointed,  by  Governor  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  one  of  the  justices  of  the 


Fn.l  liy  TC  WilhjmjlBro  NY 


UNITED   STATES  RIQGRAPHICAr.   DICTIONARY.  599 

peace  for  the  city  of  Chicago,  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  in  1883  he  was  reappointed  by  Gover- 
nor John  M.  Hamilton  for  another  term.  The  office  is  one  to  which  he  is  well  adapted,  both  by 
his  judicial  mind  and  his  practical  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  to  these,  together  with  his  great 
popularity,  may  be  attributed  his  almost  unparalleled  success,  he  having,  since  his  appointment, 
disposed  of  about  four  thousand  cases  each  year.  Aside  from  his  professional  duties,  Mr.  Ham- 
mer has  always  kept  himself  well  posted  on  matters  of  public  interest,  and  besides  being  an  able 
and  successful  lawyer,  has  always  been  known  as  an  enterprising  and  public-spirited  man. 

He  is  a  gentleman  of  cultivated  tastes  and  fine  literary  attainments,  and  takes  an  active  part 
in  all  movements  tending  to  advance  the  interests  of  art  and  literary  culture  in  the  community 
where  he  resides.  His  private  library,  comprising  some  five  thousand  volumes,  is  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  select  collections  of  books  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 

In  political  sentiment,  Mr.  Hammer  is  and  always  has  been  a  republican.  He  is  married  to 
Emma  L.  Carpenter,  of  Athens,  Ohio,  and  has  two  daughters,  Maude,  aged  sixteen  years,  and 
Hazel  Harry,  born  July  4,  1881.  Although  he  has  scarcely  reached  the  meridian  of  life,  Mr. 
Hammer  has  accumulated  an  ample  fortune,  and  lives  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  comforts  of  a 
happy  and  cheerful  home.  Domestic  in  his  habits,  and  social  in  his  tastes,  he  is  a  most  genial 
companion,  and- in  nothing  takes  more  delight  than  in  dispensing  to  his  many  friends  a  generous 
hospitality. 

Mr.  Hammer  is  an  active  member  of  Chevalier  Bayard  Commandery  of  Knights  Templar,  and 
other  societies.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Calumet  and  Union  League  Clubs,  of  Chicago. 


WILLIAM    WILLETT. 

V 

KEITHSBURG. 

AMONG  the  early  settlers  in  Mercer  county,  and  one  of  the  first  to  manufacture  lumber  here,  is 
William  Willett,  who  has  resided  here  since  1838.  He  was  born  in  that  part  of  Brecken- 
ridge  county  now  called  Meade  county,  Kentucky,  November  3,  1814,  his  father  being  Richard 
Willett,  a  farmer,  born  in  Prince  George  county,  Maryland,  and  his  mother,  Sarah  (Esary)  Wil- 
lett, a  native  of  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  lame  man,  hence 
could  not  do  military  duty  during  the  times  which  tried  men's  souls,  but  he  kept  a  hotel,  and  his 
house  was  a  place  of  refuge  for  parties  pursued  by  tories  and  Indians.  The  mother  of  Sarah 
Esary  was  a  Clark,  a  sister  of  General  Clark,  who  was  sent  from  Virginia  westward  to  take  charge 
of  the  forces  in  Kentucky,  and  had  his  headquarters  at  the  point  where  Louisville  now  stands, 
and  where  the  white  people  often  sought  shelter  in  the  stockade.  The  school  drill  of  our  subject 
was  quite  limited,  ending  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  but  he  did  some  hard  studying  out  of  school, 
having  at  one  time  as  an  assistant  a  nephew  of  Daniel  Boone,  and  he  secured  in  the  end  a  fair 
English  education. 

William  farmed  until  twenty-one  years  old  ;  then  (1835)  started  a  wood  yard  on  the  Ohio 
River,  seventy  miles  below  Louisville,  and  was  engaged  in  flat-boating  for  three  years.  In  the 
summer  of  1838  he  came  into  Mercer  county,  reaching  New  Boston,  July  20;  took  up  a  claim  of 
160  acres  in  the  central  part  of  the  county;  made  a  small  farm  of  part  of  it,  and  from  the  autumn 
of  1839  to  1842  he  ran  a  saw  mill  on  Pope  Creek  for  Isaiah  Brown.  In  company  with  Mr.  Brown 
and  Nicholas  Edwards  he  built  (1842)  a  saw  mill  at  the  mouth  of  Edward's  River,  in  New  Boston 
township,  and  soon  afterward  sold  out  his  interests  to  Mr.  Brown,  taking  his  mill  on  Pope  Creek 
as  part  pay. 

Mr.  Willett  married,  July  20,  1843,  Miss  Nancy  J.  Denison,  of  New  Boston,  and  they  com- 
menced housekeeping  in  a  humble  style  on  Pope  Creek,  remaining  there  until  August  of  the 
next  year.  At  that  date  our  subject  exchanged  his  mill  property  for  a  farm,  between  that  point 
and  Keithsburg.  That  farm  he  improved  for  two  seasons;  then  leased  it  (1846),  and  removed  to 
Keithsburg,  and  engaged  in  buying  and  shipping  grain  and  keeping  a  commission  house.  In 
59 


6OO  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

1850  he  leased  his  buildings  for  one  year  to  Levi  Willetts,  and  worked  for  Mr.  Willetts.  At  the 
end  of  that  time,  he  took  a  third  interest  in  the  old  business,  in  company  with  J'.  W.  Doughty  and 
Abram  B.  Sheriff,  and  they  were  together  three  years,  when  Messrs.  Willett  and  Sheriff  bought 
out  Mr.  Doughtv's  interest,  and  continued  in  partnership  until  1864,  dealing  in  dry  goods,  gro- 
ceries and  grain.  The  health  of  Mr.  Willett  not  being  very  good,  he  sold  out  to  Mr.  Sheriff,  and 
for  three  or  four  years  speculated  in  promissory  notes  and  other  property. 

In  1868  Mr.  Willett  commenced  the  manufacture  of  cultivators,  but  the  business  did  not  prove 
profitable,  and  he  sold  out  the  next  year.  Some  time  before  this  period  he  had  swapped  his  old 
farm  for  a  large  one  —  a  farm  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  acres  five  miles  from  town,  which  he 
has  rented  to  tenants.  Latterly  he  has  devoted  his  time  to  looking  after  his  interests  in  this  and 
other  property. 

Mr.  Willett  was  originally  an  emancipation  whig,  and  since  1855  has  been  a  republican.  He 
is  also  a  Freemason,  and  was  master  of  the  local  lodge  during  most  of  the  period  of  the  civil  war. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willett  buried  four  children  in  infancy,  and  have  six  living:  James  W.  is  mar- 
ried, and  is  an  attorney-at-law  in  Tama  City,  Iowa;  Emma  O.  is  the  wife  of  J.  C.  Zumwalt,  of  the 
Willows,  Sacramento  Valley,  California;  Richard  and  Henry  are  on  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
Mag  J.  and  Julia  are  at  home. 


ANSELL   A.  TERRELL. 

STERLING. 

ANSELL  ALPHONSO  TERRELL,  secretary  and  manager  of  the  Novelty  Manufacturing 
t\.  Company,  Sterling,  and  one  of  the  most  public-spirited  men  of  the  /city,  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Exeter,  Otsego  county,  New  York,  October  19,  1831.  His  father,  Lyman  Terrell,  a 
farmer,  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  where  the  family  settled  several  generations  ago,  and  his 
mother  was  Sarepta  (Cone)  Terrell,  who  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York.  Ansell  was  the  eld- 
est child  in  a  family  of  seven  children.  He  finished  his  education  at  the  New  Berlin  Academy, 
New  York;  farmed  more  or  less  each  year  until  fifteen,  when  he  went  into  a  cotton  mill  at  Mil- 
ford,  in  his  native  county,  and,  commencing  as  spinner,  worked  his  way  upward  through  the  mil) 
until  he  became  its  superintendent. 

In  1853  Mr.  Terrell  went  to  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and  had  charge  of  the  polishing 
department  of  the  Bay  State  Hoe  and  Edge  Tool  Works  until  1856,  when  he  came  to  this  state, 
and  had  a  position  in  the  large  store  of  Cumins  and  House,  at  Grand  Detour,  Ogle  county.  In 
1859  he  settled  in  Sterling,  and  for  ten  years  was  in  the  mercantile  trade,  in  company  with  Henry 
G.  Harper,  the  firm  name  being  Terrell  and  Harper.  During  part  of  that  period,  and  later,  from 
1863  to  1871,  Mr.  Terrell  was  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  Whiteside  county,  and  also  had 
charge  of  the  distillery  of  John  S.  Miller  and  Company,  as  government  store-keeper. 

The  Novelty  Manufacturing  Company  was  established  in  March,  1869.  Two  years  afterward 
Mr.  Terrell  became  its  secretary,  and  in  1873  its  secretary  and  general  manager,  posts  which  he 
still  holds,  and  which  he  is  filling  with  great  efficiency.  It  is  a  stock  company,  with  a  capital  and 
surplus  of  $115,000,  and  is  manufacturing  a  great  variety  of  articles,  including  school  and  church 
furniture,  hall,  recitation,  teachers'  and  office  desks,  erasers  and  apparatus,  opera  seats,  corn 
shellers,  harrows,  churns,  barrel  carts,  stove-pipe  registers,  "Novelty"  barb  wire,  etc.  They  have 
branch  houses  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  including  San  Francisco,  California,  and  ship  to 
every  point  of  the  compass.  The  company  has  built  up  its  business  and  its  reputation  wholly  on 
the  merits  of  its  articles,  for  which  it  finds  a  ready  sale.  Its  marked  success  is  owing,  no  doubt, 
in  a  great  measure,  to  the  prudent  management  of  our  subject,  who  has  a  careful  oversight  of 
every  department. 

Besides  attending  to  his  own  business,  Mr.  Terrell  has  done  a  good  deal  of  hard  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  municipality  of  the  city,  having  served  in  the  council  for  three  or  four  terms, 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  60 1 

and  was  for  years  a  member  of  the  school  board.  It  was  while  holding  the  latter  office  that  the 
elegant  brick  school  house  in  the  second  ward  was  erected,  he  being  chairman  of  the  building 
committee,  and  carefully  superintending  the  job.  Probably  no  man  in  the  city  takes  a  deeper 
interest  in  educational  matters  than  Mr.  Terrell.  He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Baptist  Church,  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason,  and  a  member  of  the  encampment  in  Odd-Fellowship. 

He  married,  in  July,  1853,  Miss  Desdemona  Grover,  of  Milford,  New  York,  and  they  have 
buried  one  daughter  and  have  four  children  living. 


DANIEL  WANN. 

GALENA. 

THE  gentleman  whose  name  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  has  been  a  resident  of 
Galena  for  fifty-three  years,  and  surveyor  of  cust.oms  since  1853,  when  Franklin  Pierce  was 
President-  of  the  United  States.  He  was  born  at  Bel  Air,  Harford  county,  Maryland,  April  3, 
1797,  his  parents  being  John  and  Susan  (Reinhart)  Wann,  both  of  German  pedigree. 

Daniel  Wann  received  a  plain  English  education  in  his  native  state  ;  was  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits  in  his  native  town  until  he  came  to  Galena  in  1829,  bringing  with  him  a  stock  of 
general  merchandise.  Galena  was  then  the  great  rallying  point  for  miners  and  speculators  west 
of  Chicago,  having  more  white  people  than  that  now  great  city  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants. 

Mr.  Wann  continued  in  trade  here  until  1851,  when  he  spent  two  years  in  settling  up  his  affairs, 
and  then  took  the  office  already  mentioned,  the  duties  of  which  he  has  discharged  with  great 
fidelity.  Although  a  Jackson  democrat,  casting  his  first  vote  for  "Old  Hickory"  in  1828,  he  has 
retained  his  office  through  every  administration.  Of  late  years  he  has  been  quite  mild  and  con- 
siderate in  his  political  views,  voting  for  the  best  men,  irrespective  of  their  party  affiliation.  His 
religious  connection  is  with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Wann  was  alderman  of  Galena  two  or  three  terms,  and  mayor  of  the  city  in  1844.  Long 
prior  to  this,  he  was  president  of  the  government  board  of  commissions  which  laid  out  the  city  of 
Galena,  and  adjusted  the  titles  to  all  the  lots.  In  1837,  when  the  State  Bank  of  Illinois  opened  a 
branch  at  Galena,  Mr.  Wann  was  made  its  president,  and  he  held  that  position  until  1842,  when 
the  business  of  the  bank  in  this  city  was  closed.  He  is  one  of  the  best-posted  men  in  the  history 
of  this  city  now  living  here.  He  is  the  oldest  Mason  probably  in  northwestern  Illinois,  being  in- 
ducted with  the  order  in  1820;  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  belongs  to  the  chapter;  and  is  the 
father  of  Odd-Fellowship  in  Galena,  establishing  the  first  lodge  here,  and  holding  the  office  of 
noble  grand. 

Mr.  Wann  is  full  of  reminiscences  of  the  olden  time,  and  strangers  in  Galena  wishing  to  get 
posted  on  the  early  history  of  this  city,  will  do  well  to  seek  the  society  of  Mr.  Wann,  who  is  easy 
of  access  and  very  cordial. 

JOHN   E.  JOHNSTON. 

WARSA  W. 

JOHN  EDWARD  JOHNSTON,  one  of  the  early  settlers  and  merchants  in  Warsaw,  and  now 
postmaster  of  the  city,  is  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage,  and  was  born  in  the  County  of  Fermanagh, 
Ireland,  July  12,  1812.  His  parents  were  Robert  and  Elizabeth  Johnston.  They  brought  their 
family  to  America  in  1818,  settled  at  Elkton,  Maryland,  where  our  subject  received  an  ordinary 
English  education.  When  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  old,  he  removed  to  Baltimore,  where  he  was 
employed  as  a  clerk  for  a  few  months,  and  then  went  into  trade  for  himself,  remaining  in  that 
city  five  or  six  years.  He  came  west  in  1835;  spent  one  year  in  Herculaneum,  Missouri;  two  years 
in  Saint  Louis,  and  at  the  close  of  1838  settled  in  Warsaw,  which  has  been  his  home  since  that 
date. 


6O2  UNITED   STATES   H IOCKAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

During  the  first  three  years  that  Mr.  Johnston  was  in  this  place,  he  was  a  merchant ;  was  then 
engaged  in  land  speculations,  and  subsequently  in  railroading  for  two  or  three  years.  Afterward 
we  find  him  selling  goods  once  more,  and  he  followed  that  bratjch  of  industry  until  February, 
1876,  when  he  was  appointed  postmaster  by  President  Grant.  He  makes  a  first-class  official,  being 
prompt  in  all  his  duties,  and  attentive  and  accommodating.  During  the  Mormon  war,  1844  and 
1845,  he  served  as  quartermaster;  has  held  various  local  offices,  such  as  school  director,  school 
treasurer,  town  trustee,  etc.,  and  never  undertakes  to  shirk  duties  of  that  class. 

Mr.  Johnston  was  originally  an  old-line  whig,  and  on  the  demise  of  that  party  joined  the  re- 
publican, in  which  he  has  been  a  very  active  worker  since  its  origin.  He  usually  attends  the 
county,  district  and  state  conventions,  and  is  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  strengthen  and  give 
success  to  the  party.  Postmaster  Johnston  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  is  living  a  consistent  life. 

In  1840  he  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Catharine  L.  Baldwin,  then  of  Carthage,  and  a 
native  of  New  York,  and  they  have  had  nine  children,  burying  four  of  them.  Annie  E.,  the  oldest 
child  living,  is  the  wife  of  General  Oliver  Edwards,  of  Warsaw,  commander  of  the  3?th  Massa- 
chusetts infantry  in  the  early  part  of  the  civil  war,  and  promoted  to  brigadier-general  and  major- 
general  ;  Emily  J.,  wife  of  Horace  A.  Scott,  merchant,  Osceola,  Nebraska;  James  Edward,  chief 
clerk  in  the  custom  house  at  Kansas  City,  Missouri ;  Francis  L.,-  wife  of  A.  H.  McGregor,  chief 
train  dispatcher  of  the  Wabash,  Saint  Louis  and  Pacific  railroad,  at  Stanberry,  Missouri,  and 
John  Charles,  clerk  in  the  Warsaw  postoffice. 


THOMAS   WINSTON,  M.D. 

FOKRESTON. 

"  I  "HE  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch,  the  leading  physician  at  Forreston,  is  a  native  of 
1  Breeonshire,  Wales,  and  was  born  October  17,  1829.  His  parents,  Edward  and  Sarah 
(Evans)  Winston,  came  to  this  country  in  1832,  Thomas  being  in  his  third  year.  They  landed  at 
the  city  of  Quebec  just  as  the  Asiatic  cholera  first  reached  the  western  continent,  and  our  sub- 
ject lost  an  older  brother  by  that  fell  disease.  Edward  Winston  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  and 
took  his  family  to  Albany,  New  York,  where  they  remained  till  1839,  in  which  year  the  mpther 
died.  They  then  pushed  westward  as  far  as  Newark,  Ohio,  where  Thomas  learned  the  tailor's 
trade. 

In  1849,  being  in  his  twentieth  year,  he  came  to  Mount  Morris,  Ogle  county;  attended  the 
Rock  River  Seminary  two  years  ;  read  medicine  with  Doctor  McNeill,  of  that  place  ;  attended 
lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in  Febru- 
ary, 1858,  and  he  practiced  his  profession  at  Mount  Morris  until  the  civil  war  began.  In  August, 
1862,  he  went  into  the  service  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Q2d  Illinois  infantry,  and  held  that  posi- 
tion two  years,  his  regiment  being  most  of  the  time  in  Wilder's  brigade,  Army  of  the  Cumberland, 
and  the  doctor's  labors  were  at  times  quite  severe.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  was  made  surgeon 
of  the  i49th  regiment,  Illinois  infantry,  which  was  in  Tennessee  and  Georgia.  The  regiment 
was  mustered  out  at  Dalton,  Georgia,  in  February,  1866,  the  doctor  having  been  in  the  service 
three  years  and  a  half. 

On  leaving  the  army  he  returned  to  Mount  Morris,  practiced  there  two  more  years,  and  then 
(February,  1868),  settled  in  Forreston,  in  the  same  county.  His  experience  in  the  army  was  an 
excellent  school  for  him,  and  added  to  his  reputation  in  the  profession.  His  standing  and  busi- 
ness are  good.  He  is  a  member  of  the  county  and  state  medical  societies. 

His  professional  labors  are  somewhat  exacting,  and  he  does  not  get  much  time  to  attend  to  poli- 
tics, but  he  is  a  republican  out-and-out,  and  rarely  fails  to  discharge  his  duties  as  a  citizen  at  the 
polls.  He  is  a  third  degree  Mason. 

In  December,  1861,  the  doctor  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Carrie  E.  Mumford,  daughter 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  603 

of  Thomas  L.  Mumford,  of  Wayne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  they  have  buried  one  son,  and  have 
seven  children  living.  Mrs.  Winston  was  preceptress  of  the  Rock  River  Seminary  at  the  time  of 
her  marriage,  and  is  a  lady  of  fine  culture,  and  excellent  qualities  of  both  mind  and  heart.  She 
has  had  the  entire  mental  training  of  her  children  in  their  earlier  years,  and  the  oldest  son  has 
already  spent  three  years  in  college,  and  the  second  son  one  year. 


WILLIAM   F.   L.    HAULEY. 

ED  WARDSVILLE. 

WILLIAM  FLAVIUS  LEICESTER  HADL.EY,  lawyer,  is  a  native  of  Madison  county,  in 
which  he  still  lives,  and  was  born  in  Collinsville,  June  15,  1847.  His  lather,  William  Had- 
ley,  a  local  Methodist  preacher,  and  a  farmer  and  horiculturist,  was  born  in  Kentucky,  in  1806, 
and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Didaima  McKinney,  was  born  in  Madison  county,  near 
Edwardsville,  in  1809.  She  died  in  1863,  and  her  husband  is  still  living,  his  residence  being  Car- 
bondale,  Jackson  county.  John  Hadley,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  volunteered  as  a  soldier, 
near  the  close  of  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country,  but  did  not  reach  the  army  until  the 
last  battle  had  been  fought. 

Our  subject  was  educated  at  McKendree  College,  Lebanon,  Illinois,  taking  the  full  scientific 
course,  including  Latin.  His  father  had  two  fruit  farms  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  and  a 
farm  in  Madison  county;  and  William  usually  gave  his  summers  to  work  among  the  fruit.  His 
legal  education  was  obtained  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  where  he  was  graduated 
in  March,  1871.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year  Mr.  Hadley  opened  an  office  at  Edwardsville,  and 
practiced  alone  until  1874,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  William  H.  Krome.  The  firm 
of  Krome  and  Hadley  has  a  large  practice,  and  is  one  of  the  most  respectable  law  firms  at  the 
county  seat. 

Mr.  Hadley  is  thoroughly  educated  in  his  profession,  and  is  a  diligent  and  close  reader.  He 
keeps  himself  well  informed  on  literary  and  scientific,  as  well  as  legal  subjects;  has  clear-cut  ideas 
on  any  question  which  he  undertakes  to  discuss,  and  is  a  logical  and  forcible  speaker.  His  friends 
who  know  him  best  believe  he  is  likely  to  rise  to  eminence  in  his  profession,  his  character  as  well 
as  attainments  and  talents  being  solid. 

In  1872  Mr.  Hadley  was  a  candidate  for  county  attorney,  and  was  beaten  by  four  votes.  He 
is  a  strong  republican,  and  an  earnest  worker  during  a  political  campaign,  being  a  candid  and 
effective  stumper.  Mr.  Hadley  is  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  subordinate 
lodge.  He  is  also  a  Knight  of  Pythias. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Hadley  was  Mary  J.  West,  daughter  of  Hon.  E.  M.  West,  a  member  of  the  con- 
stitutional convention  in  1848,  and  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  West  and  Prickett,  bankers, 
Edwardsville.  They  were  married  June  15,  1875,  and  have  buried  one  daughter,  and  have  two 
daughters  and  one  son  living. 

HON.  JOHN  G.   HENDERSON. 

WINCHESTER. 

JOHN  GREEN  HENDERSON,  lawyer  and  scientist,  and  late  judge  of  Scott  county,  is  a 
J  native  of  Greene  county,  this  state,  and  dates  his  birth  September  22,  1837.  His  father,  John 
P.  Henderson,  was  born  in  Kentucky;  his  mother,  Susannah  Winter  (Green)  Henderson,  in  Ohio. 
Our  subject  received  most  of  his  education  at  Jacksonville,  Morgan  county,  where  he  attended 
the  high  school  and  Berean  College.  He  taught  school  more  or  less  while  a  student  in  these 
schools,  and  while  studying  his  profession  and  subsequently,  in  all  during  a  period  of  ten  or 
twelve  years.  He  read  law  with  John  L.  McConnell,  of  Jacksonville;  was  licensed  to  practice  in 
August,  1858,  and  immediately  opened  an  office  in  Jacksonville,  where  he  remained  between  two 
and  three  years. 


604  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

In  1862  he  moved  to  Naples,  in  Scott  county.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  1866,  our  subject 
settled  in  his  present  home,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Scott  county,  where  he  has  made  a  highly  cred- 
itable record  as  an  attorney-at-law.  He  does  very  little  office  business;  makes  criminal  law  a 
specialty,  and  being  well  read,  a  fluent  talker,  and  an  earnest,  logical  and  persuasive  speaker, 
he  has  great  success  before  a  jury. 

In  the  autumn  of  1877,  Mr.  Henderson  "Was  elected  judge  of  the  county  court,  and  served  in 
that  honorable  position  for  five  years,  retiring  near  the  close  of  1882.  Judge  Henderson  has 
always  affiliated  with  the  democratic  party,  and  has  been  an  earnest  worker  in  its  interests,  acting 
on  the  county  central  committee,  part  of  the  time  as  chairman,  attending  caucuses  and  conven- 
tions, and  stumping  Scott  and  the  adjoining  counties  for  the  candidates  of  his  party.  He  has 
given  no  inconsiderable  attention  to  the  study  »f  politics,  as  well  as  of  law,  and  never  allows 
himself  to  speak  on  any  subject  which  he  has  not  thoroughly  investigated. 

But  the  judge  is  best  known  to  the  scientific  world  as  a  student  in  anthropology  and  orni- 
thology. He  has  every  important  work'  to  be  had  on  these  branches'of  science,  and  has  probably 
the  finest  library  on  anthropology,  in  particular,  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  He  has  single 
volumes  which  cost  $200  or  $300,  and  his  whole  collection  of  scientific  works  must  be  valued  at 
$8,000  or  $9,000. 

He  has  a  large  and  choice  collection  in  archaeology,  some  of'  the  specimens  .so  rare  and  fine 
that  they  have  been  loaned  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  be  copied.  Some  years  ago  he 
made  a  careful  and  thorough  exploration  of  the  mounds  in  this  section  of  the  state,  being  em- 
ployed by  the  Institution  just  mentioned;  and  he  wrote  a  lengthy  memoir  on  this  subject,  which 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  Institution  for  publication. 

The  judge  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Natural  History  Society;  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Saint  Louis  Historical  Society,  and  a  fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  He  was  secretary  for  two  years  of  the  anthropological  sub-section,  and  has  contributed 
many  papers  to  the  society  on  the  subject  of  archaeology,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the 
following: 

Saint  Louis  meeting,  August,  1878:  "Ancient  Mounds  in  the  Vicinity  of  Naples,  Illinois." 
"Ancient  Names,  Geographical,  Tribal  and  Personal,  in  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

Saratoga  meeting,  August,  1879:  "Superstitions  of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  relative  to  the  Rabbit."  "  Superstitions  of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  relative  to  the  Owl."  "  Superstitions  of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
relative  to  Thunder."  "  Superstitions  of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  relative 
to  the  Serpent."  "  Lake  Erie  and  the  Eries." 

Boston  meeting,  August,  1880:  "Ancient  Mounds  in  the  Vicinity  of  Naples,  Illinois.  No.  2." 
"Sign  Language  and  Pantomimic  Dances  among  the  North  American  Indians."  "Textile  Fabrics 
of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

Cincinnati  meeting,  August,  1881:  "Ilex  Cassine,  the  Black  Drink  of  the  Southern  Indians." 
"Was  the  Antelope  Hunted  on  the  Prairies  of  Illinois?"  "Agriculture  and  Agricultural  Imple- 
ments of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  "  Houses  of  the  Ancient  Inhabitants 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

Besides  the  above,  he  has  contributed  various  articles  to  the  scientific  magazines,  among  which 
may  be  mentioned  the  following:  "The  Former  Range  of  the  Buffalo,"  published  in  the  "Ameri- 
can Naturalist,"  vol.  vi,  pp.  79-98.  "  Notes  on  Aboriginal  Relics,  Known  as  Plumets,"  published 
in  same  volume,  pp.  644-650;  also,  "Use  of  the  Rattles  of  the  Rattlesnake,"  published  in  same, 
pp.  260-263.  The  first  of  the  above  articles  was  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  subject,  and 
required  a  vast  amount  of  historical  research.  The  last  article  was  favorably  noticed  by  the 
great  naturalist,  Charles  Darwin,  in  his  work  on  the  "Expression  of  Emotions  in  Man  and 
Animals." 

He  has  been  engaged  for  twenty  years  on  a  work  to  be  entitled  "  Ancient  Names,  Geographi- 
cal, Tribal  and  Personal,  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  giving  synonyms,  etymology  and  orthography 
of  aboriginal  names  of  mountains,  rivers,  lakes,  etc. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  605 

In  order  to  prosecute  his  studies  successfully,  Judge  Henderson  found  it  necessary  to  study 
many  books  printed  in  the  French  language;  so  he  took  it  up  without  a  teacher,  mastered  it,  and 
is  now  enabled  to  read  it  with  almost  the  rapidity  that  he  reads  the  English  language.  Our  sub- 
ject is  worthy  of  great  commendation  for  the  .proficiency  he  has  made  in  studies  outside  the  legal 
profession,  and  for  the  large  amount  of  literary  work  which  he  has  done.  He  is  yet  in  the  prime 
of  life;  has  sense  enough  to  study  and  regard  the  laws  of  health,  and  the  friends  of  science  can 
but  hope  that  he  may  have  length  of  days,  and  be  able  to  complete  the  other  noble  tasks  which 
he  has  assigned  himself. 

HON.  JOSEPH  W.   HARRIS. 

TISKILWA. 

JOSEPH  WILKINSON  HARRIS,  one  of  the  older  class  of  citizens  of  Tiskilwa,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature  when  the  civil  war  broke  out,  was  born  in  Valley  Falls,  Rhode  Island, 
January  16,  1819.  His  father  was  William  Harris,  who  commenced  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
goods  in  that  state  in  1811,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  the  oldest  cotton  manufacturer  in 
Rhode  Island,  dying  in  his  eightieth  year.  The  Harris  family  settled  in  Rhode  Island  with 
Roger  Williams.  The  mother  of  Joseph  was  Sarah  Greene,  a  relative  of  General  Greene,  of  rev- 
olutionary fame.  The  parents  of  our  subject  were  Quakers,  and  he  was  sent  to  a  Quaker  school 
until  he  was  thirteen  years  old,  when  his  school  days  came  to  an  end. 

In  1836  Mr.  Harris  came  as  far  west  as  Michigan,  and  engaged  in  farming,  teaching  school 
one  winter  at  Galesburgh,  having  largely  educated  himself.  Since  eighteen  years  of  age  he  has 
been  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  constantly.  In  May,  1840,  he  left  Michigan  and  settled  in 
Tiskilwa,  his  present  home.  He  has  a  first-class  farm  in  the  town  of  Milo,  and  is  one  of  the 
thrifty  men  of  his  class,  his  industry  having  been  well  rewarded.  Mr.  Harris  has  a  half  interest 
in  a  livery  stable,  which  he  is  running  in  connection  with  his  other  business. 

He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1860,  and  attended  the  regular  and  extra  ses- 
sions of  that  body  the  following  year,  heartily  voting  for  all  war  measures.  In  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  went  into  the  army  as  first  lieutenant  of  company  F,  57th  Illinois  infantry  ;  was  wounded 
at  Shiloh,  and  taken  prisoner  on  the  road  from  Pulaski,  Tennessee,  to  Athens,  Georgia,  but  held 
only  a  few  hours.  He  was  in  the  service  four  years,  and  a  considerable  part  of  that  time  was 
superintendent  of  freedmen,  and  was  one  of  the  most  successful  men  in  the  army  detached  for 
that  service,  having  at  one  time  three  camps,  averaging  a  thousand  freedmen  in  each  camp,  and 
all  self-sustaining. 

Mr.  Harris  was  formerly  a  republican,  and  is  now  a  greenbacker.  He  is  a  man  of  no  incon- 
siderable influence  in  any  cause  which  he  espouses ;  is  an  extensive  reader,  and  well  posted  on 
many  subjects.  He  has  been  supervisor  of  Milo  for  six  or  seven  years. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Harris  was  Fanny  Hall,  of  Bureau  county,  their  marriage  taking  place  in 
1845.  They  have  lost  two  children,  and  have  one  son  living,  William  Harris,  a  miner  in  Col- 
orado. 

LEONARD    L.   LAKE,   M.D. 

BEL  VIDERE. 

C^ONARD  LITTLEFIELD  LAKE,  one  of  the  oldest  medical  practitioners  in  Boone  county, 
and  a  man  of  sterling  professional  and  general  character,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Hamburg, 
Erie  county,  New  York,  September  26,  1821,  his  parents  being  Daniel  and   Polly  (Brown)  Lake, 
both  natives  of  the  Empire  State.      His  paternal  grandfather  participated  in  the  struggle  for 
independence. 

Leonard  received  a  partial  academic  education  at  Salex,  Chautauqua  county;  taught  a  district 
school  in  his  sixteenth  year;  read  medicine  with  Doctor  Lewis  N.  Wood,  of  Walworth  county, 


606  UNITED   STATES  HIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Wisconsin;  attended  lectures  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  and  is  a  graduate  of  that  insti- 
tution, class  of  '48. 

Doctor  Lake  settled  in  Belvidere,  and  was  in  practice  here  when  the  civil  war  began,  and  in 
1862  he  went  into  the  service  as  assistant  surgeon,  being  quite  active  until  after  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg,  in  which  he  was  disabled.  Resigning  by  surgeon's  certificate  in  the  latter  part  of  July, 
1863,  the  doctor  returned  to  Belvidere,, and  soon  afterward  resumed  general  practice,  in  which  he 
is  still  engaged,  and  in  which  he  has  a  good  run  of  business.  His  standing  in  the  profession  has 
always  been  creditable,  and  he  has  a  large  circle  of  patrons  and  warm  friends,  who  have  great 
confidence  in  his  skill.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Boone  County  Medical  Society. 

Doctor  Lake  held  the  office  of  county  coroner  for  eight  years;  was  sheriff  of  the  county  one 
term,  and  has  held  other  civil  offices,  such  as  school  director,  town  trustee,  etc.,  faithfully  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  every  position  assigned  him.  He  is  now  president  of  the  city  board  of 
health. 

In  politics,  he  is  a  republican,  and  aided  locally  in  organizing  that  party,  always  giving  it  earn- 
est support. 

Religiously,  he  is  a  Baptist,  a  member  of  the  First  Church,  Belvidere,  and  a  hearty  contributor 
toward  its  support,  and  the  cause  of  religion  generally. 

Doctor  Lake  married,  in  1843,  Miss  Asenah  Marvin,  of  Belvidere,  and  they  have  buried  three 
children,  and  have  two  living:  Hattie  M.,  wife  of  Charles  A.  Church,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
Belvidere  "Recorder,"  and  Lewis  N.  W.,  a  music  teacher. 

Doctor  Lake  is  an  amateur  grape  cultivator,  and  has  at  least  forty  varieties,  all  hybrids,  a 
cross  between  the  domestic  and  foreign  grape,  devoting  an  acre  or  more  of  land  to  their  cultiva- 
tion. They  are  superior  in  quality  to  anything  of  the  kind  raised  east  of  California,  and  com- 
mand a  price  double  that  of  the  ordinary  domestic  grape. 


T 


ORR  F.  WOODRUFF. 

MORRISON. 

HE  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch  is  mayor  of  the  city  of  Morrison,  Whiteside  county, 
and  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  the  western  part  of  the  state.  He  is  a  New  Yorker  by 
birth,  and  first  saw  the  light  of  this  world  in  Orleans  county,  June  30,  1840.  His  father,  Winfield 
W.  Woodruff,  a  farmer,  is  a  native  of  the  same  state,  and  is  descended  from  old  Connecticut  stock. 
The  mother  of  Orr,  whose  maiden  name  was  Solemma  F.  Terry,  was  also  born  in  New  York. 
Both  parents  are  still  living.  In  1852  the  family  immigrated  to  Illinois,  and  settled  on  a  farm  at 
Lyndon,  eight  miles  south  of  Morrison,  where  our  subject  received  a  high-school  education,  and 
where  he  had  considerable  experience  in  tilling  land,  before  he  was  nineteen  years  old.  But  he 
was  not  smitten  with  farm  work.  Law  books  were  more  attractive  than  agricultural  implements, 
and  it  early  became  evident  that  he  was  predestined  to  be  a  lawyer.  At  the  age  above  mentioned 
he  entered  the  office  of  Hon.  Henry  M.  Teller,  late  United  States  senator  from  Colorado,  and  now 
secretary  of  the  interior,  and  two  years  afterward  went  before  the  examining  committee  of  the 
supreme  court  in  Chicago,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Ottawa  in  May,  1861.  From  that  date 
he  has  been  a  resident  of  Morrison,  and  in  steady  practice  in  the  several  courts  of  the  state,  and 
of  the  United  States,  and  stands  second  to  no  lawyer  in  Whiteside  county.  The  elder  Disraeli 
says  that  " enthusiasm  is  the  nurse  of  genius."  Mr.  Woodruff  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession  from  a  love  of  it,  and  with  a  zeal  and  zest  partaking  very  much  of  the  nature  of  enthu- 
siasm, and  if  he  had  no  genius  to  nurse,  he  had  something  equally  as  serviceable,  equally  as  prac- 
tical, namely:  first-class  talents  and  a  plucky  spirit  of  perseverance.  He  has  made  golden  use  of 
his  time,  and  to  his  studious  habits  and  his  plodding  disposition  he  owes,  in  a  large  measure,  his 
high  standing  at  the  bar. 

Mr.  Woodruff  has  a  large  and  well  selected  library,  of  which  he  makes  diligent  use,  and   in 


B.C. cooper  Jr    &  Co  . 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UN  IT  ED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  6oo 

addition  to  his  studious  habits  and  his  untiring  energy  and  perseverance,  he  has  great  persistency 
under  difficulties,  much  skill  in  arranging  the  details  of  a  trial,  a  nice  discrimination  as  to  the 
applicability  of  authorities,  peculiar  fitness  to  examine  witnesses,  and  noteworthy,  and  often  truly 
remarkable  tact  with  juries.  His  practice  in  criminal  courts  is  quite  large,  and  it  has  been 
attended  with  great  success. 

At  the  time  this  sketch  is  prepared  (summer  of  1882),  Mr.  Woodruff  is  serving  his  second 
term  and  fourth  year  as  mayor  of  the  city,  the  first  municipal  office,  we  believe,  that  he  has  ever 
held.  He  is  public-spirited  and  progressive,  and  takes  pride  in  pushing  forward  any  enterprise 
tending  to  benefit  the  city.  He  has  large  mining  interests  in  Colorado,  and  is  president  of  the 
Idalia  Silver  Mining  Company,  and  also  of  the  Minnie  Lee  Company.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason, 
and  was  for  several  years  senior  deacon  of  Dunlap  Lodge,  No.  321,  Morrison. 

Mr.  Woodruff  was  first  married  in  November,  1862,  to  Miss  Victoria  O'Hara,  of  Morrison,  and 
she  and  two  children,  his  whole  family,  died  within  twenty  days,  in  the  autumn  of  1867.  His 
present  wife  was  Mary  Lathrop,  also  of  Morrison,  married  February  22,  1869.  They  have  no 
children. 

PHILIP    L.    DIEFFENBACHER,   M.D. 

HA  VANA. 

"PHILIP  LONG  DIEFFENBACHER,  the  leading  surgeon  in  Mason  county,  is  descended 
J_  from  an  old  Pennsylvania  German  family,  his  great-grandfather,  Conrad  Dieffenbacher, 
marrying  in  the  old  country  and  coming  directly  to  the  Keystone  State,  some  time  before  the 
revolt  of  the  colonies.  He  and  his  son,  Jacob  Dieffenbacher,  grandfather  of  Philip,  were  farmers, 
as  were  most  of  the  early  members  of  the  family  in  this  country.  Philip  is  the  eldest  son  of 
Daniel  and  Catherine  (Long)  Dieffenbacher,  and  was  born  in  Columbia  county,  Pennsylvania, 
February  6,  1830.  When  he  was  about  three  years  of  age  the  family  moved  to  Northumberland 
county,  where  some  biographers  have  by  mistake  located  his  birthplace. 

In  1837  the  family  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  on  wild  land  five  miles  east  of  Havana,  where 
our  subject  assisted  in  improving  a  farm,  receiving,  meanwhile,  such  mental  drill  as  the  country 
schools  of  Illinois  could  furnish  forty  years  ago.  In  1849  Mr.  Dieffenbacher  returned  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, finished  his  literary  education  at  the  Newville  Academy  ;  studied  medicine  at  Mechanics- 
burgh,  Pennsylvania,  with  his  paternal  uncle,  Philip  H.  Long  ;  attended  lectures  at  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  one  of  the  oldest  institutions  of  the  kind  in  the  country,  and  was 
graduated  in  the  spring  of  1855.  He  attended  clinical  lectures  and  practice  at  Blockly  Hospital, 
West  Philadelphia,  during  one  winter. 

Doctor  Dieffenbacher  opened  an  office  at  Mount  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania,  but  his 
parents  were  in  this  state.  His  heart  was  here,  and  in  1856  we  find  him  in  Havana,  with  his  sign 
out,  and  he  in  full  practice,  among  his  early  associates  and  abiding  friends.  His  reputation  for 
skill,  particularly  in  surgery,  in  which  he  excels,  gradually  extended  over  the  county,  and  into 
adjoining  counties,  and  his  practice  in  that  branch  of  the  healing  art,  as  well  as  in  medicine,  has 
for  years  been  quite  extensive.  In  1860,  the  year  before  the  war  broke  out,  he  performed  success- 
fully a  resection  of  the  shoulder  joint,  from  a  gun-shot  wound,  then  an  unusual  operation. 

In  the  summer  of  1862  the  doctor  was  appointed  assistant  post  surgeon  at  Peoria,  under  Doc- 
tor Andrews,  while  the  regiments  were  being  mustered  in,  and  when  the  851)1  infantry  was  ready 
to  march,  he  accompanied  it  as  first  assistant  surgeon.  In  June,  1863,  he  was  promoted  to  sur- 
geon, with  the  rank  of  major,  serving  in  that  capacity  till  the  war  ended.  He  was  with  General 
Sherman  on  his  march  to  the  sea,  and  through  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia  to  Washington.  Since 
his  return  from  the  army  he  has  done  all  the  difficult  surgery  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  is  also 
United  States  examining  surgeon  for  pensions  in  Mason  county,  and  surgeon  for  the  Wabash, 
Saint  Louis  and  Pacific  railroad. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Mason  County  Medical  Society,  the  Brainard  District  Medical  Society, 
60 


6lO  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

of  which  he  was  president  in   1880-1,  and  also  belongs  to  the  American  Medical  Association, 
whose  meetings  he  attends  occasionally. 

Doctor  Dieffenbacher  trains  in  the  ranks  of  the  republican  party,  but  the  temptations  of  no 
office  drew  him  from  his  practice.  He  has  a  large  and  valuable  medical  library,  which  he 
replenishes  from  year  to  year,  and  to  the  study  of  which  he  gives  the  leisure  time  at  his  com- 
mand. His  wife  was  Martha  M.  Mitchell,  of  Bath,  Mason  county,  married  May  17,  1874.  They 
have  three  children:  Mattie  M.,  Edith  L.  and  Philip  D. 


WILLIAM   E.  SCHENCK,  M.D. 

PEKIN. 

WILLIAM  ERNEST  SCHENCK,  one  of  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Tazewell 
county,  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  those  Holland  families  which  settled  in  New  York  at  an 
early  day,  and  which  are  most  felicitiously  described  by  Diedrich  Knickerbocker  in  his  history  of 
that  state.  He  is  a  son  of  Ernest  and  Anna  B.  (Skillman)  Schenck,  and  was  born  at  Millstone, 
Somerset  county,  New  Jersey,  May  20,  1840.  Both  parents  were  also  natives  of  that  county. 
William  was  educated  at  the  Lawrenceville  Classical  School,  and  prepared  himself  to  enter  college, 
but  went  no  farther  with  his  literary  studies.  He  read  medicine  with  Doctor  P.  D.  McKissack,  of 
Millstone;  attended  three  courses  of  lectures  at  Bellevue  Hospital  College,  New  York  city,  and 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  March,  1864,  he  being  a  member  of  the  first  class 
that  was  graduated  at  that  excellent  institution. 

Doctor  Schenck  came  immediately  to  Pekin,  and  has  known  no  other  field  of  practice.  He  found 
a  wide  opening,  for  it  extended  into  the  country  in  some  directions  from  twelve  to  fifteen  miles. 
He  took  great  pains  in  preparing  himself  for  his  profession,  and  has  since  been  well  rewarded  in 
a  pecuniary  sense,  as  well  as  in  the  satisfaction  one  feels  in  knowing  that  his  skill  is  appreciated. 

Doctor  Schenck  has  been  United  States  examining  surgeon  for  pensions  for  fifteen  years,  and 
served  for  three  years  as  a  school  inspector  ;  but  the  pressing  duties  of  his  profession  forbid  that 
he  should  accept  of  many  civil  offices.  His  ambition  seems  to  rest  in  his  legitimate  calling — in 
his  desire  to  attend  promptly  to  the  wants  of  suffering  humanity,  and  succeed  as  a  physician. 
This  he  has  already  done.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Tazewell  County  Medical  Society,  recently 
organized,  and  is  exerting  himself,  with  others,  to  build  it  up.  The  doctor  is  a  member  of  the 
American  (formerly  Dutch)  Reformed  Church,  and  a  deacon  of  the  same. 

He  was  married  in  October,  1867,  to  Emily,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Prettyman,  whose  sketch 
appears  on  other  pages  of  this  work,  and  they  have  three  children,  all  attending  the  local  schools. 


JOHN  W.  COOK. 

NORMAL. 

JOHN  WILLISTON  COOK,  who  occupies  the  chair  of  mathematics  in  the  Normal  University, 
J  was  born  near  the  village  of  Oneida,  New  York,  April  20,  1844.  He  is  a  son  of  Harry  De  Witt 
Cook  and  Joannah  (Hall)  Cook,  both  natives  of  the  Empire  State.  The  great-grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject fought  for  five  years  in  the  successful  struggle  for  independence,  being  at  Valley  Forge,  and 
having  his  full  share  of  suffering  in  that  long  war;  and  his  grandfather,  John  Cook,  for  whom  he 
was  named,  died  in  Wisconsin  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-five  years.  Harry  De  Witt  Cook  was  a 
mechanic  in  early  life  ;  came  to  Illinois  in  1851  ;  was  a  station  agent  and  a  grain  dealer  at  Kappa 
at  one  period  ;  an  officer  in  the  volunteer  force  for  three  years  ;  a  member  of  the  legislature  in 
1861,  and  again  in  1864,  and  chairman  of  the  warehouse  commission  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
1873- 

Professor  Cook  finished  his  education  at  the  Normal  University  in   1865  ;  taught  one  year  at 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY  6ll 

Brimfield,  Illinois  ;  in  the  autumn  of  1866  became  a  teacher  in  the  model  school,  at  Normal,  and 
two  years  later  was  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  Normal  department.  In  addition  to  the  mathe- 
matics, he  also  has  the  classes  in  natural  philosophy  and  astronomy.  A  gentleman  intimately 
acquainted  with  Professor  Cook,  thus  writes  in  regard  to  him  as  a  teacher  and  lecturer  : 

Professor  Cook  has  been  a  teacher  in  the  Normal  School  tor  fourteen  years;  before  beginning  his  work  here,  he 
had  some  experience  in  teaching  public  graded  schools.  His  work  in  the  class  room  is  noted  for  clearness,  accuracy 
and  persistency.  With  classes  in  physical  science,  he  is  not  only  a  successful  performer  of  experiments,  using  simple 
apparatus,  but  he  has  the  ability  to  cause  his  pupils  both  to  understand  clearly  the  value  of  the  experiment,  and  to  per- 
form it  for  themselves.  Few  teachers  exert  a  stronger  personal  influence  over  their  pupils.  As  a  lecturer  and  instruc- 
tor of  teachers'  institutes,  Professor  Cook  has  had  marked  success;  he  has  written  considerably  for  teachers'  periodicals, 
and  has  published  a  small  book  on  methods  of  teaching  arithmetic,  which  has  been  well  received.  In  December,  1879, 
he  was  chosen  president  of  the  Illinois  Teachers'  Association,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office  with  great  accept- 
ance. Not  many  teachers  in  the  state  are  known  more  generally  or  favorably  than  Professor  Cook. 

Professor  Cook  is  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Normal  School  district ;  has  a  watch- 
ful eye  on  the  educational  interests  of  the  village,  and  is  a  thorough-going,  practical  business  man, 
with  quite  as  much  mathematics  as  poetry  in  his  composition.  For  two  years  he  was  associated 
with  President  Hewitt  in  editing  "The  Schoolmaster,"  a  monthly  periodical  published  at  Normal. 
He  is  the  author  of  "Methods  in  Arithmetic,"  published  in  1881,  and  used  by  teachers;  is  a  man 
of  no  inconsiderable  originality  of  thought,  and  his  experience  in  teaching  for  seventeen  years 
has  not  been  for  naught  outside  the  recitation  room.  Inside,  he  is  a  thorough  master  of  this  art, 
and  very  popular  with  the  students. 

In  August,  1867,  Professor  Cook  was  married  to  Lydia  F.  Spofford,  daughter  of  Farnham 
Spofford,  of  North  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  they  have  two  children. 


COLONEL  JOHN   WARNER. 

PEORIA. 

JOHN  WARNER,  late  mayor  of  the  city  of  Peoria,  and  one  of  its  leading  business  men,  is  a 
son  of  John  B.  and  Hester  (Gordon)  Warner,  and  was  born  in  Perry  county,  Ohio,  October  u, 
1828.  His  father  was  a  son  of  Henry  Warner,  who  belonged  to  an  old  Maryland  family.  John 
B.  Warner  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-14.  The  father  of  Hester  Gordon  was  also  in  the 
same  war.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of  Ohio;  farmed  with 
his  father  until  1846,  when  the  family  came  to  Peoria,  and  the  father  kept  the  Clinton  House  and 
the  son  became  a  clerk  in  a  store.  In  1852  he  went  into  business  for  himself,  opening  a  clothing 
and  general  furnishing  house,  which  he  was  managing  when  the  civil  war  began.  At  times  he 
has  been  in  the  ice  business,  shipping  large  quantities  to  Saint  Louis  and  New  Orleans  on  his 
own  steamers. 

In  August,  1862,  he  raised  a  regiment,  and  took  the  field  as  colonel  of  the  io8th  Illinois 
infantry.  His  regiment  was  with  General  A.  J.  Smith's  division  in  its  operations  through  Ken- 
tucky; was  with  General  Sherman  at  Chickasaw  Bayou,  Arkansas  Post,  etc.,  and  was  at  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  the  battles  preceding  that  eventful  and  successful  campaign. 

Not  being  in  prime  health,  in  the  autumn  of  1864  Colonel  Warner  resigned  and  came  home. 
Subsequently  he  was  engaged  in  the  wholesale  liquor  trade  for  five  or  six  years.  In  1873  he  was 
elected  mayor;  was  reelected  in  1875  and  1877,  and  served  six  consecutive  years,  making  a  wide- 
awake and  efficient  head  of  the  municipality.  Mr.  Warner  is  public-spirited,  and  likes  to  encour- 
age any  enterprise  designed  to  build  up  the  city. 

He  was  ex-officio  a  member  of  the  school  board,  and  backed  up  any  movements  calculated  to 
further  the  interests  of  education.  Several  fine  school  houses  were  built  during  his  administra- 
tion; also  a  great  deal  of  paving  was  done.  When  in  office  he  devotes  his  time  faithfully  to  the 
service  of  the  city. 


6l2  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

Colonel  Warner  was  one  of  the  constituent  members  of  the  Peoria  board  of  trade,  in  which 
body  he  was  usually  quite  active.  Since  leaving  the  mayoralty  he  has  given  considerable  time  to 
trading  on  that  board.  His  politics  are  of  the  democratic  school,  and  he  has  usually  been  active 
in  their  dissemination.  He  is  a  thorough  worker  in  any  cause  which  he  espouses,  and  is  a  man  of 
much  influence. 

He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  years  ago  was  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  at  one  time  district  deputy 
grand  representative  of  the  Grand  Encampment  of  Peoria. 

Colonel  Warner  was  married  in  Peoria,  in  1851,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Simms,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  they  have  eight  children. 


HON.  JAMES  G.  WRIGHT. 

NAPER  VILLE. 

MR.  WRIGHT  was  born  in  Liverpool,  England,  June  6,  1823.  He  is  the  fifth  of  a  family  of 
six  children,  and  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  family.  His  parents  were  Joseph  and 
Sarah  (Parkinson)  Wright,  who  lived  and  died  in  England. 

Until  sixteen  years  of  age  Mr.  Wright  did  little  else  than  attend  school,  first  in  England  and 
afterward  in  New  York,  where  he  completed  his  academical  studies  while  living  with  an  elder 
brother,  who  had  preceded  him  to  the  new  world,  and  engaged  in  business  there.  After  spending 
two  years  in  America,  he  returned  to  Liverpool  in  1839,  and  found  employment  in  a  general  for- 
eign brokerage  office,  where  he  remained  till  1840.  He  then  accepted  ;.  position  in  the  New  York 
branch  of  a  London  house,  who  were  wholesale  dealers  in  lace  goods. 

A  year  and  a  half  later  he  left  New  York,  and  landed  in  Naperville  in  September,  1842.  He 
was  at  that  time  a  little  past  nineteen  years  old,  and  having  saved  some  money,  invested  it  in  farm 
lands  about  one  mile  from  the  village.  In  1845  he  had  his  farm  well  improved,  and  married  Miss 
Almira  Van  Osdel,  sister  of  the  Chicago  architect  of  that  name.  Four  daughters  and  three  sons, 
all  living,  and  all  but  the  youngest  settled  in  life,  were  the  fruit  of  that  union. 

Mr.  Wright  has  always  been  an  active  man.  He  is  a  true  type  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and 
could  never  be  anything  else  but  foremost  in  every  enterprise.  In  politics  he  was  a  whig,  and  cast 
his  first  vote  for  Henry  Clay,  and  was  one  of  the  very  first  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  the  republi- 
can party,  to  whose  fortunes  he  has  steadfastly  adhered  to  the  present  ti.me. 

His  townsmen  early  recognized  his  fitness  for  official  position,  and  made  him  town  supervisor 
three  times.  He  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Naperville  by  President  Lincoln,  with  whom  he 
was  personally  acquainted,  and  filled  the  office  for  eight  years. 

In  1876  he  represented  the  fourteenth  senatorial  district  at  Springfield,  and  was  reelected 
twice  by  his  constituents,  thus  representing  one  of  the  best  districts  of  the  state  for  three  suc- 
cessive terms.  His  senatorial  record  is  full  of  good  work  for  his  district  and  state  at  large,  and 
proves  him  to  be  an  earnest  and  active  man  in  every  station  in  life.  At  his  first  session,  the 
thirtieth,  Mr.  Wright  served  on  several  important  committees,  and  was  chairman  of  a  special  com- 
mittee to  report  on  the  necessity  of  increased  prison  accommodation.  His  report  advising  the 
extension  at  Joliet,  whereby  the  prisoners  could  be  classified  and  graded,  if  adopted,  would  have 
saved  $1,000,000  to  the  state  over  the  annual  cost  of  running  two  separate  institutions;  and  but 
for  the  large  amount  already  invested  in  the  southern  penitentiary,  at  Chester,  it  would  undoubt- 
edly have  resulted  in  the  abandonment  of  that  scheme.  The  report,  though  not  adopted  at  the 
time,  as  indicated  above,  has  received  the  indorsement  of  subsequent  legislatures. 

In  the  thirty-first  general  assembly,  Mr.  Wright  was  chairman  of  committee  on  state  institu- 
tions. For  the  effective  work  done  on  that  committee  he  has  received  the  acknowledgments  and 
thanks  of  the  public  charities  not  only  of  his  own  district,  but  all  over  the  state.  In  the  last,  the 
thirty-second  session,  Mr.  Wright  was  chairman  of  the  most  important  committee  of  the  house, 
that  on  appropriations.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  committee  on  rules,  always  composed  of  ac- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  613 

knowledged  legislators,  and  the  committee  on  penal  and  reformatory  institutions,  which  was  a  just 
acknowledgment  of  his  efficient  services  in  behalf  of  the  state's  institutions.  The  changes  recom- 
mended by  his  report  of  this  committee  were  nearly  all  adopted,  as  were  also  the  sanitary  changes 
recommended  in  the  reform  school,  and  important  radical  changes  at  Joliet.  In  1880  he  received 
the  appointment  of  supervisor  of  the  tenth  census  for  the  first  district  of  Illinois.  This  was  com- 
posed of  the  first,  second  and  third  congressional  districts  of  Illinois,  and  embraced  the  city  of 
Chicago  in  its  limits.  The  rapidity  and  accuracy  of  the  work  done  were  exceedingly  creditable, 
and  received  the  deserved  commendation  of  General  Walker,  superintendent  of  the  census.  They 
were  the  second  returns  completed,  and  were  published  by  the  department  in  census  bulletin  No.  2. 

June  27,  1882,  his  name  was  sent  to  the  senate  by  President  Arthur  for  Indian  commissioner  for 
the  Rosebud  Indian  Agency,  in  Dakota  He  was  confirmed  July  6,  and  commissioned  on  the  nth) 
so  that,  at  the  expiration  of  his  present  term  in  the  state  legislature,  the  fourteenth  district  loses 
a  very  popular  and  efficient  officer,  but  the  Indian  department  gains  one  greatly  needed. 

In  social  and  religious  life,  Mr.  Wright  is  as  popular  and  active  as  in  politics.  He  is  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason,  but  of  late  years  somewhat  indifferent  to  its  affairs.  He  is  senior  warden  of  Saint 
John's  Episcopal  Church  of  Naperville,  a  life-long  temperance  man,  and  as  anti-tobacco  as  he  is 
anti-rum.  It  seems  to  be  a  part  of  his  nature  to  do  thoroughly  whatever  he  undertakes. 

In  1857  Mr.  Wright  visited  England  with  his  wife  and  son,  where  two  of  his  daughters  have 
since  married  and  settled  in  life,  and  afterward  made  the  tour  of  the  continent.  In  1881  he  again 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  to  visit  his  children  and  accompany  his  wife  home. 

In  person,  Mr.  Wright  is  a  pronounced  blonde.  He  is  large,  well  built  and  of  a  frank,  open 
countenance,  exceedingly  pleasing  in  expression.  He  has  a  hearty,  blunt,  frank  manner,  which 
at  once  convinces  you  of  his  sincerity,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  natural  magnetism  in  him  that 
attracts  men  to  him,  makes  them  fast  friends  and  keeps  them  such.  It  is  said  that  he  is  person- 
ally intimate  with  Senator  Logan. 


PUNY   B.   SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 

PLINY  BENT  SMITH,  lawyer,  is  a  descendant  of  Rev.  Henry  Smith,  who,  after  preaching  in 
the  old  country,  emigrated  from  -England  to  New  England  in  1630,  the  year  that  Boston 
was  settled,  making  his  own  home  near  that  city,  This  branch  of  the  Smith  family  was  repre- 
sented in  the  colony  which  settled  in  and  near  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1636,  and  our  subject  is 
a  lineal  descendant  of  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  just  mentioned,  who  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Wethersfield,  in  that  state.  Rev.  Henry  Smith  had  a  son  Samuel,  who  was  the  father  of  Rev. 
Gotten  Mather  Smith,  Ebenezer  Smith,  and  several  other  sons.  Our  subject  traces  his  lineage 
back  to  Ebenezer  Smith,  who  was  the  father  of  Nathaniel  Smith,  grandfather  of  Nathaniel  Smith 
second,  and  the  great-grandfather  of  Jehial,  who  was  the  great-grandfather  of  Pliny,  making 
Pliny  B.  the  ninth  generation  from  the  progenitor  of  the  family  at  Weathersfield. 

The  father  of  Pliny,  Truman  W.  Smith,  and  grandfather,  Elijah  Smith,  came  from  Genesee 
county,  New  York,  and  settled  three  miles  from  Batavia,  Kane  county,  Illinois,  that  town  being 
named  for  the  shire  town  of  the  county  whence  they  had  come.  Elijah  Smith  was  born  in  1783, 
and  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  settling  on  what  is  known  in  western  New  York  as  the  Holland 
Purchase,  which  included  Genesee  county  and  several  other  counties  in  that  part  of  the  state. 

Our  subject  was  born  in  Du  Page  county,  Illinois,  February  18,  1850,  his  mother  belonging  to 
the  Durkee  family,  from  New  York  state.  He  supplemented  a. common-school  education  with 
some  careful  study  of  certain  branches,  and,  beginning  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  taught  school  four 
winters,  working  on  a  farm  in  the  summer  season;  commenced  reading  law  with  Thomas  C. 
Moore,  of  Batavia,  Illinois,  subsequently  spent  one  term  in  the  law  department  of  the  University 
of  Michigan;  finished  his  legal  studies  in  Chicago,  with  Durham  and  Bonfield,  and  Joseph  F. 


614  I'XITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Bonfield  alone,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1872,  and  has  since  been  in  general  practice  in 
this  city.  A  gentleman  who  has  known  Mr.  Smith  intimately  since  he  commenced  the  study  of 
law,  thus  speaks  of  him  : 

"  He  was  a  faithful  student,  and  not  only  read  law,  but  learned  its  principles,  and  the  reason 
ing  upon  which  they  were  based.     He  passed  a  splendid  examination  upon  his  admission  to  the 
bar.     As  a  lawyer  he  is  careful,  studious,  and  fully  understands  the  facts  of  his  cases,  and  the  law 
applicable.     His  ability  and  integrity  as  a  lawyer  are  unquestioned.     His  talents  and  industry 
will  place  him  in  the  front  rank." 

Mr.  Smith  affiliates  in  politics  with  the  republicans,  and  usually  takes  a  deep  interest  and  an 
active  part  in  local  elections,  but  is  more  likely  to  work  for  others  than  to  ask  anything  for  him- 
self. The  time  which  he  devotes  to  politics  and  to  political  science,  is  not  allowed  to  interfere 
with  his  professional  studies  and  practice,  to  which  he  is  thoroughly  wedded. 


HON.  IRA  O.  WILKINSON. 

ROCK  ISLAND. 

JUDGE  WILKINSON  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1822,  and  when  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age 
moved  to  Jacksonville,  in  this  state.  There  he  was  educated,  and  served  as  deputy  county 
clerk.  He  read  law  with  Judge  William  Thomas;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1843,  and  not  long 
afterward  became  a  partner  of  Hon.  Richard  Yates.  In  1845  this  connection  was  dissolved,  and 
Mr.  Wilkinson  removed  to  Rock  Island,  where  he  had  a  large  practice.  In  1852,  he  was  elected 
judge  of  the  sixth  judicial  district.  At  the  expiration  of  this  term  he  resumed  his  legal  practice, 
but  at  the  next  judicial  election  he  was  again  called  to  the  bench.  While  a  member  of  the  judi- 
ciary, he  gave  unqualified  satisfaction  to  the  bar  and  the  general  community.  His  decisions  were 
usually  received  with  the  respect  due  to  the  ability  they  displayed,  and  the  judicial  impartiality 
which  characterized  them. 

In  1867,  Judge  Wilkinson  removed  to  Chicago,  and  organized  the  law  firm  of  Wilkinson, 
Sackett  and  Bean,  and  he  there  practiced  extensively  in  all  the  courts.  This  partnership  was 
continued  up  to  January,  1875.  He  is  complete  master  of  the  principles  of  law,  and  is  regarded 
as  a  very  safe  adviser.  Although  nominally  a  republican,  he  follows  the  bidding  of  no  party, 
and  is  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a  politician.  He  now  resides  in  Rock  Island. 


WILBUR  F.   CRUMMER. 

GALENA. 

WILBUR  FISK  CRUMMER,  clerk  of  the  county  court  and  county  clerk  for  Jo  Daviess  county, 
first  saw  the  light  at  Sycamore,  De  Kalb  county,  Illinois,  July  23,  1843.  His  father  was 
Rev.  John  Crummer,  a  Methodist  preacher  for  more  than  forty  years;  engaged  in  itinerant  work 
in  this  part  of  the  country  when  his  circuit  had  a  radius  of  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  He  married 
Mary  S.  Kellogg,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  her  grandfather  being  a  revolutionary  soldier.  The 
Crummers  were  from  Ireland,  and  settled  originally  in  the  state  of  Delaware,  spreading  thence 
into  the  western  states. 

Wilbur  farmed  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Jo  Daviess  county,  and  attended  a  country  school  in  the 
winter  season,  until  eighteen  years  old;  then  (August,  1861)  enlisted  in  company  A,  45th  Illinois 
infantry,  as  a  private,  and  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh  was  promoted  to  orderly  sergeant.  He  was 
badly  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  being  shot  through  the  right  lung,  and  was  laid  up  for 
two  years,  but  was  not  mustered  out  of  the  service  until  the  war  was  closed.  He  took  part  in 
eight  or  nine  of  the  hardest-fought  battles:  Fort  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Corinth,  siege  of  Vicksburg, 
etc.  In  the  summer  of  1865,  Mr.  Crummer  became  a  clerk  in  a  county  office  at  Galena,  and 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  615 

retained  that  post  until  elected  to  his  present  office,  in  1869.  He  has  been  reflected  twice,  and  at 
the  time  of  writing  is  finishing  his  third  term,  making,  in  all,  a  period  of  thirteen  years.  There 
is  no  more  faithful  official  in  Jo  Daviess  county,  or  one  more  deserving  of  the  good  will  of  his 
constituents.  This  county  is  strongly  republican,  and  usually  fills  its  offices  with  men  of  that 
school  of  politics,  Mr.  Crummer  being  no  exception  to  the  rule.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  among 
the  brethren  of  the  mystic  tie.' 

The  Crummers  generally,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  are  Methodists,  and  usually  quite  active 
in  religious  work;  and  here,  again,  there  is  no  deviation  from  the  rule,  our  subject  having  been 
superintendent  of  the  Bench  Street  Methodist  Sunday  school  for  seven  or  eight  years.  The  peo- 
ple who  know  him  have  great  confidence  in  his  Christian  integrity. 

July,  1868,  he  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mattie  M.  Olney,  daughter  of  James  Olney,  of 
Mount  Carroll,  Illinois,  and  they  have  one  daughter,  Mabel  W.,  aged  eleven  years.  The  residence 
of  Mr.  Crummer  is  known  as  Maple  Grove  Place,  it  being  situated  on  the  turnpike,  one  and  a 
half  miles  north  of  the  city  of  Galena.  He  has  a  little  over  twenty  acres  of  land,  all  of  it  under 
excellent  improvement,  and  twelve  to  fifteen  acres  devoted  to  small  fruits, —  raspberries,  straw- 
berries, blackberries,  etc.,  for  which  he  finds  a  ready  market  in  Jo  Daviess  county.  Mr.  Crummer 
has  quite  a  taste  for  horticulture,  and  some  of  his  happiest  hours,  we  run  no  risk  in  saying,  are 
spent  in  his  berry  patches.  • 

DAVID  CARR  ALDRICH. 

CHICAGO. 

OF  the  legal  fraternity  of  Chicago  no  member  is  more  deserving  of  mention  than  he  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch;  being  known  not  only  as  an  able  lawyer,  but  also  as  a  man  of 
scholarly  attainments  and  uncommon  literary  ability.  He  is  a  native  of  Orleans  county,  New  York, 
and  was  born  August  16,  1820,  the  sixth  son  of  Adolphus  Gustavus  and  Jane  (Croney)  Aldrich, 
the  latter  of  whom  was  a  daughter  of  an  Irish  patriot  and  literary  gentleman,  who  emigrated 
from  Belfast,  Ireland,  during  the  oppression  of  the  British  crown  in  1765.  Both  his  parents  were 
natives  of  Worcester  county,  Massachusetts.  The  genealogy  of  the  family  is  traceable  back 
through  many  generations,  the  American  branch  being  directly  descended  from  Sir  William 
Aldrich,  Province  of  Normandy.  From  him  the  lineage  is  traced  back  for  centuries  to  ancestors 
who  were  natives  of  Switzerland,  the  stock  springing  originally  from  that  brave  and  warlike  race, 
the  ancient  Spartans  of  Greece.  David's  father  was  a  government  contractor,  and  largely  employed 
in  constructing  government  and  state  works.  Both  his  parents  were  strict  Friends  in  their 
religious  belief  and  practice,  and  the  boy  received  his  first  impressions  of  life  and  its  duties  under 
the  careful  discipline  and  teachings  of  that  sect.  He  is  a  birth-right  member,  and  still  retains  its 
belief. 

In  1825  David's  father  settled  in  Brunswick,  in  Medina  county,  Ohio,  where  he  resided  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  1840,  the  mother  surviving  the  father  about  two  years  and  dying  at 
the  same  place. 

During  his  boyhood  he  received  a  common-school  education,  always  displaying  a  taste  for 
study  and  literary  pursuits.  In  1837  he  joined  the  staff  of  General  Steadman,  surveyor-general 
and  civil  engineer  of  Ohio,  and  while  thus  employed  became  an  expert  with  the  chain  and  com- 
pass. .  Compelled  to  abandon  surveying  by  reason  of  an  attack  of  rheumatism,  he,  in  1840, 
turned  his  attention  to  mercantile  pursuits  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  continued  thus  employed  until 
1844,  during  which  year  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  having,  during  his 
residence  at  Cleveland,  employed  much  of  his  time  in  the  study  of  law.  He  was  afterward  asso- 
ciated in  business  with  a  number  of  eminent  lawyers,  among  them  Colonel  Bryant,  dean  of  the 
law  school  at  Greencastle,  Indiana,  well  known  in  Illinois  for  his  participation  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war.  Prior  to  settling  in  Chicago,  in  1877,  Mr.  Aldrich  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  the  state  of  Iowa.  In  Chicago  he  has  given  his  attention  to  chancery  and  criminal 


6l6  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY 

practice,  with  marked  success  and  honor  to  the  profession.  Aside  from  his  professional  duties 
Mr.  Aldrich  has  devoted  much  time  to  literary  work  of  the  greatest  antiquity,  and  in  this  field 
made  for  himself  a  worthy  name.  He  is  now  about  to  issue  a  work  entitled  "  Rapid  Transit 
Thoughts  of  the  Gambling  Nation  of  Mother  Earth."  He  is  by  nature  a  poet,  and  numbers 
among  his  poetical  productions  one  especially  worthy  of  mention  which  he  dedicated  to  the  Sir 
Knight  Templars,  and  in  which  he  portrays  with  fine  poetic  taste  a  constellation  comprising  four 
of  the  most  brilliant  stars  of  history,~viz.,  Saint  John,  Washington,  Lincoln  and  Sir  Knight  James 
A.  Garfield.  Mr.  Aldrich  was  married  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  1844,  to  Miss  Edna  Aldena,  eldest 
daughter  of  Captain  Gilbert  Clapp.  Of  the  five  children  that  have  been  born  to  them,  the  two 
oldest  are  dead;  Edward  C.  and  Will  are  farming  in  Jasper  county.  Nebraska,  and  Frank  A.  T.  is 
engaged  in  mining  in  Montana. 

JOHN   I.   BENNETT. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

THE  subject  of  this  biography,  a  native  of  Otsego  county,  New  York,  was  born  November  27, 
1831,  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Lydia  (Birdsall)  Bennett,  both  of- whom  were  of  Quaker  parent- 
age. John  passed  much  of  his  early  life  with  his  grandparents,  at  Quaker  Hill,  a  settlement  com- 
posed almost  entirely  of  Quakers,  in  Delaware  county,  New  York,  and  it  was  from  these  people 
that  he  received  his  early  training  and  teaching,  the  influence  of  which  has  marked  his  whole  life 
and  character. 

When  he  was  twelve  years  of  age  his  parents  removed  to  Knox  county,  Illinois,  but  after  three 
years  returned  to  New  York  state,  settling  at  Davenport,  in  Delaware  county.  During  these  years 
he  passed  through  the  common  experiences  of  ordinary  farm  life,  and  was  also  for  a  time 
employed  in  a  saw-mill,  situated  on  his  father's  farm,  and  which  his  father  owned.  It  was  while 
thus  employed  that  an  incident  which  formed  the  turning  point  of  his  life  occured.- 

Rev.  Sanford  I.  Ferguson,  now  a  Methodist  clergyman  in  New  York  city,  was  about  to  become 
principal  of  Charlotte  Academy,  which  was  then  building,  and  the  lumber  for  which  young  Ben- 
nett was  engaged  in  sawing.  On  one  of  his  trips  to  the  saw-mill  on  business,  Doctor  Ferguson 
formed  the  boy's  acquaintance,  and  being  attracted  to  him,  secured  the  father's  promise  that, 
when  the  academy  was  finished  and  school  opened,  John  should  become  one  of  his  pupils.  This 
was  in  1849.  Prior  to  this  time  his  educational  advantages  had  been  very  meager;  but  with  his 
native  thirst  for  knowledge,  now  that  a  way  was  opened  to  him,  he  so  applied  himself  to  his 
studies  that,  at  the  expiration  of  a  little  more  than  a  year,  he  began  teaching  in  the  academy. 
Thereafter  he  continued  his  studies  in  connection  with  his  teaching,  until  September,  1851,  when 
he  entered  the  sophomore  class  of  Union  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  the  class  of  1854. 
The  institution  was  at  that  time  under  the  presidency  of  Doctor  Nott,  and  besides  this  celebrated 
educator,  our  subject  had  for  his  instructors  such  men  as  Doctors  Lewis,  Hickok,  Jackson,  Foster, 
Gillespie  and  Peissner,  then  in  the  full  vigor  and  strength  of  their  eminent  lives.  His  graduation 
occurred  during  the  semi-centennial  year  of  Doctor  Nott's  presidency,  and  thousands  of  the 
alumni  were  present  at  the  commencement  exercises.  During  the  three  years  while  in  college,  as 
shown  by  the  college  records,  with  the  exception  of  in  one  study,  he  uniformly  maintained  the 
maximum  standard  of  scholarship,  one  hundred  per  cent,  a  remarkable  fact  when  it  is  considered 
that  most  of  the  time  he  pursued  five,  and  at  no  time  less  than  three  studies.  He  received  the 
honor  of  an  election  to  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  fraternity,  and  at  the  commencement  was  awarded 
the  Latin  salutatory  by  the  faculty. 

After  his  graduation,  young  Bennett  became  principal  of  Liberty  Academy,  at  Springfield, 
Tennessee,  where  he  remained  until  1857,  and  during  these  three  years  he  had  under  his  charge 
young  men  from  nearly  all  the  southern  states,  many  of  whom  have  risen  to  prominent  positions. 

In  the  summer  of  1855  he  was  married  to  a  companiop  of  his  early  youth,  Miss  Maria  E.  Rey- 
nolds, then  residing  at  Henderson,  Kentucky,  but  who  was  a  native  of  Delaware  county,  New 


HCC».per  Jr    S    C. 


LIBRARV 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DfCTIONARY.  619 

York,  the  daughter  of  Hosea  and  Elizabeth  Reynolds.  Their  family  consists  of  a  daughter,  Mrs. 
M.  C.  Nelson,  and  six  promising  sons:  Frank  I.,  Fred  F.,  Allen  L.,  George  R.,  John  I.,  Jr.,  and 
William  L.  Also  during  his  residence  in  Tennessee  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  study  of  law, 
in  connection  with  his  other  duties,  purchasing  his  own  books;  and  closing  his  school  in  June, 
1857,  he  was,  during  the  same  month,  admitted  to  the  Tennessee  bar.  Being  now  thoroughly 
prepared  to  take  up  the  work  of  the  profession  which  he  had  long  desired  to  enter,  he  removed 
to  Illinois,  settling  at  Galva,  in  Henry  county,  and  soon  established  himself  in  a  paying  practice, 
which  he  continued  with  marked  success  until  the  spring  of  1872,  when  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  Chicago. 

At  the  opening  of  the  rebellion  Mr.  Bennett  was  appointed,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  on  Gov- 
ernor Richard  Yates'  staff,  and  devoted  much  of  his  time  during  the  early  part  of  the  war  to 
recruiting  men.  For  these  services  he  asked  and  received  no  compensation.  He  had  a  strong 
desire  to  enter  actively  into  the  service,  but  impaired  health,  resulting  from  a  protracted  attack  of 
typhoid  fever,  prevented  him.  While  living  at  Galva  he  became  widely  known  as  a  public-spirited 
man,  and  was  honored  with  many  public  trusts.  In  the  campaign  of  1864  he  was  chosen  as  elector 
for  the  fifth  congressional  district  on  the  republican  ticket,  and  was  elected,  receiving  the  highest 
number  of  votes  of  any  republican  elector.  He  was  afterward  candidate  for  circuit  judge  of 
Henry  and  Rock  Island  counties,  and  although  he  carried  his  own  county  by  a  majority  of  one 
thousand  votes,  he  was  defeated  by  a  small  majority  in  Rock  Island  county,  his  opponent,  Hon. 
George  W.  Pleasants,  receiving  the  election.  He  always  took  an  active  interest  in  educational 
matters,  and  for  many  years  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  education.  He  also  edited  the  Galva 
"Union,"  a  newspaper  of  his  town,  and  purchased  and  developed  the  coal  mines  at  that  place. 

Since  settling  in  Chicago  he  has  built  up  a  wide  and  remunerative  practice,  and  ranks  among 
the  most  influential  members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  having  associated  with  him  his  son,  Frank  I. 
Bennett,  a  promising  young  attorney.  In  1879  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  masters  in  chancery 
in  the  United  States  courts  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  and  still  holds  that  office. 

Mr.  Bennett  resides  in  the  village  of  Hyde  Park,  where  he  is  known  and  respected  for  his 
enterprise  and  public-spiritedness.  In  1878  he  was  elected  a  member,  and  chosen  president,  of 
the  board  of  trustees  of  the  village,  and  in  the  following  year  elected  to  the  same  office,  and  again 
chosen  president.  During  these  two  years  the  debt  of  the  village  was  reduced  $250,000. 


HON.   FAWCETT    PLUMB. 

STREATOR. 

THE  subject  of  this  biographical  sketch,  lately  a  state  senator  from  La  Salle  county,  and  one 
of  the  prominent  business  men  of  Streator,  is  a  native  of  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  and  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Andover,  December  10,  1834,  his  parents  being  Francis  M.  and  Laura  M. 
(Hyde)  Plumb.  Fawcett  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  thoroughly  acquainted  himself  with  all 
kinds  of  farm  work.  About  1853  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store  at  Burgh  Hill,  Trumbull 
county,  remaining  there  four  years,  and  was  in  Oberlin  College  when  the  civil  war  burst  upon 
the  land,  in  1861.  In  that  year  he  became  a  quartermaster's  clerk,  and  filled  that  position  four 
years. 

On  leaving  the  service,  Mr.  Plumb  went  to  the  Albany  Law  School,  from  which  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1866.  He  then  came  to  Illinois;  was  here  admitted  to  practice,  and  was  the  junior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Fleming,  Pillsbury  and  Plumb,  of  Pontiac.  In  1866  he  married  Miss 
Geraldine  Plumb,  daughter  of  Colonel  Ralph  Plumb,  the  founder  of  Streator,  and  two  years 
afterward  removed  to  this  place,  where  his  wife  died  in  1875.  Here  he  engaged  in  the  law  busi- 
ness by  himself,  but  not  long  afterward  became  interested  in  railroad  matters,  and  aided  his 
father-in-law  in  this  branch  of  enterprise.  To  railroading,  Mr.  Plumb  added  the  real-estate  and 
coal  business,  in  which  he  is  making  a  success. 
6t 


62O  UNITED    STATES   RIOCRA  PIIICAI.    DICTIONARY. 

He  has  stock  in  the  Streator  Glass  Works,  the  Tile  Manufacturing  Company,  the  Streator 
Novelty  Works,  etc.,  and  is  doing  all  he  can  to  develop  local  manufactories  and  other  important 
industries.  He  is  a  good  sample  of  an  energetic,  thoroughgoing  business  man,  and  is  by  no 
means  deficient  in  inventive  talent.  One  of  his  recent  successful  undertakings  is  the  invention  of 
the  first  steam  tile  ditching  machine  ever  made.  A  few  of  these  machines  have  been  put  in 
operation,  and  are  working  admirably.  .  They  cut  a  ditch  ten  inches  wide,  and  at  any  depth  up 
to  forty-eight  inches,  making  a  complete  ditch  at  the  rate  of  four  or  five  feet  per  minute.  The 
cutting  wheel  is  raised  or  lowered  with  the  greatest  facility,  and  secures  a  uniform  grade  to  the 
bottom  of  the  ditch.  The  work  is  all  done  by  once  passing  over  the  ground,  and  the  machine 
never  fails  to  cut  a  perfect  ditch. 

Mr.  Plumb  represented  La  Salle  county  in  the  state  senate  from  1875  to  1879,  being  nominated 
as  an  independent,  and  defeating  the  regular  republican  nominee.  Politically,  he  is  still  an  inde- 
pendent, or,  perhaps,  more  properly  speaking,  a  greenbacker,  and  morally,  he  is  a  prohibitionist. 
His  social  instincts  are  all  in  the  right  direction,  and  he  labors  for  what  he  regards  as  for  the 
best  interests  of  society. 


OTTO   PELTZER. 

CHICA  GO 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Germany,  born  November  29,  1836,  in  the  city  of 
Stollberg,  near  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  the  Rhine  province  of  the  kingdom  of  Prussia.  His 
forefathers  being  descendants  of  the  Huguenots,  were  among  those  who  left  France  after  the 
wars  under  the  Prince  de  Conde  and  Henry  of  Navarre  against  Louis  XIV,  about  1685.  His 
father's  name  was  Charles'Eugene  Peltzer,  and  his  mother's  maiden  name  was  Maria  Agnes  Hey- 
nen,  an  estimable  lady,  who  died  November  30,  1844,  at  the  family  country  seat,  called  Kempen, 
situated  near  the  Eifel  Mountains.  His  grandfather,  on  the  paternal  side,  was  interested  in 
copper  mines,  and  was  proprietor  of  one  of  the  largest  copper  mills,  of  which  there  were  several 
near  Stollberg.  His  grandfather,  of  the  maternal  line,  was  an  extensive  contractor  for  furnishing 
material  and  building  the  viaducts  and  tunnels  for  the  government  railroads  in  that  part  of  Ger- 
many, and  an  extensive  manufacturer  of  brick  and  owner  of  large  limestone  quarries.  The  father 
of  our  subject  was  educated  for  mercantile  pursuits,  but  being  fond  of  rural  life,  left  the  business 
of  his  father,  which  he  represented  at  Verviers,  in  Belgium,  shortly  after  his  marriage,  purchas- 
ing a  large  country  seat,  to  the  management  of  which  he  devoted  himself.  He  departed  for 
America,  with  his  second  wife  and  five  children  (four  sons  and  one  daughter),  in  1849,  settling  on 
a  farm  near  Burlington,  Racine  county,  Wisconsin. 

Young  Peltzer,  scarcely  fourteen  years  of  age,  left  the  farm  in  the  spring  of  1850,  coming  to 
Chicago  in  April  of  that  year,  and  entered  a  book  bindery  as  an  apprentice.  With  this  estab- 
lishment, located  at  the  corner  of  Lake  and  Dearborn  streets,  was  connected  a  small  circulating 
library  and  German  book  store,  situated  on  Wells  street,  near  Washington,  the  latter  of  which 
Peltzer  attended  in  the  evening  as  clerk.  Here  he  took  every  opportunity  of  reading  and  study- 
ing the  English  language,  with  which,  up  to  that  time,  he  was  unfamiliar. 

In  1852  he  left  this  business,  entering  the  real  estate  office  of  Horatio  O.  Stone  as  a  clerk. 
Showing  some  ability  as  a  draughtsman  of  maps,  in  this  connection,  it  opened  the  way  for  him 
into  the  recorder's  office  of  Chicago,  in  1853,  as  recording  draughtsman,  under  the  regime  of 
Louis  D.  Hoard,  then  clerk  of  the  circuit  court  and  ex-officio  recorder.  Here  Mr.  Peltzer  remained 
until  the  spring  of  1857,  when  he  left  for  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota,  taking  a  similar  position  in  the 
recorder's  office  in  that  city.  To  avoid  the  rigor  of  the  northern  winter,  he  left  that  place  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year,  returning  upon  the  Mississippi  River,  by  the  way  of  Dubuque,  Rock  Island, 
Saint  Louis  and  New  Orleans,  and  back  again,  by  way  of  Cairo,  to  Chicago. 

Here,  after  serving  a  few  months  in  the  custom  house,  under  Bolton  F.  Strother,  then  collector 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  621 

of  customs  of  this  port,  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Monroe  and  Spencer,  the  former  still  being  a 
practitioner  at  the  Chicago  bar,  where  he  remained  some  eighteen  months  in  the  study  of  the 
law.  Finding  this  avenue  to  greatness  and  success  dry  and  dusty,  he  abandoned  Blackstone, 
Greenleaf,  Monroe  and  Spencer,  taking  another  trip  to  New  Orleans,  remaining  there  during  the 
winter  of  1 860-61.  The  war  of  the  rebellion  breaking  out,  he  was  driven  from  Louisiana  on 
account  of  his  strong  anti-slavery  sentiments,  coming  up  the  river  on  the  last  steamer  that  was 
permitted  to  pass  Fort  Pillow.  His  father  died  shortly  after  his  return  to  Chicago. 

In  the  position  of  chief  draughtsman  in  charge  of  the  map  department  of  the  board  of  public 
works,  which  he  then  held,  among  other  important  duties,  he  was  here  (where  he  continued  to 
remain  until  1876)  intrusted  with  the  examination  and  approval  or  rejection  of  all  new  subdi- 
visions, and  the  laying  out  of  new  streets  within  the  city  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  more 
uniform  system  of  streets,  so  far  as  this  was  possible  at  this  late  date.  Here  he  also  continued 
the  compilation  of  the  city  atlases  and  the  supervision  of  the  river  and  dock  surveys. 

In  the  year  1869,  Mr.  Peltzer  was  elected  collector  of  taxes  of  North  Chicago,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  people's  movement,  which  made  that  year  so  eventful  in  the  political  history  of  Chi- 
cago. Then  came  the  great  calamity  of  the  fire  of  1871,  with  its  destruction  of  all  the  records  of 
the  city  and  county.  Having  subsequently  restored,  for  the  use  of  the  city  public  works  depart- 
ment, the  maps  and  records  in  the  form  of  atlases,  he  published,  in  1872,  in  printed  form,  from 
copies  of  his  own,  his  now  well  known  "Atlas  of  Chicago."  The  importance,  immensity  and 
usefulness  of  this  work  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  he  sold  100  copies,  at  $400  each.  It  is  a 
well  known  work  to  the  city  and  county  offices,  and  to  all  real  estate  agencies  of  this  city,  Chicago 
being  the  only  city  that  can  boast  of  such  a  work  in  printed  form.  In  the  publication  of  this 
important  work  he  was  much  hampered  by  certain  parties,  impelled  by  selfish  motives,  appealing 
to  the  courts  to  prevent  its  issue.  Although  litigation,  dragging  its  length  through  the  various 
courts  for  over  seven  years,  devoured  the  legitimate  profits  which  would  otherwise  have  been  the 
just  reward  for  its  lasting  benefits  to  the  community,  this  work  alone  is  an  enduring  monument 
to  a  man's  usefulness  and  energy. 

Mr.  Peltzer  also  took  an  active  part,  as  a  republican,  in  the  Greeley  movement.  He  was  the 
only  republican  that  was  elected  from  the  Chicago  districts  to  the  twenty-eighth  general  assem- 
bly of  1872-3-4  of  the  state  on  the  Greeley  ticket.  Here  he  first  introduced  a  bill  for  compulsory 
education,  another  for  a  state  board  of  health,  and  bills  for  the  general  licensing  of  physicians 
and  druggists,  as  well  as  surveyors.  He  also  introduced  many  reforms  in  the  laws  for  the  record- 
ing in  the  county  records  of  the  routes  and  locations  of  new  roads,  streets  and  railroads,  most  of 
which  were  adopted. 

In  1875,  Mr.  Peltzer  sold  to  the  county  of  Cook  a  set  of  abstract  books,  in  which  he  had 
obtained  a  controlling  interest,  for  the  sum  of  $45,000,  and  this  against  the  most  labored  opposi- 
tion of  the  entire  Chicago  press.  The  acquisition,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  statutes,  of 
these  valuable  books  by  the  county,  was  intended  as  a  partial  relief  from  the  monopoly  of  a  few 
private  firms,  theretofore  engaged  in  the  abstract  business.  These  books  are  now  in  use  in  the 
abstract  department  of  the  recorder's  office,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  even  the  most  bitter 
opponents  of  their  original  acquisition  by  the  county. 

In  December,  1876,  he  left  the  board  of  public  works,  and  was  appointed  deputy  recorder  of 
the  county,  a  position  which  he  held  until  April,  1878,  when  he  resigned,  and  opened  his  present 
abstracts  of  title  office,  which  is  second  to  none  in  business  prosperity.  In  this  he  has  certainly 
shown  himself  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  of  men  once  in  public  office,  although  himself 
peculiarly  fitted  by  character  and  experience  for  official  life.  Most  of  these,  from  governors 
down,  so  far  as  local  experience  goes,  having  once  tasted  the  sweets  of  public  places,  cling  to 
them  with  the  most  desperate  tenacity,  even  on  a  downward  grade. 

Mr.  Peltzer's  father  being  a  descendant  of  the  French  Huguenots,  he  was  of  course  a  Protes- 
tant, if  anything,  while  his  mother  was  a  Catholic;  he  himself,  until  he  left  Germany,  being  a 
follower  of  the  latter  faith.  But  to-day,  though  tolerant  toward  others  in  every  way,  he  is  a 


622  UNITED   STATES  HIOCKA  1'IIICAL   DICTIONARY. 

believer  in  liberty  of  thought,  and  holds  to  the  dictates  of  reason  in  his  beliefs.  He  was  married 
in  1861,  at  New  Orleans,  to  Miss  Annie  Langdon,  of  Carrollton,  near  that  city,  who  is  still  living. 
Mr.  Peltzer  has  by  this  union  four  children  living,  three  daughters  and  one  son,  the  girls  being 
respectively  eighteen,  fourteen  and  twelve  years  of  age,  and  the  son,  at  the  present  writing,  six- 
teen. 

Mr.  Peltzer  is  a  gentleman  of  many  fine  social  qualities,  with  a  fondness  for  literary  work  in 
his  leisure  moments,  as  is  evidenced  by  several  dramatic  productions.  One  of  these,  "Uriel 
Acosta,"  a  tragedy  in  five  acts,  was  played  at  Crosby's  Opera  House,  in  1868,  for  several  weeks, 
and  afterward  in  other  cities.  A  second,  a  local  burlesque,  was  brought  out  about  the  same  time 
at  Aiken's  Dearborn  Street  Tneater.  A  third,  a  dramatic  ballad  from  the  Swedish,  was  produced 
under  the  direction  of  Professor  Ziegfeld,  at  Farwell  Hall,  just  previous  to  the  great  fire,  and  a 
fourth,  a  drama  of  domestic  life,  being  brought  out  at  McVicker's  Theater  a  few  years  since.  Mr. 
Peltzer  is  a  man  of  integrity  and  decision  of  character.  He  is  of  robust  form,  of  medium  height, 
of  dark  complexion,  of  a  warm,  sanguine  temperament,  a  true  friend;  and  while  he  will  resent  an 
injury,  he  is  charitable  and  forgiving;  is  a  good  citizen,  and  a  safe  and  correct  business  man. 


DE  STEIGER   GLASS  COMPANY. 

LA   SALLE. 

THE  De  Steiger  Brothers  came  to  La  Salle  in  the  autumn  of  1878,  and  in  company  with 
Adolph  C.  Schultz  and  William  F.  Modes,  erected  a  bottle  factory,  and  subsequently  pur- 
chased the  old  Phoenix  glass  works,  giving  them  the  name  of  the  De  Steiger  Glass  Company. 
Since  coming  here  they  have  exhibited  a  great  deal  of  enterprise,  enlarging  their  premises  and 
adding  to  their  working  force  from  year  to  year.  They  now  give  employment  to  two  hundred 
and  sixty  men  and  boys,  and  run  out  from  $450,000  to  $500,000  worth  of  merchandise  per  year, 
being  the  only  manufacturers  of  export  turned-mold  beer  bottles  on  this  continent.  They  also 
make  wine,  brandy,  schnapp  and  soda  bottles,  together  with  flasks,  flint  jars,  packers,  etc.,  and 
make  a  specialty  of  private  mold  orders.  They  likewise  manufacture  window  glass  in  large 
quantities,  second  to  nothing  of  the  kind  made  in  this  country. 

They  are  full  of  energy  and  pluck,  and  in  order  not  to  be  beaten  by  any  glass  company  in  the 
world,  in  1881  they  imported  an  entirely  new  set  of  skilled  workmen,  and  were  thus  enabled  to 
compete  with  the  best  workmanship  brought  into  the  market  from  any  foreign  country.  At  the 
same  time  they  introduced  and  erected  a  Siemens'  continuous  gas  furnace,  the  second  and  largest 
ever  built  in  the  United  States,  and  now  the  only  one  operated  in  this  country.  This  furnace 
differs  widely  in  construction  and  mode  of  operation  from  the  old-style  furnace  now  generally  in 
use  in  our  country,  and  in  regard  to  magnitude  and  capacity,  presents  an  astonishing  spectacle 
compared  with  the  ordinary  styles  of  furnaces.  Unlike  the  latter.'the  fuel  is  first  converted  into 
gas  in  generators  erected  in  a  special  building,  whence  it  is  conducted  into  the  main  furnace  by 
means  of  pipes  and  natural  draft  mingling  with  heated  air  during  its  course,  and  resulting  in  an 
almost  perfect  combustion  while  entering  the  main  furnace  or  tank.  This  tank  is  probably  the 
largest  in  the  world,  containing  when  full  a  surface  of  glass  eighteen  by  forty  feet,  and  three  and 
a  half  feet  deep,  aggregating  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  molten  glass,  whereas  the 
glass  in  the  ordinary  style  furnaces  is  melted  in  fire-clay  crucibles,  called  pots,  which  are  charged 
with  the  mixture  or  batch,  and  melted  during  the  night  and  worked  out  during  the  day.  The 
tank  furnace  is  operated  without  pots,  charged  from  one  end  and  worked  at  the  opposite  side 
continuously,  thus  dispensing  with  the  expensive  and  often  risky  system  of  pots,  and  rendering  a 
metal  that  far  excels  that  melted  in  pots  in  regard  to  uniformity  and  purity,  in  the  meantime 
avoiding  all  loss  of  time  incurred  by  the  ordinary  system  on  account  of  frequent  pot  breaking. 
The  De  Steiger  Glass  Company  introduced  this  style  of  furnace  regardless  of  cost  and  the  numer- 
ous incidents  that  they  were  likely  to  experience  from  this  comparatively  new  enterprise  for  the 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  623 

purpose  of  being  able  to  compete  with  the  foreign  markets,  furnishing  articles  in  their  line  second 
to  none  made  anywhere  in  the  world.  Having  thus  persevered  in  their  gigantic  undertaking,  they 
are  now  on  a  fair  road  to  reap  the  benefits  of  their  mammoth  enterprise. 

They  are  now  (summer  of  1882)  the  only  parties  in  the  United  States  making  beer  bottles  after 
the  German  manner,  being  the  first  to  introduce  them  into  this  country.  Their  great  enterprise, 
and  their  astonishing  propensity  to  push  business,  are  receiving  ample  reward,  for  they  find  a 
ready  market  for  all  their  wares,  none  but  the  very  best  class  being  turned  out.  Of  this  flourish- 
ing industry,  Philip  R.  De  Steiger  is  president,  and  Augustus  F.  De  Steiger,  secretary-treasurer. 
They  are  thoroughly  devoted  to  their  great  enterprise,  and  are  making  it  a  grand  success.  No 
city  is  likely  to  have  a  surplus  of  this  class  of  public-spirited  men. 


H.  S.  HINMAN,   M.D. 

NEWTON. 

AvlONG  the  younger  physicians  who  appear  in  our  volume  of  eminent  and  self-made  men,  we 
place  with  assurance  Doctor  H.  Simpson  Hinman.  He  was  born  in  Bartholomew  county, 
Indiana,  April  10,  1847.  His  father  was  Hon.  T.  M.  Hinman,  a  native  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Emily  Jeter.  She  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  His 
father  was  a  man  of  considerable  note,  and  after  accumulating  quite  a  fortune,  moved  to  Illinois, 
in  1852,  settling  eight  miles  north  of  Olney,  where  he  began  speculating  in  land,  in  which  he  was 
unfortunate,  and  soon  became  financially  embarrassed,  losing  all  the  wealth  he  had  accumulated. 
He  died  in  the  fall  of  1865,  leaving  no  property.  Mrs.  Hinman  died  two  years  prior  to  that  time, 
leaving  a  family  of  eight  children,  of  whom  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  the  youngest.  In  the 
early  settling  of  this  part  of  the  state  there  were  no  good  schools,  and  our  subject's  early  educa- 
tion was  very  sadly  neglected. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  he  enlisted  in  the  one  hundred  days'  service,  and  served  until  about  the 
middle  of  November  of  the  same  year.  Having  determined  to  receive  an  education,  he,  after  leav- 
ing the  army,  began  a  systematic  course  of  studies,  and  so  rapidly  improved  that  he  astonished  all 
who  knew  him,  part  of  the  time  confining  himself  to  study  ten  hours  a  day,  without  the  assistance 
of  a  teacher.  So  great  was  his  determination  to  be  a  scholar,  that  he  mastered  several  branches  of 
higher  mathematics,  all  the  natural  sciences,  and  as  a  grammarian  soon  rose  to  distinction  among 
the  teachers  and  professional  men  throughout  the  county.  From  early  youth  he  has  had  a  natu- 
ral taste  for  music,  and  has  improved  his  talent  in  that  direction,  studying  at  various  times  under 
Professors  Garison,  Root,  Pratt,  and  other  eminent  teachers  and  composers. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1865  and  1866  he  began  organizing  music  classes  in  various  cities  and 
towns  throughout  southern  Illinois.  He  proved  himself  an  excellent  teacher,  and  soon  gained 
quite  a  reputation  in  that  direction. 

November  12,  1867,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Rose  A.  McWilliams,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy 
farmer  of  Richland  county,  Illinois,  he  being  twenty  years  of  age,  and  his  wife  seventeen.  Mrs. 
Hinman,  a  young  woman  of  refinement,  was  also  a  devoted  Christian,  having  united  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  at  the  early  age  of  twelve  years.  Mr.  Hinman  continued  teaching 
music  until  November,  1868,  when  he  began  teaching  school  at  West  Liberty,  Illinois,  and  showed 
himself-  complete  master  of  the  situation.  He  was  a  constant  student  and  a  young  man  of  so 
much  energy  that  he  rose  very  rapidly  as  a  teacher.  May,  1869,  he  began  reading  medicine  under 
Doctor  S.  R.  Youngman,  of  West  Liberty.  He  was  employed  to  teach  the  school  for  three  con- 
secutive years,  1868-70,  and  during  that  time  vigorously  pushed  the  study  of  medicine. 

May,  1871,  he  removed  to  Olney,  Illinois,  and  began  reading  medicine  under  the  direction  of 
Doctor  Eli  Bowyer,  one  of  the  most  noted  physicians  of  the  state.  While  living  in  Olney  he 
taught  two  terms  at  Oak  Ridge,  Illinois,  and  two  at  what  is  known  as  Leaf  District,  Richland 
county,  Illinois,  and  during  the  five  years  he  lived  in  Olney,  was  employed  to  teach  in  the  normal 


624  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHIC.  //.    DICTIONARY. 

institute,  which  is  conducted  annually  during  the  months  of  July  and  August  in  that  city.  He 
took  his  first  course  of  medical  lectures  at  the  college  of  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Keokuk,  Iowa, 
in  the  spring  of  1874,  after  which  he  again  engaged  in  teaching. 

In  the  spring  of  1875  he  removed  to  Claremont,  Illinois,  and  took  charge  of  the  graded  school, 
at  the  same  time  forming  a  partnership  with  Doctor  O.  A.  Battson.  This  continued  until  the  fall 
of  1877,  when  he  began  his  second  course  of  lectures,  graduating  from  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  February  14,  1878.  He  remained  a  partner  of  Doctor  Battson  until 
May  i,  1879,  when  he  removed  to  Rose  Hill,  Illinois,  and  practiced  for  about  one  year,  coming  to 
Newton  in  May,  1880.  He  has  since  that  time  worked  up  a  practice  equal  to  any  physician  in  the 
county,  which  may  be  attributed  to  his  untiring  interest  in  his  patients,  energy  and  perseverance, 
combined  with  his  manly  dealing  and  professional  skill. 

Doctor  Hinman  is  examining  physician  and  surgeon  of  numerous  insurance  companies, 
namely,  Home  Life  Insurance  Company,  New  York;  Covenant  Mutual  Benefit  Association  of  Illi- 
nois; Royal  Temple  of  Temperance,  Buffalo,  New  York;  Hartford  Life  Annuity  Insurance  Com- 
pany, Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  others.  He  is  also  president  of  the  Jasper  County  Medical 
Protection  Society,  and  secretary  of  the  Jasper  County  Medical  Association.  The  doctor  takes 
an  active  part  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Newton;  he  is  leader  of  the  choir,  and  super- 
intendent of  the  Sunday-school. 

They  have  seven  children,  four  boys  and  three  girls.  Their  eldest,  a  son  of  promise,  is  a  bright 
lad  of  fourteen  years,  now  in  the  high  school,  from  which  he  will  soon  graduate.  During  the 
past  few  years  the  doctor  has  given  considerable  careful  study  to  gynecology,  and  the  diseases  of 
children.  In  gynecology  he  has  had  several  very  difficult  cases,  in  which  he  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful. He  is  now  giving  that  branch'  considerable  attention,  together  with  his  general  practice, 
which  is  constantly  growing. 

As  a  literary  man,  Doctor  Hinman  is  without  a  peer  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  He 
is  president  of  the  school  board,  and  always  conducts  the  final  examinations  of  candidates  for 
graduation  in  the  high  school.  He  is  a  man  of  excellent  address,  a  good  orator,  and  is  often 
chosen  to  deliver  orations  on  public  occasions. 


JOHN   J.  TAYLOR,  M.D. 

STREA  TOR. 

JOHN  JOSEPH  TAYLOR,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  a  son  of  George  and  Elizabeth  (Philpot) 
J  Taylor,  and  was  born  in  Risber,  Kent,  England,  March  24,  1841.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  a  British  officer;  and  one  or  two  members  of  this  branch  of  the  Philpot  family  were  burnt  at 
the  stake  as  martyrs.  In  the  autumn  of  1852  George  Taylor  emigrated  to  this  country,  halting 
four  years  in  Birmingham,  Connecticut,  and  in  1857  settled  on  a  farm  in  Grand  Rapids  township, 
La  Salle  county,  this  state,  where  he  and  his  wife  and  part  of  the  family  are  still  living.  John 
J.,  who  came  to  the  same  county  one  jtear  earlier,  was  the  third  child  in  a  family  of  fifteen  chil- 
dren, twelve  of  whom  still  survive.  The  sons  are  all  farmers,  except  our  subject  and  one  younger 
brother,  Charles  R.  H.  Taylor,  who  is  a  dentist,  practicing  in  Streator.  The  first  year  our  subject 
was  in  Illinois  he  worked  on  the  farm  of  John  Powe,  for  $75;  and  he  farmed  and  attended  school 
during  the  winters  until  the  civil  war  began.  As  a  farm  hand  he  became  very  expert,  excelling 
as  a  binder  of  grain  and  a  husker  of  corn. 

In  June,  1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  K,  2oth  Illinois  infantry,  and  was  in  the 
battles  of  Fredericktown,  Missouri,  October  21,  1861;  Fort  Donelson,  in  February,  1862,  and  Pitts- 
burgh Landing  in  the  following  April.  He  had  now  become  so  debilitated  by  chronic  diarrhoea 
that  he  was  discharged.  On  returning  to  La  Salle  county,  he  organized  a  company  of  militia 
for  home  defense,  there  being  immediate  cause  for  such  a  step. 

In  1862,  Mr.  Taylor  attended  the  Normal  University,  at  Normal,  one  term,  intending  at  the 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  625 

time  to  take  a  three  years'  course,  and  to  make  teaching  his  life  work.  At  the  end  of  the  term, 
he  taught  a  school  three  months,  and  not  liking  the  profession,  abandoned  it,  and  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  with  Doctor  J.  O.  Harris,  of  Ottawa.  He  attended  one  course  of  medical 
lectures  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  and  another  at  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  where  he  was 
graduated,  February  25,  1867.  While  in  Chicago,  he  studied  under  Doctor  Orrin  Smith,  ex-pro- 
fessor of  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  women  and  children,  in  the  University  of  Vermont,  at  Mont- 
pelier. 

Doctor  Taylor  commenced  practice  at  Ottawa,  continuing  it  a  little  more  than  a  year,  when 
he  was  afflicted  with  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs  so  badly  that  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from  practice 
for  a  while.  He  went  into  the  country  a  little  north  of  Marseilles,  where  his  health  soon  began  to 
improve,  though  the  hemorrhage  continued,  off  and  on,  for  six  years.  In  1871  he  went  to  the 
town  of  Wythe,  Hancock  county,  where  he  rapidly  built  up  a  very  large  practice,  having  as  much 
business  as  one  man  could  possibly  do. 

In  May,  1876,  he  left  that  field  on  account  of  the  heaviness  of  the  work,  returning  to  La  Salle 
county,  and  settling  in  Streator.  Here  he  has  sedulously  refused  country  practice,  except  in 
cases  of  consultation.  His  business  is  all  he  could  ask  for,  he  giving  to  it  all  the  strength  he  has 
to  expend.  There  are  several  older  physicians  in  the  city  than  Doctor  Taylor,  —  men  who  are  a 
credit  to  the  profession,— but  none  of  them  have  a  better  professional  record,  or  a  higher  reputa- 
tion for  skill  and  success. 

The  doctor  has  one  of  the  best  medical  libraries  in  the  county,  and  makes  the  very  best  use  of 
it,  being  diligent  in  his  studies,  as  well  as  in  his  practice,  and  keeping  well  read  up.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Woodford  County  Medical  Association,  and  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church.  He  is  a  man  of  the  very  best  impulses,  and  active  in  every  good  cause.  He 
was  married,  February  21,  1867,  to  Miss  Sarah  Elizabeth  Stanley,  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut. 
They  lost  their  first-born  child,  a  son,  and  have  two  sons  and  one  daughter  living. 


HON.   SETH    F.    CREWS. 

MOUNT  VERNON.  . 

SETH  FLOYD  CREWS,  the  leading  lawyer  at  the  Jefferson  county  bar,  and  a  minority  rep- 
resentative in  the  general  assembly  from  the  forty-third  district,  is  a  native  of  this  state,  and 
was  born  in  Wayne  county,  on  a  farm,  March  29,  1847.  His  father,  Andrew  Crews,  was  a  native 
of  Kentucky;  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Nancy  Jane  Vandeveer,  was  born  in  Indiana. 
The  families  on  both  sides  were  industrious,  well-to-do  farmers. 

When  three  and  a  half  years  of  age,  our  subject  lost  the  use  of  his  right  limb,  by  disease,  and 
at  thirteen  he  had  it  amputated  near  the  thigh  joint.  He  received  the  ordinary  mental  drill  of  a 
country  school,  but  is  largely  self-taught,  and  if  anybody  can  be  self-made,  he  belongs  to  that 
class.  From  seventeen  to  twenty-two  years  of  age,  Mr.  Crews  was  engaged  in  teaching,  studying 
law  at  the  same  time,  and  showing  a  wonderful  degree  of  mental  application.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  the  spring  of  1870,  at  Fairfield,  in  his  native  county,  and  was  in  practice  there  until 
June,  1873,  when  he  moved  to  his  present  home,  the  shire  town  of  Jefferson  county.  That  county 
has  the  reputation  of  having  the  ablest  bar  in  southern  Illinois,  and  perhaps  it  is  enough  to  say 
of  Mr.  Crews  that  his  practice  is  larger  by  far  than  that  of  any  other  man  in  that  county.  Mr. 
Crews  is  very  popular  in  his  county,  not  only  as  a  lawyer,  but  as  a  citizen.  His  politics  are 
republican,  and  in  1876  he  was  elected  state's  attorney  for  Jefferson  county,  overcoming  a  demo- 
cratic majority  of  600  votes.  He  is  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  personal  magnetism,  and  of  great 
power  on  the  stump. 

In  November,  1882,  he  was  sent  by  his  republican  constituents  to  represent,  in  part,  the  forty- 
third  district  in  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  and  the  duties  of  that  post  he  is  performing  at 
the  time  this  sketch  is  written,  and  he  is  doing  it  in  an  eminently  praiseworthy  manner.  Although 


626  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

a  new  and  untried  member,  he  was  selected  by  his  republican  confreres  to  nominate  the  speaker, 
which  he  did  in  so  terse  and  eloquent  a  manner  as  to  call  forth  very  high  encomiums  of  the  Illi- 
nois press,  as  well  as  of  his  associates  on  the  floor  of  the  house.  Mr.  Crews  is  chairman  of  the 
finance  committee,  one  of  the  most  important  committees  in  a  legislative  body,  and  is  also  chairman 
of  a  sub-committee  of  the  finance  committee  to  examine  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company's 
account  with  the  state;  also  railroad  committee,  revenue,  judicial  department,  and  federal  rela- 
tions. No  new  member  of  the  house  Has  a  higher  standing  than  Mr.  Crews.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Honor,  and  served  one  year  as  grand  dictator  of  the  grand  lodge  of  the  state.  He 
belongs  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 

November  27,  1870,  he  was  married  to  Helena  Slocumb,  daughter  of  the  late  Judge  Rigdon 
B.  Slocumb,  of  Fairfield,  and  they  have  buried  one  daughter,  and  have  a  daughter  and  two  sons 
living.  

GEORGE  A.  MEECH. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE  APPLETON  MEECH,  son  of  Appleton  and  Sybil  (Brewster)  Meech,  was  born  in 
r  Norwich,  Connecticut,  January  19,  1824.  His  father  was  captain  of  a  war  vessel,  a  priva- 
teer, during  the  war  of  1812-14,  ar>d  afterward  had  command  of  a  vessel  engaged  in  the  East 
India  trade.  His  grandfather  was  Jacob  Meech,  a  captain  of  the  revolutionary  war,  a  prisoner  at 
one  period,  and  afterward  wounded  in  the  battle  of  White  Plains.  His  mother  was  a  descendant 
of  Rev.  William  Brewster,  of  the  Mayflower. 

Our  subject  is  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  class  '43;  he  taught  one  year  at  Norwich,  Con- 
necticut, after  receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  reading  law  at  the  same  time  with  Hon. 
Lafayette  S.  Foster,  who  was  afterward  president  of  the  United  States  senate.  He  went  to  the 
South,  and  taught  two  or  three  years,  where  he  also  read  law  with  Mr.  Manning,  of  Demopolis, 
Marengo  county,  Alabama,  and  then  returned  to  New  England.  He  finished  his  legal  studies 
with  Hubbard  and  Watts,  and  Hon.  Robert  Rantoul,  of  Boston,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
his  native  state  in  1848.  The  next  year  he  was  appointed  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1853  was 
elected  judge  of  the  probate  court  in  the  Norwich  district,  Connecticut,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year  resigned  that  office,  and  removed  to  the  West,  hoping  thereby  to  improve  his  wife's 
health.  He  settled  in  Chicago,  and  soon  had  a  good  practice,  finding  here  a  wide  field  for  the 
exercise  of  his  legal  talents,  and  the  exhibition  of  his  excellent  drill  received  at  the  East.  In 
1862  he  was  elected  city  attorney,  the  duties  of  which  office  he  discharged  with  ability  and  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  public.  The  next  two  years  he  served  as  city  assessor  of  the  South  Side,  doing 
his  work  with  the  utmost  faithfulness.  From  1864  to  1875  he  gave  his  whole  time  to  his  profes- 
sion, and  had  a  very  lucrative  practice.  For  a  long  time  he  managed  the  celebrated  Commodore 
Bigelow  estate,  a  very  important  trust,  in  which  he  displayed  great  ability  and  the  highest  degree 
of  integrity. 

In  the  spring  of  1875,  Mr.  Meech  was  selected  by  the  judges  as  one  of  the  justices  of  the  South 
Side,  and  at  the  nomination  of  justices  in  the  spring  of  1879,  he  presented  a  monster  petition  for 
the  consideration  of  the  appointing  powers.  It  was  signed  by  all  the  bankers  and  business 
men,  and  embodied  the  signatures  of  every  bank  president  in  Chicago.  The  petition  of  the 
bankers  was  as  follows: 

"The  undersigned  bankers  of  this  city  respectfully  request  of  your  honorable  body  the  nomi- 
nation of  George  A.  Meech  for  reappointment  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  of  Cook  county, 
for  the  public  known  reasons,  that  he  has  for  four  years  filled  that  office  with  intelligence,  and 
the  dignity  becoming  a  court  of  justice." 

Similar  petitions  were  presented  by  the  underwriters  and  other  business  men. 

Mr.  Meech  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  judges.  His  office  is  located  at  151  South 
Clark  street,  and  is  a  model  one  in  every  respect.  It  is  free  from  that  class  of  vagrants  who  are 


LIBPARY 

OF  (HE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITRD   ST.'ITKf!  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  629 

usually  found  around  a  justice  office,  and  in  every  respect  presents  a  quiet  and  dignified  appear- 
ance, being  as  orderly  as  the  highest  courts  of  the  city.  Mr.  Meech  is  too  neat  in  his  tastes,  too 
refined  in  his  manners,  too  polished  in  mind  to  run  a  slip-shod  police  court.  As  a  lawyer,  he  is 
well  read  and  clear-headed,  and  is  a  judge  thorough  in  his  investigations  of  the  law,  careful  and 
deliberate  in  his  opinions,  and  honest  in  his  decisions.  He  was  reappointed  to  the  same  office  in 
1879,  and  again  in  1883,  and  is  now  serving  his  third  term. 

Says  a  Chicago  journalist;  "  As  a  citizen,  he  is  loyal  and  true,  and  has  been  especially  faithful 
to  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  As  a  man,  he  possesses  most  admirable  qualities,  warm  and 
sympathetic  in  his  friendships,  courteous,  affable,  social'  and  genial,  he  possesses  that  plain  style 
and  matter-of-fact  directness  of  purpose,  and  that  modest  and  unobtrusive  manner  to  be  expected 
in  one  who,  like  himself,  has  an  utter  contempt  for  all  shams  and  mere  pretense." 

Mr.  Meech  is  classed  among  the  democrats,  and  during  the  civil  war  was  pronounced  as  a  war 
democrat;  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  Knight  Templar,  a  member  of  Apollo  Commandery,  No. 
r,  and  in  religious  belief  is  an  Episcopalian. 

He  is  a  polished  and  high-toned  gentleman.  Mr.  Meech  has  a  third  wife;  he  first  married  in 
1850  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  who  died  in  1859.  In  1861 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Milo  Hunt,  of  Chenango  county,  New  York,  she  dying  in  1878, 
and  in  1880  he  married  a  daughter  of  Captain  William  Story,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  by  whom 
he  has  his  only  living  child,  a  son. 

The  highest  compliment  that  can  be  paid  to  Mr.  Meech  is  the  hearty  indorsement  which  he 
has  received  at  the  hands  of  the  bench,  and  by  our  better  class  of  citizens  generally.  He  has 
won  and  retains  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  community  by  his  rectitude  of  purpose,  and 
the  faithfulness  and  honesty  with  which  he  has  performed  his  duties  as  a  public  functionary. 


WILLIAM  H.  NANCE,  M.D. 

VERMONT. 

WILLIAM  HARRISON  NANCE,  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Fulton 
county,  is  a  grandson  of  Rev.  Clement  Nance,  in  his  latter  days  a  New  Light  preacher, 
being  a  member  of  an  old  Virginia  family.  William  was  born  in  Floyd  county,  Indiana,  Decem- 
ber 24,  1814,  being  a  son  of  William  Nance,  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  born  in  1784,  and 
Nancy  (Smith)  Nance,  a  native  of  Rockingham  county,  North  Carolina,  born  in  1785.  In  1802 
the  family  moved  into  Kentucky,  and  thence  a  few  years  later  into  Indiana,  being  among  the  pio- 
neers in  that  state.  William  Nance  was  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  under  General  Harrison. 
The  place  where  he  settled  in  Indiana  is  now  known  as  New  Albany.  He  was  a  farmer,  and 
died  at  Columbus,  Adams  county,  this  state,  where  he  and  his  wife  are  buried. 

Our  subject  had  an  ordinary  English  education,  studied  medicine  at  New  Albany  with  Doctor 
David  G.  Stewart,  and  commenced  practice  at  Vermont,  his  present  home,  in  1841.  In  1848  he 
attended  lectures  at  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Missouri,  Saint  Louis,  and 
received  his  diploma  in  1849.  He  continued  in  practice  at  Vermont  until  1862,  when,  for  various 
causes,  he  retired,  having  been  eminently  successful,  and  having  made  an  excellent  record  as  a 
physician  and  surgeon.  Years  ago  he  placed  himself  in  very  comfortable  circumstances,  and  is 
living  quite  at  his  ease.  Doctor  Nance  has  shown  himself  willing  to  bear  a  part  of  the  burdens 
of  public  offices,  doing  his  best  work,  probably,  as  a  supervisor,  in  which  board  he  was  very  use- 
ful and  popular.  He  is  a  first-class  financier.  In  politics  he  was  originally  a  whig,  with  anti- 
slavery  leanings,  and  became  a  republican  on  the  formation  of  that  party.  For  a  year  or  more 
he  was  the  editor  of  the  "Fultonian,"  a  paper  published  in  Vermont  about  1856-58.  He  is  a  man 
who  has  always  done  his  own  thinking,  and  his  actions  have  shown  him  to  be  a  considerate  and 
kind  neighbor. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Nance  was  Susan  Lane,  a  daughter  of  Joab  and  Hannah  Lane,  formerly  of 
62 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Monroe  county,  Indiana.  They  were  married  April  14,  1836.  They  have  buried  one  daughter,  the 
wife  of  Gilmore  C.  Maxwell,  and  have  four  children  living:  Arethusa  Lane,  the  oldest  child,  is  the 
wife  of  Andrew  W.  Lewis,  a  farmer  in  McDonough  county;  Henry  H.  is  a  farmer  near  Bushnell, 
same  county;  Albert  is  a  lumber  dealer  at  Stromsburgh,  Nebraska,  and  Mary  E.,  the  youngest 
child,  is  the  wife  of  Andrew  V.  Carlson,  of  the  same  place. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Nance  are  still  journeying  on  hand  in  hand,  toward  the  goal  of  life,  enjoying 
the  esteem  of  a  large  circle  of  friends  and  neighbors,  and  a  good  measure  of  the  smiles  of  Prov- 
idence.   

GEORGE  VAN  VALKENBURG. 

HUNTLE  Y. 

EORGE  VAN  VALKENBURG  is  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Margaret  (Page)  Van  Valkenburg, 
and  was  born  in  Saint  George,  Upper  Canada,  now  Ontario,  October  10,  1834.  His  father 
was  a  native  of  Steuben  county,  New  York,  and  his  mother,  of  New  Jersey.  In  1846  the  family 
moved  to  Demark,  Lee  county,  Iowa.  Joseph  Van  Valkenburg  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  and  had 
also  a  farm,  on  which  our  subject  was  reared  to  habits  of  industry,  attending  school  during  the 
winter  season,  until  twenty  years  of  age,  obtaining  a  fair  business  education.  He  was  engaged  in 
speculations  in  western  Iowa  until  1858,  when  he  went  to  Chicago,  and  read  law  with  Cornell, 
Waite  and  Jameson,  and  Goudy  and  Waite.  He  received  his  certificate,  but  his  health  failing,  he 
never  commenced  practice. 

In  1864  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg  went  to  Montana,  Idaho,  California,  and  Oregon  as  general  agent 
for  the  Gold  and  Silver  Mining  Company,  of  New  York  city.  Returning  to  Illinois  the  next 
year,  he  went  into  the  lumber  and  grain  trade,  in  Palatine,  Cook  county,  and  in  1868  he  moved 
to  Huntley,  McHenry  county,  resuming  the  same  business.  The  last  few  years  Mr.  Van  Valken- 
burg has  devoted  to  the  care  of  his  property,  having  been  successful  in  life  in  most  of  his  ven- 
tures. He  has  owned  between  five  hundred  and  six  hundred  acres  in  the  vicinity  of  Huntley,  cut 
up  into  farms,  one  or  two  of  which  he  has  recently  sold.  He  has  also  property  in  Michigan  and 
Iowa,  his  industry  and  foresight  having  been  liberally  rewarded. 

Mr.  Van  Valkenburg  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  while  a  resident  of  Palatine;  held  the  same 
office  in  Huntley  for  a  period  of  eight  years;  was  supervisor  of  the  town  three  years,  and  is  now  an 
efficient  member  of  the  village  school  board.  He  has  a  liberal  share  of  public  spirit,  is  full  of 
enterprise,  and  is  a  valuable  citizen. 

The  politics  of  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg  are  democratic,  and  he  is  an  active  and  influential  mem- 
ber of  his  party,  often  attending  county,  district  and  state  conventions.  He  is  a  Master  Mason. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg  was  Miss  Mary  Reiff,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  th'eir  mar- 
riage occurring  in  1866.  They  have  two  children,  Margaret  and  Charles,  who  are  attending  school. 


R 


ROBERT   D.  BRADLEY,   M.D. 

PEKIN. 

OBERT  D.  BRADLEY,  the  leading  operative  surgeon  in  Tazewell  county,  is  a  native  of 
this  state,  being  born  in  Green  county,  January  9,  1845.  He  is  the  seventh  son  of  Robert 
and  Laurana  (Osborn)  Bradley,  who  had  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  eight  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters, all  of  them  living  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  Robert  Bradley  was  born  in  Richmond 
county,  Virginia,  and  belonged  to  an  old  family  in  that  state.  His  wife  was  born  near  Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

Robert  D.  was  in  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  when  the  civil  war  began,  and  his  patriotism 
being  stronger,  for  the  time  being,  than  his  love  for  study,  in  August,  1861,  he  went  into  the  army 
as  clerk  of  company  C,  6th  Illinois  cavalry,  and  served  for  fifty-three  months.  He  was  soon  pro- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


63i 


moted  to  the  rank  of  sergeant-major  of  the  regiment,  and  in  1864  to  the  rank  of  captain  of  the 
company  mentioned.  Colonel  Grierson  was  commander  of  the  regiment  until  he  was  promoted, 
and  was  noted  for  his  dash  and  bravery.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  in  between  one  and  two 
hundred  skirmishes  and  battles,  and  received  only  one  slight  wound,  it  being  at  the  battle  of 
Nashville,  in  December,  1864. 

In  the  summer  of  1866  Captain  Bradley  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  at  Bloomington, 
with  Doctor  Noble;  the  next  autumn  went  to  Philadelphia,  and  attended  lectures  at  Jefferson- 
Medical  College,  and  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  in  March,  1869.  Doctor 
Bradley  commenced  practice  at  Bloomington,  and  while  there,  in  October,  1870,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Elizabeth  Karr,  whose  family  was  from  New  Jersey.  They  have  one  son,  Robert  C.,  aged 
ten  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1872  Doctor  Bradley  settled  in  Pekin,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Tazewell  county, 
and  soon  built  up  a  highly  remunerative  practice.  It  is  general,  and  yet  he  makes  a  specialty  of 
operative  surgery,  in  which  he  has  a  fine  reputation.  He  is  a  surgeon  for  the  several  railroads 
centering  in  Pekin,  and  was  county  physician  for  a  number  of  years.  We  cannot  learn  that  he 
holds  any  civil  or  political  office.  He  votes  the  republican  ticket,  and  does  little  more  than  vote, 
his  professional  duties  having  the  precedence  over  everything  else.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  surgeon  for  the  Pekin  post. 

Doctor  Bradley  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  and  secretary  of  the  Taze- 
well County  Medical  Society;  occasionally  reads  essays  before  the  latter  body;  contributes  to  the 
medical  periodicals  of  the  day;  is  ambitious  for  self-improvement,  desirous,  evidently,  of  honor- 
ing his  profession,  and  is  a  growing  man. 


HON.  THEODORE  D.   MURPHY. 

WOODSTOCK. 

THEODORE  D.  MURPHY,  the  leading  attorney  in  McHenry  county,  and  at  one  period 
judge  of  the  thirteenth  judicial  circuit  court,  and  judge  and  chief-justice  of  the  appellate 
court,  is  a  native  of  Braxton  county,  Virginia,  now  West  Virginia,  and  his  birth  is  dated  June  12, 
1829.  His  father,  James  G.  Murphy,  was  born  in  the  same  state,  the  family  being  originally  from 
Ireland  ;  and  his  mother,  Nancy  N.  (Given)  Murphy,  traced  her  ancestry  back  to  England.  The 
father  of  Theodore  was  a  slave-holder,  and  a  conscientious  Christian  man  ;  and  in  the  spring  of 
1845,  having  previously  come  to  the  conclusion  that  slavery  was  a  sin  against  God,  he  set  all  his 
negroes  free,  left  the  South  a  comparatively  poor  man,  came  to  McHenry  county,  Illinois,  and 
settled  on  land,  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  spot  where  the  city  of  Woodstock  now  stands. 
There  he  lived  and  toiled  until  1867,  when  his  declining  years  and  impaired  constitution  rendered 
it  necessary  for  him  to  sell  his  farm,  which  he  did,  and  removed  to  Abingdon,  Knox  county,  this 
state,  where  he  had  a  son,  and  where  he  died  in  April,  1880,  just  as  he  was  rounding  up  his  four 
score  years,  he  being  born  in  1800.  His  wife,  born  two  years  earlier,  died  in  November,  1877, 
being  in  her  eightieth  year.  For  the  last  forty  years  or  more,  before  their  decease,  this  venerable 
couple  were  consistant  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  They  were  distinguished 
for  their  great  industry  and  energy,  and  an  unbounded  affection  for  each  other  and  their  family. 
Our -subject  was  educated  in  the  district  school  at  Woodstock,  and  the  Rock  River  Seminary, 
at  Mount  Morris,  Ogle  county,  farming  more  or  less  while  securing  his  education,  and  until  he 
commenced  reading  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Lawrence  S.  Church,  of  Woodstock,  in  1847.  At  the 
end  of  one  year  he  changed  to  the  law  office  of  Platt  and  Platt,  and  two  years  later,  June  12,  1850, 
the  day  he  reached  his  majority,  he  was  examined  before  the  supreme  court  at  Ottawa,  and 
licensed  to  practice  in  all  the  courts  of  the  state.  He  immediately  went  to  Oregon,  Ogle  county, 
where  he  proposed  to  settle,  and  where  he  hung  out  his  shingle,  but  before  he  had  done  any  legal 
business,  he  received  a  very  cordial  letter  from  one  of  his  preceptors,  Phineas  W.  Platt,  inviting 


632  UNITED    STATES  JUOGRAPIIICAL    DICTIONARY. 

him  to  return  to  Woodstock  and  become  his  partner  in  the  law  business,  which  generous  offer  Mr. 
Murphy  gladly  and  promptly  accepted.  The  firm  of  Platt  and  Murphy  continued  for  one  year, 
when  Mr.  Platt  removed  to  Texas. 

In  1857  the  people  of  McHenry  county  elected  our  subject  to  the  office  of  county  judge,  which 
office  he  filled  for  one  term,  four  years,  and  then  declined  a  renomination.  In  1862  he  was  elected 
judge  of  the  thirteenth  judicial  circuit,  to  which  position  he  was  twice  reelected,  holding  that 
office  in  all  a  little  more  than  seventeen  years,  it  expiring  in  June,  1879.  Meantime,  in  1877,  the 
appellate  court  of  Ilinois  was  created  by  act  of  the  legislature,  and  provided  that  the  judges  of 
that  court  should  be  selected  from  the  circuit  judges  of  the  state  by  the  supreme  court  Our  sub- 
ject was  selected  for  the  first  district,  which  embraces  Cook  county,  and  was  ordered  to  the  city 
of  Chicago.  The  office  of  judge  of  the  appellate  court  he  held  between  two  and  three  years,  or 
until  the  expiration  of  that  term  in  June,  1879,  nearly  all  that  period  acting  as  chief-justice  of 
that  court. 

Judge  Murphy  was  appointed  by  Governor  Bissell,  in  1858,  to  go  to  Washington,  and  represent 
the  state  of  Illinois  so  far  as  the  county  of  McHenry  was  interested  in  certain  land  grants  there- 
tofore made  by  congress  to  the  state,  and  he  was  eminently  successful  in  his  mission. 

Judge  Murphy  was  originally  a  democrat,  with  free-soil  proclivities,  and  left  that  party  when 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  passed  congress,  and  became  a  law,  and  has  since  been  a  republican. 
In  1872  he  was  a  candidate  for  nomination  for  congress  and  was  opposed  in  the  convention  by 
General  Farnsworth;  after  vain  attempts,  and  it  was  found  that  neither  could  be  nominated, 
General  Hurlbut  was  brought  forward,  nominated  and  elected. 

Judge  Murphy  married  November  13,  1851,  Miss  Mary  Prouty,  of  Middlebury,  Vermont,  and 
they  have  a  son  and  daughter:  Edwin  D.,  his  father's  law  partner,  and  Alice  Mary,  a  graduate  of 
Grant  Seminary,  Chicago,  class  '81. 


HON.  CHARLES    H.  TRYON. 

RICHMOND. 
HARLES    HOPKINS    TRYON,  farmer  and  member  of  the  legislature  from  the  eighth  dis- 


trict,  is  a  son  of  Bela  H.  and  Harriet  (Billings)  Tryon,  both  natives  of  Franklin  county, 
Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in  South  Deerfield,  that  county,  June  2,  1826.  His  grandfather, 
William  Tryon,  was  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  both  the  Tryon  and  Billings  families  were  in 
western  Massachusetts  during  the  Indian  wars  and  massacres. 

Charles  received  a  district-school  education  in  McHenry  county,  this  state,  the  family  settling 
on  land  there  in  1837.  The  township  was  called  Hebron,  and  was  so  named  by  Mrs.  Tryon. 
A  few  neighbors  were  gathered  at  her  house  on  one  occasion,  and  while  they  were  singing  some 
of  the  old  tunes,  popular  forty  and  fifty  years  ago,  the  question  of  naming  the  town  came  up,  and 
at  that  moment  the  eyes  of  Mrs.  Tryon  lighted  on  the  tune  of  "Hebron."  She  suggested  that 
name,  and  it  was  adopted.  She  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  dying  in  1876.  Her  husband  died  in 
1X48.  In  1837  the  nearest  postoffice  to  Hebron  was  at  Milwaukee,  and  the  nearest  blacksmith 
shop  was  at  Elgin.  When  a  postoffice  was  established,  it  was  kept  at  the  house  of  Bela  H. 
Tryon,  and  the  mail  was  carried  on  horseback,  on  the  first  trip,  in  the  carrier's  pocket. 

Charles  had  an  only  brother,  George,  who  died  some  years  ago  at  the  old  McHenry  county 
homestead.  The  sole  surviving  member  of  the  family,  our  subject  has  always  been  on  the  farm, 
where  the  family  settled  forty-six  years  ago.  Before  it  was  divided  among  the  heirs,  it  consisted 
of  more  than  a  thousand  acres? 

Mr.  Tryon  has  held  a  few  local  offices,  such  as  justice  of  the  peace  (in  which  office  he  took  his 
father's  place  at  twenty-one  years  of  age),  school  director,  supervisor,  etc.,  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1882,  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  general  assembly.  He  was  assigned  to  the  com- 
mittees on  agriculture,  horticulture  and  dairying,  drainage  and  state  institutions.  He  is  a  man 
of  good  judgment  and  industrious  habits,  and  a  faithful  worker  in  the  interests  of  the  state, 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  633 

Mr.  Tryon  was  formerly  a  whig,  and  has  acted  with  the  republican  party  since  it  was  organ- 
ixed.  He  is  a  thorough-going  man  in  politics,  as  in  everything  else.  He  is  a  Master  Mason. 

Mr.  Tryon  was  first  married  in  1848,  to  Miss  Laura  Hodge,  of  McHenry  county.  She  died  in 
1876,  leaving  two  children,  one  of  whom,  Bela  H.,  died  in  1877.  The  other  child,  Jessie  M.,  is  the 
wife  of  George  Trow,  of  Hebron.  Mr.  Tryon  was  married  the  second  time,  July  4,  1877,  to  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  M.  (Downs)  Sherman.  She  is  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  a  well  educated  lady,  in  her 
younger  years  a  teacher,  and,  like  her  husband,  occasionally  writes  for  the  McHenry  county 
papers. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tryon  have  one  of  the  finest  farm  residences  in  the  county,  and  their  buildings, 
generally,  are  of  the  very  best  quality. 


PERRY  AMOS  CLAYFOOL. 

MORRIS. 

T)ERRY  AMOS  CLAYPOOL  was  born  in  Perry  township,  Brown  county,  Ohio,  June  5,  1815, 
1.  and  was  therefore  four  years  the  senior  of  his  brother,  Lawrence  W.,  whose  sketch  can  be 
found  in  this  volume.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Halstead,  in  their 
native  place  in  Ohio,  and  brought  his  young  wife  with  him  to  the  new  home  on  the  ever-advanc- 
ing frontier,  in  1834,  settling  in  Wauponsee  with  the  rest  of  the  family. 

Like  his  father  and  brother,  and  his  ancestors  before  him,  he  was  a  man  of  great  energy,  and 
foremost  everywhere  among  his  fellows.  Although  young,  his  fellow-citizens  conferred  upon  him 
the  responsible  office  of  assessor  and  treasurer  of  Grundy  county,  which  position  he  filled  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  killed  instantly  by  the  kick  of  a  horse,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  leav- 
ing a  wife  and  four  children,  all  of  whom  still  survive. 


HON.   ARCHELAUS    N.   YANCEY. 

BUPfKER   HILL. 

A  RCHELAUS  NEWTON  YANCEY,  one  of  the  representatives  from  Macoupin  county,  and 
r\.  a  prominent  lawyer  in  that  county,  is  a  son  of  James  E.  and  Mary  E.  (Waller)  Yancey,  and 
dates  his  birth  in  Montpelier,  Orange  county,  Virginia,  March  24,  1844.  His  grandfather,  Charles 
Yancey,  was  a  somewhat  prominent  citizen  of  the  Old  Dominion,  being  at  one  period  grand  mas- 
ter of  the  Freemasons  of  that  state.  The  father  of  Charles  Yancey  was  a  captain  in  the  army 
during  the  struggle  for  independence.  The  Yanceys  and  Wallers  are  old  Virginia  families. 

When  Archelaus  was  thirteen  years  old  the  family  moved  to  Oldham  county,  Kentucky.  He 
received  an  academic  education  at  Hilton,  Virginia ;  spent  two  years  in  Dartmouth  College, 
Hanover,  New  Hampshire  ;  read  law  in  Louisville,  Kentucky  ;  was  graduated  at  the  law  depart- 
ment of  Michigan  University,  Ann  Arbor,  in  1867,  and  has  been  practicing  at  Bunker  Hill  since 
that  date,  making  a  splendid  record  in  all  the  courts  in  which  he  has  had  cases.  Mr.  Yancey  is  a 
fine  advocate,  being  a  clear,  candid  and  forcible  reasoner,  and  having  great  influence  with  a  jury. 
A  gentleman  who  has  often  met  him  in  the  appellate  court  states  that  he  had  a  number  of  cases 
there,  that  he  presents  them  with  a  great  deal  of  force,  and  is  regarded  by  that  court  as  a  strong 
man.  Mr.  Yancey  is  a  strictly  honest  and  honorable  man,  very  tenacious  of  his  clients'  interest, 
and  his  practice  is  increasing,  and  he  is  growing  in  popularity  in  Macoupin  county. 

He  was  at  one  period  city  attorney  of  Bunker  Hill ;  has  been  attorney  for  some  years  of  the 
Indianapolis  and  Saint  Louis  railroad,  and  in  1880  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  general 
assembly.  He  served  his  constituents  so  faithfully  and  well  that  they  sent  him  back  in  1882,  and 
he  is  now  serving  the  second  term  in  that  body,  being  on  the  committees  on  judiciary,  railroad, 
public  charities  and  fees  and  salaries. 


634  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Yancey  has  always  affiliated  with  the  democratic  party,  and  never  fails  to  take  a  leading 
part  in  a  political  canvass,  being  a  powerful  stumper.  In  1882  he  was  the  unanimous  choice 
of  the  Macoupin  county  delegation  for  congressional  nominee.  He  is  a  Master  Mason,  and  a 
vestryman  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

November  i,  1867,  Mr.  Yancey  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Belle  Bryan,  of  Oldham 
county,  Kentucky,  and  they  have  three  children  living  and  have  buried  three. 


JOHN   L.  HAMILTON,  M.D. 

PEORIA. 

JOHN  L.  HAMILTON  is  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  in  Peoria,  still  in  active  practice,  he 
having  been  here  since  1850.  He  is  president  of  the  City  Board  of  Health,  and  occupies  a 
high  standing  in  the  community  both  as  a  physician  and  citizen.  He  is  a  native  of  Venango 
county,  Pennsylvania,  born  February  12,  1826,  a  son  of  Richard  Hamilton,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Ann  (Reynolds)  Hamilton,  a  native  of  Birmingham,  England,  whose  mother  was 
Welsh.  James  Hamilton,  the  grandfather  of  John  L.,  was  born  in  the  County  of  Antrim,  Ireland, 
and  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  making  the  blood  of  several  nationalities  running  through  the 
veins  of  our  subject.  Richard  Hamilton  was  a  farmer,  but  the  son  did  not  incline  to  that  voca- 
tion. He  received  the  mental  drill  of  a  common  school  in  his  native  state;  came  as  far  west  as 
Ohio  in  1845  ;  finished  his  literary  studies  at  the  Springfield  Academy;  studied  medicine  with  his 
older  brother,  Doctor  James  W.  Hamilton,  at  East  Liberty,  Logan  county;  attended  lectures  at 
Starling  Medical  College,  Columbus;  there  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  in  March, 
1850,  and  immediately  settled  in  Peoria. 

Doctor  Hamilton  early  worked  his  way  into  a  good  practice,  and  has  steadily  maintained  it, 
his  standing  being  in  the  front  rank  of  the  Peoria  fraternity.  He  has  held  the  office  of  president 
of  the  Peoria  City  Medical  Society,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  and  of 
the  American  Medical  Association.  He  has  been  in  the  habit  of  writing  occasionally  for  medical 
periodicals,  and,  we  believe,  still  furnishes  a  contribution,  now  and  then,  for  the  "  Peoria  Medical 
Monthly,"  which  is  edited  by  his  son-in-law,  Doctor  T.  M.  Mcllvaine. 

Doctor  Hamilton  has  a  second  wife  ;  his  first  was  Miss  Anna  H.  Kirk,  of  Kentucky,  to  whom 
he  was  married  in  1854.  She  died  in  1857,  leaving  one  child,  Emma,  the  wife  of  Doctor  Mcllvaine. 
His  present  wife  was  Miss  Fanny  S.  Denison,  of  Woodstock,  Vermont,  married  in  1861,  she  having 
had  five  children,  three  of  them  still  living:  Robert  W.,  Charles  E.,  and  Fanny. 


HON.   LORIN   C.   COLLINS,  JR. 

CHICAGO. 

L)RIN  CONE  COLLINS,  JR.,  speaker  of  the  Illinois  House  of  Representatives,  is  a  son  of 
Lorin  C.  Collins  and  Mary  (Bemis)  Collins,  and  was  born  in  Windsor,  Connecticut.  August 
i,  1848.  His  father  and  mother  were  born  in  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts.  His  great-grandfather 
was  a  soldier  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  the  flint-lock  musket  which  he  carried  is  still  in  the 
family.  The  Collinses  came  from  Enfield,  England,  and  were  among  the  founders  of  the  town  of 
Enfield,  Connecticut.  In  1852,  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  four  years  old,  the  family 
moved  to  Saint  Paul,  Minnesota,  where  Lorin  C.  Collins,  Sr.,  engaged  in  farming. 

In  his  youth  Lorin  spent  two  years  in  the  preparatory  department  of  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity, at  Delaware.  He  entered  the  freshman  class  of  the  Northwestern  University,  at  Evanston, 
in  1868,  and  was  graduated  in  course,  receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  in  1872,  and  master 
of  arts  in  1874. 

Mr.  Collins  read  law  in  Chicago  with  Clarkson  and  Van  Schaack;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  635 

September,  1874,  and  since  that  date  he  has  been  practicing  in  Chicago.  He  is  of  the  firm  of 
Collins  and  Adair,  his  partner  being  John  D.  Adair. 

Mr.  Collins  entered  public  life  in  187.8,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  general 
assembly,  as  one  of  the  representatives  from  Cook  county,  his  residence  being  at  Norwood  Park, 
a  suburb  of  Chicago  on  the  Wisconsin  division  of  the  North-Western  railroad.  In  that,  the  thirty- 
first  general  assembly,  he  was  placed  on  the  committees  on  revenue,  judicial  department,  corpora- 
tions, and  public  buildings  and  grounds.  Mr.  Collins  was  reelected  in  1880,  and  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  corporations,  and  served  on  the  committees  on  revenue,  canals  and  rivers,  and 
senatorial  appointment.  In  this  assembly  he  was  regarded  as  the  parliamentary  leader  of  the 
republican  side. 

Mr.  Collins  was  again  reelected  in  1882,  and  was  the  sole  nominee  of  the  republican  party, 
with  which  he  has  always  affiliated,  for  the  office  of  speaker,  and  was  elected  without  a  dissenting 
voice  or  movement  on  the  part  of  any  member  of  his  party.  He  is  a  man  of  culture  and  courtesy, 
self-possessed,  prompt  to  act,  and  a  good  expediter  of  business. 

Speaker  Collins  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Norwood  Park,  and  bears  an  irre- 
proachable character.  His  broad  and  generous  sympathy  is  seen  in  his  remark  that  of  all  the 
duties  he  has  had  to  perform  as  speaker,  the  turning  away  of  a  large  number  of  poor  little  boys 
who  wished  appointments  as  pages,  was  the  only  one  that  would  deter  him  from  again  assuming 
the  responsibilities  of  the  office. 

He  was  married,  September  17,  1873,  to  Miss  Nellie  Robb,  who  was  born  in  Chicago,  being  a 
daughter  of  George  A.  Robb,  the  first  ship  chandler  in  business  in  Chicago,  for  many  years  of  the 
firm  of  Hubbard  and  Robb.  They  have  two  children,  a  sweet  little  girl  of  eight  years  and  a 
bright  boy  of  six,  who  carries  the  paternal  name,  Lorin  Cone  Collins,  to  its  third  consecutive 
generation. 

ROBERT    HERVEY. 

CHICAGO. 

ROBERT  HERVEY,  lawyer,  was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  August  10,  1820,  his  father, 
Alexander,  being  a  West  India  merchant,  and  like  the  long-lost  brother  in  the  novels  of  the 
time,  owning  a  plantation  in  Trinidad.  In  his  youth  Robert  attended  the  preparatory  grammar 
schools,  and  entering  Glasgow  University,  was  graduated  in  1837.  Shortly  after  this  event  he 
turned  his  face  to  the  new  world,  and  settling  in  Canada,  began  the  study  of  the  law  with  Henry 
Sherwood,  attorney  general  of  the  province.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1842,  and  com- 
menced practice  in  Bytown,  now  Ottawa,  the  capital  of  the  dominion.  His  ability  and  solid  legal 
acquirements  soon  won  him  a  very  extensive  and  paying  practice  in  Bytown,  but  the  city  was 
small  and,  after  all.  provincial,  and  desiring  a  wider  field  he  readily  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of 
an  uncle,  long  a  resident  of  Illinois,  to  settle  in  Chicago.  Removing  thither  in  1852,  he  became 
a  member  of  the  firm  of  Morris,  Hervey  and  Clarkson,  a  firm  existing  until  the  elevation  of  the 
senior  partner,  Buckner  S.  Morris,  to  the  bench.  Mr.  Hervey  continued  with  Mr.  Clarkson  until 
1857,  when  he  formed  with  Elliott  Anthony  the  firm  of  Hervey  and  Anthony.  In  1860  Mr.  Gait 
was  admitted  to  the  firm,  and  the  copartnership  continued  to  1877,  and  was  then  the  oldest  legal 
firm  in  the  city. 

He  has  always  enjoyed  an  extensive  and  profitable  practice  in  all  the  courts,  state  and 
national,  civil  and  criminal.  Mr.  Hervey,  indeed,  has  been  retained  in  most  of  the  cases  of  pub- 
lic importance,  civil  and  criminal  alike,  which  have  come  before  our  courts  in  his  time.  He 
assisted  in  the  defense  of  the  nineteen  aldermen  indicted  for  briberv,  only  one  of  whom  was  con- 
victed. He  also  defended  Arthur  Devine  for  the  murder  of  Francis  McVey,  one  of  his  employes, 
and  secured  Devine's  acquittal,  and  of  all  the  capital  cases  in  which  he  has  been  retained,  not  one 
of  his  clients  has  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law.  He  was  retained  by  the  state  in  the 
celebrated  Hoops  murder  case,  and  again  in  the  defense  of  the  county  commissioners,  not  one  of 
whom  was  found  guilty. 


636  rxrrr.n  STATKS  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

The  list  of  his  important  civil  cases  would  be  too  large  for  publication  here.  His  firm  were 
the  attorneys  of  the  complaining  stockholders  of  the  Galena  Railway  Company,  and  succeeded 
in  preventing  its  consolidation  with  the  North-Western  until  their  clients  were  paid  the  full  value 
of  their  shares,  and  in  almost  innumerable  cases  of  similar  importance  he  has  been  counsel  on 
the  one  side  or  the  other.  It  may  be  said  that  he  lives  in  the  court,  his  special  forte  being  trial  of 
cases  before  a  jury.  He  has  fine  literary  attainments,  and  is  an  accomplished  linguist.  His 
integrity  as  a  lawyer  and  a  man  is  unquestioned.  No  corporation  ever  purchased  his  conscience, 
no  client  ever  retained  it.  He  is  a  prominent  member,  and  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Chicago 
Bar  Association,  and  has  been  frequently  president  of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  and  chief  of  the 
Caledonian  Club. 

He  has  been  twice  married:  in  1843  to  Maria  Jones,  daughter  of  Dunham  Jones,  collector  ol 
Port  Maitland,  and  in  1861  to  Frances  W.  Smith. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Hervey  is  rather  distingue.  His  form  is  of  medium  height,  very  erect 
and  well  proportioned.  His  complexion  is  fresh,  his  whiskers  are  gray  and  worn  in  the  English 
fashion,  his  hair  is  silvery,  his  head  well  shaped,  his  eyes  gray  and  keen,  and  the  tout  ensemble  that 
of  a  very  pronounced  Scotchman.  In  his  demeanor  he  is  very  affable  and  courteous,  and  before 
a  jury,  and  in  the  examination  of  a  witness,  as  well  as  in  his  treatment  of  opposing  counsel,  is 
always  gentlemanly  and  considerate. 


HON.  HARVEY   B.  HURD. 

CJIICA  GO. 

WHEN  we  trace  the  history  of  our  leading  men,  and  search  for  the  secret  of  their  success,  we 
find,  as  a  rule,  that  they  are  men  who  were  early  thrown  upon   their  own  resources,  and 
whose  first  experiences  were  in  the  face  of  adversity  and  opposition.     Such  was  the  case  with 
Harvey  B.  Hurd,  an  outline  of  whose  life  may  be  found  in  what  follows. 

He  is  a  native  of  Huntington,  Fairfield  county,  Connecticut,  and  was  born  February  14,  1828. 
His  father,  Alanson  Hurd,  was  of  English  descent.  His  mother's  name  was  Elizabeth  Lowe,  of 
Dutch  and  Irish  descent.  Until  his  fifteenth  year  young  Hurd  worked  on  his  father's  farm  during 
the  summer,  and  attended  the  district  school  during  winters.  The  narrow  routine  of  such  a 
life,  however,  ha'd  no  attractions  for  him,  and  he  determined  to  seek  a  wider  sphere  of  action. 
Accordingly,  having  with  considerable  difficulty  obtained  his  father's  consent  to  leave  home, 
May  i,  1842,  with  his  clothes  tied  in  a  cotton  handkerchief,  he  walked  to  Bridgeport  and  entered 
the  office  of  the  Bridgeport  "  Standard,"  a  whig  paper,  as  youngest  apprentice,  printer's  devil. 
In  the  spring  of  1844  he  went  to  New  York  city,  where  he  remained  until  the  fall,  when  he 
returned  to  Bridgeport,  and,  in  company  with  ten  other  young  men,  went  to  Peoria  county, 
Illinois,  and  entered  Jubilee  College.  He  remained  here  one  year,  when  a  misunderstanding 
with  the  president  of  the  college,  Rev.  Samuel  Chase,  resulted  in  his  leaving.  He  went 
immediately  to  Peoria,  but  not  finding  employment  there,  took  passage  in  a  baggage  stage 
for  Chicago,  where  he  arrived  January  7,  1846,  with  fifty  cents  in  his  pocket  and  thinly  clad. 
He  stopped  at  the  Illinois  Exchange,  kept  by  a  Mr.  Lee,  for  whose  generous  treatment  Mr.  Hurd 
in  after  years,  when  the  circumstances  of  the  two  men  had  been  changed,  expressed  his  gratitude 
in  a  substantial  way.  He  at  once  obtained  work  in  the  office  of  the  Chicago  "  Evening  Journal," 
then  published  by  Wilson  and  Geer,  and  afterward  was  engaged  in  the  office  of  the  "  Prairie 
Farmer."  In  the  fall  of  1847  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Calvin  De  Wolf,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1848.  He  began  the  practice  of  law  with  the  late  Carlos  Haven,  who  was 
afterward  state's  attorney.  He  afterward  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Henry  Snapp,  late 
member  of  congress,  now  practicing  law  in  Joliet,  Illinois.  In  1850  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
A.  J.  Brown,  which  continued  till  1854.  The  firm  dealt  largely  in  real  estate,  and  were  proprietors 
of  248  acres  of  land,  which  they  laid  out  as  a  part  of  Evanston,  in  which  town  Mr.  Hurd  was  one 


„.,,'•-• 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  639 

of  the  first  to  build,  having  commenced  the  house  in  which  he  now  resides  in  the  summer  of  1854, 
and  moved  into  it  in  September,  1855.  His  residence  occupies  a  block  of  ground,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  and  home-like  in  that  beautiful  suburb. 

Mr.  Hurd  was  married  May  18,  1853,  to  Miss  Cornelia  A.  Milliard,  daughter  of  the  late  Captain 
James  Hilliard,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut.  From  this  marriage  he  has  three  daughters:  Eda  I., 
the  wife  of  George  S.  Lord,  and  Hettie  B.  and  Nellie.  He  was  married  to  his  present  wife,  Sarah 
G.,  November  i,  1860.  She  was  the  widow  of  the  late  George  Collins,  of  Chicago. 

He  was  an  abolitionist,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  stirring  events  that  occurred  in  Chicago 
before  and  following  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  line.  He  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention held  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  which  formed  the  national  Kansas  committee,  and  became 
secretary  of  its  executive  committee  which  had  its  headquarters  at  Chicago.  The  other  members 
of  this  executive  committee  were  General  J.  D.  Webster  and  the  late  George  W.  Dole;  the 
former  acting  as  its  president  and  the  latter  as  treasurer.  Mr.  Hurd  gave  his  entire  time  to  the 
duties  of  the  committee  for  a  year  without  compensation,  taking  the  principal  direction  of  its 
affairs.  His  position  may  be  said  to  have  been  that  of  secretary  of  the  Kansas  war.  Horace 
White,  who  was  at  one  time  an  editor  of  the  Chicago  "Tribune,"  was  assistant  secretary,  and  Mr. 
Hurd  speaks  in  praise  of  his  services  in  that  capacity.  No  higher  commendation  can  be  given 
to  this  committee  than  to  say  its  labors  were  crowned  with  entire  success  in  making  Kansas  a 
free  state. 

To  give  a  full  account  of  Mr.  Hurd's  connection  with  the  Kansas  struggle  would  be  to  write 
the  history  of  the  struggle  itself.  There  is  one  instance,  however,  deserving  especial  mention. 
The  strife  in  the  territory  and  on  the  western  border  of  Missouri  was  so  devastating  that  no  crops 
of  any  considerable  amount  were  raised  in  1856;  as  a  consequence,  there  was  not  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  grain  and  other  products  to  supply  the  demand  for  seed  for  the  next  spring's  planting. 
A  large  increase  in  the  population  was  expected  through  the  improved  means  of  travel  which  were 
secured  by  the  committee.  To  hold  this  population  in  the  territory  it  was  necessary  they  should 
be  enabled  to  raise  a  crop,  and  for  this  purpose  seeds  must  be  furnished.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
committee  in  New  York  city,  in  February,  1857,  a  resolution  was  adopted  instructing  the  execu- 
tive committee  at  Chicago  to  purchase  and  forward  the  necessary  seed.  At  the  same  time  an 
appropriation  of  $5,000  was  made  to  John  Brown,  to  be  used  by  him  in  raising  and  equipping  in 
Kansas  a  company  of  armed  men  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  defending  the  free-state  settlers, 
but  which  it  was  feared  by  some  might  be  used  by  Brown  in  making  incursions  into  Missouri  or 
some  other  slave  state. 

Mr.  Hurd,  ascertaining  on  his  return  to  Chicago  that  the  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  treasurer 
were  barely  sufficient  to  answer  one  of  these  requirements,  selected  that  which  he  thought 
most  important,  and  the  one  which  he  believed  would  be  the  most  efficient  in  the  settlement 
of  the  contest  as  it  affected  Kansas,  viz.,  the  purchase  of  the  seed,  which  he  immediately 
set  about  doing,  and  when  Mr.  Brown  a  short  time  afterward  applied  for  his  appropriation  he 
found  the  committee's  treasury  empty.  At  first  Gerritt  Smith  and  other  friends  of  Brown  were 
inclined  to  find  fault  with  Mr.  Hurd's  course.  They  contended  that  he  should  at  least  have 
divided  with  Mr.  Brown,  and  for  a  time  there  was  fear  that  dissatisfaction  would  be  stirred  up; 
but  Mr.  Hurd  soon  found  himself  vindicated  by  the  events  which  followed  in  due  time.  As  had 
been  expected,  the  restoration  of  the  travel,  from  the  tedious  overland  route  through  Iowa  and 
Nebraska,  to  the  Missouri  River,  by  way  of  Saint  Louis,  Jefferson  City  and  Kansas  City,  and  the 
sale  of  through  tickets  from  all  important  points  in  the  North,  resulted  in  a  large  immigration; 
claims  were  taken  up  and  preparations  made  for  permanent  abode;  but  the  seeds  had  been  for- 
warded by  a  small  steamboat  which  was  to  ascend  the  Kansas  River  to  Lawrence.  In  conse- 
quence of  low  water  its  arrival  was  delayed  about  two  weeks.  The  people  therefore  gathered  at 
Lawrence  from  all  parts  of  the  territory,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  seeds.  At  one  time  it  was 
feared  that  their  expectations  would  not  be  realized,  and  their  return  to  the  states  was  contem- 
plated as  the  only  alternative.  When  at  last  the  boat  arrived,  and  the  agent  of  the  committee 
63 


640  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

announced  that  he  was  ready  to  make  free  distribution  of  seeds  to  all  free-state  settlers  who 
desired  them  for  the  purpose  of  planting,  such  a  shout  of  rejoicing  was  sent  up  that  the  action  of 
Mr.  Hurd  received  the  universal  commendation  of  the  people  of  the  North,  and  no  further  ques- 
tion was  made  by  Mr.  Brown  or  his  friends  as  to  the  wisdom  or  propriety  of  his  course.  The 
free-state  settlers  were  thus  enabled  to  satisfy  their  enemies  that  they  had  come  to  stay;  they 
were  too  many  for  the  Missourians,  as  the  proslavery  party  was  called,  and  the  latter  gave  up  the 
strife. 

In  1862  he  formed  a  partnership  for  the  practice  of  law  with  Henry  Booth,  late  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Cook  county  circuit  court,  and  at  the  same  time  accepted  a  position  as  lecturer  in 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  This  partnership  continued,  with  several 
changes  by  the  admission  of  junior  partners,  till  1868,  when  he  withdrew  from  the  firm  with  the 
intention  of  retiring  from  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

In  April,  1869,  Mr.  Hurd,  on  the  nomination  of  Governor  Palmer,  and  confirmation  of  the 
senate  of  the  twenty-sixth  general  assembly  of  Illinois,  was  appointed  one  of  three  commissioners 
to  revise  and  rewrite  the  general  statutes  of  the  state.  One  of  the  commissioners,  Mr.  Nelson, 
having  been  elected  to  the  house  of  representatives,  the  work  of  the  revision  fell  upon  Mr.  Hurd 
and  the  other  commissioner,  Mr.  Schaeffer,  who  acted  together  till  the  twenty-seventh  general 
assembly  adjourned,  when  the  latter  also  withdrew,  leaving  the  whole  work  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Hurd,  who  completed  the  same  with  the  adjournment  of  the  twenty-eighth  general  assembly  in 
April,  1874,  when  the  last  of  the  chapters  of  the  revised  statutes  of  1874  was  adopted,  and  Mr. 
Hurd  appointed  by  that  body  to  compile,  edit  and  supervise  the  publication  of  the  same,  which 
he  accomplished  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  people  of  the  state.  Few  people  appreciate 
for  how  many  reforms  in  the  law  they  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Hurd,  or  how  great  a  work  it  was  to 
revise  and  rewrite  the  whole  body  of  the  laws  of  the  great  state  of  Illinois,  and  adapt  them  to  the 
new  condition  of  things  resulting  from  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  of  1870.  Ordinarily 
a  revision  means  the  rearrangement  and  adjusting  of  existing  laws,  but  the  revision  of  the  laws 
of  Illinois  under  the  circumstances  meant  radical  changes  in  many  of  them;  the  rejection  of  old 
provisions  and  the  construction  of  new  ones;  and  in  many  cases  the  construction  of  entire  new 
chapters,  construing  for  the  first  time  the  provisions  of  the  new  constitution.  Mr.  Hurd's  work 
as  reviser  has  proved  a  success.  The  state  edition  of  1874  of  fifteen  thousand  volumes  was  soon 
exhausted,  and  he  has  been  called  upon  to  edit  three  editions  since,  all  of  which  have  received  the 
unqualified  commendation  of  the  bar  and  public.  In  the  summer  of  1875  Mr.  Hurd  was  again 
elected  to  a  chair  in  the  law  school,  which  had  then  become  the  Union  College  of  Law  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  and  the  Northwestern  University,  and  now  fills  the  position  of  professor 
of  pleadings,  practice  and  statutory  law  in  that  flourishing  institution. 

He  was  nominated  by  the  republican  party  as  its  candidate  for  the  office  of  judge  of  the 
supreme  court  of  Illinois,  at  the  special  election  held  December  21,  1875,  but  was  defeated  by 
his  democratic  rival,  T.  L.  Dickey,  who  ran  as  an  independent  candidate,  and  not  only  received 
the  support  of  his  party  but  of  the  city  government  of  Chicago,  whose  counsel  he  then  was,  and 
the  powerful  railroad  influence,  the  railroad  companies  attributing  to  Mr.  Hurd  a  large  share  in 
the  enactment  of  the  stringent  railroad  laws  contained  in  his  revision.  A  highly  defamatory 
pamphlet  was  published  against  Mr.  Hurd  a  few  days  before  the  election  —  too  late  to  be  success- 
fully met,  and  no  doubt  it  had  some  influence  in  effecting  his  defeat.  The  falsity  of  this  publica- 
tion was  afterward  fully  established  in  the  trial  of  its  author  for  slander  and  unchristian  conduct 
before  the  church  of  which  both  he  and  Mr.  Hurd  were  members,  and  in  which  the  author  of  the 
libel  was  found  guilty  and  censured  by  the  court  that  tried  him.  In  this  trial  Mr.  Hurd  gained 
many  friends  for  his  fairness  and  Christian  bearing,  as  also  for  his  magnanimity  toward  the  one 
who  had  thus  wronged  him. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Hurd  has  long  maintained  a  high  position  at  the  bar,  his  forte  being  in  the 
argument  of  legal  questions  to  the  court,  rather  than  as  an  advocate  before  a  jury,  though  he  is 
by  no  means  unsuccessful  in  the  latter  character.  His  style  in  speaking  is  deliberate  argumenta- 


UNITED    STATES   RtOGRAPHICAI.    DICTIONARY.  64 1 

tive,  rather  than  impassioned  and  declamatory.  In  the  preparation  of  his  cases  he  is  careful  and 
exhaustive,  and  is  eminently  a  safe  adviser.  As  a  teacher  in  the  law  school  he  is  accurate, 
methodical  and  thorough. 

One  of  the  cases  in  which  Mr.  Hurd  was  early  engaged,  and  which  attracted  a  great  deal  of 
attention  in  Cook  county,  was  that  of  Farrell  vs.  Cadwell  (1861),  a  case  of  malpractice  on  a  ser- 
vant girl's  eye,  Mr.  Hurd  being  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  and  obtained  a  verdict  of  $10,000 

Another  case  was  that  of  Hartranft  vs.  Yundt,  tried  in  Kane  county  in  1865,  a  crim.  con.  case, 
in  which  Mr.  Hurd  was  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  gaining  the  suit  with  no  less  than  seven  or  eight 
lawyers  for  the  defense,  including  one  of  the  ablest  criminal  lawyers  in  the  Northwest. 

Mr.  Hurd  is  an  indefatigable  worker.  No  one  has  more  implicit  faith  than  he  in  the  ancient 
maxim,  "Labor  vincit  omnia."  He  possesses  great  tenacity  of  purpose,  endurance  and  force  of  will. 
He  is  self-reliant,  persistent  in  whatever  he  attempts  and  not  easily  diverted  from  the  pursuit  of 
his  object.  Being  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  the  laudable  ambition  as  well  as  the  ability  to 
still  further  distinguish  himself,  he  may  well  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  rising  men  of  the  state. 


HON.  JAMES  W.   LANGLEY. 

CHAMPAIGN. 

JAMES  W.  LANGLEY  was  born  in  Erie  county,  Pennsylvania,  January  17,  1837.  He  is  the 
son  of  James  and  Jane  (Weston)  Langley,  who  were  pious  and  industrious  people,  and  early 
pioneers  of  western  Pennsylvania,  where  they  pursued  an  agricultural  life  and  raised  a  family  of 
twelve  children. 

Judge  Langley  is  eminently  a  self-made  man,  and  one  for  whom  the  country  has  great  esteem. 
His  early  life  was  that  of  a  farmer  boy,  during  which  time  he,  by  industry,  obtained  a  fair  edu- 
cation from  the  common  schools.  When  about  fifteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  an  academy  at 
Waterford,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  for  nearly  two  years. 

In  the  fall  of  1854  he  removed  to  the  West,  his  first  occupation  being  that  of  a  pedagogue, 
and  settled  near  Girard,  Macoupin  county,  Illinois.  Here  he  taught  school  for  three  years,  at  the 
same  time  continuing  his  studies,  and  in  August,  1857,  he  began  reading  law  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  Hon.  John  M.  Palmer,  ex-governor  T>f  Illinois,  and  January  8,  1859,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  by  the  supreme  court.  In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  he  located  in  Champaign,  and  at  once 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

His  practice  was  constantly  on  the  increase,  being  that  of  general  law,  and  he  was  engaged  in 
many  important  cases  of  various  kinds,  and  was  in  a  very  prosperous  condition  when,  in  August, 
1862,  feeling  his  services  were  needed  in  the  defense  of  his  country,  he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army 
for  three  years.  He  entered  as  captain  of  a  company,  and  at  the  organization  of  the  regiment 
was  elected  lieutenant-colonel,  in  which  capacity  he  served  for  three  years,  being  twice  breveted, 
once  as  colonel  United  States  volunteers  and  as  brigadier-general.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
many  important  battles,  among  which  were  Perryville,  Chickamauga,  Missionary  Ridge,  Buzzard 
Roost,  Resaca,  Rome,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Peach  Tree  Creek,  Jonesborough,  Savannah,  Averys- 
burgh  and  Burtonville.  He  was  in  the  campaign  of  Atlanta  and  around  the  city,  Sherman's 
march  to  the  sea,  and  was  present  at  the  surrender  of  Johnson's  army  to  General  Sherman,  and 
marched  his  brigade  to  Washington  and  participated  in  the  grand  review  of  all  the  armies,  and 
was  mustered  out  June  9  at  Washington,  receiving  his  final  discharge  in  Chicago  July  i,  1865, 
having  never  been  voluntarily  absent  from  his  command  a  day  during  his  term  of  service,  although 
being  under  almost  constant  fire  and  at  the  head  of  many  severe  struggles,  one  horse  being  shot 
from  under  him.  Four  slight  wounds  only  attest  the  many  perils  of  his  long  and  arduous  ser- 
vice. One  very  severe  conflict  in  which  he  suffered  severe  loss  was  the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Moun- 
tain. Here  his  forces  suffered  great  loss,  one  company  going  into  the  battle  with  some  sixty  men 
and  coming  out  with  but  fifteen,  Immediately  after  the  war  he  resumed  his  former  practice 


642  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

increasing  his  clientage  and  doing  a  very  fine  business,  in  which  he  continued  to  prosper  until 
1870,  when  he  was  elected  on  the  republican  ticket  to  the  state  senate.  Here  he  was  brought 
prominently  before  the  citizens  of  the  state,  after  which  he  again  returned  to  his  practice,  and 
became  widely  known  throughout  eastern  Illinois,  and  in  1877  was  nominated  by  the  republican 
party  and  overwhelmingly  elected  judge  of  Champaign  county,  an  office  in  which  he  gave  such 
universal  satisfaction  that  he  was  reelected  in  1882. 

In  politics  the  judge  is  a  stanch  republican,  and  has  at  times  taken  quite  an  active  part  in 
political  affairs,  but  has  never  aspired  to  high  office.  In  local  elections  he  is  independent  in  his 
views.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention,  held  in  Chicago  in  1868,  which  first  nomi- 
nated General  Grant  for  the  presidency. 

June  4,  1861,  he  was  married  to  Miss  J.  J.  Young,  of  Champaign,  a  lady  of  fine  accomplish- 
ments and  most  excellent  family.  His  religious  connection  is  with  the  Methodist  church,  in  which 
he  is  a  consistent  and  active  member.  Personally,  Judge  Langley  has  rare  qualities,  and  by  his 
upright  course  of  life,  his  manly  deportment  and  independence  of  character,  has  made  for  him- 
self an  honorable  reputation.  Few  men  have  more  devoted  friends  than  he;  none  excel  him  in 
unselfish  devotion  and  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  worthy  recipients  of  his  confidence  and  friendship. 


W 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  VOLK. 

NEW   YORK. 

HEN  Leonard  W.  Volk  first  went  to  Italy,  in  the  autumn  of  1855,  he  confided  his  wife, 
Emily  C.  (Barlow)  Volk,  and  only  child,  Arthur  Douglas,  who  died  soon  after,  to  friends 
at  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  February  23,  1856.  About 
a  year  and  a  half  later  he  was  brought  by  his  parents  to  Chicago,  where  he  spent  his  boyhood. 
When  his  father  returned  to  Rome  the  third  time,,  in  the  winter  of  1870,  he  accompanied  the 
family  thither.  The  beautiful  creations  of  art  with  which  he  found  himself  surrounded  in  Rome 
soon  developed  in  him  the  latent  thirst  for  its  glories,  and  after  about  six  months'  enjoyment 
of  the  splendors  of  Italy  he  began  in  earnest  the  work  of  his  life.  When  his  father  returned 
again  to  his  native  land  he,  by  his  own  choice,  remained  to  prosecute  his  studies.  This  he  did 
with  success.  To  Paris  the  young  artist  subsequently  bent  his  steps,  where  he  at  once  entered 
the  government  school  of  the  beaux  arts,  and  for  two  years  enjoyed  the  instructions  of  the 
celebrated  Professor  Jerome.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  and  executed 
a  small  landscape  called  "  In  Brittany."  This  was  one  of  about  nine  hundred  works  that  was 
thought  worthy  to  be  hung  in  the  salon  at  the  exhibition  out  of  about  six  thousand  offered.  It 
was  his  first  piece  offered  to  the  public,  and  excited  commendation.  In  1875  he  was  permitted 
by  his  father  to  return  home  on  a  visit  in  Chicago,  where  he  painted  two  pictures  for  the  centen- 
nial, which  received  much  favorable  comment. 

Returning  to  Paris  in  1876,  he  spent  two  years  more  under  Professor  Jerome.  A  small  portrait 
painted  about  that  time  and  placed  in  the  salon  for  exhibition  attracted  such  general  notice  as  to 
place  his  name,  already  favorably  known,  prominently  before  the  artistic  world.  In  the  latter 
part  of  1878  he  returned  once  more  to  his  native  land,  and  while  on  a  visit  at  Quincy,  Illinois,  he 
received  a  call  from  the  management  of  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  to  the  professorship  of 
figure  drawing. 

He  accepted  the  position  at  once.which  he  has  filled  with  ability  to  the  present  time. 
Among  the  excellent  works  he  has  executed  is  the  "Puritan  Girl,"  purchased  by  T.  B.  Clark 
for  his  private  collection,  and  which  had  the  honor  to  represent  his  very  fine  collection  in  the 
"Art  Treasures  of  America,"  published  by  Barry  and  Company,  of  Philadelphia.  The  nature 
of  this  tribute  to  his  genius  can  best  be  appreciated  by  artists  and  those  familiar  with  art,  but  the 
general  reader  can  understand  something  of  the  matter  when  informed  that  the  expense  of  pre- 
paring each  picture  for  that  collection  is  $500. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

U'fVERSITV  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  645 

Another  very  fine  picture  lately  executed  by  him  is  called  the  ''Puritan  Captives."  It  repre- 
sents a  sturdy  Puritan  and  his  wife  in  the  foreground  bound  by  hostile  Indians  and  awaiting 
sentence.  Their  watchful  foe  stands  guard  near  by,  leaning  against  a  tree,  while  the  camp  of 
hostiles  is  seen  in  the  distance.  This  is  a  work  of  remarkable  merit,  and  brought  the  author 
$1,000  the  day  it  was  finished  and  hung  on  exhibition  in  the  Society  of  American  Artists. 

Mr.  Volk  is  a  gentleman  of  undoubted  genius,  and  has  already  achieved  a  national  reputation. 
Astute  friends  predict  a  brilliant  future,  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  their  anticipations  seem  to 
be  justified  by  the  result  of  his  labors  in  the  past. 

In  1881  Mr.  Volk  was  happily  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Marion  Larrabee,  daughter  of  the 
late  William  M.  Larrabee,  treasurer  of  the  Alton  railway,  in  this  city. 

Although  Mr.  Volk  is  at  present  a  resident  of  New  York  city,  yet  he  is  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a  Chicago  man,  and  such  will  ever  remain. 


JULIUS  S.  GRINNELL. 

CHICAGO. 

r  I  ^HE  designs  and  purposes  of  the  boy  are  the  beginning;  the  results  and  difficulties  met  with 
-L  in  the  execution  of  these  purposes  are  the  middle;  the  resolution  and  unraveling  of  them, 
the  end  of  a  man's  career.  What  a  man  accomplishes,  and  what  he  develops  into,  are  the  out- 
come of  his  inherent  nature,  modified  by  the  direction  given  by  himself,  and  not  the  result  of 
chance.  In  this  mention  of  Julius  S.  Grinnell,  it  is  correct  to  say  that  he  has  so  controlled  and 
directed  his  own  course  that  he  has  attained  to  a  creditable  success;  first,  because  he  had  the  neces- 
sary native  elements  in  him,  and  second,  because  he  has  made  good  use  of  his  capabilities  and 
opportunities,  as  the  details  will  evidence. 

He  was  born  in  Massena,  Saint  Lawrence  county,  New  York,  in  the  year  1842,  and  is  of  French- 
Welsh  extraction,  as  to  remote  ancestry,  but  thoroughly  New  England  as  to  immediate  ancestry. 
His  father  was  Doctor  J.  H.  Grinnell,  of  New  Haven,  Vermont,  his  mother,  formerly  Alvira  Will- 
iamson, also  a  native  of  Vermont.  The  Grinnell  family  is  among  the  oldest  and  best  families  in 
the  East.  It  may  be  traced  back  to  its  ancestral  town  of  Grinnelle,  now  a  considerable  manufac- 
turing town,  just  within  the  new  fortifications  eastward  from  Paris,  France;  the  town  being  named 
after  the  family.  The  monumental  fountain  there  is  also  named  from  them.  They  emigrated  to 
Wales,  thence  to  this  country,  one  branch  settling  in  New  York,  where  the  name  is  a  distinguished 
one,  Moses  Grinnell  and  others  being  descendants;  another  branch  in  Connecticut;  a  third  in 
Vermont,  and  from  this  latter  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  descended,  all  families  of  note.  His 
early  education  was  obtained  in  the  common  schools  in  his  native  town.  He  fitted  for  college  in 
Potsdam  Academy,  Saint  Lawrence  county,  New  York,  and  entered  Middlebury  (Vermont)  Col- 
lege in  1862,  and  graduated  in  the  fall  of  1866,  ranking  high  in  his  classes,  and  during  his  young- 
manhood  foreshadowed  future  success  in  whatever  profession  he  might  engage,  and  his  career  up 
to  the  present  time  has  been  a  fulfillment  of  this  early  promise.  He  chose  the  profession  of  law, 
and  to  that  end  engaged  in  studying  (after  he  graduated)  in  the  office  of  Hon.  William  C.  Brown, 
in  Ogdensburgh,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  supreme  court  of  New  York  in  1868,  and 
commenced  practice  in  that  city,  which  he  continued  two  years;  taught  the  Ogdensburgh  Academy 
one  year,  giving  excellent  satisfaction  in  that  capacity.  In  December,  1870,  he  came  to  Chicago, 
and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  depending  upon  his  own  energy  and  abilities  to 
obtain  success.  He  was  an  almost  entire  stranger  here,  there  being  but  two  persons,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  with  whom  he  had  had  any  previous  acquaintance.  He  had  faith  in  himself,  and  in  the 
future  of  Chicago,  and  trusted  to  his  own  efforts  to  attain  success  at  this  bar,  contending  with 
able  and  older  practitioners.  One  of  the  decided  characteristics  of  his  nature  is  self  reliance, 
backed  by  decision  of  character,  and  the  public  accord  him  the  credit  of  possessing  integrity  and 
sincerity.  He  has  won  a  success  few  men  of  his  age  win, 


646  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

When  the  great  fire  came,  and  swept  the  main  business  portion  of  Chicago  out  of  existence, 
he  had  scarcely  gained  a  foothold  in  his  practice,  but  in  the  reorganization  and  reestablishment 
of  business,  he  was  one  of  the  number  who  had  the  force,  courage  and  confidence  in  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  city,  to  assert  himself  and  resume  practice  with  renewed  energy.  He  has  come  to  the 
front,  and  must  be  accorded  a  position  at  the  bar  among  the  foremost  of  young  Chicago  attorneys. 

In  the  municipal  election  of  1879  he  was  nominated  by  the  democratic  rjarty  for  the  important 
office  of  city  attorney,  over  competitors  older  in  years  and  time  of  residence  in  the  city,  which 
facts  indicate  his  popularity  with  the  people.  At  this  time  the  democratic  party  was  not  in  power, 
and  the  city  largely  republican,  but  he  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority,  and  served  with  such 
universal  acceptance  that  he  was  renominated  in  1881,  and  reflected  by  a  still  larger  majority, 
indeed,  led  the  ticket  in  point  of  number  of  votes,  with  the  single  exception  of  Mayor  Harrison, 
and  but  a  few  votes  short  of  his  total.  In  this  capacity  he  is  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  an  effi- 
cient and  vigilant  law  officer  of  this  great  city,  with  its  multiplicity  of  interests,  which  the  city 
attorney  is  expected  to  protect.  He  has  discharged  his  duties  well.  He  succeeds  some  of  the 
oldest  and  ablest  members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  has  maintained  the  dignity  and  prestige  of 
the  office,  and  proven  the  equal  of  any  of  his  predecessors,  which  is  a  deserved  compliment,  and 
carries  with  it  its  own  significance. 

He  married  Miss  Augusta  Hitchcock,  daughter  of  Doctor  William  Hitchcock,  of  Shoreham, 
Addison  county,  Vermont,  October  5,  1869.  They  have  two  "children,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  and  a 
pleasant  home.  Mr.  Grinnell  is  a  gentleman  of  unexceptionable  habits.  In  those  walks  of  life 
in  which  intelligence,  honor  and  manliness  are  regarded  for  what  they  are  worth,  he  has,  by  the 
practice  of  these  virtues,  achieved  an  honorable  and  influential  position  in  the  community,  and  is 
respected  by  all  who  know  him,  either  personally  or  by  repute.  He  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  and 
has  a  future  full  of  promise  before  him. 


GEORGE  SAWIN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  biography  is  a  native  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  April  14, 
1834.  He  is  the  fourth  son  of  John  and  Charlotte  (Lash)  Sawin,  the  former  of  whom  was 
of  Scotch  and  the  latter  of  Welsh  ancestry.  During  his  boyhood  George  attended  school  at 
Chelsea,  Massachusetts,  where  his  parents  resided  for  many  years,  but  subsequently  graduated 
from  an  institution  of  learning  on  Mayhew  street  in  the  city  of  Boston,  under  the  instruction  of 
William  D.  Swan.  He  was  fond  of  study  and  reading,  and  early  decided  to  enter  the  legal  pro- 
fession. Accordingly,  after  closing  his  studies  in  school,  being  then  about  eighteen  years  of  age, 
he  entered  the  law  office  of  Samuel  E.  Guild  and  Hon.  George  S.  Hilliard,  both  prominent  at  the 
Boston  bar.  He  remained  there  for  about  two  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time,  and  before 
being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  was  compelled,  by  reason  of  failing  health,  to  abandon  his  studies 
for  a  time.  He  thereupon  made  an  extensive  trip  through  the  southern  and  western  states,  and 
finally,  in  1854,  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 

In  1855  Mr.  Sawin  accepted  a  position  in  the  mercantile  house  of  W.  W.  and  L.  H.  Mills,  as 
credit  man  for  the  states  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Minnesota.  In  1856  he  associated  himself  with 
Adam  Carlyle  in  a  real-estate  enterprise,  and  laid  out  the  town  of  De  Soto  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  in  Bad-axe  county,  Wisconsin,  where  he  invested  all  his  possessions  in  a  saw-mill,  warehouse, 
ice  house  and  other  buildings  and  improvements.  The  prospect  seemed  most  favorable  at  the 
opening,  but  the  financial  panic  that  swept  over  the  country  in  1857  proved  disastrous  to  the  en- 
terprise, and  involved  Mr.  Sawin  in  the  loss  of  all  that  he  possessed.  Returning  to  Chicago,  he 
took  a  position  in  the  dry-goods  house  of  Stacy  and  Thomas,  which  he  held  until  1859,  when  the 
firm  went  into  liquidation,  and  he  took  a  position  in  the  postoffice  at  Chicago,  under  Hon.  Isaac 
Cook,  postmaster.  Being  on  the  night  service,  he  had  some  time  during  each  day  for  study. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  647 

This  he  carefully  employed  in  the  law  office  of  Hon.  James  P.  Root,  and  by  hard  work  completed 
his  course  of  study,  fitted  himself  for  examination,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  both  the  state 
and  federal  courts.  The  opening  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  however,  deterred  him  from  at  once 
engaging  in  his  profession. 

He  enlisted  in  the  58th  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  November  i,  1861,  and  in  the  following 
February  left  Chicago  for  Fort  Henry  as  quartermaster  of  that  regiment,  and  with  the  exception 
of  a  short  time  spent  in  Springfield,  upon  the  reorganization  of  his  regiment  after  being  liberated 
from  Libby  prison,  he  was  constantly  in  the  field.  He  participated  in  many  of  the  most  important 
and  bloody  battles  of  the  war,  of  which  may  be  mentioned  Shiloh,  Corinth,  Pleasant  Hill  and 
Nashville,  serving  a  greater  portion  of  the  tftne  on  the  staffs  of  Generals  Smith,  Morrow,  Dodge 
and  Sweeny. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Sawin  returned  to  Chicago  and  established  himself  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession,  and  has  since  continued  it  uninterruptedly,  and  achieved  most  satisfactory 
success.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  enterprising,  able  and  upright,  a  careful  and  conscientious  counselor 
and  adviser,  a  good  advocate  and  an  honor  to  the  profession.  As  a  business  man,  he  enjoys  the 
confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  has  to  deal,  and  for  upright,  manly  dealing  bears  a  character 
above  reproach..  He  possesses  a  vigorous  and  robust  body,  and  with  his  fine  mental  attainments 
and  unspotted  record  may  confidently  and  hopefully  look  forward  to  future  achievements. 

Mr.  Sawin  was  married  in  1855  to  a  most  estimable  lady,  Miss  Carrie  L.  Rust,  daughter  of 
Elijah  C.  Rust,  of  Jamesville,  Onondaga  county,  New  York. 


SAMUEL  MARK  WYLIE,  M.D. 

PAXTON. 

T)ROBABLY  no  young  man  in  the  central  part  of  this  state  is  more  thoroughly  wedded  to  his 
A  profession  than  Doctor  Samuel  M.  Wylie,  who  has  an  inborn  love  for  the  profession,  and  has 
given  to  it  his  earnest  attention  and  study  from  early  youth,  notwithstanding  the  discouragement 
he  had  by  the  influence  and  persuasion  of  his  parents,  who  thought  him  not  strong  enough  to 
endure  the  many  hardships  which  are  well  known  to  a  western  physician.  He  is  a  native  of  Illi- 
nois, and  was  born  at  Oakland,  Coles  county^uly  15,  1855.  His  parents  were  the  late  Doctor  D. 
Wylie,  of  Paxton,  and  Agnes  (Crawford)  Wylie.  His  father  was  an  old  practitioner  of  Illinois,  of 
wide  reputation,  whose  labors  were  appreciated  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  surgeon  in  the 
late  war,  and  one  of  the  most  generous  and  kind-hearted  physicians  whose  biography  we  have 
recorded,  attending  the  poor  with  as  much  attention  as  the  rich.  He  labored  in  his  profession 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  the  last  ten  being  in  Paxton,  where  he  built  up  a  large  and  desir- 
able practice,  and  where  he  died  in  1875. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  attended  the  public  school  of  his  native  place  until  he  was  about 
thirteen  years  of  age.  He  then  entered  the  high  school  of  Indianapolis,  where  he  remained  for 
two  years,  after  which  he  studied  two  years  at  Monmouth  College,  Warren  county,  being  com- 
pelled to  abandon  his  studies  for  a  time,  on  account  of  ill  health.  In  1875  he  became  stronger, 
and  being  determined  in  his  purpose,  went  to  Chicago,  and  entered  the  Chicago  Medical  College, 
where  he  studied  during  three  regular  terms  under  Doctor  N.  S.  Davis,  as'  preceptor.  He  was 
graduated  with  honor  in  1878,  and  chosen  by  his  class  to  make  the  valedictory  address.  The  doc- 
tor has  given  special  attention  to  the  study  of  surgery,  for  which  he  has  a  natural  talent  and 
desire.  When  at  college,  a  marked  characteristic  was  to  be  present,  and  assist  when  possible,  in  all 
surgical  operations.  After  obtaining  his  diploma,  he  came  to  Paxton,  taking  the  place  of  his 
father,  whose  practice  had  been  given  up  some  two  years,  his  death  occurring  during  our  subject's 
first  year  at  college.  Here  the  young  doctor  has  met  with  wonderful  success,  not  only  retrieving 
the  practice  which  his  father  had  dropped,  but  adding  to  it  the  patronage  of  many  wealthy  citi- 
zens of  Paxton  and  the  surrounding  country.  He  has  a  large  and  well  selected  library,  and  a 


648  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

good  assortment  of  valuable  instruments.  Doctor  Wylie  has  taken  a  prominent  position  in  the 
medical  societies  throughout  the  state,  and  was  appointed  to  make  an  address  on  nervous  dis- 
eases before  the  state  medical  society  in  1882.  He  is  physician  for  the  Lake  Erie  and  Western 
road  from  La  Fayette  to  Bloomington. 

Immediately  after  leaving  college  he  organized  a  tri-county  medical  association,  including 
Ford,  Iroquois  and  Vermillion  counties,  and  here  he  is  widely  known,  and  has  a  large  consulting 
practice. 

Doctor  Wylie  married  Miss  Emily  Bushnell,  of  Paxton,  in  1878.  His  political  sentiments  are 
republican.  He  is  liberal  in  his  religious  views,  and  is  a  supporter  of  all  good  causes,  and  stands 
high  in  the  community  as  a  useful  and  respected  citizen,  and  fully  merits  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

HON.  MICHAEL  A.  SULLIVAN. 

EAST  SAINT  LOUIS. 

MICHAEL  ANGELO  SULLIVAN,  member  of  the  state  legislature  from  the  forty-seventh 
district,  is  a  son  of  Florance  and  Catherine  (De  Lecy)  Sullivan,  and  was  born  in  Saint 
Louis,  Missouri,  October  19,  1858.  He  finished  his  education  at  the  East  Saint  Louis  high  school; 
began  to  teach  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  that  was  his  occupation  until  elected  to  the  legisla- 
ture, in  November,  1882,  six  years  of  his  teaching  being  in  Saint  Clair  county.  His  district  is 
composed  of  Saint  Clair  county.  He  was  nominated  by  the  democrats,  indorsed  by  the  working 
men's  party,  and  ran  far  ahead  of  his  ticket,  he  being  quite  popular  where  best  known. 

In  the  thirty-third  general  assembly  Mr.  Sullivan  served  on  the  committees  on  education,  labor 
and  manufactures,  and  fish  and  game.  Legislative  business  was  a  new  school  to  him,  and  he  ap- 
plied himself  with  diligence  to  his  duties. 

Mr.  Sullivan  is  studying  law  at  East  Saint  Louis,  and  will  soon  be  admitted  to  the  bar,  where 
he  will  be  likely  to  stand  high  as  an  orator,  one  of  the  special  branches  which  he  teaches  being 
elocution,  to  which  he  has  given  a  great  deal  of  attention.  He  is  an  occasional  correspondent  of 
the  Saint  Louis  daily  papers.  Mr.  Sullivan  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men, and  of  one  or  two  other  secret  societies. 

He  was  married  May  5,  1881,  to  Miss  Sadie  J.  Trotier,  daughter  of  Emanuel  and  Sarah  Penn 
Trotier,  formerly  of  Kaskaskia,  and  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the  state. 


HON.   LEWIS  H.   BISBEE. 

CHICAGO. 
EWIS  H.  BISBEE  was  born  in  the  town  of  Derby,  Orleans  county,  Vermont,  March  28,  1839. 


His  father,  David  Bisbee,  was  a  farmer.  His  education  was  acquired  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  town,  up  to  the  time  his  ambition  for  a  higher  education  led  him  to  seek  the  means 
to  obtain  it.  He  worked  on  a  farm  summers,  attending  school  winters,  until  about  sixteen  years 
of  age,  when  he  fell  back  upon  his  own  resources  to  make  a  further  advance  in  the  direction  of 
accomplishing  the  designs  he  had  formed  for  his  future.  He  had  the  courage,  the  ambition,  the 
energy  and  the  tenacity  of  purpose  to  overcome  material  obstacles.  Prepared  for  college  in  the 
academies  at  Glover,  Derby  and  Morrisville,  in  northern  Vermont,  and  entered  Saint  Hyacinth 
College,  near  Montreal,  Canada,  when  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  graduating  when  twenty-one. 
The  course  there  being  conducted  in  the  French  language,  he  mastered  it,  and  is  now  a  proficient 
French  scholar.  He  subsequently  read  law  with  J.  L.  Edwards,  a  prominent  practitioner  at 
Derby,  paying  his  way  mainly  by  teaching  French,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  June,  1862. 
This  course  and  outcome  is  a  forcible  illustration  of  the  power  and  conquering  force  of  mind  and 
well  directed  will-power  in  overcoming  obstacles  which  appear  to  those  of  less  vigorous  intellect 
and  decided  purpose  insurmountable. 


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OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UffTTED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  65! 

The  same  month  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  E,  9th  Ver- 
mont infantry,  and  was  afterward  promoted  to  the  captaincy  of  company  H,  of  the  same  regiment, 
and  served  with  decided  credit  through  all  the  hardships  and  severe  service  which  that  excellent 
regiment  passed,  and  was  always  found  at  the  front,  in  the  thickest  of  whatever  battle  or  service 
it  was1  engaged  in,  which  were  many,  and  often  severe.  He  was  captured  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
released  on  parole,  and  sent  to  Camp  Douglas,  Chicago,  where  he  remained  until  exchanged, 
when  he  rejoined  his  regiment,  and  remained  with  it  until  1864,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of 
sickness,  and  returned  to  Newport,  Vermont,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law,  soon  building 
up  an  extensive  and  lucrative  business. 

About  this  time  he  married  Miss  Jane  E.  Hinman.  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Aaron  Hin- 
man.  of  Derby,  one  of  the  first  families  in  Vermont,  and  of  that  good  old  New  England  stock, 
the  virtues  and  morals  of  which  have  spread  through  the  West,  permeating  and  elevating  the 
tone  and  character  of  the  people  wherever  they  find  lodgment.  Mrs.  Bisbee  is  an  estimable, 
amiable  and  interesting  woman,  who  presides  with  dignity  over  a  home  of  attractive  and  pleas- 
ant surroundings.  The  elegant  and  costly  residence  which  Mr.  Bisbee  has  recently  built  in  the 
beautiful  suburban  town  of  Hyde  Park  would  grace  and  ornament  the  choicest  residence  streets 
of  Chicago,  or  any  other  city.  The  hospitality  and  good  cheer  met  with  there  are  in  keeping 
with  the  elegant  home,  whose  hosts  are  esteemed  by  their  friends  and  in  social  circles.  They 
have  an  interesting  and  pleasant  family,  which  makes  the  otherwise  attractive  home  the  more 
attractive. 

In  1865,  Mr.  Bisbee  was  elected  state's  attorney  of  Orleans  county,  where  he  lived,  and  was 
reflected  in  1867,  but  soon  resigned  to  accept  the  position  of  deputy  collector  of  customs,  which 
office  he  filled  until  1869,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature.  He  was  reelected  in  1870.  He 
was  an  active  and  prominent  member  of  that  body,  being  a  member  of  the  most  important  com- 
mittees, and  was  the  leader  of  his  party  in  debates,  contested  legislation,  and  was  acknowledged 
to  be  the  best,  most  vigorous  and  effective  speaker  on  the  floor  in  extempore  debate.  He  made 
his  mark  there,  and  also  his  impress  upon  the  acts  of  that  body  of  men.  From  1865  to  1870  he 
was  United  States  commissioner  from  Newport,  under  the  extradition  treaty. 

In  May,  1871,  he  moved  to  Chicago,  and  had  hardly  become  rooted  in  business  when  occurred 
the  great  fire.  In  the  reorganization,  rebuilding  and  reestablishing  of  order  out  of  the  confusion 
and  chaotic  condition  in  which  the  fire  left  everything,  he  came  to  the  front  by  virtue  of  his  supe- 
rior intelligence,  tact,  energy  and  judgment.  Old  established  lines  of  prejudices  and  ruts  of 
business  were  partially  obliterated  by  the  fire,  and  Lewis  H.  Bisbee  saw  his  opportunity  to  enter 
an  open  field  for  a  free  and  equal  contest  for  a  high  position,  in  which  the  bravest  and  best  were 
sure  to  win.  He  had  unwavering  faith  in  the  future  of  Chicago,  seized  the  opportunity,  and  has 
won. 

He  has  been  associated  with  different  persons  in  his  practice,  but  much  of  the  time  alone.  He 
has  been  and  is  one  of  the  most  successful  jury  and  chancery  lawyers  in  the  Northwest.  He 
enjoys  a  large  and  lucrative  practice  of  the  higher  order.  His  conduct  of  the  case  known  as  the 
B.  F.  Allen  blanket-mortgage  case,  for  Hoyt  Sherman,  especially,  was  conducted  with  great  abil- 
ity and  tact,  and  he  was  highly  complimented  by  courts  and  bar;  also,  the  noted  Sturges  case 
and  many  others  could  be  enumerated,  for  the  management  of  which  he  has  won  signal  credit. 
Few  attorneys  have  attained  to  such  high  position  at  the  bar  in  so  short  a  time. 

In  1878  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  receiving  nearly  the  unanimous  vote  of 
his  district,  one  of  the  most  populous  and  wealthy  in  this  state.  In  this  body,  which  counts 
among  its  members  some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  state,  he  at  once  took  a  leading  position  as  a 
ready  and  able  debater,  and  an  influential  and  judicious  legislator,  originating  and  championing 
some  of  the  most  important  measures.  He  nominated  John  A.  Logan  for  United  States  senator, 
in  a  speech  the  eloquence  and  force  of  which  did  much  to  secure  his  election,  which  followed. 
He  is  a  natural  orator,  a  clean-cut,  incisive  and  logical  thinker  and  reasoner,  a  man  of  fine  figure 
and  physique  and  of  commanding  presence,  which,  with  his  attractive  delivery,  makes  him  an 
64 


652  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

effective  and  interesting,  a  graceful  and  forcible  speaker  before  a  jury  or  a  promiscuous  audience 
He  is  an  ardent  republican,  and  his  voice  and  eloquence  are  heard  in  the  important  campaigns  when 
the  principles  of  the  party  are  at  stake.  He  is  an  affable,  genial  and  generously  endowed  gentle- 
man under  all  circumstances.  Clothed  with  becoming  dignity,  he  is  still  without  vanity;  cour- 
teous and  obliging,  but  permitting  no  undue  familiarity;  painstaking  and  earnest  in  the  interests 
of  his  clients,  with  fidelity  to  integrity  and  honor;  gifted  by  nature  with  the  sturdy  qualities  of 
mind,  heart  and  body  so  characteristic  of  the  best  New  England  stock,  he  has  developed  and 
improved  them.  He  is  a  successful  man  as  a  lawyer,  and  a  good  citizen, —  a  man  of  exemplary 
habits.  He  is  a  self-made  man  in  the  fullest  sense,  and  being  in  the  prime  of  life,  there  is  a  future 
of  promise  before  him.  He  has  already  illustrated  the  annals  of  this  state  at  the  bar,  in  the  legis- 
lature, and  in  shaping  public  opinion  and  sentiment.  A  man  of  force  and  character,  he  is  liable 
to  make  a  still  further  impress  on  the  history  of  his  time. 


HON.  ROBERT  P.  HANNA. 

FAIRFIELD. 

OF  the  different  professions,  none  afford  greater  opportunity  for  the  development  of  native 
ability  than  the  law,  for  here  one  is  led  into  investigation  of  subjects,  more  vital  to  the  in- 
terests of  one's  fellows,  and  may,  if  he  will,  become  versed  in  the  grandest  questions  of  his  country 
and  state.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  taken  advantage  of  these  various  facilities  and  oppor- 
tunities of  development,  and  risen  to  the  foremost  rank  of  the  attorneys  of  Southern  Illinois. 
Robert  P.  Hanna  was  born  in  Salem,  Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  December  10,  1834.  His  father 
was  John  Hanna,  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Sarah  Conn,  who 
was  born  in  Philadelphia,  and  her  parents  were  of  the  old  Quaker  stock,  dating  back  to  the  Revo- 
lutionary period. 

The  father  of  our  subject  descended  from  an  old  and  well  known  Presbyterian  family,  and 
some  of  his  ancestors  were  prominently  connected  with  the  Presbyterian  church  ;  he,  however, 
was  a  Catholic.  He  emigrated  to  America,  settling  in  Ohio  about  the  year  1818.  Here  he  carried 
on  a  merchandise  business,  and  was  engaged  in  general  trading. 

The  early  education  of  Mr.  Hanna  was  obtained  in  the  common  schools.  When  about  thir- 
teen years  of  age  he  entered  a  printing  office,  and  there  displayed  considerable  ability,  and  soon 
won  a  reputation  as  being  the  best  workman  in  the  office.  He  remained  in  this  business  until 
about  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he  went  to  Athens  University,  and  there  completed  his  education. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Hanna  came  to  Fairfield,  and,  entering  the  office  of  Judge  E.  Beecher,  began 
the  study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857.  He  immediately  began  the  practice  of  law 
in  Fairfield,  which  has  since  been  his  home.  Mr.  Hanna  has  been  an  eminently  active  and  ener- 
getic man,  and  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  development  and  improvement  of  the  state  and  local 
affairs. 

In  1862  he  was  elected  as  a  member  of  the  state  constitutional  convention,  where  he  took  an 
active  part,  notwithstanding  he  was  the  youngest  member  of  that  body.  He  then  returned  to  his 
practice,  and  soon  acquired  considerable  reputation  in  his  profession  as  an  orator  and  advocate. 
In  1866  he  was  elected  by  the  democratic  party  to  the  legislature,  where  he  also  acquired  con- 
siderable fame,  and  while  there  he  was  the  means  of  procuring  the  charter  for  the  branch  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  railroad,  known  then  as  the  Springfield,  Illinois  and  Southeastern  railroad, 
which  became  embarrassed  in  the  crisis  of  1871,  and  is  now  under  the  control  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  railroad  ;  he  was  director  and  attorney  for  the  road  until  that  time,  and  is  now  the 
local  attorney  for  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  railroad. 

In  1869  Mr.  Hanna  formed  a  partnership  with  Robert  D.  Adams,  a  promising  young  attor- 
ney, who  has  since  then  taken  full  charge  of  the  office  and  abstract  business,  as  in  connection 
with  their  law  business  they  are  doing  a  large  abstract  and  chancery  business. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  653 

In  1870  Mr.  Hanna  was  again  elected  a  member  of  the  Illinois  state  constitutional  conven- 
tion, which  formed  the  constitution  of  Illinois,  and  introduced  the  measure  providing  for  the 
minority  representation,  which  was  afterward  modified. 

In  1876  Mr.  Hanna  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  on  the  democratic  ticket  from  a  republican 
district,  and  there  took  a  very  active  and  prominent  part,  and  was  on  almost  all  the  important  com- 
mittees. He  has  always  been  a  democrat,  and  very  enthusiastic  in  all  the  different  campaigns, 
making  many  public  speeches  in  his  different  canvasses,  and  being  a  strong  supporter  of  the 
principles  of  the  party.  He  has  been  a  delegate,  and  attended  every  democratic  state  conven- 
tion since  his  minority,  besides  various  other  presidential  conventions.  His  first  important  canvass 
of  the  state  was  in  1858,  when  the  democrats  indorsed  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  United  States 
senate  as  against  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Hanna  is  the  oldest  active  practitioner  in  Wayne  county,  his  practice  extending  over  the 
greater  portion  of  southern  Illinois,  and«omprising  all  branches  of  the  law. 

Mr.  Hanna  has  one  of  the  finest  law  offices  in  Illinois,  outside  of  the  large  cities,  and  a  very 
large  and  well  selected  library.  He  has  also  taken  an  interest  in  the  promotion  and  improvement 
of  Fairfield,  and  has  been  a  liberal  supporter  of  all  public  enterprise. 

In  February,- 1859,  Mr.  Hanna  married  Miss  Clara  Smith,  of  Albion,  Illinois,  the  daughter  of  a 
well  known  merchant  and  trader,  Moses  Smith,  who  emigrated  from  England,  and  settled  at 
Albion  among  the  very  early  pioneer  settlers.  They  have  had  four  children,  two  girls  and  two 
boys.  His  eldest  son,  Francis  B.,  is  a  member  of  the  bar,  practicing  in  Fairfield. 


HON.  JOHN  P.  CARUTHERS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  preeminently  a  self-made  man  ;  a  native  of  Lincoln  county. 
Tennessee  ;  he  was  born  July  9,  1818,  the  son  of  James  Caruthers  and  Tyru  (Finley)  Caru- 
thers,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Tennessee.     The  father  was,  by  occupation,  a  planter,  and 
also  owned  a  half  interest  in  a  country  store,  situated  near  his  plantation. 

John  passed  his  boyhood  at  his  father's  home,  receiving  such  education  as  could  be  afforded  by 
the  district  and  private  schools  at  that  time,  until  he^vas  fifteen  years  old,  when  he  was  sent  to  an 
academy  at  Fayetteville.  He  afterward  spent  about  one  year  at  the  Nashville  University,  and 
during  these  years  developed  a  fondness  for  study  and  literary  pursuits  that  has  marked  all  of  his 
subsequent  life,  having  early  turned  his  mind  toward  that  profession  in  which  he  has  achieved  a 
most  enviable  success.  In  1836,  being  then  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in 
the  Florida  war,  and  served  six  months  under  General  Armstrong,  and  after  the  close  of  his  ser- 
vice returned  to  his  father's  home,  and  devoted  his  time  to  study  and  useful  reading.  Three  years 
later,  in  1839,  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  his  uncle,  Robert  L.  Caruthers,  then  an  eminent 
lawyer  of  Lebanon,  Tennessee,  and  afterward  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  that 
state.  After  completing  his  course  of  study,  and  receiving  from  the  supreme  court  his  license  to 
practice,  he  established  himself  for  a  short  time  at  Fayetteville,  but  in  1840  removed  to  Memphis. 
Here  his  success  was  most  marked  ;  having  been  a  thorough  and  conscientious  student,  not  only 
of  books,  but  also  of  men  and  their  doings,  and  possessing  that  tact  so  essential  to  the  successful 
practice  of  his  profession,  together  with  personal  and  social  qualities  of  the  highest  order,  he  soon 
won  his  way  in  the  face  of  poverty  and  the  many  obstacles  that  beset  the  young  lawyer.  In  1841, 
one  year  after  establishing  himself  at  Memphis,  he  was  a  candidate  before  the  legislature  of  his 
state  for  the  office  of  attorney  general  of  his  district,  comprising  the  counties  of  Shelby,  Fayette, 
Henderson,  Tipton,  and  McNarry,  a  position  which  he  honored  for  a  period  of  six  years.  At  the 
close  of  his  term  of  office,  he  was  associated  in  business  with  General  Cole  and  Judge  W.  F. 
Brown,  both  distinguished  members  of  the  Tennessee  bar,  under  the  firm  name  of  Cole,  Brown 
and  Caruthers.  In  1854  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  common  law  and  chancery  court  for  a  period 


654  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

of  six  years,  but  resigned  the  office  a  short  time  before  the  expiration  of  his  term  in  1860.  Owing 
to  the  unsettled  and  confused  state  of  affairs  in  the  South,  growing  out  of  the  rebellion,  he  was 
for  the  next  few  years  practically  out  of  business,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war  formed  a  law  part- 
nership with  Edwin  Jerges,  a  prominent  lawyer,  who  died  at  Memphis  in  1869.  During  the  next 
eight  years  Judge  Caruthers  followed  the  active  practice  of  his  profession  at  Memphis  ;  but  at  the 
expiration  of  that  time,  in  1877,  removed. to  his  present  home  in  Chicago,  where  he  has  become 
widely  known  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist  of  eminent  ability,  and  a  man  of  strictest  integrity. 

As  bearing  upon  Judge  Caruthers'  character,  the  following  letter  addressed  to  the  author  of 
this  sketch  by  Hon.  John  L.  T.  Snead,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  Tennessee,  will 
be  of  interest  to  the  many  friends  of  our  subject : 

MEMPHIS,  TENNESSEE,  March  21,  1882. 

DEAR  SIR: — Your  note  of  the  I7th  inst.  is  at  hand.  I  have  known  Judge  Caruthers  for  many  years,  and  it  gives 
me  pleasure  to  say,  that  as  a  lawyer,  for  most  of  his  early  life  in  this  city  and  circuit,  he  enjoyed  a  variable  and  lucra- 
tive practice.  He  was  made  attorney  general  of  the  circuit  in  1854,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office  with  dis- 
tinguished ability  for  six  years.  He  was  afterward  elected  judge  of  the  common  law  and  chancery  court  of  Memphis 
and  Shelby  counties,  and  acquitted  himself  with  satisfaction  to  the  bar  and  the  public.  He  was  eminently  a  painstaking, 
safe  and  incorruptible  judge.  ******  Very  respectfully  yours, 

JOHN  L.  T.  SNEAD. 

Judge  Caruthers'  personal  qualities  are  of  a  very  high  order.  He  is  a  man  of  fine  bearing,  and 
possessing  eminently  refined  and  social  tastes,  wherever  he  may  be,  attracts  to  himself  warm  and 
life-long  friendships. 

He  was  married  at  Memphis,  July  21,  1861,  to  a  most  estimable  lady,  Miss  Flora  McNeil, 
daughter  of  Hon.  Thomas  McNeil,  and  granddaughter  and  heir  of  the  late  Malcomb  McNeil, 
of  Kentucky,  possessor,  in  his  lifetime,  of  the  valuable  McNeil  estate,  comprising  many  costly 
blocks  and  buildings,  and  much  valuable  real  estate  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 


GEO.   H.   KETTELLE. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE  H.  KETTELLE,  lawyer,  is  of  French  descent  on  the  paternal  side,  his  great-grand- 
father coming  from  Alsace,  now  a  part  of  the  German  empire,  and  settling  in  Massachu- 
setts before  the  outbreak  of  the  colonies.  The  grandfather  of  George  was  born  in  Charleston, 
in  that  state,  and  his  father,  Charles  Kettelle,  in  Boston.  The  latter  married  Lucinda  Dickinson, 
a  native  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  and  a  member  of  a  very  old  family  in  that  commonwealth. 
Her  mother  belonged  to  the  Stockbridges  of  Massachusetts,  and  our  subject  strikingly  resembles 
that  family. 

A  little  less  than  fifty  years  ago  Charles  Kettelle  emigrated  to  the  West  and  settled  in  Peoria, 
Illinois,  where  George  was  born  December  18,  1838.  His  father  was  county  clerk  and  recorder  of 
Peoria  county,  Illinois,  for  thirty  years,  and  lived  on  a  farm  in  Woodford  county  until  his  death, 
March  14,  1882;  his  mother  is  still  alive.  Mr.  Kettelle  was  educated  at  the  Hopkins  Academy, 
Hadley,  Massachusetts,  where  he  fitted  for  college,  designing  to  enter  Amherst,  but  his  plans  were 
frustrated,  and  he  spent  several  years  in  his  father's  (county)  office.  At  the  same  time  he  read  law 
with  Judge  M.  Williamson  for  preceptor,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1864,  but  he  did  not  open 
an  office  until  1868,  being  induced  to  temporarily  engage  in  mercantile  pursuits. 

Mr.  Kettelle  commenced  the  practice  of  the  legal  profession  at  Metamora,  the  county  seat  of 
Woodford  county,  and  six  years  afterward,  in  1874,  removed  to  Peoria,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  holding  the  office  of  city  attorney  one  term.  In  1876  he  settled  in  Chicago,  where  with  his 
fine  legal  attainments  he  finds  ample  opportunity  to  display  his  talents.  His  practice  is  both  civil 
and  criminal,  the  latter  largely  predominating.  Since  practicing  at  the  Chicago  bar,  Mr.  Kettelle 
has  been  connected  with  many  prominent  criminal  cases,  including  some  forty  in  number  for 
murder,  and  in  this  branch  of  his  practice  especially,  has  met  with  marked  success.  An  eminent 
jurist  of  Chicago  thus  writes  in  regard  to  him: 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  655 

"  He  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  lawyer  well  grounded  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  law,  ready 
and  accurate  in  their  application,  and  always  frank  and  honest  in  his  presentation  of  law  questions 
to  the  court.  He  tries  his  case  well,  is  courteous  and  gentlemanly  in  his  manners  to  his  op- 
ponent, and  clear  and  pointed  in  his  argument  to  the  jury." 

Mr.  Kettelle  is  a  democrat  of  the  independent  stamp,  and  a  Blue  Lodge,  Chapter  and  Com- 
mandery  Mason.  He  married  in  February,  1858,  Miss  Malina  A.  Keach,  of  Peoria,  Illinois. 


ISAAC  L.  FIREBAUGH,  M.D. 

ROBINSON. 

AMONG  the  younger  class  of  physicians  whose  records  appear  in  this  volume,  and  who  has 
1\.  arisen  to  a  position  of  prominence  and  honor,  one  may  justly  place  the  name  of  Isaac  L. 
Firebaugh.  He  was  born  July  14,  1847,  in  Crawford  county,  Ohio.  His  father,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, was  David  Firebaugh,  a  native  of  Ohio.  His  mother's  name  was  Mary  Ludwig;  she  was 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  His  parents  moved  west  when  he  was  eight  years  of  age,  settling  in 
Crawford  county,  Illinois,  where  they  resided  until  1882,  when  they  removed  to  Robinson,  the 
county  seat.  Our  subject  received  his  early  education  in  the  public  school,  and  at  an  early  age 
entered  the  State  University  of  Indiana,  where  he  remained  a  number  of  years. 

After  closing  his  studies  in  school,  he  engaged  in  teaching,  two  years,  running  a  saw-mill  dur- 
ing the  summer  season  at  the  same  time.  In  1872  he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  under  the 
instruction  of  Doctor  L.  D.  Misserne,  of  Robinson,  subsequently  attending  the  Miami  Medical 
College  at  Cincinnati  for  two  sessions,  1872-3,  and  1873-4,  under  the  instruction  of  Professor  J. 
C.  McKlnzie,  who  was  then  professor  of  physiology.  After  completing  his  course,  he  passed  the 
required  examinations  and  was  appointed  resident  physician  in  the  Cincinnati  hospital,  which 
afforded  him  a  most  excellent  opportunity  to  complete  his  education,  by  giving  him  a  practical 
experience  in  both  surgery  and  the  practice  of  medicine.  In  the  spring  of  1875  he  obtained  his 
diploma,  and  returning  immediately  to  Robinson,  has  since  been  practicing  with  most  excel- 
lent success,  and,  although  a  young  man,  ranks  second  to  none  in  his  county,  both  in  professional 
ability  and  the  extent  of  his  practice. 

In  1881  Doctor  Firebaugh  was  married  to  Miss  May  Sims,  a  native  of  Robinson,  and  the 
daughter  of  the  late  Thomas  J.  Sims,  a  very  well  known  and  respected  citizen  of  that  place.  They 
have  one  child,  William  C.,  born  September  15,  1882. 

In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  but  does  not  take  any  active  part  in  political  affairs,  his  time 
being  fully  occupied  in  his  profession,  to  which  he  is  thoroughly  wedded,  and  in  which  he  is  a 
constant  and  conscientious  student,  which  with  his  adaptability  is  the  surest  guarantee  of  success. 


W.  L.   BRUSTER. 

TOLEDO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  native  of  Illinois,  was  born  in  Coles  county,  December  10,  1849. 
His  father  is  David  Bruster,  a  native  of  Kentucky.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was 
Elizabeth  Glenn  ;  she  was  a  native  of  the  same  state.  They  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Illinois,  coming  here  when  the  deer  were  still  to  be  found,  and  the  barking  of  the  wolf  was  not 
unknown.  They  carried  on  farming  for  a  number  of  years,  but  in  1858  settled  in  Cumberland 
county  and  engaged  in  the  grocery  business,  which  they  still  continue. 

His  father  in  1861  entered  the  Union  army  in  company  I,  5th  regiment  Illinois  cavalry,  but 
was  honorably  discharged  in  1862,  when  he  returned  to  his  business. 

In  1856,  when  our  subject  was  seven  years  old,  his  mother  died,  and  he  went  to  live  with  his 
uncle,  where  he  worked  on  a  farm  and  obtained  an  ordinary  country-school  education,  studying 


656  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

during  his  leisure  hours.  He  continued  this  course  until  1865,  when  he  came  to  Toledo  and  en- 
tered his  father's  store  as  clerk,  attending  the  public  school  of  Toledo  during  the  winter  season, 
and  after  his  school  days  were  ended  he  clerked  in  the  store.  In  1868  he  married  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Brewer,  daughter  of  Hon.  Thomas  Brewer,  of  Toledo,  whose  sketch  is  found  elsewhere  in  this 
work. 

In  1876  Mr.  Bruster  was  elected  circuit  clerk  of  Cumberland  county,  on  the  democratic 
ticket,  and  reelected  in  1880,  and  fills  the  position  with  entire  satisfaction  to  the  public. 

In  1882  Mr.  Bruster  formed  a  partnership  with  W.  C.  Everhart,  and  in  connection  with 
his  office,  he  is  carrying  on  a  mortgage,  banking  and  loan  business,  in  which  they  have  already 
had  considerable  success,  having  invested  a  large  amount  of  money. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Bruster  is  a  democrat,  and  has  always  been  an  active  worker  in  the  party, 
the  principles  of  which  he  indorses  with  his  whole  heart.  Mr.  Bruster  has  a  fine  home,  which 
is  beautified  by  a  Christian  wife  and  children,  in  whom  he  feels  a  just  and  pardonable  pride. 


ABRAM  WILLIAMS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  among  the  very  oldest  and  most  successful  underwriters  of  the 
West.  He  has  had  a  large  and  varied  experience  in  the  business,  running  from  a  local 
agent  in  Dubuque  in  1864,  to  the  successful  manager  of  the  Continental  for  twelve  states  in  1883. 
He  comes  of  Welsh  parentage,  and  was  born  in  Utica,  New  York,  March  30,  1830.  His  paternal 
grandfather  was  a  Baptist  clergyman,  who  came  over  from  Wales  and  took  charge  of  a  church  in 
Utica,  in  an  early  day.  His  maternal  grandsire  was  also  a  noted  preacher  of  the  Sandenianians, 
of  Danbury,  Connecticut.  His  name  was  Ezra  Barnum,  and  when  Danbury  was  taken  and  burned 
by  the  British  during  the  revolution,  he  was  taken  captive  with  all  his  congregation.  He  escaped, 
however,  soon  afterward,  and  found  his  way  back  to  the  American  lines,  and  served  his  country 
faithfully  during  the  remainder  of  the  war. 

Mr.  Williams'  own  father  did  not  inherit  the  preaching  tendencies  of  his  ancestry,  but  went 
into  trade  and  was  a  merchant  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  life,  but  subsequently  became  con- 
nected with  the  Erie  canal,  and  when  he  died  was  an  officer  in  its  management.  He  died  when 
Abram  was  but  thirteen  years  old,  leaving  his  widow  little  more  than  a  large  family  of  children 
to  care  for.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  Abram  went  to  New  York,  and  found  employment  in  a  whole- 
sale haberdasher's  establishment,  as  clerk,  where  he  remained  five  or  six  years.  He  had  in  that 
time  so  far  mastered  the  business  that  William  H.  Carey  and  Company  gave  him  position  as  one 
of  the  buyers  in  their  large  establishment.  After  about  one  year  spent  in  their  employ  he  formed 
one  of  a  new  firm  in  the  same  line  of  goods.  It  was  known  as  Sheldon,  Harris  and  Williams,  and 
became  a  very  popular  house  in  their  line.  For  many  years  it  did  the  leading  business  of  that 
kind  in  New  York,  and  was  compelled  to  make  its  own  importation  contracts,  which  led  to  send- 
ing Mr.  Williams  to  Europe  to  establish  branch  houses  there.  In  1855,  when  about  twenty-five 
years  old,  with  health  somewhat  impaired,  but  with  some  money,  he  left  New  York,  and  located 
in  Dubuque,  Iowa.  Two  years  later  he  found  himself  greatly  crippled  by  the  financial  convulsion 
that  swept  over  the  country,  and  in  1859  gave  up  his  business  and  entered  the  clerk's  office  of  the 
district  court  for  the  county  of  Dubuque,  as  chief  deputy.  Upon  the  breaking  put  of  the  war  in 
1862,  he  entered  into  the  service  of  the  government  as  quartermaster  of  the  6th  Iowa  cavalry. 
After  serving  in  that  capacity  one  year  he  took  a  position  on  General  Sully's  staff,  where  he 
remained  till  his  discharge,  in  the  spring  of  1865,  being  at  the  time  chief  of  cavalry,  with  the  rank 
of  major.  On  retiring  from  the  service  he  engaged  in  the  insurance  business  in  Dubuque.  He 
was  the  first  general  agent  appointed  by  the  Hartford  Live  Stock  Insurance  Company,  and  the 
first  general  agent  of  the  Yonkers  and  New  York  Fire  Insurance  Company,  having  charge  of  all 
territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  River, 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  657 

In  1869  he  removed  to  Chicago  to  take  charge  of  an  enlarged  field  for  the  company,  with  head- 
quarters here.  He  had  the  management  of  the  western  department,  and  under  his  administration 
it  soon  grew  into  a  large  business,  and  his  company  took  position  among  the  leading  insurance 
companies  of  the  land. 

In  1870  he  pointed  out  to  the  New  York  office  the  danger  and  probable  loss  of  business  arising 
from  a  continuance  of  business  in  Chicago,  but  his  warnings  were  disregarded,  and  in  spite  of  his 
protestations  the  business  was  continued  under  direction  from  the  home  office  until  the  fire  of  187 1 
swept  both  the  company  and  its  business  out  of  existence.  In  1874  he  was  tendered  the  manage- 
ment of  the  western  department  of  the  Continental  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  New  York.  He 
accepted  the  position,  and  has  held  it  until  the  present  time.  The  department  embraces  no  less 
than  twelve  states,  and  has  more  than  doubled  its  business  since  he  became  its  head.  It  has  more 
than  kept  pace  with  the  general  progress  of  the  country  in  the  time  mentioned,  and  is  still  doing 
an  increasing  business.  Mr.  Williams  has  achieved  a  most  enviable  reputation  as  a  careful  and 
successful  underwriter,  and  as  an  organizer  and  disciplinarian  he  has  no  superior  in  the  business. 

In  politics  he  is  a  conservative  democrat,  and  a  member  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  yet  so  little  do 
such  political  distinctions  count  among  really  patriotic  and  good  men  that  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  which  is  counted  the  most  powerful  republican 
political  club  in  the  West.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Calumet  Club,  a  first-class  social  organization, 
and  is  a  Mason  and  a  Knight  Templar.  In  religion  he  is  an  Episcopalian,  a  member  and  the  treas- 
urer of  Grace  Episcopal  Church,  Chicago. 

Mr.  Williams  was  married  December  21,  1852,  to  Miss  Frances  S.  Raynolds,  and  is  the  father 
of  four  children,  of  whom  but  one  son  and  one  daughter  survive.  His  son,  Nelson  B.  Williams,  is 
settled  in  business  in  Chicago,  and  his  daughter,  a  young  lady  of  fifteen,  is  attending  school. 

Although  an  exceedingly  social  and  popular  man  in  the  circle  in  which  he  moves,  Mr.  Williams 
is  very  domestic  in  his  tastes  and  habits  of  life,  and  rarely  spends  an  evening  away  from  his  own 
family  circle. 

JAMES  L.  CREWS. 

WHEELEE. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  preeminently  a  self-made  man,  who  by  his  own  determination 
and  force  of  character  has  risen  from  a  position  of  comparative  obscurity  to  a  position  of 
prominence  among  the  wealthy  and  influential  men  of  Jasper  county.  He  was  born  November 
14,  1825,  near  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  the  son  of  John  Crews,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  Elizabeth  (McCoun)  Crews,  a  native  of  Kentucky.  His  parents  were  among  the 
early  settlers  of  Indiana,  where  they  settled  on  a  farm,  which  still  remains  in  the  family,  as  early 
as  1821.  James  L.  received  his  early  education  with  that  difficulty  known  only  by  those  who, 
having  had  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  have  been  deprived  of  educational  advantages,  by  which  they 
could  be  aided  in  developing  their  natural  talents  for  learning.  He  occasionally  attended  a  school 
supported  by  subscription,  but  obtained  the  greater  part  of  his  learning  by  the  light  of  a  tallow 
candle,  after  his  hard  day's  work  was  done. 

.  He  remained  on  the  home  farm  until  the  age  of  twenty-four,  when  he  bought  a  portion  of  his 
present  farm,  and  started  for  himself.  By  industry  and  perseverance  he  has  gradually  increased 
his  property  to  about  fifteen  hundred  acres,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  wealthiest  citizens  of 
Jasper  county.  In  addition  to  his  extensive  dealing  in  stock,  raising  large  numbers  of  horned 
cattle,  he  conducts  a  large  loan  business,  and  deals  in  bonds,  mortgages,  etc.,  a  branch  in  which 
he  has  been  very  successful. 

In  1850  he  married  a  Miss  Green,  of  Cumberland  county.  Mrs.  Crews  died  in  February,  1883, 
leaving  a  family  of  seven  children,  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living  at  home. 
Mr.  Crews,  although  not  a  member  of  any  church,  is  a  good,  moral  man,  believes  in  a  Supreme 
Being,  and  does  his  duty  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  He  has  taught  his  family  to  have  proper 


658  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

respect  for  the  Sabbath,  and  religious  institutions,  and  has  given  them  the  advantages  of  a  good 
education.  As  a  man  he  is  kind-hearted,  liberal  and  generous,  and  as  a  citizen,  enterprising  and 
public-spirited. 

He  has  never  taken  any  active  part  in  political  affairs,  preferring  to  devote  himself  to  his  own 
business  and  those  matters  pertaining  to  the  comforts  of  his  own  home. 


ALONZO  V.  RICHARDS. 

FREEPOR  T. 

A.ONZO  VAN  NESS  RICHARDS,  a  prominent  journalist  in  northwestern  Illinois,  is  a  son 
of  Truman  P.  and  Eleanor  (Swinnerton)  Richards,  and  was  born  near  Jacksonville,  Morgan 
county,  this  state,  May  i,  1841.  His  mother  was  born  in  the  same  county  in  1818,  and  hence  is  of 
the  same  age  as  the  state.  His  father  was  born  in  Broome  county,  New  York,  two  years  earlier. 
When  Alonzo  was  six  years  old  (1847)  the  family  moved  to  Hazel  Green,  Grant  county,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  he  finished  his  education  at  the  collegiate  institute,  now  normal  school,  at  Platteville,  in 
that  county,  paying  his  way  while  securing  his  education,  as  many  resolute  and  plucky  youths 
have  done,  by  taking  care  of  the  school  building,  ringing  the  school  bell,  and  working  at  farming 
during  harvest  time  and  vacations.  He  also  taught  school  several  terms. 

In  May,  1861,  Mr.  Richards  went  from  Platteville  to  Boscobel,  a  distance  of  forty  miles,  on 
foot,  making  it  in  one  day,  in  order  to  enlist  with  the  three  months'  men,  but  did  not  succeed. 
He  was  sworn  into  the  United  States  service  on  the  loth  of  the  following  September,  in  company 
H,  7th  Wisconsin  infantry,  one  of  the  regiments  which  eventually  composed  the  famous  "Iron 
Brigade"  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  We  learn  from  the  "  History  of  Stephenson  County,"  that 
in  the  latter  part  of  December,  1861,  while  his  regiment  was  in  camp  at  Arlington  Heights,  Mr. 
Richards  was  detailed,  by  order  of  the  war  department,  to  report  to  Colonel  A.  J.  Meyer,  at  Sig- 
nal Camp  of  Instruction,  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia,  Colonel  Meyer  being  the  inventor 
of  the  signal  code,  then  a  new  thing  in  the  army.  This  corps  rapidly  grew  into  popularity 
with  the  army  commanders,  and  was  extended  not  only  to  every  department  of  the  army,  but 
to  the  gunboats.  The  signal  men  were  required  to  be  on  duty  day  and  night,  always  in  small 
detachments,  and  usually  in  exposed  positions,  not  unfrequently  beyond  the  picket  line,  affording 
with  their  attractive  flags,  targets  for  rebel  sharp-shooters  and  batteries.  Yet  there  was  attached 
to  their  duties  a  great  deal  of  interest,  as  well  as  danger,  for  their  duties  involved  a  knowledge 
of  the  operations  of  both  armies,  superior  to  that  of  any  other  branch  of  the  service.  Until  March, 
1863,  these  signal  men  had  no  extra  compensation  for  their  hazardous  duties.  At  that  date  con- 
gress placed  the  signal  service  on  the  same  footing  as  that  of  the  regular  army,  and  thenceforward 
the  men  in  that  service  and  the  non-commissioned  officers  ranked  as  engineers,  and  the  officers  as 
members  of  the  general  staff,  all  being  mounted.  Shortly  after  this  law  went  into  effect,  Mr. 
Richards  was  promoted  to  quartermaster-sergeant,  serving  in  that  capacity  until  March,  1864, 
when  he  was  ordered  before  a  board  of  regular  army  officers  to  be  examined  for  a  commission.  A 
large  number  were  examined,  and  Mr.  Richards  was  one  of  three  successful  enlisted  men  who 
passed  the  examination,  and  the  next  day  he  was  relieved  from  duty  as  quartermaster-sergeant, 
and  assigned  to  duty  as  an  acting  officer.  He  thus  served  for  more  than  a  year,  not  receiving 
his  tardy  commission  with  rank  of  second  lieutenant  till  April,  1865.  Subsequently,  however, 
congress  passed  a  special  bill,  awarding  him  the  pay  of  an  officer,  which  he  had  so  well  earned, 
during  this  interval. 

From  the  work  already  mentioned,  we  learn  that  Lieutenant  Richards  was  with  General 
McClellan  at  Fortress  Monroe,  accompanied  him  up  the  Peninsula  in  1862,  sharing  in  all  the 
hardships  of  that  memorable  campaign,  from  the  evacuation  of  Yorktown  to  the  final  evacua- 
tion of  the  Peninsula,  taking  part  in  the  battles  of  Williamsburgh,  the  seven  days'  fight  before 
Richmond,  at  Mechanicsville,  Games'  Mill,  Bottoms  Bridge,  Savage  Station,  White  Oak  Swamp, 


H  (I  Cooper  Jr.  £   C  a 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

I'K'YEr.SiTY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  66 1 

Malvern  Hill,  Harrison's  Landing,  and  later  at  South  Mountain  and  Antietam,  and  the  cavalry 
skirmishes  and  forays  in  the  Boonesboro  Valley,  and  did  valuable  service  during  the  siege  of 
Washington,  by  Breckenridge,  in  1864,  being  in  charge  of  the  signal  station  at  Fort  Sumner, 
Maryland,  on  the  Potomac. 

June,  1865,  the  war  being  closed,  Lieutenant  Richards  was  ordered  to  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kan- 
sas, and  thence  to  Fort  Laramie,  Wyoming  Territory,  as  signal  officer  on  the  staff  of  General  P. 
E.  Connor,  whom  he  accompanied  on  his  Powder  River  expedition  against  the  Sioux,  Cheyennes, 
and  Arrapahoes.  In  one  of  the  many  battles  with  the  Indians,  that  of  Tongue  River,  in  August, 
1865,  our  subject  was  struck  on  the  jugular  vein  by  a  spent  ball,  but  not  seriously  wounded. 

He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  November  25,  1865,  and  was  after- 
ward offered  a  brevet  commission,  but  declined.  He  settled  in  Galena,  whither  his  parents  had 
removed  during  the  rebellion,  and,  February  27,  1867,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Flora  L.  Miner, 
daughter  of  Simeon  K.  Miner,  of  that  city.  The)',  have  four  children:  Edgar  Miner,  Flora  Maude, 
Lucy  Eloise,  and  Bessie  Mildred. 

With  the  exception  of  one  year  spent  in  Warren  (parts  of  1871  and  1872)  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  resided  in  Galena  from  1866  to  1873,  being  engaged  in  the  insurance  and  real-estate  business. 
In  1873  and  1874  he  was  employed  by  the  department  of  the  interior,  to  survey,  and  establish  the 
southern  and  western  boundaries  of  Wyoming  Territory,  a  work  of  no  meager  proportions,  and 
calling  for  a  liberal  outlay  of  energy  and  courage,  as  the  lines  ran  through  the  roughest  moun- 
tains and  across  trackless  deserts,  inhabited  only  by  wild  animals  and  wilder  Indians.  The  com- 
missioner of  the  general  land  office  at  Washington,  district  of  Columbia,  speaking  of  this  matter 
in  his  annual  report,  stated  that  the  work  was  executed  by  astronomer  Richards  in  the  months  of 
June,  July,  August  and  September,  1874,  under  his  contract  bearing  date  of  May  29,  1873,  involv- 
ing great  labor,  through  a  country  devoid  of  settlements,  and  presenting  formidable  topographi- 
cal features.  The  following  letter  explains  itself: 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  INTERIOR. 

GENERAL  LAND  OFFICE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  August  2,  1875. 
A.  V.  RICHARDS,  Galena,  111.: 

Sir, —  I  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  2yth  ult.,  requesting  to  be  furnished  with  a  testimonial  as  to 
the  character  of  the  work  which  you  returned  to  this  office  under  your  appointment,  by  the  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Inte- 
rior, as  U.  S.  Astronomer  and  Surveyor  of  the  southern  and  western  boundaries  of  Wyoming  Territory,  and  in  pursu- 
ance of  your  contracts  with  this  office.  In  accordance  with  your  desire,  I  have  caused  an  examination  to  be  instituted 
into  the  records  of  this  office,  and,  finding  that  your  observations  for  the  determination  of  the  astronomical  boundaries 
have  been  correctly  made,  and  boundary  monuments  planted  in  conformity  with  the  deduced  results  of  said  observa- 
tions, and  your  instructions  from  my  predecessor  in  office,  who  fully  affirmed  your  work,  I  cheerfully  bear  witness  to 
the  excellence  of  the  character  and  quality  of  the  returns,  consisting  of  field  notes,  astronomical  data,  and  series  of 
plats,  illustrating  the  topography  along  the  southern  and  western  boundaries  of  the  Territory  of  Wyoming,  involving 
646  lineal  miles  of  survey.  Considering  the  distance  of  the  lines  determined,  marked  and  sketched  through  a  trackless 
country,  and  the  many  obstacles  impeding  the  progress  in  your  work,  as  evidenced  by  the  field  notes  of  your  survey,  I 
cannot  withhold  the  expression  of  my  opinion  as  to  your  said  work  and  have  to  say  that  it  is  not  surpassed  by  any 
survey  of  the  kind  on  file  in  this  office,  and  that  it  reflects  creditably  upon  this  office  and  yourself. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  etc.,  S.  S.  BURDETT,  Commissioner. 

September,  1875,  our  subject  purchased  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Freeport  ''Journal,"  and 
settled  in  that  city.  In  1882  the  Journal  Printing  Company  was  incorporated,  with  A.  V.  Rich- 
ards for  secretary,  editor  and  manager,  and  to  the  duties  of  these  several  posts  he  devoted  all  his 
energies  and  talents,  and  met  with  the  same  excellent  success  which  had  characterized  his  efforts 
in  the  army,  and  as  a  surveyor  and  astronomer.  In  March,  1882,  he  established  and  started  a 
daily  edition  of  his  "Journal,"  which  proved  a  paying  institution  from  the  first  day,  and  was 
generally  patronized  by  the  public,  the  purity  and  high  moral  tone  of  the  paper  making  it  a  wel- 
come visitor  in  the  homes  of  the  best  families  of  all  classes.  April,  1883,  Mr.  Richards  sold  his 
stock  in  the  Journal  Printing  Company,  and  retired  from  the  editorial  field,  at  least  for  the  time 
being,  with  the  esteem  and  respect  of  all  parties  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  even  though  they 
did  not  always  agree  with  him  politically. 
65 


662  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Richards,  as  an  editor,  has  left  the  impress  of  his  mind  and  character  upon  the  commu 
nity  in  which  he  has  lived  and  labored;  being  of  irreproachable  character,  and  always  espousing 
that  side  of  every  question  which  he  believed  to  be  right  and  just,  without  fear  or  favor,  he 
wielded  a  large  influence.  Upon  his  retirement  from  the  editorial  management  of  the  "Jour- 
nal," the  press  of  the  district  made  extended  eulogistic  notices  of  his  services,  from  which  we 
select  the  following: 

Mount  Carroll  " Herald  ":  "Captain  Richards  has  had  control  of  the  'Journal'  since  1875, 
and  has  seen  some  "pretty  close  sailing  during  his  connection  with  the  paper.  A  sharp  criticiser, 
a  man  who  scorned  littleness  and  duplicity,  and  who  was  not  afraid  to  show  his  -contempt  for 
small  actions;  a  man  who,  when  he  believed  he  was  right,  hesitated  not  to  declare  his  opinions, 
strike  whom  it  might;  who  fought  with  fierce  hand  the  scheming  machinations  of  politicians  and 
hunters  after  place;  who,  against  overwhelming  odds,  the  faithlessness  of  alleged  friends,  from 
whom  he  deserved  better  treatment,  persisted  jn  his  course,  and  finally  brought  his  paper  to  be 
one  of  the  best,  most  reliable  and  readable  in  this  part  of  the  state." 

Savanna  "Times" :  "Captain  A.  V.  Richards,  who  for  the  past  seven  years  has  been  the  fear- 
less and  outspoken  editor  of  the  Freeport  'Journal,'  has  severed  his  connection  with  that  paper. 
Mr.  Richards  is  a  gentleman  of  ability,  a  writer  of  much  force  when  occasion  calls,  and  has  the 
power  to  punish  his  adversaries  most  severely,  which  he  has  not  hesitated  to  do  many  times  dur- 
ing his  connection  with  that  paper.  The  'Journal'  has  been  the  leading  republican  paper  in 
Freeport,  if  not  in  this  congressional  district,  and  Mr.  Richards'  able  pen  will  be  missed  by  us  all 
in  future  campaigns." 

Lena  "Star"  :  "In  the  retirement  of  Captain  A.  V.  Richards  from  the  editorial  management 
of  the  Freeport  'Journal,'  we  lose  one  of  the  ablest,  most  outspoken  and  fearless  writers  that  has 
ever  figured  in  the  journalistic  history  of  the  county." 

Ogle  county  "Reporter":  "Captain  A.  V.  Richards  recently  retired  from  the  editorial  man- 
agement of  the  Freeport  'Journal.'  He  is  an  able,  outspoken  writer,  —  an  energetic  teaser  in  a 
political  fight.  Captain  Richards  is  bound  to  succeed  in  any  sphere." 

Rockford  "Journal  "  :  "A.  V.  Richards,  the  retiring  manager  of  the  Freeport  'Journal,'  was  a 
fearless  writer,  and  has  proven  himself  on  more  than  one  occasion.  He  has  been  the  recipient  of 
many  curses,  but  never  lacked  for  an  argument  to  substantiate  his  position.  A  clear-headed, 
logical  writer,  he  will  be  greatly  missed  by  the  press  throughout  the  district." 


E 


ELIAS   PATRICK. 

MARENGO. 

LIAS  PATRICK,  whose  parentage  and  pedigree  are  mentioned  in  the  sketch  of  his  brother, 
Richard  M.  Patrick,  on  other  pages  of  this  work,  was  born  in  Cortland  county,  New  York, 
August  19,  1813.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm;  finished  his  education  in  the  Truxton  High  School; 
commenced  teaching  district  schools  in  the  winter,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  receiving  the  first 
term  ten  dollars  a  month,  and  board,  and  continuing  to  teach  until  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He 
then,  without  any  experience,  went  into  the  mercantile  business  at  Nineveh,  Broome  county,  New 
York,  in  company  with  a  maternal  uncle,  Hiel  Edgerton,  and  a  few  years  later  removed  to  Harpers- 
ville,  in  the  same  county,  and  was  in  trade  there  alone.  Subsequently  he  changed  to  farming, 
and,  working  too  hard,  his  health  failed  at  the  end  of  four  years,  and  he  abandoned  agricultural 
pursuits.  He  sought  and  soon  obtained  a  position  in  the  New  York  custom  house,  making  his 
home  in  Brooklyn.  He  remained  in  that  position  for  seven  years,  and  had  for  one  of  his  associ- 
ates Mr.  James,  late  postmaster-general  of  the  United  States. 

In  1868  Mr.  Patrick  came  to  Marengo,  and  for  a  short  time  found  employment  in  the  bank  and 
store  of  his  brother  Richard.  Two  or  three  years  later  he  became  a  member  of  the  mercantile 
firm  of  R.  M.  and  F.  W.  Patrick,  two  of  his  sons  being  also  in  the  firm.  They  carry  the  largest 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  66^1 

<J 

stock  of  goods  in  town,  and  are  doing  the  leading  mercantile  business.  Their  salesroom  is  forty- 
six  by  sixty  feet,  with  a  storeroom  adjoining,  and  they  carry  on  dress  making  and  tailoring  over 
the  store,  and  are  doing  a  thrifty  business  in  all  departments. 

The  company  owns  eighty-five  feet  fronting  on  State  street,  adjoining  and  directly  south  of 
their  store  and  storehouse,  from  which  they  are  preparing  to  remove  three  old  buildings,  and  on 
which  they  intend  to  erect  a  brick  block.  They  are  thoroughgoing,  enterprising  men,  and  take 
much  pleasure  in  adding  to  the  improvements  of  the  village. 

Mr.  Patrick  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church,  and  he  and  his  family  are  generous  supporters 
of  religious  and  benevolent  organizations.  He  has  a  third  wife,  and  three  children  living  by  her, 
and  one  son  by  the  second  wife.  That  son,  Albert  S.,  is  a  merchant  at  Grand  Island,  Nebraska. 
Two  sons  by  his  present  wife,  Francis  Wayland  and  Henry  Eugene,  are  members  of  the  firm 
already  mentioned;  and  the  only  daughter,  Nellie  O.,  is  secretary  for  Illinois  of  the  Woman's 
Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  for  the  West.  The  family  are  Christian  workers,  and  valuable 
members  of  the  community.  No  village  or  city  can  have  too  many  of  this  class  of  people. 


HON.   ROBERT  W.  McCARTNEY. 

ME  TROPOLIS. 

ROBERT  WILSON  McCARTNEY,  lawyer,  lumber  manufacturer  and  legislator,  hails  from 
Trumbull  county,  Ohio,  being  there  born  March  19,  1843.  His  father,  John  McCartney,  was 
a  native  of  Scotland,  married  Jean  Brown,  a  native  of  the  same  country,  farmed  a  dozen  years  or 
more  in  Trumbull  county,  went  to  Lawrence  county,  Pennsylvania,  bought  a  small  woolen  factory, 
was  subsequently  a  merchant  at  New  Castle,  same  state,  and  there  died  during  the  civil  war. 
The  mother  died  several  years  before,  when  Robert  was  a  child.  He  had  the  ordinary  mental 
discipline  of  a  common  school,  and  in  May,  1861,  went  into  the  army  as  a  private  in  the  6th  Ohio 
cavalry,  and  served  three  years  in  that  regiment.  He  was  slightly  wounded  at  Chancellorsville, 
and  severely  at  Gettysburgh.  On  account  of  this  wound  he  was  sent  first  to  the  hospital  at  Balti- 
more, thence  to  Maryland,  and  finally  to  Harrisburgh,  Pennsylvania.  While  at  the  last  city,  he 
raised  a  company  for  the  83d  Pennsylvania  regiment,  which  was  mustered  in  as  company  I,  and  of 
which,  he  afterward  became  captain.  The  gallant  83d  was  one  of  the  regiments  which  saw  General 
Lee  stack  his  arms  and  surrender  his  army  at  Appomattox.  The  regiment  was  mustered  out  at 
Harrisburgh,  in  July,  1865.  While  in  the  army,  Captain  McCartney  had  the  profession  of  law  in 
view,  and  carried  Blackstone  with  him,  reading  it  whenever  he  had  leisure.  After  he  received  his 
second  wound  he  was  connected  for  a  while  with  the  assistant  provost  marshal's  office,  Harris- 
burgh, and  did  some  studying  there,  as  well  as  at  times  in  camp. 

After  leaving  the  service  and  spending  a  short  time  at  Oil  City,  Pennsylvania,  Captain  Mc- 
Cartney read  law  with  Colonel  Montook,  of  Pittsburgh,  went  thence  to  the  law  school  in  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  and  was  graduated  in  the  spring  of  1867. '  He  immediately  settled  in  Metropolis, 
Massac  county,  and  had  a  large  and  highly  remunerative  practice  so  long  as  he  gave  his  whole 
attention  to  his  profession. 

In  the  spring  of  1868  he  was  elected  city  attorney,  and  held  that'office  for  three  years.  In  1873 
he  was  elected  county  judge,  was  reflected,  and  held  the  office,  in  all,  nine  consecutive  years,  mak- 
ing a  very  popular  and  efficient  county  officer.  The  second  time  he  was  elected  judge,  he  had  a 
prominent  democrat,  an  old  citizen  of  the  county,  for  his  opponent,  and  yet  had  nearly  nine  hun- 
dred majority,  in  a  county  which  usually  gives  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  republican  majority. 
In  June,  1879,  he  was  selected  as  one  of  the  republican  candidates  for  circuit  judge,  and  although 
defeated  by  a  combination  of  democrats  and  greenbackers,  he  made  a  very  creditable  race,  and 
came  within  a  few  hundred  votes  of  being  elected  in  a  district  of  eleven  counties. 

Since  1879  our  subject  has  partially  abandoned  his  profession,  and  given  his  attention  to  the 
manufacture  of  lumber,  being  at  first  of  the  firm  of  William  Towle  and  Company,  and  now  of  the 


664  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

William  Towle  Lumber  Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  1883,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000, 
Captain  McCartney  owning  nearly  one-half  of  the  stock.  There  are  three  men  in  this  company. 
They  make  a  specialty  of  manufacturing  steamboat  timber.  Their  saw  mills  are  at  Metropolis, 
where  they  are  doing  an  extensive  and  thrifty  business. 

In  1882  Captain  McCartney  was  elected  to  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  from  the  forty- 
ninth  district,  which  is  composed  of  Massac,  Pope,  Hardin,  Gallatin  and  Saline  counties.  He  is 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  drainage,  and  on  the  committees  on  judicial  department,  state 
institutions,  and  fees  and  salaries.  In  the  legislature  he  is  usually  found  in  his  place,  attending 
to  the  interests  of  the  state,  being  one  of  the  hardest  workers  in  the  lower  house.  He  has  a  good 
deal  of  influence  and  prominence  in  that  body. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  blue  lodge,  chapter,  and  commandery  in  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Captain  McCartney  has  been  twice  married,  the  first  time  in  September,  1868,  to  Mary  C., 
daughter  of  Professor  Priestley,  an  experienced  teacher,  formerly  superintendent  of  schools  of 
Massac  county,  she  dying  in  1871,  leaving  two  children,  one  of  whom  has  since  died;  and  the  sec- 
ond time  March  19,  1873,  to  Julia,  daughter  of  Rev.  Edward  Scofield.  The  family  consists  of  two 
children,  William  Priestley,  by  the  first  wife,  and  Jean. Elizabeth,  by  the  second. 

In  religion,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  Methodist,  but  as  his  wife  is  the  daughter  of  a  Pres- 
byterian minister,  and  a  very  zealous  member  of  that  church,  they  usually  attend  there.  Captain 
McCartney  is  a  man  of  excellent  habits,  being  strictly  temperate,  using  neither  intoxicating 
liquors  nor  tobacco  in  any  shape.  He  belongs  to  that  class  with  which  legislative  bodies  are 
never  too  crowded. 


LEWIS  F.   CUMMINGS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Albany,  Oxford  county,  Maine,  November  i,  1843. 
His  father  was  Francis  Cummings,  and  his  mother  Mary  Ann  (Frost)  Cummings.  The 
Cummings  family  in  the  United  States  are  descended  from  three  brothers,  Scotchmen,  who  emi- 
grated to  this  country  soon  after  the  landing  of  the  Mayflower,  and  settled  in  Massachusetts. 
The  paternal  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch  removed  to  Maine  in  an  early  day, 
and  became  prominent  in  state  affairs.  He  was  a  member  of  the  convention  that  formed  the 
state  constitution  under  which  it  became  a  state  in  1820,  and  it  is  said  drafted  that  instrument. 

His  son,  Francis  Cummings,  became  the  owner  of  a  large  tract  of  land  upon  which  the  village 
of  Albany  was  afterward  built.  He  became  very  wealthy,  erected  saw  and  grist  mills,  and  was  a 
man  of  great  influence  and  power  in  his  locality.  He  was  both  physically  and  mentally  a  man  of 
great  strength  ;  he  weighed  over  two  hundred  pounds,  and  was  very  active  and  ambitious. 

He  was  married  three  times;  by  his  first  wife  he  had  seven  children,  four  sons  and  three 
daughters:  His  second  wife  bore  him  one  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  and  one  daughter,  still 
living  with  her  widowed  step-mother  at  Bethel,  Maine.  About  the  time  of  his  second  marriage 
he  became  involved  and  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  property,  but  in  great  measure  repaired  his 
losses  before  his  death,  which  occurred  during  the  rebellion.  The  mother  of  Lewis  was  a  woman 
of  literary  tastes  and  culture,  and  was  a  sister  of  Joel  Frost,  the  author  of  a  history  of  the  revo- 
lutionary war.  Her  son  was  deprived  of  her  care  and  instruction  by  her  death  when  he  was  but 
four  years  old.  As  a  result  of  the  death  of  his  mother,  and  his  father's  financial  embarrassment, 
Lewis  was  apprenticed  to  his  uncle.  David. Frost,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  typical  Scotch  cov- 
enanter. He  was  a  stern,  conscientious  inflexible  man,  of  deep  moral  and  religious  convictions  ; 
a  reformer  by  instinct,  and  hence  a  fanatic  who  would  burn  heretics  or  suffer  himself  to  be  burned 
with  equal  cheerfulness  and  constancy  to  his  convictions.  He  was  an  active  temperance  and  anti- 
slavery  man,  and  wholly  absorbed  in  these  and  other  reformative  movements.  He  was  entirely 
ted  to  take  charge  of  the  education  and  rearing  of  a  slender,  retiring,  sensitive  child  like 
Lewis.  He  did  not  understand  or  appreciate  him,  undervalued  and  treated  him  with  contempt 


HC.Conpsr    Jr    8.   Ca 


0 


LIBRARY 
.,.,.,          OFTHE 

UWVERSITVoflLLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  667 

and  neglect;  he  neglected  his  education,  and  attempted  to  make  of  him  an  overworked  farm 
drudge.  He  kept  him  upon  the  farm  as  steadily  and  as  thoughtlessly  as  he  did  his  horses  or  his 
plows. 

Yet,  when  'but  ten  years  old,  Lewis  was  suddenly  seized  with  the  determination  to  become  a 
lawyer;  the  desire  fastened  itself  upon  him  with  the  strength  of  an  inspiration,  and  no  subsequent 
persuasion  or  ridicule  could  move  him  to  abandon  it.  When  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  his 
father  married  the  third  time,  and,  remembering  his  neglected  boy,  he  purchased  his  unexpired 
time  of  his  brother-in-law,  and  took  him  to  his  reconstructed  home.  Here  he  remained  working 
for  his  father  for  four  years,  but  without  any  assistance  or  opportunity  for  education,  the  literary 
instinct  was  so  strong  within  him  that,  alone  and  unassisted,  he  delved  away  at  his  books  at  such 
times  as  he  could  till  nineteen  years  of  age. 

His  father's  brother  was  for  over  forty  years  editor  of  the  "Christian  Mirror,"  a  Congrega- 
tional paper  published  in  Portland,  and  his  wife  seems  to  have  been  a  woman  of  some  pene- 
tration and  judgment,  yet  still  possessed  of  the  old  Puritanical  self  will.  After  the  death 
of  her  husband  she  became  possessed  of  some  wealth,  and  made  Lewis  an  offer  of  assistance  in 
his  education.  He  joyfully  accepted  it,  and  went  to  Portland  to  attend  school;  but  when  he 
learned  that  his  generous  but  inflexible  aunt  required,  as  a  condition,  that  he  should  abandon  the 
law  for  a  mercantile  career,  he  declined  any  assistance,  and  went  to  work  to  earn  in  summer  the 
means  to  enable  him  to  attend  school  in  winter.  This  was  in  1862,  and  the  war  coming  on,  he 
abandoned,  with  the  consent  of  the  trustees,  a  country  school  which  he  had  engaged  to  teach, 
and  although  very  small,  youthful  in  appearance,  and  under  age,  he  succeeded  in  enlisting  in  the 
25th  regiment  of  Maine  volunteer  infantry  under  Colonel  (now  major-general  of  the  regular 
army,  retired  in  consequence  of  severe  wounds)  Fessenden,  a  son  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
commanding. 

They  were  sent  at  once  to  the  defense  of  Washington  ;  they  were  located  at  Point  of  Rocks, 
where  the  regiment  remained  till  the  nine  months  for  which  they  enlisted  expired,  when  he  at 
once  returned  home  and  set  to  work  to  raise  a  company  for  the  3oth  regiment.  Of  the  required 
one  hundred  men  he  enlisted  seventy,  and  more  than  earned  a  captain's  commission,  but  his  ex- 
tremely boyish  appearance  prevented  his  getting  it,  but  he  went  to  the  front  with  his  regiment 
wearing  the  shoulder  straps  of  a  second  lieutenant.  With  his  regiment  he  participated  in  Banks' 
ill-fated  Red  River  expedition,  and  on  their  return  to  Nev^  Orleans,  of  more  than  eleven  hundred 
men  in  his  regiment,  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  reported  for  duty,  the  rest  being  either  dead, 
sick  or  disabled. 

From  New  Orleans  they  were  sent  to  Bermuda  Hundred,  and  joined  Butler's  command.  They 
were  afterward  transferred  to  Sheridan,  and  took  part  in  his  famous  raid  down  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  and  were  in  the  reserve  force  at  the  battle  of  Winchester.  He  remained  with  that  brilliant 
officer  until  the  surrender  of  Lee,  when  he  was  ordered  to  Savannah,  Georgia.  This  was  in  the 
latter  part  of  July,  1865,  and  feeling  that  the  war  had  closed,  and  being  anxious  to  resume  his 
studies,  he  resigned  his  commission  and  returned  home. 

In  the  fall  of  1866,  he  entered  the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan  at  Ann 
Arbor,  where  he  worked  with  his  hands  and  taught  school  to  pay  his  expenses  for  two  years  and 
a  half,  when  he  graduated  with  honor  in  May,  1869,  and  came  to  Chicago.  He  at  once  set  up  an 
office,  corner  of  Madison  and  La  Salle  streets,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law.  Here  he 
remained  till  the  great  fire  swept  away  all  his  possessions,  when  he  entered  the  field  as  a  lecturer, 
and  spent  three  winters  delivering  his  lecture  on  "The  Nobility  of  Labor,"  and  his  summers  in 
reading  and  study.  He  had  more  calls  than  he  could  attend  throughout  the  Northwest,  but  was 
finally  compelled,  by  a  fit  of  sickness  while  in  Indiana,  to  abandon  the  field.  He  had  contem- 
plated a  trip  to  Europe,  but  this  was  also  given  up,  and  he  returned  to  the  law,  leaving  over  one 
hundred  unfulfilled  engagements  upon  the  platform.  Since  returning  to  practice  he  has,  by  close 
application  to  business,  built  up  a  highly  prosperous  business. 

In  1878  he  carried  out  a  Jong-contemplated  scheme,  and  organized  the  Legal  and  Mercantile 


668  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

League.  This  was  completed  and  finally  incorporated  in  1880,  and  now  numbers  about  three 
thousand  members  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Cummings  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a  Mason,  and  a  Knight  Templar,  and  a  member  of 
Professor  Swing's  congregation  at  Central  Music  Hall. 

While  at  Point  of  Rocks,  and  subsequently  while  in  charge  of  the  defenses  of  the  hospital  at 
Sandy  Hook,  near  Maryland  Heights,  he  became  acquainted  with  Miss  Olivia  J.  Moore,  daughter 
of  Captain  Henry  Moore,  of  Havre  de  Grace,  Maryland,  who  was  at  that  time  attending  school. 
She  subsequently  graduated  at  Bordentown  Female  College  with  the  title  of  Mistress  of  English 
Literature.  She  was  at  that  time  a  very  spicy  little  reb,  although  her  father,  who  was  of  New 
England  stock,  was  a  staunch  Unionist.  The  attachment  was  mutual,  however,  notwithstanding 
the  difference  in  political  faith,  and  continued  steadfast  throughout  many  strange,  painful  and 
romantic  vicissitudes  till  they  were  happily  united  in  marriage  after  eighteen  years'  waiting,  by 
Professor  Swing,  in  Chicago,  November  17,  1880. 


HON.  CHARLES  KELLUM. 

SYCAMORE. 

KELLUM,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  twelfth  judicial  circuit,  and  for  years  a  prom- 
inent  member  of  De  Kalb  county  bar,  hails  from  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsylvania,  being 
born  at  Springville,  March  16,  1821.  His  father,  Samuel  Kellum,  Jr.,  a  farmer,  lumberman,  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  etc.,  was  a  native  of  New  London  county,  Connecticut,  where  Samuel  Kellum 
Sr.  lived  for  a  long  period,  and  held  a  captain's  commission  in  the  state  militia,  after  the  revolu- 
tionary war  had  closed.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Lucretia  Eldridge,  also  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut. Her  father  was  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  of  Scotch- Irish  blood. 

Young  Kellum  received  an  academic  education  at  Montrose  and  Mannington  academies,  both 
in  his  native  county;  was  axman  two  years  for  an  engineering  corps  on  a  canal;  read  law  with 
Lusk  and  Little  of  Montrose,  teaching  school  two  winters  at  the  same  period;  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  August,  1844;  worked  between  one  and  two  years  for  his  preceptor  at  $10  a  month  and 
board,  when  his  health  became  somewhat  impaired;  went  to  Towanda,  Pennsylvania,  and 
resumed  business  in  company  with  Judge  Booth,  remaining  there  until  1854,  when  he  removed  to 
La  Porte,  Indiana,  and  was  assistant  cashier  of  the  Indiana  National  Bank.  The  next  year  he 
settled  in  Sycamore.  Here  he  was  in  the  successful  practice  of  his  profession  until  he  went  on 
the  bench  in  June,  1879,  prior  to  which  date  he  had  held  various  offices,  such  as  township  trustee, 
and  chairman  of  the  board,  and  by  virtue  of  that  office  a  member  of  the  county  board  of  super- 
visors, state's  attorney  for  the  old  thirteenth  judicial  district,  city  attorney  soon  after  Sycamore 
was  incorporated,  etc. 

Judge  Kellum  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  judicial  mind.  He  was  not  only  made  for  a 
lawyer,  but  for  a  judge,  and  his  natural  endowments  have  been  enlarged  by  a  liberal  education, 
and  long  practice  at  the  bar.  His  mind  readily  grasps  the  most  difficult  legal  problems,  and  his 
decisions  are  not  only  generally  correct,  but  are  marked,  universally,  by  the  utmost  fairness  and 
impartiality.  Seldom  is  it  that  any  error  creeps  into  the  record  of  a  cause  heard  before  Judge 
Kellum,  and  consequently  his  decisions  are  not  often  reversed  in  the  higher  courts.  On  the  bench 
he  is  urbane  and  gentlemanly,  and  is  universally  esteemed  by  the  members  of  the  bar,  who  prac- 
tice in  his  court.  He  is  especially  the  friend  of  the  young  attorney,  and  wherever  possible 
smoothes  over  the  rough  path  which  that  class  are  compelled  to  travel  over  before  reaching  emi- 
nence at  the  bar.  These  qualities  make  him  one  of  the  most  popular  judges  in  the  state,  and  his 
friends  confidently  predict  that  he  will  yet  be  called  to  sit  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court. 

In  politics  Judge  Kellum  was  originally  a  whig.  He  joined  the  republican  party  on  its  for- 
mation, and  before  going  on  the  bench  was  a  very  active  worker  in  its  interests,  he  believing  that 
the  good  of  the  country  required  the  perpetuation  of  that  party  in  power.  He  was  for  a  long 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  669 

period  chairman  of  the  county  central  committee,  and  was  repeatedly  a  delegate  to  republican 
district  and  state  conventions. 

He  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  has  held  the  offices  of  king,  scribe  and  high  priest  of  the  chapter. 

He  married,  March  15,  1855,  Miss  Chloe  Clement,  of  La  Porte,  Indiana,  and  they  have  two 
sons,  William  Clement,  an  attorney-at-law,  Sycamore,  and  Samuel,  a  clerk  in  Chicago.  Judge 
Kellum  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Sycamore,  Cortland  and  Chicago  railroad,  and  the  Marsh  Binder 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  is  thoroughly  identified  with  every  public  interest  of  the  city,  being 
himself  quite  enterprising  as  well  as  public-spirited. 


STEPHEN   A.  DOUGLAS. 

CHICAGO. 

f 

QTEPHEN  ARNOLD  DOUGLAS,  son  of  the  celebrated  statesman,  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
w3  was  born  in  Rockingham  county,  North  Carolina,  November  3,  1850.  His  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Martha  Denny  Martin,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Robert  Martin,  was  a  native  of 
the  same  county,  and  died  in  January,  1853.  The  history  of  his  father,  who  died  at  Chicago, 
June  3,  1861,  is  familiar  to  the  American  people.  The  last  intelligible  words  uttered  by  him  were 
a  message  to  his  sons,  Robert  and  Stephen,  then  at  college,  to  "obey  the  laws  and  support  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States." 

After  completing  his  preparatory  education,  our  subject  attended  Georgetown  College,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  but  left  his  studies  during  his  senior  year  to  look  after  his  mother's  estate, 
comprising  several  plantations  in  North  Carolina,  Mississippi  and  Texas.  This  occurrence  led 
him  to  engage  extensively  in  the  leaf  tobacco  business.  While  in  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Douglas 
found  himself  early  and  deeply  absorbed  in  politics,  growing  out  of  the  excited  and  threatening 
condition  of  the  country,  and  his  patriotic  instincts  led  him  to  promptly  ally  himself  with  the 
party  of  freedom.  In  1870,  before  he  was  twenty  years  old,  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  repub- 
lican county  delegation  to  the  state  convention,  and  about  the  same  time  became  editor  in  chief 
of  the  Raleigh  "Standard,"  the  organ  of  the  republican  party.in  North  Carolina.  In  that  same 
year  he  was  appointed  adjutant-general  of  the  state,  it  being  the  incipient  period  of  the  ku-klux 
troubles,  when  two  thousand  troops  were  raised  to  protect  the  lives  of  the  colored  people,  and  of 
republican  leaders  of  all  complexions.  The  condition  of  things  at  that  time  in  North  Carolina, 
and  some  other  southern  states,  together  with  Mr.  Douglas'  able  leaders  in  the  "Standard,"  led 
congress  to  consider  the  matter,  and  pass  the  ku-klux  legislation,  when  Mr.  Douglas  resigned  his 
post  of  adjutant-general. 

In  1872  he  was  appointed  a  presidential  elector,  and,  young  as  he  was,  made  a  thorough  can- 
vass of  his  district.  Four  years  later  (1876)  he  was  again  placed  on  the  republican  electoral 
ticket  in  North  Carolina,  and  ran  several  hundred  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket,  he  making  a  full  and 
vigorous  canvass,  speaking  in  at  least  fifty  places. 

In  November,  1876,  Mr.  Douglas  entered  the  North  Carolina  Law  School,  under  Hon.  Rich- 
mond Pearson,  chief-justice  of  that  state,  and  was  there  admitted  to  practice  in  June,  1878.  He 
opened  a  law  office  in  Chicago  in  the  following  March,  and  almost  immediately  took  an  honora- 
ble position  at  the  Cook  county  bar.  In  October,  1881,  he  was  appointed  master  in  chancery  of 
the  county  court.  He  belongs  to  the  class  of  irrepressible  young  men  whose  talents  and  energies, 
always  wisely  directed,  place  them  in  the  forefront  in  every  contest.  He  seems  to  have  inherited 
not  only  the  build,  but  in  a  large  measure  the  force  of  character,  mental  powers  and  magnetism 
of  his  father,  and  he  may  or  may  not  reach  the  rounds  of  fame  on  which  his  father  proudly  stood. 
He  is  quite  as  much  a  favorite  of  the  republican  party  as  his  father  was  of  the  democratic  party 
at  thirty  years  of  age.  In  1880  he  was  quite  active  in  the  Grant  movement,  and  was  elected  at 
the  state  convention  at  Springfield,  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  held  at  Chicago,  but 
was  unseated  on  defeat  of  the  "unit  rule."  During  the  memorable  campaign  of  that  year,  which 


670  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

resulted  in  the  election  of  Garfield  and  Arthur,  he  canvassed  nearly  the  whole  state  of  Illinois, 
and  aided,  by  his  persuasive  eloquence,  in  securing  an  unusually  large  majority  in  Illinois  for  the 
republican  nominees.  Since  the  close  of  that  great  political  contest,  Mr.  Douglas  has  been  quietly 
practicing  his  profession  in  Chicago  Few  young  men  of  his  age  have  made  an  equal  amount  of 
history.  Mr.  Douglas  attends  the  Reformed  Episcopal  church,  but  is  not  a  member  of  any  re- 
ligious association.  

JOSEPH    O.  GLOVER. 

CHICA  GO. 

A1ONG  the  distinguished  lawyers  who  were  early  at  the  Illinois  bar,  few  have  been  more 
closely  identified  with  its  system  of  jurisprudence,  or  contributed  more  to  determine  the 
character  and  present  position  of  the  state  than  Joseph  O.  Glover.  A  man  of  strong  intellect, 
with  a  nice  sense  of  right  and  justice,  and  with  characteristic  virtues  in  professional  and  private 
life,  whatever  he  did  was  strongly  affected  by  these  qualities. 

Mr.  Glover  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  New  York,  April  13,  1810.  His  father  was  Hon. 
James  Glover,  of  New  York,  for  many  years  judge  of  the  Chenango  county  court  of  that  state, 
and  was  appointed  by  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton,  as  one  of  the  three  commissioners  who  located 
and  had  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Auburn  penitentiary.  Hon.  George  Rathbun,  of 
Auburn,  who  was  member  of  congress  from  the  Cayuga  district  for  several  terms,  was  a  brother- 
in-law  of  our  subject. 

Mr.  Glover  was  educated  at  the  high  school  in  Aurora,  New  York,  and  afterward  studied  law 
for  a  short  time  with  his  brother,  Justus  S.  Glover,  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Penn  Yan.  Mr.  Glover 
came  west  in  1835,  without  having  decided  upon  the  law  as  his  profession,  but  having  been 
obliged,  on  account  of  the  illness  of  his  father's  attorney,  to  attend  personally  to  a  case  in  the 
land  office  at  Galena,  involving  a  part  of  his  father's  estate,  met  with  such  success  that  he  was 
immediately  employed  by  strangers,  in  two  similar  cases.  Thus  he  seems  to  have  been  led  to 
take  up  the  study  and  practice  of  law,  and  was  afterward  admitted  to  the  bar,  having  completed 
the  necessary  period  of  study  in  ihe  office  of  T.  Lyle  Dickey,  now  of  the  supreme  bench  of  Illi- 
nois. He  soon  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  B.  C.  Cook,  which  lasted  over  thirty  years,  with 
no  other  change  than  the  admission  of  George  C.  Campbell  as  a  partner. 

This  firm  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  leading  law  firms  of  northern  Illinois,  as  is  attested 
by  the  reports  of  the  state,  and  it  was  only  dissolved  after  Mr.  Glover  bad  Been  appointed  United 
States  attorney  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Cook  general  solicitor  of  the  Chicago  and 
North-Western  Railway  Company,  and  Mr.  Campbell  general  solicitor  of  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company. 

Mr.  Glover  was  evidently  born  to  be  a  lawyer,  and  the  accident  which  determined  his  profes- 
sion was  a  happy  one.  He  possesses  great  sagacity,  is  a  keen  observer  and  correct  judge  of 
human  nature  and  human  motives,  and  has  seldom  been  deceived  in  his  estimate  of  men.  He 
has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  principles  and  rules  of  law,  and  great  familiarity 
with  the  principal  text  writers  in  the  different  departments.  His  main  reliance,  when  authorities 
were  needed,  was  on  principles,  rather  than  on  adjudged  cases,  trusting  to  himself  to  apply  the 
rule  and  its  reason  to  the  case  in  hand. 

While  a  man  of  strong  convictions,  tenacious,  and  hard  to  be  convinced  that  he  is  wrong, 
when  once  he  has  carefully  concluded  he  is  right,  he  is  of  a  most  genial  disposition,  and  has,  to 
an  uncommon  degree,  the  faculty  of  being  not  only  upon  speaking,  but  friendly  terms  with 
almost  every  one  he  meets  ;  scarcely  any  one  looks  upon  him  as  a  mere  acquaintance.  His  qual- 
ities were  such  that  he  naturally  devoted  himself  to  litigation  upon  the  law  rather  than  the 
chancery  side  of  the  courts,  and  was  always  found  to  be  a  formidable  antagonist,  on  account  of 
the  shrewdness  of  his  examination  of,  witnesses,  his  aptitude  in  illustration,  and  his  faculty  of 
avoiding  any  antagonism  with  the  sympathies  and  modes  of  thought  of  those  he  is  addressing. 


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UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  673 

Mr.  Glover  married,  in  1837,  Jeannette  Hart,  whose  sister  afterward  became  the  wife  of  his 
partner,  Mr.  Cook,  their  father  being  Judge  Orris  Hart,  of  Oswego,  New  York,  a  member  of  the 
convention  which  framed  the  constitution  of  that  state,  and  also  one  of  the  first  superintendents 
of  the  Erie  canal.  Their  children  were  three:  Julia,  the  wife  of  George  C.  Campbell,  one  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  Chicago  bar  ;  Henry  T.,  a  member  of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  Otis  R.,  a 
broker  in  New  York  city. 

In  politics  Mr.  Glover  was  formerly  a  democrat,  and  was  the  associate  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
and  other  leading  statesmen  in  the  West.  But  when  that  party  repealed  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise, and  seemed  to  favor  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  territories,  he  joined  with  others  in 
forming  the  republican  party,  of  which  he  has  ever  since  been  an  active  and  earnest  member. 
Few  men  have  made  more  republican  speeches  in  Illinois,  and  during  the  war  his  eloquence  was 
heard  throughout  the  state,  rallying  men  to  the  support  of  the  flag  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union.  To  him  and  his  contemporaries  belongs  the  credit  of  shaping  public  sentiment  before 
and  during  the  war,  thereby  being  greatly  instrumental  in  its  happy  termination. 

Mr.  Glover,  though  an  ardent  politician  when  there  was  work  to  do,  has  never  been  an  office 
seeker,  but  he  has  held  several  offices.  He  was  a~member  of  the  legislature  at  an  early  day,  and 
exerted  a  strong-  influence  in  determining  the  character  of  the  state.  Although  the  city  of 
Ottawa,  where  he  resided  the  greater  portion  of  his  professional  life,  was  strongly  democratic,  he 
was  elected  its  mayor  by  a  very  large  majority.  In  1868  Mr.  Glover  was  a  presidential  elector. 
He  was  appointed  United  States  attorney  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  by  President  Grant, 
and  reappcfinted  at  the  end  of  the  term.  Since  he  has  retired  from  active  practice  of  law,  he  has 
been  a  canal  commissioner  of  the  state,  now  holding  the  position,  under  a  reappointment,  for  a 
second  term,  and  during  the  whole  period  acting  as  president  of  the  board.  A  prominent  feature 
of  Mr.  Glover's  character  is  his  unwavering  and  never-questioned  integrity  in  every  relation  in 
life.  This  character  well  established  caused  him  to  be  often  selected  for  positions  of  special  con- 
fidence, of  which  many  wills  and  instruments  of  trust  bear  testimony,  and  gave  him  a  complete- 
ness as  a  lawyer,  which,  wanting  this,  the  brightest  gifts  would  have  failed  to  confer. 


HON.  JOHN  W.   E.  THOMAS. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN  WILLIAM  EDINBURGH  THOMAS,  lawyer  and  member  of  the  legislature,  is  a  son 
of  Edinburgh  and  Martha  (Morgan)  Thomas,  and  was  born  in  Montgomery,  Alabama,  May  i, 
1847.  His  father  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina;  his  mother,  of  Virginia.  In  his  youth  John 
received  a  plain  English  education,  and  has  since  done  a  good  deal  of  private  studying,  fitting  him- 
self for  teaching  by  the  time  he  was  seventeen  years  old.  That  was  his  profession  for  years,  both 
at  the  South  and  in  Chicago.  He  first  came  to  this  city  in  his  teens;  returned  to  Alabama,  and 
left  that  state  finally  in  1869.  When  the  great  fire  occurred  in  October,  1871,  he  was  a  grocery 
merchant,  and  lost  two  buildings.  After  that  calamity  he  returned  to  teaching. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1876,  being  the  first  colored  person  in  this  state 
ever  elected  to  a  legislative  body.  He  read  law  with  Hawes  and  Lawrence;  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1879,  and  after  practicing  here  two  years,  he  went  to  Washington,  District  of  Colum 
bia,  and-  held  a  clerkship  in  the  office  of  the  second  auditor.  While  serving  in  that  capacity  in 
the  autumn  of  1882,  his  republican  friends  in  the  third  senatorial  district,  nominated  him  for  a 
seat  in  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  and  he  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  he 
running  ahead  of  every  man  on  the  ticket.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
public  buildings  and  grounds,  and  on  the  committees  on  warehouses,  engrossed  and  enrolled  bills, 
labor  and  manufactures,  and  state  institutions.  He  is  a  man  of  good  sense,  quite  industrious,  a 
fair  speaker,  and  makes  a  highly  respectable  legislator.  He  is  also  a  good  sound  lawyer. 

Mr.  Thomas  is  a  member  of  the  Brothers  of  Union,  Chicago,  and  was  the  president  of  the 
66 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


society  for  five  years.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Honor,  Washington,  and  the  Olivet  Bap- 
tist Church,  Chicago.  Before  he  went  to  Washington,  he  was  for  some  time  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday-school.  His  moral  and  religious  character  is  irreproachable. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  first  married  in  1865  to  Miss  Maria  Reynolds,  of  South  Carolina,  and  she  died 
in  1878,  leaving  one  child.  He  was  married  the  second  time  in  1880,  to  Miss  Justine  E.  C.  Latcher, 
of  Chicago. 


H 


HORATIO    L.   WAIT. 

CHICAGO. 

ORATIO  LOOMIS  WAIT,  master  in  chancery  of  the  circuit  court  of  Cook  county,  is  a 
native  of  the  city  of  New  York,  dating  his  birth,  August  8,  1836.  His  father,  Joseph  Wait 
was  a  merchant  in  that  city.  His  grandfather,  Marmaduke  Wait,  served  in  the  second  war  with 
England,  and  his  great-grandfather,  Joseph  Wait,  of  Vermont,  was  a  colonel  in  the  first  war,  serv- 
ing under  General  Ethan  Allen.  The  mother  of  Horatio  was  Harriet  Heileman  (Whitney)  Wait, 
a  native  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  She  is  still  living.  Her  husband  died  years  ago  at  Jersey 
City,  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Wait  was  educated  at  Columbia  College  grammar  school ;  came  to  Chicago  in  1856  ;  read 
law  with  Joseph  N.  Barker,  but  before  being  admitted  to  practice,  the  civil  war  having  broken  out, 
he  entered  «the  navy,  and  remained  there  for  nine  years,  joining  the  European  squadron  after 
peace  was  declared. 

Mr.  Wait  left  the  navy  in  1870,  and  in  the  same  year  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  opened  an 
office  in  Chicago,  soon  finding  a  good  business  on  his  hands.  In  1876  he  was  appointed  master 
in  chancery,  and  since  that  date  has  made  a  specialty  of  chancery  practice.  He  ignores  politics 
almost  entirely,  and  attends  exclusively  to  the  study  and  duties  of  his  profession.  A  gentleman 
who  knows  Mr.  Wait  well,  thus  writes  to  the  editor  of  this  work:  "Mr.  H.  L.  Wait  is  a  polished 
gentleman,  a  scholar  of  unusual  attainments,  and  a  conversationalist  of  marked  ability.  He  has 
also  been  an  extensive  traveler.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  well  read,  of  excellent  judgment  and  of  unim- 
peachable integrity.  He  has  for  some  years  occupied  the  position  of  master  in  chancery  of  the 
circuit  court  of  Cook  county,  by  the  appointment  of  the  judges  of  that  court." 

Mr.  Wait  is  a  vestryman  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  Hyde  Park,  and  a  man  of  high  stand- 
ing in  the  community. 

In  1860  he  was  joined  in  marriage  with  Clara  Conant  Long,  daughter  of  James  Long,  of  Chi- 
cago, and  they  have  two  children,  both  sons. 


LE 


HON.  LEANDER  D.  CONDEE. 

CHICAGO. 
EANDER    DEVINE    CONDEE    is  a  native  of  Athens  county,  Ohio,  his  birth  being  dated 


September  26,  1847.  His  parents  are  Henry  M.  and  Jane  (Rickey)  Condee.  His  paternal 
grandfather,  Ami  Condee,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  his  maternal  grandfather  was  a 
member  of  the  first  board  of  trustees  of  Athens  county.  Leander  farmed  with  his  father  until 
seventeen  years  of  age;  received  an  academic  education  at  Kankakee,  Illinois,  the  family  moving 
to  this  state  in  1854;  read  law  at  the  same  place,  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  law  department  of 
the  University  of  Michigan,  class  of  1868. 

Mr.  Condee  opened  an  office  at  Butler,  Bates  county,  Missouri,  and  while  there  held  the  office 
of  city  attorney  for  three  years.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  1873  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  has 
been  in  practice  here  since  that  date.  He  was  alone  for  four  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Condee  and  Bliss,  his  partner  being  E.  R.  Bliss,  present  county 
attorney  of  Cook  county. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  675 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Condee  is  at  Hyde  Park  village,  of  which  he  has  been  attorney  since  the 
spring  of  1879.  In  November,  1880,  he  was  elected  state  senator  for  the  second  district,  South 
Chicago,  and  still  holds  that  office.  He  is  a  strong  republican,  very  active  during  a  political 
canvass. 

In  the  senate  he  is  chairman  of  the  committee  on  corporations,  a  committee  having  great 
interests  in  Chicago  to  guard,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  committees  on  judiciary,  railroads, 
judicial  department,  municipalities,  warehouses,  canals  and  rivers,  military  affairs. 

Mr.  Condee  is  a  Knight  Templar  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  Odd- 
Fellowship.  He  was  married  in  March,  1871,  to  Miss  Margaretta  Stovie,  of  Butler,  Missouri,  who 
died  in  March,  1881,  leaving  three  children;  was  again  married  August  24,  1882,  to  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Waterbury. 

HON.  JOHN  J.   FOOTE. 

BEL  VIDE  RE. 

JOHN  J.  FOOTE  is  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  B.  (Johnson)  Foote,  and  was  born  in  Hamilton, 
Madison  county,  New  York,  February  n,  1816.  His  father  is  a  lawyer,  and  still  living,  being 
in  his  ninety-seventh  year,  and  his  grandfather,  Isaac  Foote,  was  a  state  senator  and  circuit  judge 
in  New  York,  and  was  identified  with  the  war  for  independence.  A  brother  of  Isaac  Foote  was 
also  a  judge  of  the  state  of  New  York.  The  family  was  from  Connecticut.  John  was  educated 
at  the  academy  in  his  native  town,  and  there  pursued  his  classical  studies,  receiving  the  honorary 
degree  of  master  of  arts,  from  Madison  University  in  1837.  He  was  engaged  in  the  drug  business 
until  he  removed  to  Illinois  in  1865. 

We  learn  from  "  The  Past  and  Present  of  Boone  County,  Illinois,"  a  work  published  in  Chicago 
in  1877,  that  Mr.  Foote  became  early  identified  with  the  educational  institutions  of  his  native 
town,  and  maintained  an  abiding  interest  in  their  rise  and  progress,  and  also  early  took  an  inter- 
est in  the  politics  of  his  state,  he  being  a  whig  till  that  party  became  extinct.  Although  living  in 
a  democratic  town,  democratic  thirty  years  ago,  he  was  elected  to  such  offices  as  supervisor  and 
chairman  of  the  county  board.  He  also  declined  the  candidacy  of  the  whig  party  for  canal  com- 
missioner and  state  senator,  but  in  1857  the  republican  party,  which  he  had  aided  in  founding, 
elected  him  to  a  seat  in  the  state  senate,  to  represent  the  counties  of  Madison,  Chenango  and 
Cortland.  In  that  body  he  introduced  the  farmers'  "  Personal  Liberty  Bill,"  the  discussion  of 
which  drew  out  the  keenest  debater  among  his  associates.  We  learn  from  the  work  already  men- 
tioned that  while  in  the  senate  Mr.  Foote  was  taken  into  the  counsel  of  such  men  as  Governor 
Morgan,  Hon.  Thurlow  Weed,  the  veteran  whig  and  republican  journalist,  ex-Vice-President 
Wheeler,  and  other  political  lights  of  the  Empire  State.  Mr.  Foote  showed  himself  to  be  a  wise 
legislator,  as  well  as  a  high-minded,  shrewd  politician  and  a  man  of  unbending  integrity.  Those 
who  know  him  best  regard  him  as  the  embodiment  of  the  most  manly  traits  of  character.  During 
the  presidential  campaign  of  1860,  Mr.  Foote  represented  the  counties  of  Oswego  and  Madison  in 
the  electoral  college. 

In  1865,  being  in  delicate  health,  he  relinquished  his  business  in  New  York,  and  came  to  Bel- 
videre  to  take  charge  of  a  large  farm  which  he  had  purchased  near  town.  Here  his  public  spirit 
soon  began  to  crop  out.  He  became  quite  prominent  among  the  agriculturists,  and  was  twice 
elected  president  of  the  Boone  County  Agricultural  Society. 

Some  years  ago,  when  heavy  defalcations  became  common  in  the  New  York  postoffice,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  a  total  absence  of  system  in  its  management,  Mr.  James,  the  postmaster,  being 
one  of  Mr.  Foote's  early  friends,  sent  for  him  to  go  to  New  York  city,  and  take  the  responsible 
office  of  auditor,  which  Mr.  Foote  organized;  and  he  soon  wrought  wonders  in  the  postoffice, 
bringing  order  out  of  chaos,  and  establishing  a  system  which  was  commended  at  Washington, 
and  is  now  adopted  by  the  larger  postoffices  in  the  country.  Mr.  Foote  was  also  acting  postmas- 
ter in  the  absence  of  Mr.  James;  and  when,  in  April,  1876,  he  resigned  to  return  to  Belvidere,  Mr. 


676  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

James  wrote  him  a  very  cordial  letter,  gratefully  acknowledging  his  important  services  in  connec- 
tion with  the  postoffice.  The  deputy  postmaster  and  head  clerks  united  in  a  similar  testimonial 
of  their  appreciation  of  his  services,  and  both  letters  appear  in  the  historical  work  to  which  we 
have  twice  referred,  and  where  we  find  most  of  the  data  for  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Foote  married,  in  1839,  Mary,  daughter  of  Amos  Crocker,  of  Hamilton,  New  York,  and 
they  have  three  children.  He  has  recently  moved  into  a  large  and  elegant  house  in  the  city  of 
Belvidere,  completed  in  the  spring  of  1882,  and  is  living  a  quiet  and  independent  life. 


HIRAM  K.  AND  C.  GEORGE  JONES. 

JA  CKSON  VILLE. 

A'rtONG  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  class  of  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Morgan  county 
are  the  Joneses,  whose  names  we  have  placed  above.  They  are  sons  of  Stephen  and  Mildred 
(Kinnaird)  Jones,  both  natives  of  Virginia,  being  members  of  the  agricultural  class.  The  father 
of  Mildred  Kinnaird  was  David  Kinnaird,  a  native  of  Scotland,  yet  a  thorough  patriot,  fighting 
under  General  Washington  in  all  his  campaigns. 

Hiram  K.  Jones,  the  older  of  the  two  brothers,  was  born  in  Culpepper  county,  Virginia,  August 
5,  1819.  When  he  was  about  seven  years  old  the  family  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Troy,  Lin- 
coln county,  Missouri,  where  both  parents  died.  In  1839  H.  K.Jones  came  to  Jacksonville  to  be  edu- 
cated, and  is  a  graduate  of  Illinois  College,  class  of  1844.  He  studied  his  profession  with  Doctor 
Hardin,  of  Louisiana,  Missouri  ;  attended  lectures  in  the  medical  department  of  the  Illinois  Col- 
lege ;  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  1846  ;  practiced  in  Troy,  Missouri,  until  1849, 
and  then  settled  in  Jacksonville.  He  soon  built  up  a  good  practice,  and  has  made  an  honorable 
record  in  his  profession.  He  was  physician  to  the  hospital  for  the  insane  for  three  or  four  years, 
and  part  of  that  time  was  also  superintendent.  Since  leaving  the  hospital  he  has  practiced  in  the 
city  of  Jacksonville,  his  rides,  years  ago,  leading  far  into  the  country.  Latterly  he  has  given  his 
attention  almost  exclusively  to  office  and  city  practice  ;  his  younger  brother,  who  has  been  in 
partnership  with  him  since  1868,  attending  to  the  outside  business. 

Doctor  Jones  has  always  taken  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  has  been  for  some 
time,  and  still  is,  one  of  the  trustees  of  his  alma  mater,  from  which  he  received  the  honorary  degree 
of  doctor  of  laws  in  1879.  He  has  a  speculative  and  philosophic  turn  of  mind,  and  was  the  origi- 
nator of  the  Plato  Club  of  Jacksonville,  of  which  he  has  been  chairman  for  a  score  of  years  or 
more.  He  has  long  been  known  throughout  the  country  as  the  Platonist  of  Illinois.  The  Spring- 
field (Massachusetts)  "Republican"  stated,  some  years  ago,  that  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  who 
was  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  Doctor  Jones  for  a  number  of  years,  declared  that  Doctor  Jones 
knew  more  about  Plato  than  any  other  man  in  America.  He  is  one  of  the  five  constituent  mem- 
bers of  the  Concord  School  of  Philosophy,  which  was  organized  in  1878.  The  other  four  mem- 
bers are  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  of  Concord,  Massachusetts ;  William  T.  Harris,  LL.D.,  of  Saint  Louis; 
Frank  B.  Sanborn,  of  Boston,  and  Samuel  Emery,  of  Concord,  Massachusetts.  Summer  sessions 
of  this  school  are  held  annually  at  Concord,  and  the  essays  there  read  and  the  addresses  delivered 
are  usually  reported  in  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country,  and  attract  a  great  deal  of  atten- 
tion. Doctor  Jones  is  among  the  lecturers,  and  discusses  a  variety  of  subjects,  literary  as  well  as 
philosophical.  For  several  years  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  lecturing  in  public. 

The  first  appearance  of  Doctor  Jones  as  a  lecturer  or  conversationalist,  at  Concord,  was  in  the 
summer  of  1878,  and  a  correspondent  of  the  Massachusetts  paper  mentioned  above  gave  a  some- 
what lengthy  n'sumS  of  his  Platonism  as  evolved  in  his  conversations  on  that  occasion.  The 
correspondent  spoke  of  the  delight  with  which  Mr.  Alcott,  Mr.  Emerson,  Miss  Elizabeth  Peabody, 
who  had  watched  by  the  cradle  of  New  England  transcendentalism  in  Doctor  Channing's  Boston 
study  half  a  century  ago,  and  other  thinkers  in  the  Concord  coterie,  listened  to  the  philosopher 
of  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  Some  of  them  were  a  little  surprised  that  the  doctor,  being  a  physician, 


H  C  Cooper   Jr  i  CD. 


LJB3ARY 

S  ILLINOIS 


UN: TED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  679 

should  set  aside  evolution  and  the  coarser  forms  of  Darwinism,  and  boldly  declare  that  the  origin 
of  man  is  from  above,  not  from  below,  and  that  we  derive  our  knowledge  not  from  experience, 
but  from  intuition  and  reasoning. 

Years  before  Doctor  Jones  went  to  Concord,  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  lecturing  in  public. 
He  has  occasionally  contributed  to  medical  periodicals,  and  also  to  journalistic  literature  of  a 
philosophic  character,  and  his  writings,  on  whatever  subject  treated,  rarely  fail  to  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public.  He  is  one  of  the  clear-headed,  solid  thinkers  of  the  West,  a  very  busy  man, 
and  never  lonesome  for  want  of  thought. 

Before  Doctor  Jones  left  the  state  of  Missouri,  he  discovered  the  aggressive  influence  of  the 
slave  power,  and  as  a  private  citizen,  he  took  issue  with  that  power,  doing  all  he  could  in  public 
speeches  to  check  its  progress.  In  this  state  he  was  associated  with  the  movement  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  Richard  Yates,  and  others,  in  the  incipient  steps  toward  the  organizing  of  the  great  party 
of  freedom  which  placed  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  presidential  chair  in  March,  1861.  Doctor  Jones  was 
a  pioneer  stumper  in  presenting  the  national  issues  before  the  people,  and,  no  doubt,  had  consid- 
erable influence  in  molding  public  sentiment. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Jones  was  Elizabeth  Orr,  of  Ashley,  Pike  county,  Missouri,  they  being 
married  in  1846.  •  They  have  no  children. 

Cumberland  George  Jones  was  born  in  the  same  place  with  his  brother  mentioned  above,  Sep- 
tember 3,  1827;  received  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts  and  master  of  arts  at  Illinois  College,  the 
former  in  1854,  the  latter  in  1857;  studied  medicine  with  his  brother;  attended  lectures  in  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Missouri,  at  Saint  Louis,  where  he  received  his  medical 
degree  in  1868,  and  has  been  in  general  practice  with  his  brother  for  more  than  fifteen  years, 
making  a  fine  success  in  his  profession.  Like  his  brother,  he  is  very  studious,  the  science  of 
medicine  claiming  his  entire  and  close  attention.  He  is  thoroughly  wedded  to  this  profession,  and 
pays  no  regard  to  side  issues.  We  cannot  learn  that  he  has  ever  held  a  civil  or  political  office. 
His  excellent  standing  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  is  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the.fact  that  he  is  a  pro- 
gressive man,  keeping  well  read  up  in  everything  pertaining  to  medical  science.  He  has  reported 
a  few  cases  for  medical  journals,  but  is  not  much  given  to  the  pen.  As  is  the  case  with  his 
brother,  he  holds  a  membership  in  the  county  and  state  medical  societies.  His  wife  was  Sarah 
Wing,  of  Troy,  Missouri,  their  marriage  taking  place  July  22,  1856. 


T 


CHARLES  A.  DUPEE. 

CHICAGO. 

HE  personal  history  of  the  gentleman  whose  name  and  biography  are  here  presented  is 
worthy  of  record  and  a  fixed  place  in  the  annals  of  the  earlier  days  of  Chicago.  Charles 
A.  Dupee  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  born  at  West  Brookfield,  May  22,  1831.  His  parents 
were  Jacob  Dupee  and  Lydia  A.  (Weatherbee)  Dupee,  his  father  being  a  descendant  from  a 
French  Huguenot,  who  emigrated  to  Boston  in  the  year  1685.  His  early  education  was  com- 
menced at  an  academy  in  the  town  of  Monson,  and  subsequently  continued  at  the  Williston  Sem- 
inary, at  East  Hampton,  Massachusetts.  In  1850  he  entered  Yale  College,  graduating  from  that 
institution  in  1854,  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  In  November  of  the  same  year  he  came 
to  Chicago,  where  he  became  principal  of  Edwards  Academy,  remaining  in  this  position  for  six 
months,  after  which  he  spent  some  time  in  traveling.  In  the  autumn  of  1855  he  returned  to  Chi- 
cago, and  was  appointed  principal  of  one  of  the  public  schools,  which  position  he  held  for  one 
year. 

About  this  time  the  Chicago  high  school  was  organized,  and  Mr.  Dupee  was  selected  for  its 
principal,  and  the  task  of  creating  and  developing  the  system  of  this  school  must  be  largely 
accredited  to  him.  The  impress  given  by  him  to  that  institution  still  remains,  and  its  system  and 
workings  have  been  extensively  adopted  by  other  high  schools  of  the  West.  While  principal  of 


680  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

this  school  he  was  also  editor  of  the  "Illinois  Teacher,"  a  monthly  periodical  published  in  Chi- 
cago, principally  for  the  use  of  teachers.  While  engaged  in  teaching  others,  our  subject  illustrates 
the  saying  that  "he  who  teaches  others,  teaches  himself  best,"  for  he  not  only  gave  the  necessary 
time  and  attention  to  his  duties  as  an  instructor  in  that  institution,  but  at  the  same  time  spent  a 
portion  of  his  leisure  hours  in  the  study  of  law.  Resigning  his  position  of  principal  of  the  high 
school,  in  1860  he  began  a  systematic  course  of  the  study  of  law,  first  in  the  law  school  at  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts,  and  afterward  in  the  office  of  Gallup  and  Hitchcock,  in  Chicago.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois  in  1861.  About  this  time  he  was  offered  the 
presidency  of  the  State  Normal  School  of  Illinois,  and  also  the  Latin  professorship  in  the  Chicago 
University,  both  of  which  proposals  he  declined. 

After  admission  to  the  bar,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the  profession  in  Chicago  under  his 
own  name,  and  continued  so  for  about  one  year,  when  he  entered  into  copartnership  with  Jacob 
A.  Cram,  under  the  style  of  Dupee  and  Cram. 

In  1863  Mr.  Dupee  was  married  to  Miss  Jennie  Wells,  daughter  of  Henry  G.  Wells,  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Chicago.  In  1864  the  firm  of  Dupee  and'Cram  was  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Dupee 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hitchcock,  Dupee  and  Evarts,  which  continued  until  1872,  when, 
by  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Evarts,  the  firm  became  Hitchcock  and.  Dupee.  In  1876  the  firm  of 
Hitchcock,  Dupee  and  Judah  was  organized,  by  the  admission  of  Noble  B.  Judah.  January  22, 
1881,  Mr.  Dupee  was  bereft  of  his  wife,  and  later,  May  6,  1882,  of  his  friend  and  partner,  Mr. 
Hitchcock,  who  had  for  so  many  years  been  associated  with  him.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Hitch- 
cock, the  firm  of  Dupee  and  Judah  was  organized,  to  which  M.  L.  Willard  was  admitted  as  a 
partner  in  1882. 

Mr.  Dupee  was  married  March  27,  1883,  to  Miss  Bessie  B.  Nash,  of  Mac-a-cheek,  Ohio.  Mr. 
Dupee  is  a  man  of  marked  ability,  and  his  success  is  the  result  of  steady  application  to  his  pro- 
fession, and  of  unswerving  integrity.  As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Dupee  is  recognized  and  assigned  as  one 
of  the  most  trusted  .and  ablest  at  the  bar.  His  methods  of  habit  and  process  of  action  in  the  pur- 
suit of  his  chosen  profession  result  not  only  from  disposition,  but  temperament  as  well.  While 
the  blood  in  the  heart  is  warm  and  sympathetic  to  a  degree,  that  in  the  brain  is  cool  and  full  of 
the  currents  of  cynicism  for  aught  else  than  genuine,  uncolored  facts,  and  a  clear  legal  maxim  in 
its  application  to  those  facts.  He  is  prone  to  rely  less  upon  the  accredited  potency  of  utterance, 
which  so  frequently  obtains  with  juries,  but  he  tenaciously  lays  hold  of  and  unfolds  those  princi- 
ples of  law  which  serve  to  unerringly  pilot  the  facts  in  a  given  case  to  a  harbor  of  perfect  justice. 
His  reliance  in  every  jury  cause  is  especially  upon  the  law  applicable  to  the  actual  facts  in  evi- 
dence, and  he  trusts  finally  and  largely  to  a  confidence  in  the  conscience  and  wisdom  of  courts  of 
last  resort.  He  is  ever  ready  and  willing  to  ascertain  his  results  through  a  purely  judicial  rather 
than  a  jury  decision.  The  latter  frequently  is  the  outcome  of  emotion,  prejudice  or  ignorance  ; 
the  former  the  yellow  grain  of  a  full  harvest  of  deliberation,  learning  and  experience.  This  ten- 
dency of  mind  has  so  imbued  itself  into  the  professional  feeling  of  Mr.  Dupee  that  he  has  ripened, 
as  to  style,  expression,  arrangement  of  fact  and  thought,  into  the  lawyer's  ideal,  that  of  being 
able,  in  written  argument  and  brief,  to  win  the  most  lasting  triumphs  from  courts  whose  decisions 
are  irreversible,  and  which  become  precedents  and  principles.  Not  only  do  the  facts,  under  the 
magic  of  his  pen,  marshal  themselves  with  the  attacking  force  of  an  army,  but  each  fact  is  so 
intrenched  in  law  and  precedent,  and  so  armored  in  reason  and  logic,  as  to  become  and  be  irre- 
sistible. All  the  while  these  facts  and  this  law  are  clothed  in  diction  which  lends  a  charm  to 
those  distinctions  so  uninteresting  and  dry  to  the  layman,  a  diction  which  suggests  the  smooth- 
ness of  Macaulay,  the  clearness  of  Addison,  the  strength,  feeling  and  power  of  Junius. 

In  personnel,  Mr.  Dupee  is  above  the  average  height,  and  of  commanding  presence.  His  bear- 
ing is  unaffectedly  a  blending  of  gentleness,  which  inspires  affection,  and  of  natural  dignity, 
which  wins  respect.  His  manner  toward  the  court  and  counsel  is  uniformly  courteous  and  affable. 
He  never  regards  it  necessary  to  cease  to  be  a  gentleman  in  order  to  be  a  lawyer.  In  his  profes- 
sional life  he  has  largely  been  engaged  in  the  services  of  railroad,  banking  and  insurance  corpor- 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  68 1 

ations,  and  his  ripe  experience  in  such  cases  has  caused  his  opinions  to  be  regarded  as  especially 
valuable.  He  is  wholly  devoted  to  his  profession.  The  legal  firms  with  which  he  has  for  more 
than  twenty  years  been  connected  in  this  city  have  been  of  the  highest  standing,  and  have  had 
the  confidence  of  the  courts  and  the  public  to  an  unusual  extent.  Few  lawyers  now  engaged  in 
Chicago,  in  professional  life,  have  been  concerned  in  so  extensive  affairs,  or  accomplished  an  equal 
amount  of  successful  labor,  or  been  equally  rewarded.  This  confidence  is  the  result  of  ripe  learn- 
ing, a  life  of  industry  and  experience,  based  upon  a  very  extensive  practice,  and  a  personal  and 
professional  honor  of  the  highest  character. 


JESSE    CLEMENT. 

CHICAGO. 

JESSE  CLEMENT  comes  of  revolutionary  stock.  His  grandfather,  Moses  Clement,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  was  on  guard  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  participated  in  that 
early  blow  struck  for  independence.  At  the  end  of  six  months  the  young  private  returned  to  his 
farm  in  Dracut,  Middlesex  county,  Massachusetts.  He  married  Rachel  Perham,  of  Tyngsboro, 
Massachusetts,  and  had  a  family  of  fourteen  children.  The  second  of  these  was  Asa  Clement,  a 
farmer  and  poultry  merchant,  and  the  father  of  Jesse,  who  was  born  in  Dracut,  June  12,  1815. 
His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Wilson,  of  Pelham,  New  Hampshire,  daughter  of  Captain  Jesse  Wilson, 
who  also  scoured  his  flint-lock  about  1775.  She  died  when  the  son  was  eleven  years  old.  He 
was  reared  on  the  farm,  but  had  no  taste  for  agricultural  pursuits.  At  nineteen  years  of  age  he 
left  the  farm  for  the  academy  at  New  Hampton,  New  Hampshire,  and  in  the  course  of  five  years 
attended  school  about  three,  teaching  district  schools  during  five  consecutive  winters,  and  occa- 
sionally a  select  school. 

From  May,  1840,  to  December,  1842,  Mr.  Clement  taught  in  the  English  department  of  the 
institution,  where  he  had  been  educated.  In  the  last-named  month  he  went  to  Buffalo,  New 
York,  and  edited  the  "Western  Literary  Messenger"  until  the  spring  of  1857.  From  1847  to  1857 
he  was  also  a  traveling  correspondent  of  the  "Buffalo  Commercial  Advertiser."  During  this 
period  he  had  the  compiling  and  supervision  of  nine  city  directories.  In  addition  to  these  labors 
he  wrote  more  or  less  poetry  for  the  "  Knickerbocker  Magazine,"  the  "  Ladies'  Book,"  the  "  Union 
Magazine "  and  the  "Southern  Literary  Messenger."  In  1850  and  1851  he  edited  "The  Noble 
Deeds  of  American  Women,"  and  wrote  the  first  life  of  Adoniram  Judson,  the  pioneer  American 
missionary  to  Burmah.  He  also  wrote  regularly  for  two  or  three  Baptist  papers,  for  which  he  is 
still  a  contributor. 

In  April,  1857,  Mr.  Clement  removed  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and  aided  in  founding  the  "Daily 
Times,"  of  which  he  was  associate  editor  until  February,  1863,  when  he  engaged  in  the  business 
of  life  insurance,  following  it  ten  years.  During  these  years,  however,  he  did  not  wholly  relin- 
quish his  literary  labors,  often  delivering  lectures,  poems  and  addresses  before  colleges,  literary 
societies,  etc.  In  the  spring  of  1868  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  for  a  while  continued  the  life 
insurance  business.  For  years  he  was  a  traveling  correspondent  of  the  "Daily  Inter  Ocean." 
Since  August,  1876,  he  has  given  most  of  his  time  to  the  American  Biographical  Publishing 
Compam . 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Memorial  Baptist  Church,  and  has  been  one  of  its  deacons  since  it  was 
organized,  under  another  name.  He  held  the  same  office  in  Buffalo  and  Dubuque.  He  was 
among  the  first  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  of  Buffalo,  and  its  president 
in  1855,  and  was  at  the  head  of  the  Sunday-school  associations  of  both  Buffalo  and  Dubuque. 

Mr.  Clement  was  first  married  August  21,  1841,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Blood,  by  whom  he  had  two 
children,  only  one  of  whom  survived  her.  This  daughter,  Ada  Elizabeth,  is  the  wife  of  William 
J.  Gilbert,  law-book  publisher,  of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri.  His  present  wife  was  Lucetta  H.  Blood, 
to  whom  he  was  married  April  25,  1859.  She  has  two  sons;  Ernest  Wilson,  a  graduate  of  the 


682  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

University  of  Chicago,  class  of  1880,  valedictorian  and  prize  essayist,  now  principal  of  the  Bur- 
lington College,  Iowa,  and  Clarence  Lincoln,  a  "student  at  the  same  school.  His  wives  are 
daughters  of  the  late  David  Blood,  of  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  both  women  of  fine  mental 
attainments,  and  earnest  workers  in  religious  and  benevolent  enterprises.  His  present  wife  is 
president  of  the  Woman's  Hospital,  of  Chicago,  a  position  which  she  has  held  since  1878. 


RICHARD    S.   TUTHILL. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  son  of  David  B.  Tuthill,  and  his  wife,  Sally  Strong, 
daughter  of  Luke  Strong,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Vergennes,  Addison  county,  Vermont. 
Their  ancestors  on  both  sides  are  among  the  best  New  England  families,  and  can  be  traced  in  its 
annals  for  many  generations.  The  elder  Tuthill  was  educated  for  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  but 
on  account  of  delicate  health  would  not  enter  the  ministry,  but  in  1819,  with  his  wife,  joined  a 
company  of  pioneers,  who  settled  on  and  gave  name  to  Tuthill's  Prairie,  in  Jackson  county,  in 
southern  Illinois.  The  town  of  Vergennes  was  founded  by  them,  and  named  by  Mrs.  Tuthill 
after  her  own  native  place,  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  Vermont.  Mr.  Tuthill  became  postmaster  of 
Vergennes,  and  held  the  office  for  many  years,  under  all  administrations,  without  regard  to  their 
political  complexion,  though  he  himself  was  a  whig  and  afterward  a  republican. 

His  hospitable  mansion  was  the  resort  of  all  the  noted  men  of  the  state  and  nation  who 
chanced  to  be  in  that  part  of  the  state,  such  as  President  Lincoln,  Judge  Breese,  Bishop  Chase, 
John  A.  Logan,  D.  L.  Phillips,  and  many  others. 

Richard  Stanley  Tuthill  was  born  in  Vergennes,  Illinois,  November  10,  1841.  He  was  the 
youngest  of  the  family  of  nine  children.  His  education  began  in  a  private  school  established  by 
his  father,  and  was  continued  in  the  Saint  Louis  high  school,  in  Jacksonville  College,  and  finally 
completed  at  the  Middlebury  College,  Vermont,  where  he  graduated  with  high  honors  in  August, 
1863. 

Immediately  after  graduating  he  joined  the  army  before  Vicksburg,  with  the  intention  of  en- 
tering the  ranks,  but  the  promise  of  a  commission  delayed  his  doing  so,  and  after  a  time  he  joined 
a  company  of  volunteer  scouts,  and  served  with  them  on  the  campaign  through  Mississippi  to 
Meridian.  After  spending  some  months  in  this  most  dangerous  and  exciting  arm  of  the  service, 
he  returned  to  Vicksburg  to  find  a  commission  awaiting  him.  Governor  Blair,  of  Michigan,  had 
sent  him  a  commission  as  second  lieutenant  of  battery  H,  Michigan  light  artillery,  attached  to 
General  Logan's  old  division  of  the  i7th  army  corps,  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  He  remained 
attached  to  this  battery  till  the  close  of  the  war,  taking  active  part  in  the  campaign,  which  ended 
in  the  fall  of  Atlanta,  and  in  the  battles  of  Resaca,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Altoona,  and  in  the 
numerous  severe  engagements  in  front  of  Atlanta,  and  afterward  in  General  George  H.  Thomas' 
campaign  against  the  rebel  General  Hood,  in  Tennessee,  and  in  the  final  and  victorious  battle  of 
Nashville.  After  the  fall  of  Richmond,  believing  the  war  ended,  and  anxious  to  enter  upon  his 
profession,  he  resigned  his  commission,  May  29,  1865,  and  returned  to  Nashville.  He  had  with 
commendable  energy  and  foresight  spent  his  leisure  hours  in  camp  in  the  study  of  the  law,  and 
now  he  resumed  his  studies  in  the  office  of  Hon.  H.  H.  Harrison,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee.  In  the 
latter  part  of  1866  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  entered  at  once  upon  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  the  courts  of  Tennessee. 

In  1867  he  was  elected  attorney  general  of  the  Nashville  circuit,  and  served  until  1870,  when  a 
change  in  southern  politics  threw  all  republicans  out  of  office.  In  1872  he  ran  for  presidential 
elector  on  the  republican  ticket,  and  made  a  vigorous  campaign,  stumping  the  district  which  was 
largely  democratic,  and  only  lacked  a  few  votes  of  an  election.  In  1868  Mr.  Tuthill  married  Miss 
Jennie  Smith,  a  native  of  Vergennes,  Vermont,  by  whom  he  had  one  child,  a  daughter,  now  living. 
Mrs.  Tuthill's  death  occurred  December  22,  1872,  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  which,  together  with 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  68^ 

«J 

the  breaking  up  of  the  republican  party  in  Tennessee,  and  the  general  weakening  of  the  ties 
which  bound  him  to  the  South,  sent  him  to  Chicago  in  the  early  part  of  1873.  Here  he  found  a 
more  congenial  and  a  wider  field  for  his  talents.  He  entered  at  once  with  determination  upon 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  has  devoted  himself  with  unwearied  diligence  and 
marked  success.  In  1875  Mr.  Tuthill  was  nominated  by  the  republican  party  as  its  candidate  for 
city  attorney,  and  was  elected  with  what  was  known  as  the  reform  council,  by  a  majority  of  over 
five  thousand.  In  1877  he  was  again  nominated  and  elected  to  the  same  office  by  a  largely  in- 
creased majority. 

His  service  in  the  city  law  department  was  marked  with  unusual  success.  He  soon  became 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  law  of  municipal  corporations,  and  established  a  high  reputation  as 
a  corporation  lawyer,  as  is  well  shown  by  the  fact  that  he 'has  since  been  employed  by  the  city  to 
conduct  in  its  behalf  the  highly  important  suits  yet  undecided  in  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States,  involving  the  right  of  the  city  to  impose  a  license  fee  of  $50  a  car  upon  the  street 
railway  companies  in  Chicago,  the  amount  involved  not  less  than  $50,000  per  annum,  and  the 
principles  of  law  involved  making  the  cases  of  the  utmost  importance.  At  the  close  of  his  term 
of  service  as  law  officer  of  the  city,  Mr.  Tuthill  entered  a  law  partnership  with  Colonel  David 
Quigg,  an  attorney  of  large  experience  and  very  high  personal  and  professional  character,  which 
business  association  continues  at  the  present  time. 

While  not  a  politician  in  the  professional  sense,  Mr.  Tuthill  takes  a  deep  interest  in  all  public 
concerns.  He  is  still  an  earnest  republican  and  active  in  all  party  matters.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  state  convention  at  Springfield  in  1880,  was  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  national  convention 
held  in  Chicago,  and  one  of  the  phalanx  of  306,  who  voted  for  the  nomination  of  General  Grant. 
Mr.  Tuthill  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  full  of  vigor  and  of  unbounded  energy;  he  is  master  of  his  pro- 
fession, full  of  ambition,  enthusiasm,  and  personal  magnetism,  and  is  richly  endowed  with  those 
qualities  which  manifest  themselves  only  through  the  medium  of  an  ardent  and  exalted  friend- 
ship. He  never  betrayed  a  trust,  never  neglected  a  duty,  never  deserted  a  friend.  Honorable  in 
all  things,  he  is  a  sincere  hater  of  shams  in  business,  politics  or  religion,  and  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession  scorns  to  resort  to  subterfuges,  or  to  secure  victory  by  questionable  means.  He  is 
a  member  of  several  military  societies,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Veteran  Club,  and 
military  order  of  the  Loyal  Legion. 

January  2,  1877,  he  married  for  the  second  time.  His  wife  was  Miss  Hattie  McKey,  the  daughter 
of  Edward  McKey,  a  noted  dry-goods  merchant,  of  Janesville,  Wisconsin,  by  whom  he  has  had 
two  children. 


w 


HON.  WALTER  E.  CARLIN. 

JERSEY  VILLK. 

ALTER  EVANS  CARLIN,  one  of  the  members  of  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  from 
the  thirty-seventh  senatorial  district,  dates  his  birth  at  Carrollton,  Greene  county,  April 
u,  1844.  His  father  was  William  Carlin,  a  farmer,  and  prominent  man  in. Greene  county,  being 
county  clerk  at  one  period,  and  holding  the  office  of  circuit  clerk  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1850. 
He  was  a  brother  of  Hon.  Thomas  Carlin,  once  governor  of  the  state.  William  Carlin  married 
Mary  Goode,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  distant  relative  of  the  members  of  that  family  who  have 
represented  that  state  in  the  lower  house  of  congress.  Mrs.  Carlin  is  still  living. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Carrollton,  at  the  school  of 
the  Christian  Brothers,  Saint  Louis,  and  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  August  17,  1861,  Mr.  Car- 
lin enlisted  in  company  A,  38th  Illinois  infantry.  He  was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant,  to  first 
lieutenant,  and  finally  to  captain,  but  on  account  of  his  age,  being  under  nineteen,  he  declined  to 
accept  the  last  commission.  He  served  for  a  while  on  the  staff  of  General  Jefferson  C.  Davis,  and 
later  on  the  staff  of  his  brother,  General  William  P.  Carlin,  a  graduate  of  West  Point.  Lieutenant 
Carlin  was  highly  commended  by  General  Davis  for  his  gallantry  in  the  battles  preceding  that  of 
67 


686  r. \-rn-.n  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY, 

Chicamaugua,  and  in  that  bloody  contest  he  had  two  horses  shot  under  him.  He  served  three 
years,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  offered  a  second  lieutenancy  in  the  regular  army,  but  de- 
clined it.  For  the  last  five  years  he  has  been  major  of  the  isth  battalion  Illinois  National  Guards. 

He  was  chairman  of  the  board  of  supervisors  of  Jersey  county  four  years;  an  alderman  of  the 
city  of  Jerseyville  the  same  length  of  time,  and  is  now  serving  his  first  term  in  the  state  legisla- 
ture, being  on  the  democratic  side  of  the  house,  and  on  committees  on  railroads,  warehouse  reve- 
nue, and  banks  and  banking.  Banking  is  his  business  at  home.  He  is  a  self-made  man,  and  by 
sheer  industry  and  economy  has  placed  himself  in  very  comfortable  circumstances. 

Representative  Carlin  has  filled  all  the  offices  of  the  grand  encampment  of  the  Odd-Fellows 
of  the  state,  and  is  now  serving  the  second  term  as  representative  from  that  body  to  the  sovereign 
grand  lodge.  In  1880  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention,  which  nominated  General 
Hancock  for  president. 

His  religious  connection  is  with  the  Presbyterian  church.  In  April,  1880,  he  married  Miss 
Mary  Cross,  daughter  of  Hugh  N.  Cross,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank.  Jerseyville,  and 
she  died  in  March,  1882.  leaving  two  daughters. 


EDMUND  S.   HOLBROOK. 

CHICAGO. 

EDMUND  S.  HOLBROOK  resides  in  Chicago,  and  is  a  lawyer  by  profession.  He  was  born 
in  Grafton,  Massachusetts,  and  there  spent  his  earlier  years.  His  parents,  Stephen  and 
Sally  (Goddard)  Holbrook,  were  of  English  ancestry  and  descendants  of  the  earlier  settlers  of 
New  England.  They  were  farmers  in  the  middle  walks  of  life,  and  Edmund  was  the  youngest 
of  a  large  family.  From  his  youth  he  evinced  a  strong  and  well  defined  inclination,  taste  and 
aptitude  for  literary  pursuits.  After  the  usual  education  of  the  village  public  school,  lie  took  the 
preparatory  course  at  Phillips  Academy,  at  Andover,  entered  Amherst  College  in  1835,  and  grad- 
uated in  1839,  with  high  honors. 

Immediately  upon  graduating  he  was  invited  by  the  New  England  Anti-slavery  Society  to 
become  one  of  its  lecturers  and  standard  bearers.  As  this  suited  well  his  inclinations  as  a  friend 
of  universal  freedom  and  as  a  debater  and  orator,  he  entered  bravely  upon  that  field  of  labor,  and 
it  required  bravery  then  to  espouse  so  unpopular  a  cause. 

In  the  spring  of  1840,  he  resumed  school  life  in  Essex  county,  Virginia,  as  professor  of  lan- 
guages, belles-lettres  and  vocal  music,  and  continued  in  that  vocation  till  1843.  While  residing 
there  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  finding  occasion  sometimes  to  combat 
.  the  Gospel  ministers.  He  also  took  part  in  politics,  sometimes  in  debates,  sustaining  the  demo- 
cratic party  and  its  principles,  and  in  the  celebrated  campaign  of  1840  he  met  in  public  debate 
the  whig  representative  in  congress  of  that  district,  Henry  A.  Wise,  a  great  pet  of  his  party,  and 
distanced  him  so  effectually  that  the  democratic  press  boasted  of  his  defeat  by  a  Yankee  school- 
master; whereupon  the  mad-dog  cry  of  abolitionist  was  raised,  a  mob  organized,  and  threats 
made,  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  taking  the  lead;  but  the  friends  of  the  able  debater  rallied, 
talked  as  firmly  and  loudly  as  their  opponents,  and  violence  was  abandoned. 

While  engaged  in  teaching,  the  young  professor  devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  and,  without  instruction,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Richmond.  Discovering,  however,  that 
a  pro-slavery  community  was  in  many  respects  quite  uncongenial  to  him,  he  came  to  the  Far  West 
in  the  fall  of  1843,  settled  first  at  Ottawa  and  soon  after  at  Peru,  La  Salle  county,  Illinois. 

In  1846,  he  volunteered  under  the  call  of  the  President  for  troops  for  Mexico,  assisted  in  rais- 
ing a  company,  became  a  lieutenant,  joined  the  ist  Illinois  under  Colonel  Hardin,  served  under 
General  Wool,  afterward  under  General  Taylor;  was  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  and  returned 
at  the  end  of  his  service  in  July,  1847,  having  served  faithfully  and  with  honor.  In  1848,  he  estab- 
lished a  weekly  newspaper,  the  Peru  "  Telegraph,"  free-soil  in  politics,  supporting  Van  Buren  for 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  687 

the  presidency.  It  was  the  only  paper  of  that  kind  in  that  section  of  the  country,  and  had  great 
influence  in  molding  public  sentiment  to  what  it  afterward  became.  He  labored  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  republican  party,  and  for  the  support  of  it  in  peace  and  in  war,  and  has  lived  to  see 
a  result  so  little  anticipated  when  in  his  youth  he  first  set  his  face  toward  emancipation. 

In  1852  he  married  Miss  Ann  Case,  of  Racine,  Wisconsin,  the  daughter  of  Caleb  Case,  for- 
merly of  Oswego  county,  New  York.  In  1865,  he  opened  a  law  office  in  Chicago,  and  a  branch 
office  at  Joliet  in  1870.  In  his  profession  he  has  devoted  his  time  and  attention  to  a  general  law 
practice.  In  the  law  on  real  property  he  is  without  a  superior  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  His  power 
of  reason  is  comprehensive,  extensive  and  profound,  and  readily  masters  the  most  abstruse,  com- 
plex and  subtle  propositions.  As  an  orator  he  is  sufficiently  fluent  to  engage,  and  has  command 
of  language  to  express  his  ideas  directly,  tersely  and  powerfully  to  carry  conviction,  and  yet  upon 
occasion  is  full  of  wit  and  satire.  As  a  conversationalist,  he  is  pleasing,  pensive,  instructive  and 
emphatic  in  expression.  In  person,  he  is  robust  and  sound,  enjoys  life,  makes  acquaintances 
slowly,  and  is  strongly  and  warmly  attached  to  his  friends.  His  learning  and  reading  are  of  wide 
range,  and  so  are  his  writings  and  essays. 

His  genius  for  poesy  developed  in  early  youth,  and  is  of  a  decidedly,  superior  order.  He  was 
the  class  poet  at  the  academy  and  in  college.  Among  his  numerous  poetic  productions  are  his 
poems  entitled  the  "  Mexican  War,"  the  most  lengthy,  published  by  the  association  of  Mexican 
veterans,  "Chicago  and  the  Great  Fire,"  "A  Centennial,"  "Apostrophe  to  Man,"  "Tribute  to  the 
Memory  of  Judge  Breeze,"  late  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois;  and  many  others  are  equally 
worthy  of  mention. 

As  specimens  of  his  style  and  power  these  stanzas  are  here  given: 

•From  the  "  Mexican  War:  " 

"  Chapultepec,  the  sentry  of  the  city  at  her  feet, 
How  grand  and  fixed  in  sweet  repose,  in  armor  how  complete! 
Our  last  great  work  shall  be  our  best,  to  lay  her  wondrous  power, 
And  float  '  the  Red,  the  White,  the  Blue,'  above  her  highest  tower. 
To  sav  it,  was  the  act  itself  —  the  sealers  volunteer! 
The  cannons  roar,  the  troops  ascend  yet  nearer  and  more  near! 
A  conflict  hand-to-hand  ensues,  the  stormers  mount  the  walls!  — 
A  moment  more  of  life  and  death  —  the  grand  old  Fortress  falls!  " 

From  "Apostrophe  to  Man:" 

"  Oh,  man!  endowed  with  mind  of  heavenly  birth; 

Enthroned  superior  o'er  the  world  below; 
Fired  with  ambition  that  o'erspans  the  earth. 

With  energies  to  do,  as  powers  to  know; 

Let  thy  whole  frame  with  living  virtues  glow; 
Let  truth  and  wisdom  all  thy  counsels  be; 

Love,  mercy,  charity  on  each  bestow; 
And  for  thy  soul,  when  death  shall  set  thee  free, 
Cherish  the  faith  and  hope  of  immortality." 

From  "Excelsior"  (an  acrostic): 

"  EXCELSIOR!"  the  prayer  of  MAN  to  GOD: 

"Come,  Thou,  the  Guide  of  my  aspiring  heart, 

Conduct  my  footsteps  on  the  higher  road ; 
Endow  my  soul  with  each  diviner  part, 
Love,  Wisdom,  Joy,  and  Truth's  most  truthful  chart; 

Show  how  each  crime  and  wrong  I  should  abhor; 
Inspire  each  holier  thought,  each  nobler  art; 

Oppress  me  not  in  Life's  e'er  chafing  war; 

Renew  each  day  my  strength,  Excelsior  !  EXCELSIOR  !  !  " 

As  a  religionist,  Judge  Holbrook's  course  and  thought  have  been  unique  and  peculiar.  His 
parents  were  Puritans  of  the  old  stripe,  and  so  also  nearly  all  the  companions  of  his  youth.  Yet 


688  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

he  revolted  against  all  these,  and  soon  after  his  education  was  commenced,  through  the  involun- 
tary action  of  his  own  reason,  he  came  to  doubt  and  to  deny  the  peculiar  tenets  of  Calvinism  as 
unreasonable  and  unjust.  He  then  had  no  faith  for  many  years.  Considering  that  he  found  in 
Spiritualism  what  he  sought  in  vain  elsewhere,  he  has  become  its  bold  and  earnest  advocate,  both 
by  tongue  and  pen,  and  his  writings,  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  are  widely  known  in  the  journals 
and  periodicals  of  that  religious  sect. 


N.   L.  SCRANTON. 

TOLEDO. 

AMONG  the  old  settlers  and  representative  attorneys  of  the  Cumberland  county  bar,  and  one 
li.  who  ranks  among  the  self-made  men  of  Illinois,  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  is  a  native 
of  Virginia,  of  English  descent,  and  was  born  September  10,  1839.  His  father  was  Nathan  Scran- 
ton,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  farmer  by  occupation.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Lucy 
Lewis.  She  was  a  native  of  Louisiana. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  remained  at  home  until  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  obtaining  a 
common-school  education,  and  then  went  south,  spending  about  two  years  in  New  Orleans,  where 
he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade.  In  1861  he  returned  to  the  North,  and  settled  in  Clark  county, 
Illinois,  and  followed  his  trade  for  about  ten  years,  dealing  to  some  extent  in  lumber  and  running 
a  saw-mill.  With  a  native  desire  for  knowledge  he,  while  thus  employed,  improved  his  spare  time 
in  the  study  of  law,  having  obtained  a  few  law  books.  With  more  extensive  reading  his  desire 
to  master  the  science  of  the  law  increased,  and  he  determined  to  fit  himself  for  the  practice  of  the 
profession.  By  hard  work  he  prepared  himself  for  examination,  and  in  1869  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  Removing  immediately  to  Toledo,  he  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  his  profession,  and 
has  made  a  grand  success,  having  now  a  large  and  desirable  clientage.  He  is  a  careful  student, 
a  close  observer,  and  a  lawyer  whose  opinions  are  based  on  his  knowledge  of  the  law. 

Mr.  Scranton  has  had  many  important  cases  which  have  brought  him  very  prominently  before 
the  public.  Soon  after  coming  north  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Lee,  whose  parents  were  among  the 
first  settlers  of  Clark  county,  coming  there  when  it  was  but  a  wilderness. 

Mr.  Scranton  is  truly  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  and  what  he  has  made  in  reputation 
and  wealth  is  the  fruit  of  his  own  honest  and  industrious  labors.  He  is  a  good  advocate  before 
a  jury,  and  uses  every  honorable  means  to  enhance  the  interests  of  his  client,  and  has  taken  at 
times  an  energetic  part  in  the  political  field  with  the  democratic  party. 


JOHN    L.  KING. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN    LYLE    KING,  lawyer,  was  born  in   1825,  at  Madison,  Indiana,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late 
Victor  King,  a  merchant  of  that  city,  who  was  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  that  section,  and 
for  fifty  years  actively  identified  with  the  growth  and  interests  of  Madison.     He  was  also  one  of 
the  founders  and  most  liberal  patrons  of  Hanover  College,  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary,  now  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Northwest,  at  Chicago. 

John  Lyle  King  was  a  graduate  of  Hanover  College  when  that  institution  was  under  the  pres- 
idency of  Rev.  E.  D.  MacMaster,  D.D.  From  his  relationship  it  was  almost  a  matter  of  course, 
that  he  should  prepare  for  the  legal  profession.  One  uncle,  Joseph  G.  Lyle,  of  Georgetown,  Ken- 
tucky, and  another  uncle,  Wilberforce  Lyle,  of  Madison,  Indiana,  were  eminent  lawyers,  while 
Joseph  G.  Marshall,  also  of  the  latter  city,  who  was  the  leader  of  the  bar,  and  of  the  whig  party 
of  Indiana,  was  a  near  relative.  He  accordingly  entered  the  office  of  Wilberforce  Lyle  as  a  stu- 
dent, and  shortly  after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  his  uncle  and  preceptor  died.  In  the  following 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  689 

year  Mr.  King  was  admitted  as  an  attorney  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state.  He  afterward 
formed  a  partnership  with  S.  C.  Stevens,  a  former  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  and  one  of  the 
noted  early  abolitionists  and  free-soilers  of  the  West,  and  this  connection  lasted  for  several  years. 
In  1852  he  was  elected  a  representative  in  the  legislature,  which  was  the  first  under  the  new  con- 
stitution of  Indiana.  The  session  lasted  nearly  six  months,  during  which  the  whole  statute  law 
was  revised,  and  the  code  of  practice  was  also  adopted.  He  was  one  of  the  frequent  and  leading 
debaters  in  the  discussions  of  the  house,  and  a  warm  advocate  of  reform  in  the  law  and  practice. 
He  was  a  great  admirer  of  Kossuth,  and  introduced  into  the  house  the  joint  resolutions  of  honor 
and  homage  to  the  great,  Magyar  orator  and  patriot  which  were  passed,  and  in  the  ovation  ten- 
dered the  exile,  Mr.  King  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which  presented  the  Hungarian  to  the 
legislature.  At  a  meeting  of  citizens  of  the  capital,  he  made  a  Kossuth  speech,  which  gave  him 
great  eclat.  He  was  a  whig  in  politics,  though  his  party  in  the  legislature  was  in  a  powerless 
minority.  In  a  daily  journal  of  his  native  city,  of  which  Owen  Stuart,  afterward  colonel  of  a 
Chicago  Irish  regiment  in  the  war,  was  part  proprietor,  and  to  whose  columns  he  was  a  constant 
editorial  contributor,  he  fulminated  the  first  and  most  vigorous  anti-Nebraska  articles  in  the 
state. 

In  the  beginning  of  1856  he  removed  to  Chicago,  and  formed  a  copartnership  with  Joshua  L. 
Marsh,  then  city  attorney,  and  mainly  managed  the  law  business  of  the  city  in  the  courts  of 
record.  He  himself,  in  1860,  was  elected  (on  the  John  Wentworth  ticket  for  mayor)  city  attorney, 
over  the  late  Colonel  James  A.  Mulligan.  Without  any  assistance,  and  relying  on  his  own  knowl- 
edge, industry  and  vigor,  he  conducted  the  city's  whole  law  business  during  his  term  of  office. 
He  subsequently  acquired  a  large  general  practice,  both  civil  and  criminal,  to  which  he  has  since 
exclusively  devoted  himself.  A  very  large  share  of  his  practice  has  been  in  jury  trials,  in  which 
his  resources,  readiness  and  powers  of  advocacy  have  won  him  much  success  and  distinction.  In 
a  celebrated  libel  suit,  in  1869,  against  the  Chicago  "Tribune,"  he  particularly  evinced  his  special 
powers,  and  his  speech,  together  with  that  of  E.  W.  Evans,  his  associate  counsel,  was  published 
and  had  a  wide  circulation.  He  has  from  time  to  time  contributed  numerous  editorial  and  other 
articles,  chiefly  on  legal  subjects  and  favoring  law  reform,  to  Chicago  journals.  During  his  pro- 
fessional life  his  pen  has  been  prolific.  On  his  motion,  the  Chicago  Law  Institute,  in  1872, 
adopted  a  resolution  in  favor  of  a  change  in  the  mode  of  reporting  and  publishing  the  decisions 
of  the  supreme  court,  so  as  to  secure  their  speedier  and  cheaper  appearance.  As  chairman  of  the 
institute  committee,  he  prepared  the  "Address  of  the  Chicago  Law  Institute  to  the  Bar  and  Press 
of  the  State,"  a  pamphlet  of  unusual  force  and  brilliancy. 

This  biographical  sketch  would  be  incomplete  without  some  reference  to  his  merits  and  qual- 
ities as  a  lawyer  and  man.  His  sterling  merits  are  appreciated  by  all  who  know  him  personally. 
He  has  a  high  sense  of  honor  and  principle,  which  places  him  beyond  suspicion  of  craft  and  trick 
in  his  profession.  He  is  a  true  and  genial  friend,  and  of  noted  and  unswerving  fidelity  to  his 
clients,  and  of  untiring  zeal  for  their  interests,  and  is  courteous  and  affable  with  his  brother 
members  of  the  bar.  He  has  a  keen  sense  of  professional  rectitude,  and  is  zealous  only  for  just 
and  rightful  success,  and  commands  the  respect  and  attention  of  the  court  for  his  law  and  logic, 
while  before  a  jury  he  is  ranked  among  the  foremost  of  advocates.  His  briefs  in  the  supreme 
and  appellate  courts  are  concise,  and  models  of  logic  and  legal  acumen,  and  may  be  read  as 
exceptional  specimens  of  legal  ability,  industry  and  research,  frequently  relieved  by  allusions  and 
illustrations  which  show  the  breadth,  richness  and  variety  of  an  extensive  and  liberal  culture. 
His  attainments  in  general  literature,  aside  from  his  professional  ones,  which  are  of  the  first  order, 
are  of  no  common  kind,  as  is  manifest  from  his  written  compositions,  and  in  his  forensic  efforts. 
Shakespeare  has  evidently  been  much  studied  by  him,  and  an  occasional  felicitous  phrase  or  quo- 
tation from  the  great  dramatist,  has  well  served  him  to  illustrate  a  position,  or  to  point  or  impress 
an  appeal.  • 

In  1878  he  made  a  venture  into  the  field  of  authorship,  in  the  publication  of  an  elegant  vol- 
ume, entitled  "Trouting  on  the  Brule  River,  or  Summer  Wayfaring  in  the  Northern  Wilderness." 


690  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

The  volume  relates  the  experiences  of  the  author  and  his  party  of  professional  companions  in  the 
woods,  and  on  the  waters  of  the  northern  wildernesses  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  while  tenting 
and  trouting,  on  the  Brule  River,  their  summer  vacations  away.  It  is  written  in  a  charming  and 
attractive  style,  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  lover  of  books,  and  of  the  great  book  of  nature,  a  style 
always  flowing  and  vigorous,  often  graphic  and  brilliant,  with  a  delicate  and  subtle  vein  of  humor 
and  pleasantry,  abounding  in  happy  allusions,  with  passages  bordering  on  poetry,  and  occasional 
graceful  professional  turns  of  thought,  just  enough  to  remind  us  it  is  a  lawyer,  writing  of  lawyers 
in  their  holiday  freedom  and  play.  This  book  has  passed  into  a  second  edition. 

Mr.  King  is  still  an  active  practitioner  at  the  Chicago  bar,  and  is  enjoying  the  full  fruition  of 
an  honorable  and  successful  professional  career. 


WILLIAM    H.  CHAPPELL,   M.D. 

OREGON. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  CHAPPELL  is  of  pure  French  blood,  both  parents,  Raphael  James 
and  Cecelia  (La  France)  Chappell,  being  natives  of  the  city. of  Paris.  They  were  married 
there,  and  soon  afterward  came  to  this  country,-  stopping  awhile  in  Plattsburgh,  New  York,  and 
removing  thence  to  Shoreham,  Vermont,  where  William  was  born,  January  5,  1847.  There 
Raphael  Chappell  worked  at  his  trade  (that  of  an  ornamental  marble  cutter)  until  1850,  when 
the  family  went  to  Fox  Lake,  Wisconsin. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  educated  at  the  Wisconsin  State  University,  taking  a  partial 
course;  was  clerk  for  three  years  in  a  drug  store  at  Beaver  Dam,  Wisconsin,  where  he  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine,  continuing  it  at  Madison.  He  commenced  practice  at  Hebron,  Jefferson 
county,  Wisconsin,  in  1868,  and  two  years  later  moved  to  Dartford,  same  state,  where  he  remained 
five  years.  Meantime,  he  attended  lectures  at  the  Bennett  Eclectic  College,  Chicago,  and  was 
graduated  in  1873. 

In  1875,  Doctor  Chappell  settled  in  Oregon,  Ogle  county,  his  present  home,  where  he  has  a 
highly  remunerative  general  practice,  making,  at  the  same  time,  a  specialty  of  the  study  of  sur- 
gery. He  is  a  close  student,  and  a  progressive  man.  .  The  doctor  writes  occasionally  for  medical 
magazines  of  his  school;  is  secretary  of  the  Rock  River  Institute  of  Homceopathy,  and  has  a 
highly  creditable  standing  among  the  fraternity.  He  is  an  Odd-Fellow,  and  has  passed  all  the 
chairs  in  the  subordinate  lodge  and  encampment. 

The  wife  of  Doctor  Chappell  was  Josephine  S.  Dailey,  of  Cottage  Grove,  Wisconsin,  their 
marriage  being  dated  March  23,  1869.  They  have  had  two  children,  only  one  of  whom,  Clarence 
C.,  is  living. 

HON.  WALTER   B.   SCATES. 

CHICAGO. 

WALTER  BENNETT  SCATES,  once  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  and  at  one 
period  collector  of  customs  at  Chicago,  is  a  native  of  Virginia,  though  reared  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  born  at  South  Boston,  Halifax  county,  Virginia,  January  18,  1808.  His  parents 
were  Joseph  Scales,  millwright,  and  Elizabeth  Eggleston  (Bennett)  Scales.  His  maternal  grand- 
father, an  Irishman  by  birlh,  and  educaled  for  a  physician  and  surgeon  in  London,  England,  came 
to  this  country  prior  to  the  revolution,  and  was  a  surgeon  in  thai  war,  dying  in  his  son-in-law's 
house  in  Kenlucky,  1812. 

When  our  subjecl  was  Ihree  months  old  the  family  moved  from  Virginia,  and  in  1809  setlled 
in  Chrislian  counly,  Kentucky,  on  a  farm  near  Hopkinsville,  on  Lillle  River,  where  Walter  was 
engaged  in  farming,  raising  and  slripping  lobacco  for  his  father  lill  nineleen  years  of  age,  altend- 
ing  school  usually  during  ihe  winlers.  Delermined  to  have  more  education,  which  his  falher  al 


UNITED    STATES  RIOCRA FJflCA /,    DICTIONARY.  69! 

first  failed  to  give  him,  he  left  home  without  his  parents'  knowledge,  and  went  to  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, where  he  entered  a  printing  office.  His  father  keeping  track  of  him,  and  seeing  the  son 
was  determined  to  study  one  of  the  professions,  finally  sent  for  him  and  made  arrangements  for 
him  to  take  a  course  in  law. 

Not  long  afterward,  we  find  our  subject  in  the  law  office  of  Hon.  Charles  S.  Morehead,  subse- 
quently governor  of  Kentucky,  and  in  the  spring  of  1831  he  was  licensed  to  practice.  He  settled 
at  Frankfort,  Franklin  county,  Illinois,  where  he  remained  for  five  years,  serving  part  of  the  time 
as  county  surveyor  and  brigade  inspector.  In  1836,  on  being  appointed  attorney  general  of  the 
state,  he  removed  to  Vandalia,  then  the  seat  of  government.  November  31,  1836,  he  married  Miss 
Mary  Ridgeway,  daughter  of  John  Ridgeway,  formerly  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  At  the 
session  of  the  legislature  in  1836,  Mr.  Scates  was  elected  judge  of  the  third  judicial  circuit,  which 
embraced  the  southern  peninsula  of  the  state,  extending  from  Cairo  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
northward,  and  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Shawneetown.  In  1.841  a  new  law  went  into  opera- 
tion, requiring  the  addition  of  five  circuit  judges  to  the  supreme  court  bench,  making  nine  in  all, 
and  Judge  Scates  was  one  of  the  five  selected,  the  other  four  being  Sidney  Breese,  Thomas  Ford, 
Samuel  H.  Treat  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  In  that  year  he  removed  to  Mount  Vernon,  Jefferson 
county,  and  continued  to  hold  his  circuits  until  January,  1847,  when  he  resigned  and  resumed  the 
law  practice.  In  the  spring  following  he  was  elected  to  the  constitutional  convention,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee  in  that  body,  a  post  of  honor  always  assigned  to  a  lawyer. 

In  1849  there  occurred  an  episode  in  the  judge's  life  which  did  not  inure  very  much  to  his 
pecuniary  benefit,  and  which,  we  venture  to  say,  he  does  not  even  now  contemplate  with  a  dis- 
tressing amount  of  complacency.  In  1849  he  bought  an  interest  in  a  coal  mine  at  Caseyville,  and 
helped  build  a  railroad  from  that  point  to  Saint  Louis,  the  first  road  constructed  with  rail  in  that 
part  of  the  state.  To  these  enterprises  of  opening  the  mine,  and  constructing  an  outlet  for  its 
'precious  treasures,  he  gave  four  years  of  hard  labor,  and  in  1853  returned  to  Mount  Vernon,  hav- 
ing been  elected  to  the  supreme  court  bench  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Hon. 
Lyman  Trumbull,  who  was  soon  afterward  elected  to  the  United  States  senate.  In  1857  Judge 
Scates  again  resigned  the  judgeship,  being  then  chief-justice,  and  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he 
-was  in  the  steady  practice  of  the  law  until  the  civil  war  broke  out. 

In  August,  1862,  Judge  Scates  went  into  the  army,  commissioned  with  the  rank  of  major  of  the 
i3th  army  corps,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  being  on  General  McClerland's  staff.  Ap- 
pointed by  a  change  of  the  law,  by  congress,  he  was  soon  assistant  adjutant-general,  with  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  I3th  army  corps,  under  .General  McClerland,  and  served  until  Jan- 
uary, 1866,  when  he  was  mustered  out.  After  coming  out  he  was  brevetted  successively  lieuten- 
ant-colonel, colonel  and  brigadier-general.  Says  a  writer  who  has  long  known  our  subject,  "It 
would  be  unjust  to  history  not  to  state  that  General  Scates,  in  every  post  assigned  him  during  the 
war,  was  vigilant,  active,  faithful,  brave  and  zealous.  The  officers  of  the  I3th  army  corps,  who 
were  brought  in  contact  with  him,  always  speak  of  him  as  a  tried  and  true  soldier.  *  *  * 
Courteous  and  kind  to  his  inferiors,  respectful  and  obedient  to  his  superiors,  and  though  a  com- 
paratively old  man,  full  of  the  fire,  courage  and  energy  of  the  younger  braves." 

General  Scates  had  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Chicago  when,  in  July,  1866,  he 
was  appointed  by  President  Johnson  to  the  office  of  collector  of  customs,  Chicago,  which  position 
he  held  till  July  i,  1869,  when  he  was  turned  out  by  President  Grant,  under  whom  he  had  served 
at  Vicksburg,  in  order  to  make  a  place  for  a  civilian,  a  partner  of  his  brother.  While  collector,  he 
was  also  United  States  depositary,  according  to  the  law  then  in  existence,  and  which  was  soon 
after  changed,  making  that  a  separate  office.  In  every  position,  civil  as  well  as  military,  which 
the  general  has  ever  held,  he  has  discharged  his  duties  faithfully,  and  with  decided  credit  to  his 
judgment  as  well  as  abilities.  The  office  of  collector  requires  the  most  sterling  qualities  of  char- 
acter, and  these  our  subject  possesses  to  an  eminent  degree.  No  honester  man,  we  believe,  lives. 
His  great  abilities  were  seen  to  their  best  advantage  when  he  was  on  the  bench,  and  when  the 
exigencies  of  the  hour  required  that  all  his  logical  acumen  and  mental  powers  should  be  brought 


692  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

into  exercise.  With  his  dormant  energies  fairly  aroused,  his  luminous  mind  fully  ablaze,  and  his 
strong  judgment  brought  to  bear  on  a  knotty  question,  one  could  not  but  feel  that  he  was  indeed 
a  "natural  born  lawyer,  and  that  God  created  him  for  a  judge."  It  seems  a  pity  that  such  a  man 
could  not  have  been  kept  on  the  bench.  While  there  he  truly  adorned  it,  and  his  name  will  be 
handed  down  with  the  names  of  Breese,  Douglas,  Lockwood,  Caton,  Treat,  Lawrence  and  others, 
to  the  latest  generations. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  marriage  of  General  Scales.  His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  is 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  still  survive,  all  grown,  doing  well  for  themselves. 
His  present  family  consists  of  his  wife,  two  daughters  and  two  sons,  at  his  home  in  Evanston.  The 
general  still  retains  his  clearness  of  head,  his  strong  memory  and  other  mental  faculties,  and  is 
quietly  attending  to  his  professional  duties,  being  very  prompt  and  careful  in  their  discharge. 
His  friends  are  numerous,  abiding  and  appreciative,  and  he  has  the  most  cordial  esteem  of  a  large 
circle  of  acquaintances. 

HON.  JESSE  EMERSON. 

BUDA. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  son  of  Jesse  and  Mary  (Stevens)  Emerson,  and  was  born  in 
Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  March  20,  1824.  Both  parents  were  natives  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. In  1836  the  family  came  to  this  state,  and  settled  at  French  Grove,  near  Buda.  Jesse 
Emerson,  Sr.,  was  a  drover  and  beef  packer  at  the  East,  and  a  farmer  in  Bureau  county,  where 
both  parents  died.  The  son  was  reared  on  the  farm,  receiving  meanwhile  an  academic  education 
at  Princeton,  and  teaching  a  school  two  or  three  winter  terms.  He  was  a  clerk  in  a  store  at 
Tiskilwa  a  year  or  two,  and  was  a  merchant  at  Buda  for  ten  years.  While  thus  engaged,  he 
studied  law;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1858,  and  soon  afterward,  closing  out  his  mercantile 
business,  gave  his  whole  attention  to  the  law.  He  has  held  various  offices,  such  as  magistrate  for 
a  decade  or  more;  supervisor  and  county  judge,  the  last  two  positions  one  term  each.  He  is  a 
democrat,  living  in  a  republican  county,  and  but  for  his  popularity  could  not  be  elected  to  any 
official  position. 

Judge  Emerson  has  been  a  resident  of  Bureau  county  for  forty-seven  years,  and  is  probably 
the  oldest  settler  in  the  village  of  Buda  still  living  here.  He  has  many  warm  friends  in  the 
county. 

He  was  married  in  1851  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Gushing,  and  they  have  had  three  children,  losing 
one  of  them  in  infancy.  Charles  W.  is  a  farmer,  living  in  Bureau  county,  and  Minnie  F.  is  at 
home. 

WILLIAM    HOPE   DAVIS,   M.D. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

WILLIAM  HOPE  DAVIS  was  born  in  Genesee  county,  New  York,  September  i,  1835,  his 
parents  being  David  and  Harriet  (Wilder)  Davis.  His  father's  ancestors  emigrated  from 
Ireland  long  before  the  revolutionary  war,  and  were  noted  for  generations  as  Protestants  and 
Free-thinkers.  His  mother  belonged  to  the  well  known  Wilder  family  of  Massachusetts.  When 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  five  years  old  his  parents  removed  to  Michigan,  then  almost  an 
uncultivated  wilderness.  Distinct  among  the  memories  of  childhood  is  the  recollection  of  the 
howling  of  wolves  about  their  cabin,  of  seeing  a  black  bear  carry  off  their  only  pig  from  the  pen, 
of  the  eyes  of  wild  beasts  glowing  like  coals  in  the  darkness,  and  occasionally  a  black  nose  thrust 
between  the  logs.  His  father  worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade  in  the  summer,  and  at  shoemaking 
in  the  winter.  At  the  first-named  useful  occupation  William  was  put  as  soon  as  he  was  large 
enough,  working  at  it  except  when  attending  an  occasional  winter  term  at  the  district  school. 
His  father's  family  being  large,  it  became  necessary  for  William  to  depend  upon  himself 


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UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  695 

early  in  life.  There  was  "little  to  earn  and  many  to  keep,"  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  left 
home  to  spend  a  summer  in  his  native  state.  Hearing  much  of  the  Sunny  South,  he  journeyed  to 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  where  he  soon  became  acquainted  with  many  of  the  best  families  in  the  city. 
Here  he  became  a  convert  to  the  Christian  religion,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  united  with  the 
Disciple  or  Christian  church,  in  which  he  has  ever  since  lived  a  devoted  and  consistent  member. 

In  the  year  1854  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  under  the  instruction  of  Professor  Gab- 
bett,  who  had  occupied  an  important  position  in  the  Worcester  Eclectic  Medical  College  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  the  winter  of  1854-5  he  attended  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  Memphis  College  of 
Medicine,  after  which  he  pursued  his  studies  at  Barbees  Academy  until  the  spring  of  1857,  when 
he  removed  to  Paris,  Texas,  and  there  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession,  remaining 
about  two  years. 

During  the  summer  of  1858  he  crossed  the  plains  to  California,  by  way  of  Mexico,  traveling 
the  entire  distance  on  horseback,  and  returning  late  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year.  In  August, 
1859,  he  left  Texas.  Starting  from  Paris  one  Monday  morning,  he  arrived  in  Memphis  the  next 
Tuesday  week,  having  ridden  the  whole  distance  (four  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles)  on  a 
Texan  pony,  and  slept  upon  the  ground,  three  hundred  miles  of  the  way  being  through  a  dense 
and  almost  trackless  wilderness.  Selling  his  faithful  pony  at  Memphis,  he  took  the  cars  for 
Hillsboro,  Ohio,  which  place  he  reached  September  7,  and  on  the  roth  of  the  same  month,  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Rachel  Anna  Davis,  who,  although  of  the  same  name,  was  of  no  rela- 
tionship. On  the  mother's  side  Miss  Davis  was  a  descendant  of  the  celebrated  William  Penn 
family  of  Pennsylvania. 

They  have  three  children  living,  a  son  and  two  daughters.  John  Scudder,  the  eldest,  has 
attended  four  full  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  Cincinnati,  and  is  now 
a  worthy  member  of  the  profession.  The  daughters  are  named  Millea  and  Eve. 

In  the  spring  of  1860  he  bought  a  book  and  stationery  store  in  Leesburgh,  Ohio,  but  sold  out 
in  a  few  months  and  returned,  with  his  wife,  to  Memphis.  Here  political  troubles,  of  which  civil 
war  was  soon  to  be  the  sad  result,  made  a  protracted  stay  on  the  part  of  Doctor  Davis  inexpedi- 
ent, and  he  soon  returned  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  went  from  there  to  Goodrich,  Michigan, 
where  he  successfully  practiced  medicine,  and  at  the  same  time  conducted  a  drug  store,  accumu- 
lating several  thousand  dollars,  but  greatly  impairing  his  health,  owing  to  extensive  night  prac- 
tice. Here  he  was  drafted  for  the  army,  but  judging  wisely  that  his  services  were  needed  more 
at  home,  and  preferring  to  work  for  prolonging  rather  than  destroying  the  lives  of  others,  he  was 
released  upon  payment  of  £  few  hundred  dollars.  About  this  time,  suffering  from  a  severe 
nervous  affection,  and  needing  rest  and  change,  it  was  decided  best  that  he  should  spend  a  win- 
ter in  Cincinnati,  which  he  did,  attending  meanwhile  a  full  course  of  medical  lectures  at  the 
Eclectic  Institute,  from  which  he  graduated.  Subsequently  he  recommenced  the  practice  of 
medicine  at  Flora,  Clay  county,  Illinois,  but  on  account  of  ill  health  remained  only  one  season, 
spending  the  next  in  traveling  through  the  eastern  states. 

Early  in  1867  he  located  permanently  in  Springfield,  where  he  has  been  engaged  in  an  exten- 
sive practice  up  to  the  present  time.  In  1869  he  procured  a  charter  and  organized  the  Illinois 
Eclectic  Medical  Society,  of  which  he  has  been  secretary  for  five  years.  He  was  unanimously 
elected  editor  of  the  journal  of  this  society,  and  has  acquitted  himself  in  this  responsible  position 
with  honor. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  National  Eclectic  Medical  Association,  held  in  Washington,  District  of 
Columbia,  in  1876,  Doctor  Davis  was  elected  secretary.  He  has  been  a  large  contributor  to  peri- 
odical medical  literature,  and  has  read  a  number  of  papers  before  the  state  and  national  medical 
associations.  In  1879  he  was  a  delegate  to  represent  the  city  of  Springfield,  at  the  meeting  of 
the  National  Health  Association  at  Richmond,  Virginia. 

Doctor  Davis  was  one  of  the  first  movers  for  the  laws  regulating  the  practice  of  medicine, 
now  in  force.     He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Springfield  Board  of  Health  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  is  regarded  by  his  associates  in  that  board  as  a  very  valuable  member. 
68 


696  t'Nf  '/'/•:/>  .vy.  /  '/•/•:.<;  RIOGKATIUCAI.  IIICIIONAKY. 

Doctor  Davis'  experiences  have  been  varied,  and  he  is  eminently  a  self-made  man,  having  suf- 
fered the  privations  incident  to  poverty  and  pioneer  life,  and  having  laboriously  earned  his 
education.  From  a  child  the  dream  of  his  ambition  was  to  become  a  physician.  His  pockets 
were  stuffed  with  bottles  when  in  the  pride  of  his  first  trowsers,  and  his  youthful  experiments  in 
surgery  and  the  healing  art  were  practiced  on  frogs  and  itinerant  cats.  In  his  youthful  days  he 
has  camped  with  savages  in  Michigan,  in  the  Indian  Territory  and  in  Texas;  has  become  familiar 
witli  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico,  and  has  studied  the  character  of  the  Chinaman  in  California.  He 
has  crossed  the  plains  four  times,  twice  on  horseback  and  twice  on  the  cars ;  has  traveled  through 
all  the  South  except  Florida,  and  has  a  desire  to  see  the  whole  world.  He  is  industrious  from 
principle,  believing  it  far  better  to  labor  with  no  remuneration  than  to  be  idle.  In  his  practice 
he  has  always  been  ready  to  attend  the  meritorious  poor,  with  no  hope  of  reward  save  in  the  final 
plaudit,  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." 


DANIEL  L.  SHOREY. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  bar  of  Chicago  contains  in  its  list  a  number  of  prominent  men  who  hail  from  the  Pine 
Tree  State,  and  one  of  the  foremost  among  them  is  Daniel  Lewis  Shorey,  who  was  born  at 
Jonesborough,  Washington  county,  January  31,  1824.  He  comes  of  the  very,  best  revolutionary 
stock,  his  grandfather,  John  Shorey.  enlisting  as  a  private  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  taking  part  in 
the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  and  serving  until  the  close  of  the  war,  being  part  of  the  time  a  member 
of  General  Washington's  body  guard.  The  father  of  our  subject,  Joseph  Shorey,  a  native  of 
Wolfborough,  New  Hampshire,  went  to  Maine  while  it  was  a  part  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  there 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits.  He  served  for  many  years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  being  one 
of  the  first  appointed  for  the  state  of  Maine,  and  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence 
•and  influence,  being  well  read  in  English  literature  and  the  politics  of  the  day.  He  married 
Sylvia  Hall,  a  native  of  Washington  county,  Maine,  and  a  descendant,  on  her  mother's  side,  of 
the  Mortons  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Shorey  prepared  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  was  gradu- 
ated with  honors  at  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  class  of  '51.  He  commenced 
reading  law  in  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  where  he  also  taught  the  classics  for  two  years 
in  the  Rittenhouse  Academy,  finishing  his  legal  studies  at  the  Dane  Law  School,  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  and  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1854  in  Boston.  'There  he  practiced  one  year, 
and  then  removed  to  Davenport,  Iowa,  where  he  was  in  extensive  practice  for  ten  years.  While 
there,  he  was  a  partner  for  some  years  of  General  J.  B.  Leake,  now  United  States  district  attorney, 
Chicago.  He  was  city  attorney  of  Davenport  from  1862  to  1865,  and  president,  about  the  same 
time,  of  the  city  school  board.  He  had  greatly  endeared  himself  to  the  friends  of  education 
while  a  resident  of  that  progressive  hawkeye  city,  and  when  he  left  it  was  a  loss  seriously  felt, 
especially  by  the  better  class  of  people. 

Mr.  Shorey  removed  from  Iowa  to  Chicago  in  the  summer  of  1865,  and  entered  at  once  upon 
the  practice  of  law.  He  had  at  one  period  James  S.  Norton  for  a  partner;  at  another,  Benjamin 
M.  Shaffner,  and  latterly  he  has  been  alone.  He  practices  in  the  civil  courts  exclusively,  with  a 
strong  leaning  to  chancery  practice. 

One  of  the  weekly  religious  papers  of  Chicago  thus  spoke  not  long  ago  of  our  subject  as  a 
lawyer: 

Mr.  Shorey 's  training  at  that  best  school,  the  bar,  has  been  unusually  broad,  and  no  lawyer  in  the  city  to-day  has 
a  better  or  more  genial  knowledge  of  every  branch  of  practice,  or  is  better  equipped  and  able  to  handle  successfully 
any  case  that  may  come  into  his  hands,  than  he.  His  fine  natural  abilities  have  been  rounded  out  by  his  thorough 
education  and  wide  practice,  and  the  law  of  natural  selection  has  operated  to  give  him  one  of  the  most  lucrative  and 
satisfactory  legal  businesses  in  the  city. 

One  of  the  best  features  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Shorey  is  his  great  activity  in  certain  kinds  of 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  697 

public  work,  particularly  in  library  matters.  He  drafted  the  first  public-library  law  ever  presented 
to  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  and  the  impress  of  his  mind  is  upon  the  law  of  that  kind  now  in 
force  in  that  state.  He  was  a  leader  in  organizing  the  public  library  in  Chicago,  and  a  director 
of  the  board  for  eight  years,  and  president  for  four  years,  resigning  when  he  became  a  member  of 
the  city  council  in  1880.  It  has  been  well  said  of  him  by  a  writer  in  Washington,  District  of  Co- 
lumbia: "No  citizen  of  the  Northwest  has  been  a  more  constant  and  intelligent  friend  to  library 
interests  than  he." 

In  politics  Mr.  Shorey  was  originally  a  whig,  and  on  the  demise  of  that  party  joined  the  re- 
publican party,  in  whose  ranks  he  has  since  trained.  The  seat  of  alderman  of  the  third  ward, 
which  he  has  held  the  last  year,  is  all  the  office  he  would  accept,  though  his  name  has  been  men- 
tioned more  than  once  in  connection  with  a  judicial  position,  for  which  he  evidently  has  eminent 
fitness. 

Mr.  Shorey  is  a  member  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church,  Chicago,  and  a  very  prominent  lay- 
man in  that  denomination,  having  been  for  eight  years  president  of  the  Western  Unitarian  Con- 
ference. 

He  is  a  blue  lodge  Mason  and  high  up  in  Odd-Fellowship.  In  1870  he  was  appointed  grand 
representative  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States,  and  per- 
formed his  duties  in  that  connection  with  distinguished  ability. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Shorey  was  Maria  Antoinette  Merriam,  of  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  married  in 
1856.  They  have  two  children,  Paul,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  University  at  the  head  of  the  class 
of  '78,  and  with  the  highest  honors  in  history,  the  classics  and  philosophy,  now  a  lawyer  traveling 
in  Europe,  and  Mattie  Hall,  who  is  pursuing  her  studies  in  Europe. 


THADDEUS  O.   BANNISTER,  M.D. 

ODELL. 

THADDEUS  OAKS  BANNISTER,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  a  native  of  Wayne  county, 
New  York,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Galen,  June  13,  1833.  His  father,  Augustus  C. 
Bannister,  a  farmer,  was  born  at  Phelps,  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Ontario.  His  gcandfather, 
Theodore  Bannister,  was  a  colonel  in  the  second  war  with  England.  The  Bannister  family  was 
from  Massachusetts.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Mary  Vandemark,  whose  father  was  from 
the  state  of  Delaware,  and  of  Holland  descent.  Thaddeus  received  a  district-school  education, 
and  farmed  with  his  father  until  he  turned  his  attention  to  his  profession.  He  studied  at 
Marengo,  near  Galen,  with  Doctor  George  W.  Stocking ;  attended  one  course  of  medical  lectures 
at  Albany,  and  finished  his  studies  at  the  University  of  New  York,  receiving  his  diploma  in 
March,  1856.  He  practiced  with  Doctor  Landon  Wells  at  Waterloo  until  the  autumn  of  the  next 
year,  and  then  went  to  Phelps  to  take  the  place  of  his  uncle,  Doctor  Caleb  Bannister,  who  had 
been  in  practice  there  for  about  fifty  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  at  Phelps  until  1862,  when  he  went  into  the  service  as  acting 
assistant  surgeon  in  the  department  of  Washington.  He  was  at  first  in  the  Fairfax  General  Hos- 
pital, Virginia,  then  with  Doctor  D.  W.  Bliss,  and  finally  in  the  Campbell  Hospital,  same  city, 
where  he  was  on  duty  when  the  war  closed. 

In  the  autumn  of  1865  Doctor  Bannister  came  to  this  state,  and  settled  at  Odell,  where  he  has 
an  excellent  practice,  and  has  built  up  a  fine  reputation  for  skill.  He  is  thoroughly  devoted  to 
his  profession,  in  which  he  keeps  well  read  up,  adding  fresh  works  to  his  library  from  time  to 
time.  He  is  one  of  the  best  surgeons  in  the  county. 

The  doctor  is  quite  public-spirited,  taking  a  good  degree  of  interest  in  local  matters.  When 
the  village  of  Odell  was  incorporated,  he  was  one  of  the  first  trustees,  and  for  the  last  nine  years 
he  has  been  a  member  of  the  village  school  board.  He  devotes  a  reasonable  amount  of  time  in 
assisting  to  elevate  and  improve  the  grade  of  the  public  schools. 


698  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Doctor  Bannister  belongs  to  the  democratic  school  of  politics,  but  does  not  let  such  matters 
interfere  with  his  professional  duties.  He  joined  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Phelps,  New  York,  but 
there  being  no  church  of  the  kind  in  Odell,  he. attends  the  Congregational  Church. 

The  doctor  was  married,  in  1857,  to  Miss  Hannah  Elizabeth  Pound,  of  Wayne  county,  and 
they  have  two  sons  ;  George  S.  is  a  student  in  the  Industrial  University,  Champaign,  and  Henry 
J.  is  at  home. 

JOSHUA   AND  JEREMIAH    COLLINS. 

SARATOGA. 

THESE  men,  who  were  widely  known  as  among  the  most  extensive  farmers  and  stock- raisers 
and  dealers  in  Illinois,  were  twin  brothers,  the  sons  of  Joshua  and  Margaret  Collins,  and 
were  born  September  19,  1820,  on  the  Hudson  River,  about  twelve  miles  south  of  Albany,  the 
capital  of  New  York.  The  family  are  of  Irish  descent,  two  sisters  and  one  brother  immigrating 
to  this  country  in  an  early  day,  and  settling  in  Rhode  Island.  The  mother's  maiden  name  was 
Rowe,  and  her  ancestors  were  among  the  early  Dutch  settlers  in  New  York.  The  father  was  born 
in  Rhode  Island,  but  when  a  young  man  made  his  way  into  Dutchess  county,  New  York,  where  he 
married.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  miller,  and  finding  it  a  hard  struggle  to  support  his  large 
family  of  nine  children  (seven  sons  and  two  daughters)  the  family  decided  to  try  their  fortunes 
in  the  Far  West.  Philip,  the  second  son,  then  a  young  man,  was  sent  out  first  to  select  a  location, 
and  the  family  followed. 

They  came,  in  company  with  several  other  families,  via  the  Erie  canal  and  the  lakes,  and 
landed  in  Chicago  September  19,  1834.  A  location  had  been  fixed  on  the  Aux  Sable  bottom,  in 
what  was  then  La  Salle  county,  near  its  junction  with  the  Illinois  River,  and  a  log  house  erected, 
to  which  the  family  at  once  came  on  their  arrival.  Chicago  had  then  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  inhabitants,  and  Mr.  Collins  was  offered  and  urged  to  buy  lots  on  Randolph  street  for  $15 
to  $30,  but  declined  to  bury  his  money  in  a  mud  hole  without  the  least  probability  of  ever  finding 
it  again.  He  had  but  little  money  in  fact,  and  preferred  to  invest  it  in  a  farm  for  his  boys,  and 
by  the  time  a  quarter  section  had  been  entered,  and  a  few  necessaries  for  the  family  comfort  had 
been  purchased,  his  little  store  was  exhausted.  But  the  family  were  rich  in  health  and  strength, 
were  numerous  and  full  of  hope,  and  strong  hands  and  willing  hearts  were  better  than  a  large 
patrimony  without  them. 

The  story  is  an  old  one,  oft-repeated  in  this  country,  but  ever  fresh  and  interesting,  of  the 
early  struggles  of  the  brave  pioneers.  No  roads  or  bridges,  no  schools  or  churches,  but  plenty  of 
Indians,  ague  and  hard  work.  In  August,  1841,  the  father  finished  his  labors  and  was  laid  to  rest. 
The  sons  had  been  trained  to  habits  of  industry  from  childhood,  and  as  fast  as  they  were  able  to 
earn  money,  had  added  their  mites  to  the  family  store,  and  helped  to  bear  its  expenses.  In  this 
school  of  poverty  they  had  learned  the  value  of  money,  and  how  both  to  earn  and  to  spend  it. 

The  family  were  affectionate  and  even  clannish,  and  worked  together  for  many  years.  The 
twins  were  fourteen  years  old  when  they  came  west,  and  till  the  death  of  the  father,  about  the 
time  they  came  of  age,  worked  and  lived  at  home.  They  had,  however,  saved  a  little  money  by 
outside  work,  and  always  invested  it  in  calves  and  young  cattle,  so  that,  when  they  began  life  for 
themselves,  they  had  quite  a  little  herd.  At  first  three  brothers  joined  forces  and  worked  together. 
These  were  Philip  and  the  twins,  and  they  all  kept  bachelor's  hall  together,  but  this  arrangement 
was  soon  interfered  with  by  the  marriage  first  of  Jeremiah  and  afterward  Joshua,  and  the  partner- 
ship was  dissolved. 

When,  however,  both  the  brothers  had  got  settled  in  their  new  relationship,  they  resumed 
partnership  in  all  their  business  transactions.  They  bought  stock  extensively,  fatted  it  for  market 
and  sold  again.  They  jointly  purchased  large  tracts  of  land  till,  at  the  time  of  their  settlement, 
the  company  land  amounted  to  no  less  than  2,800  acres.  Their  annual  transactions  in  fat  cattle 
amounted  to  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  They  usually  sent  their  cattle  either  to 
Chicago  or  to  Albany,  New  York,  and  for  many  years  were  among  the  heaviest  dealers  in  the  West. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  701 

In  the  winter  of  1871-72  Joshua  had  a  very  severe  illness,  which  occasioned  a  dissolution  of 
the  partnership  the  following  spring.  In  the  settlement  which  followed  Joshua  purchased  his 
brother's  interest  in  the  company  lands  entire,  who  even  then  remained  the  sole  owner  of  3,000 
acres,  while  he  became  by  the  purchase  one  of  the  most  extensive  land  owners  in  northern  Illi- 
nois. The  partnership  began  in  1858  and  ended  in  1872,  and  maybe  pronounced  one  of  the  most 
satisfactory  and  successful  cooperative  ventures  ever  carried  out. 

Throughout  its  entire  course  brotherly  affection  and  mutual  confidence  .marked  tljeir  inter- 
course with  each  other,  and  prosperity  attended  them  in  an  unbroken  train.  It  is  a  matter  of 
profound  regret  that  a  proper  regard  for  truth  will  not  permit  the  biographer  to  say  that  this 
brotherly  affection  and  harmony,  so  beautiful  to  contemplate,  ari"d  to  which  both  owed  so  much 
of  their  joint  prosperity,  should  not  have  sustained  them  in  the  final  settlement  of  their  affairs. 
It,  however,  came  finally  to  a  satisfactory  end,  and  we  are  thereafter  called  upon  to  follow  the 
history  of  each  separately. 

Joshua  Collins  was  married  August  28,  1845,  to  Harriet  Crider,  the  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Mary  Ann  (Hess)  Crider,  who  came  west  with  their  family  in  October,  1833,  preceding  the  Col- 
linses by  one  year.  The  young  people  had  been  companions  from  childhood,  and  their  union  was 
a  very  happy  one.  '  They  remained  under  the  household  roof  till  the  following  March,  when  they 
moved  into  a  new  log  house  built  for  them  during  the  winter  on  their  own  land.  Here  they  lived 
for  about  nine  years;  here  four  of  their  five  children  were  born,  and  here,  Mrs.  Collins  declares, 
their  happiest  days  were  spent.  In  1854,  however,  the  old  log  house  gave  place  to  a  comfortable 
mansion,  near  the  same  spot.  Mr.  Collins  was  then  the  owner  of  480  acres  of  land  in  his  own 
right,  to  which  he  added  from  time  to  time,  until  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  owned  a  very  large 
amount  of  farming  lands,  exclusive  of  a  full  section  of  640  acres  in  the  richest  part  of  the  state  of 
Missouri. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  partnership  with  his  brother  Jeremiah,  he  continued  the  business 
of  raising  and  dealing  in  cattle  with  the  same  energy  as  before,  prospering  in  everything  he 
undertook  until  the  day  of  his  death.  June  14,  1879,  he  was  killed  by  lightning  while  hitching 
his  horses  in  his  stable  during  a  thunder  storm.  His  sudden  death  was  a  great  shock  to  the  com- 
munity, and  the  funeral  procession  was  over  two  miles  long.  His  'large  estate  was  divided 
equally  among  his  five  children  without  recourse  to  law,  everything  being  satisfactorily  arranged 
with  the  counsel  and  assistance  of  Judge  Hopkins,  of  Morris.  It  is  pleasing  to  relate  that  the 
warm  affection  between  the  members  of  the  family  of  Joshua  was  more  firmly  cemented  by  the 
sudden  death  of  the  father  instead  of  being  ruptured,  as  is  too  often  the  case  by  the  division  of  an 
estate.  That  affection  remains  undisturbed  till  the  present  time,  and  all  the  sons  and  daughters  are 
settled  in  life,  happy  and  prosperous. 

Cryder  Collins,  the  eldest  of  the  family,  is  the  owner  of  970  acres  of  land,  which  fell  to  his 
share  from  his  father's  estate.  He  has  turned  his  attention  largely  to  breeding  horses,  and  has 
imported  from  Europe  and  the  Canadas  some  of  the  finest  animals  brought  into  this  country. 
He  imported  a  very  fine  Cleveland  bay  stallion  from  England  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.  Two  Normans 
from  France  cost  him  $1,500  each,  and  thirteen  Clydesdale  mares  from  Canada,  the  present  season 
(1882),  $200  each.  He  has  now  twenty-five  breeding  mares  and  some  most  promising  colts.  He 
is  also  paying  attention  to  cattle  raising,  and  keeps  a  flock  of  Leicestershire  sheep,  which  he  also 
imported. 

Joshua,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  has  the  homestead.  He  is  not  yet  married,  but  is  a  very 
prosperous  and  successful  farmer  and  stockman. 

The  eldest  daughter,  Jenny,  married  Storey  Mattison.  She  brought  to  her  husband  many  acres 
of  the  original  estate.  Like  all  the  family  he  is  devoted  to  stock  and  grain  raising,  and  is  in 
every  respect  a  first-class  gentleman  and  a  successful  man  of  business. 

Anna  married  a  cousin  of  Storey,  A.  J.  Mattison,  and  Hattie,  Joseph  Wilson,  both  of  whom 
are  rich  farmers  and  upright  men,  highly  esteemed  in  the  community  where  they  reside.  The 
family  own  among  them  a  total  of  7,000  acres  of  land. 


7O2  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

The  widow  Collins  resides  on  the  homestead  with  Joshua,  where  a  free  table  and  a  hearty  wel- 
come awaits  all  comers,  as  it  did  during  the  life  of  her  husband.  She  is  a  woman  of  remarkable 
energy  and  strength  of  character,  purity  of  life  and  gentleness  of  heart;  was  idolized  by  her  hus- 
band, is  worshiped  by  her  children,  and  loved  by  all  who  know  her. 

Jeremiah  Collins  was  married  to  Hannah  Mary  Cryder,  November  16,  1844.  She  was  a  niece 
of  his  brother's  wife,  and  lived  only  about  eighteen  months  after  her  marriage.  She  had  one 
child,  a  boy,  who  very  soon  followed  her  to  the  grave,  leaving  a  sorrowing  father  wifeless  and 
childless.  Ten  years  later,  in  1854,  Mr.  Collins  married  Margaret  W.  Widney,  by  whom  he  has 
had  three  children,  Joshua,  the  eldest,  now  about  twenty-eight  years  old,  Oscar  now  twenty-two, 
and  Mary,  who  was  the  idol  of  her  father,  and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  It  was  perhaps 
the  greatest  affliction  of  his  life,  and  he  has  never  fully  recovered  from  the  blow. 

At  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  partnership  with  his  brother  Joshua,  he  was  the  owner  of 
3, coo  acres  of  land,  r,ooo  of  which  lay  in  one  body,  on  which  he  built  a  fine  mansion  in  1880.  In  1881 
he  purchased  the  farm  of  Samuel  Holderman,  consisting  of  5,364  acres,  with  the  finest  farm  resi- 
dence and  outbuildings  in  the  county.  This  gives  him  an  estate  of  nearly  9,000  acres,  and  places 
him  at  the  head  of  the  great  landed  proprietors  in  this  part  of  the  state.  On  the  Holderman  farm 
his  eldest  son,  Joshua,  has  taken  up  his  residence,  and  looks  after  its  great  interests.  He  has  on 
that  farm  over  500  head  of  fatting  cattle,  150  head  of  sheep,  and  fourteen  horses.  He  is  a  prudent 
and  skillful  farmer,  and  will  probably,  in  a  few  years,  equal  any  stock  man  or  dealer  in  the  state. 
His  second  son,  Oscar,  is  still  attending  school. 

Mr.  Collins  is  a  republican  in  politics,  but  not  a  politician;  he  is  a  man  of  business,  and  cares 
little  for  political  affairs  outside  of  his  own  county.  In  personal  appearance  and  general  disposi- 
tion the  brothers  greatly  resemble  each  other.  They  were  men  of  warm  hearts  and  generous 
impulses,  and  like  their  nation  could  love  or  hate  with  equal  intensity.  Mr.  Collins  is  a  man  of 
strong  will,  and  generally  succeeds  in  bending  everything  to  it.  What  he  undertakes  he  will  per- 
form, and  from  youth  up  has  been  remarkable  for  a  sacred  and  steadfast  adherence  to  his  word. 
Men  will  take  his  promise  as  readily  as  his  note,  and  no  man  ever  knew  him  to  dishonor  either. 


HON.  ANDREW  J.   BELL. 

PEORIA. 

ANDREW  JACKSON  BELL,  lawyer,  and  state  senator  from  the  twenty-sixth  district,  is  a 
f\  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Wright)  Bell,  and  was  born  in  Madison  county,  Ohio,  May  25, 
1839.  His  mother  was  born  in  Ohio.  The  Bells  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  first  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  the  progenitor  of  the  family  in-this  country  being  Andrew  Bell,  the  great-great- 
grandfather of  our  subject.  William  Bell,  Sr.,  the  son  of  James  Bell,  and  grandfather  of  Andrew, 
was  in  the  second  war  with  England. 

Senator  Bell  finished  his  education  at  Lombard  University,  Galesburgh,  where  he  took  a 
partial  course.  He  taught  school  a  few  winter  terms.  In  August,  1862,  Mr.  Bell  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  company  I,  nth  Illinois  infantry,  and  served  three  years,  coming  out  a  non-commis- 
sioned officer.  He  went  in  with  a  company  of  298  men,  and  was  mustered  out  with  about  forty. 
He  never  received  a  wound.  He  was  in  the  last  charge  at  Mobile,  Alabama.  He  read  law  at 
Lacon,  Marshall  county,  with  Richmond  and  Burns;  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1866,  and  the 
next  year  opened  an  office  at  Lacon,  where  he  remained  about  six  years.  Part  of  the  time  while 
at  Lacon  he  held  the  office  of  city  attorney.  In  1867  he  started  the  Illinois  "  Statesman,"  and 
conducted  it  about  two  years. 

In  1873,  Mr.  Bell  moved  to  Peoria,  and  during  the  first  twenty  months  was  the  political  editor 
of  the  "National  Democrat."  As  a  lawyer  he  is  a  very  earnest  student,  and  is  a  growing  man. 
He  favorably  impresses  the  court,  and  makes  a  good  plea  before  a  jury.  He  does  a  large  busi- 
ness in  the  United  States  district  court,  as  well  as  in  the  several  state  courts. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  703 

In  1880,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  elected  to  the  state  senate,  and  at  the  time  of  writing, 
he  is  serving  his  second  session  in  that  body,  his  assignment  being  to  the  committees  on  judicial 
department,  state  charitable  institutions,  appropriations,  warehouses,  roads,  highways  and  bridges, 
canals  and  rivers,  visiting  committee  to  penal  and  reformatory  institutions,  and  miscellaneous 
subjects. 

His  affiliations  have  always  been  with  the  democratic  party,  and  he  takes  a  good  deal  of  inter- 
est in  building  it  up.  Religiously,  he  is  an  adherent  of  the  Universalist  church.  He  is  an  Odd- 
Fellow,  and  has  passed  the  several  chairs  in  the  encampment.  Senator  Bell  was  married,  March 
12,  1866,  to  Miss  Amanda  J.  Davis,  of  Marshall  county,  and  they  have  lost  their  only  child. 


HENRY  C.  CASE. 

GALESBURGH. 

HENRY  CLAY  CASE,  a  model  hotel  keeper,  is  a  son  of  a  civil  engineer,  William  Case,  and 
Cynthia  (Tobour)  Case,  the  former  being  born  in  Connecticut;  the  latter,  in  Rhode  Island. 
Henry  himself,  according  to  the  Bible  record,  first  saw  the  light  April  15,  1825,  in  the  town  of  Ellis- 
burgh,  Jefferson  county,  New  York.  He  received  a  district-school  education,  and  grew  to  man- 
hood as  an  apprentice  at  hotel  keeping  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  Watertown,  and  other  places  in  the 
Empire  State,  being  graduated  in  1850. 

To  form  an  episode  in  his  life,  Mr.  Case  spent  four  years  (1850-1854)  in  hardware  and  clothing 
stores  in  Watertown;  then  went  to  Utica,  same  state,  and  was  a  boot  and  shoe  merchant  for  nearly 
a  score  of  years.  While  there  he  was  a  member  of  the  city  council  for  several  years.  In  1874  he 
lost  his  health,  retired  from  mercantile  life,  and  kept  the  Vandyne  House  at  Henderson  Bay,  near 
Sackett's  Harbor,  one  season,  and  was  then  burnt  out.  He  now  took  the  Cooper  House  at  Adams, 
New  York;  conducted  it  for  three  years,  and  in  1880  came  to  Galesburgh,  and  became  proprietor 
of  Brown's  Hotel,  which  had  had  for  years  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  hotels  in  the 
state  outside  of  Chicago  and  Springfield.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  under  Mr.  Case's  management, 
the  character  of  the  hotel  has  been  elevated.  Understanding  his  business  thoroughly,  he  attends 
to  it  in  all  its  details,  and  every  commercial  traveler  whose  field  is  the  state  of  Illinois,  knows  Mr. 
Case  and  the  menu  of  his  table.  Many  of  them  will  go  sixty  or  seventy  miles  out  of  their  way  to 
"make"  his  house  on  Saturday  night,  knowing  they  will  be  well  taken  care  of. 

The  landlady  of  Brown's  Hotel  was  Miss  Sarah  A.  Phillips  of  Watertown,  New  York,  married 
in  October,  1853,  and  they  have  two  sons.  Frank  H.  is  traveling  for  the  boot  and  shoe  house 
which  succeeded  his  father  in  Utica,  New  York,  and  W.  P.  is  chief  clerk  of  Brown's  Hotel. 


JAMES    M.   FLOWER. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES  MONROE  FLOWER,  lawyer,  hails  from  the  Empire  State,  dating  his  birth  at  Han- 
nibal, Oswego  county,  March  10,  1835.  Both  parents,  Calvin  and  Hannah  (Phillips)  Flower, 
were  natives  of  Ashfield,  Massachusetts,  and  descendants  of  early  settlers  in  that  state.  In  1844, 
when  James  was  only  nine  years  old,  the  family  came  west,  settling  on  a  farm  at  Sun  Prairie, 
Wisconsin,  where  the  father  still  lives,  losing  his  wife  in  the  summer  of  1881.  Our  subject  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  teaching  two  winters  while  in  college,  and  graduating 
in  the  class  of  1856.  He  read  law  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  filling,  meanwhile,  from  the  autumn  of 
1856  to  the  autumn  of  1857,  the  office  of  deputy  clerk  of  the  supreme  court.  The  next  year  he 
was  clerk  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  revise  the  statutes  of  the  state,  and  went  to  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  to  assist  in  their  publication,  going  thence  to  the  Albany  Law  School,  gradu- 
ating in  May,  1859. 


704  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Flower  returned  to  Wisconsin,  opened  an  office  at  Madison  in  the  spring  of  1860,  and 
there  practiced  until  the  close  of  1872.  While  in  that  city  he  held  the  office  of  police  justice  two 
years  during  the  civil  war,  and  after  its  close  was  deputy  collector  of  internal  revenue. 

January  i,  1873,  Mr,  Flower  opened  an  office  in  Chicago,  and  soon  built  up  a  good  practice  in 
the  several  courts,  making  a  specialty  of  commercial  law.  He  is  receiver  for  the  German  National 
Bank  of  Chicago.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  well  educated,  able,  accurate  and  painstaking,  and  faithful 
in  the  cause  of  his  clients.  His  standing  at  the  bar  is  excellent. 

Mr.  Flower  is  a  decided  republican  in  politics,  yet  we  cannot  learn  that  he  devotes  much  time 
to  such  matters  except  to  vote,  his  professional  studies  and  practice  taking  the  precedence  over 
everything  else.  Evidently  his  ambition  is  to  excel  in  his  chosen  field  of  intellectual  labor,  and 
he  is  taking  the  right  course. 

His  wife  was  Lucy  L.  Cones  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  they  being  married  in  Sep- 
tember, 1862,  and  having  three  children. 


PETER   McGEOCH. 

CHICAGO  AND  MILWAUKEE: 

THE  career  of  him  whose  name  heads  this  sketch  well  illustrates  what  one  may  accomplish 
by  the  exercise  of  native  talent  in  the  pursuit  of  a  persistent  purpose.  Beginning  life  in 
comparative  obscurity,  and  without  capital  other  than  his  own  native  energy  and  ability,  he  has 
gradually  risen  to  a  position  of  commanding  influence,  having  been  the  central  figure  and  moving 
force  in  some  of  the  heaviest  grain  transactions  ever  known  in  the  West;  and  while  his  deals  have 
not  been  uniformly  successful,  he  has  met  reverses,  which  have  resulted  from  combinations  of 
circumstances  entirely  beyond  his  control,  with  a  cool,  deliberate  and  manly  courage  that  has 
challenged  the  admiration  of  even  those  who  have  suffered  through  his  misfortunes.  He  is  a 
man  of  physical  as  well  as  mental  and  moral  force.  Five  feet  eleven  inches  in  height,  he  weighs 
two  hundred  and  ten  pounds;  is  easy  and  deliberate  in  his  movements,  and  impresses  one  with 
the  fact  that  he  posseses  an  immense  reserved  power. 

His  perceptive  faculties  are  largely  developed,  rather  than  the  reflective,  and  show  him  to  be 
a  man  of  action  rather  than  a  philosopher.  His  vitality  is  immense,  and  gives  his  native  talent 
for  push  a  tremendous  backing.  He  has  a  dark,  but  very  kindly  and  often  humorous  eye;  is 
large-hearted,  benevolent  and  generous,  a  very  warm  and  faithful  friend.  He  began  his  career  in 
America  at  the  bottom,  and  is  justly  proud  of  his  success,  as  it  is  the  reward  of  honest  and  faith- 
ful work.  "No  man,"  the  writer  heard  him  remark  one  day,  "is  dishonored  by  honest  toil,  but  I 
think  no  man  honorable  who  does  not  toil."  A  circumstance  connected  with  his  life  in  Milwaukee, 
and  which  resulted  in  his  being  called  the  "Milwaukee  milk  man,"  well  illustrates  one  of  his  lead- 
ing characteristics,  and  for  that  reason  is  here  related.  While  living  in  Milwaukee,  in  1867,  he  lost 
a  babe,  as  he  believed,  through  the  use  of  the  swill  milk  common  at  that  time  in  the  large  cities. 
He  was  greatly  touched  by  his  loss  and  indignant  at  the  cause,  and  said  to  his  wife:  "If  I  am 
ever  able,  I  will  furnish  Milwaukee  with  pure  milk."  Not  many  years  after,  he  owned  a  farm  in 
the  vicinity  of  that  city,  and  beginning  with  twenty  cows,  soon  increased  the  number  to  seventy- 
five,  and  then  to  one  hundred,  and  soon  controlled  the  milk  trade  of  the  city,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  supplied  Milwaukee  with  pure  milk. 

Mr.  McGeoch  would  at  once  be  recognized  as  of  Scotch  parentage.  He  comes  of  a  long  and 
famous  line  of  ancestors  on  both  sides.  His  maternal  great-grandsire  was  the  noted  Duncan 
McDougal.  His  father,  William  McGeoch,  was  a  native  of  Wigtown,  in  the  south  of  Scotland, 
where  he  was  both  a  farmer  and  trader,  or  merchant.  He  met  the  mother  of  Peter,  then  Miss 
Matilda  C.  Watson,  in  London,  England,  where  they  were  married,  and  where  Peter  was  born, 
February  16,  1833.  His  parents  remained  in  London  for  six  months  after  his  birth,  and  then 
returned  to  Wigtown,  where  Peter  was  reared  and  educated  till  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  he  went 


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UNITED    .V '/'-•/  /'/•;. V   BlOCKAPIllCAl.    DICl'IOXARY.  -JQ-J 

to  London  and  entered  the  dry-goods  house  of  an  uncle.  He  there  developed  executive  ability  of 
such  a  high  order  that  he  became  manager  of  the  concern  within  a  year,  and  retained  control  till  he 
was  nineteen,  when  he  immigrated  to  the  United  States,  arriving  in  New  York  in  November,  1852. 
He  at  once  found  profitable  employment,  but  a  year  later  removed  to  the  West,  and  joined  his 
father,  who  had  lost  his  property  in  Scotland,  and,  with  Peter's  assistance,  had  settled  on  a  farm 
near  Lake  Mills,  Jefferson  county,  Wisconsin. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  married  Miss  Catharine  Ellen  Harvey,  of  Lake  Mills,  but  a  native 
of  Vermont,  and  moved  into  Madison,  Wisconsin.  The  team  and  wagon  with  which  he  made  the 
trip,  together  with  his  household  goods,  constituted  all  his  earthly  possessions,  and  he  still  owed 
$77  on  them.  His  first  business  was  to  make  his  team  pay  for  themselves,  which  he  did,  teaming 
by  the  job.  He  followed  this  for  about  six  months,  when  he  was  unexpectedly  introduced  to  the 
wheat  business  in  Madison  in  a  rather  peculiar  manner. 

He  had  taken  a  load  of  wheat  to  market  for  his  father,  and  found  some  difficulty  in  getting 
his  price  on  account  of  a  ring  which  had  been  formed  among  the  buyers.  Knowing  the  fact,  he 
proposed  to  store  it  till  they  came  to  his  terms.  This  was  resisted  in  a  provoking  manner  by 
some  of  the  ring,  when  the  sturdy  Scotch  boy  pulled  his  coat  off  and  proposed  to  break  that  corner 
on  wheat  in  a  most  emphatic  and  satisfactory  manner.  His  display  of  muscle  and  pluck  ended 
the  controversy,  and  he  ultimately  sold  his  load  to  Nelson  Van  Kirk,  now  of  the  firm  of  Robert 
Lindblom  and  Company,  commission  men  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Van  Kirk  was  not  in  the  ring,  and 
was  so  well  pleased  with  the  Scotchman  that  he  at  once  took  him  into  his  employ.  After  work- 
ing for  him  about  three  months  for  $40  per  month,  and  six  months  more  in  the  employ  of  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Taylor,  he  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Van  Kirk,  which  lasted  without 
interruption  for  a  period  of  twenty  years.  In  the  course  of  their  business  the  firm  made  succes- 
sive removals  to  Fox  Lake,  then  to  Cambria,  and  finally  into  Milwaukee. 

To  the  produce  and  commission  business  the  firm,  "in  the  year  18 — ,  added  the  packing  busi- 
ness, which  continued  till  1880.  From  1857  till  1875  theirs  was  one  of  the  principal  wheat-buy- 
ing houses  in  Milwaukee.  In  November,  1875,  the  firm  found  themselves  on  the  wrong  side  of 
the  wheat  deal,  and  in  attempting  to  assist  other  parties  lost  their  money,  a  misfortune  which 
resulted  in  the  dissolution  of  the  long-standing  partnership  of  Van  Kirk  and  McGeoch.  It  was 
supposed  to  be  a  dead  failure,  but  Mr,  McGeoch  took  the  assets,  assumed  all  liabilities,  continued 
the  business  in  his  own  name,  and  paid  eventually  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar. 

In  July,  1878,  he  repaid  the  boys  in  kind,  and  got  all  his  money  back  and  more  with  it.  This 
fight,  in  which  McGeoch  ultimately  won,  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  career  of  contests  of  like 
character,  in  which  he  acquired  a  remarkable  reputation  and  amassed  a  fortune.  He  is  by  nature 
a  bull  on  the  board  of  trade,  and  there  is  no  man  who  is  watched  so  closely  or  feared  so  judi- 
ciously by  the  bears  as  Peter  McGeoch. 

In  August,  1880,  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  Sumner  Everingham  and  Frank  Crittenden, 
in  the  produce  and  commission  business,  under  the  firm  name  of  McGeoch,  Everingham  and 
Company,  all  speculative  operations  in  grain  being  on  his  personal  account.  These,  during  the 
last  few  years,  have  been  enormous,  aggregating  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars.  The  largest 
transaction  with  which  he  has  been  connected,  and  that  which  has  brought  his  name  most  promi- 
nently before  the  public,  was  the  famous  lard  deal  of  1883,  which  involved  him  in  a  total  indebt- 
edness of  $6.000,000.  Of  this  amount  there  was  due  the  banks  $4,050,000,  for  which  they  held 
collateral  to  the  extent  of  $3,900,000,  leaving  a  net  deficit  due  the  banks  of  $150,000.  Of  $1,950,- 
ooo  due  to  customers  and  the  trade  there  had  been  deposited  as  margins  and  security  about 
$700,000,  leaving  a  net  deficit  of  $1,400,000  unsecured  and  due  to  creditors.  Toward  the  payment 
of  this  amount  Mr.  McGeoch  raised  $700,000,  and  effected  a  settlement  with  his  creditors,  who 
numbered  about  two  hundred,  for  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  transaction  throughout  was 
unprecedented  in  commercial  affairs,  and  the  honorable  and  manly  mien  with  which  Mr.  McGeoch 
met  his  misfortune,  and  the  satisfactory  settlement  which  he  effected  with  his  creditors,  were  both 
characteristic  and  commendable. 
69 


708  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY, 

As  before  stated,  he  is  a  man  of  wonderful  vitality,  and  can  perform  an  amount  of  work  that 
would  kill  ordinary  men.  He  is  the  principal  owner  of  the  stock  of  the  Milwaukee  City  railway, 
and  president  of  the  same,  and  manages  its  concerns  entirely  himself.  He  at  one  time  conducted 
his  farm,  his  milk  business,  his  produce  and  commission  business,  and  his  packing  business,  both 
in  Milwaukee  and  Chicago,  all  under  his  own  personal  supervision.  His  milk  business  was  estab- 
lished in  1867,  and  continued  about  twelve  years,  or  till  1879. 

In  politics  Mr.  McGeoch  is  a  republican,  but  is  too  busy  a  man  to  be  a  politician,  in  the  tech- 
nical sense.  His  time  and  business  interests  are  about  evenly  divided  between  Milwaukee  and 
Chicago,  but  his  home  is  in  the  former  city.  The  Chicago  boys  on  the  board  of  trade  are,  how- 
ever, too  familiar  with  his  winning  ways  to  admit  that  he  is  a  Milwaukee  man. 


MARION  R.  DAVIDSON. 

MONTICELLO. 

ONE  of  the  most  promising  young  men  at  the  Piatt  county  bar,  is  Marion  R.  Davidson.  He 
is  well  read  in  his  profession,  is  a  diligent  student,  and  possesses  a  comprehensive  and  prac- 
tical mind.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  strict  and  unbiased  integrity,'  and  of  unexceptionable  habits. 
He  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  was  born  near  Mount  Zion,  in  Macon  county,  April  4,  1847,  and  is  the 
son  of  B.  W.,  and  Elizabeth  (Harbaugh)  Davidson.  Marion  was  educated  in  the  common  schools, 
and  at  Mount  Zion  Academy,  pursuing  a  thorough  scientific  and  classical  course.  He  commenced 
the  study  of  the  law  with  Hon.  William  E.  Nelson,  of  Decatur,  where  he  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  rudiments  of  his  profession  with  great  assiduity  for  two  years.  He  passed  a 
creditable  examination  before  the  supreme  court  and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1876. 

He  then  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law  in  Moulton  county,  Illinois,  with  great  success, 
afterward  removing  to  Monticello,  where  he  has  pursued  the  practice  of  his  profession  ever  since. 
He  was  associated  in  partnership  with  S.  R.  Reed,  in  October,  1882.  This  firm  is  doing  a  flour- 
ishing business. 

Mr.  Davidson  was  married  March  5,  1874,  to  Miss  Emma  M.  Reeme,  of  Decatur,  Illinois,  an 
estimable  lady.  They  have  three  children,  Myrtle  F.,  Mabel  R.,  and  Oscar  C. 


HON.  JOHN    BURNS. 

LA  CON. 

MARSHALL  county  seems  to  be  richly  favored  with  material  suitable  for  jurists,  and  in  this 
respect  has  been  truly  honored.  We  see  it  stated  that  Lacon,  the  county  seat,  has  fur- 
nished the  judges  for  this  judicial  circuit  since  Marshall  county  was  organized  in  1839.  First 
came  Judge  Ford,  then  Mark  Bangs,  then  Samuel  L.  Richmond,  and  more  recently,  Judges  Burns 
and  Laws,  none  of  them  second-class  men.  Judge  Burns,  of  whom  we  propose  to  speak  at  this 
time  more  particularly,  is  a  son  of  John  and  Rebecca  (Welsh)  Burns,  and  was  born  in  Brook 
county,  Virginia,  March  19,  1819.  His  father  was  Scotch-Irish,  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  an 
educator  of  some  note,  and  a  stanch  Presbyterian,  like  a  majority  of  the  Christian  people  from 
that  part  of  the  Emerald  Isle. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  left  his  native  state  in  1834;  came  to  Morgan  county,  Illinois,  with 
his  older  brother,  Andrew  Burns,  and  in  1835  settled  in  Marshall  county,  finishing  his  education 
at  an  academy  in  Putnam  county,  and  was  a  successful  school  teacher.  He  entered  the  law  office 
of  Ramsey  and  Shannon  at  Lacon,  in  1844,  and  that  same  year  was  elected  recorder  of  deeds  for 
Marshall  county.  While  still  a  student,  in  1846,  he  was  appointed,  by  Judge  Caton,  clerk  of  the 
circuit  court,  to  which  office  he  was  elected  two  years  later,  and  he  held  it  till  1852.  The  year 
prior  to  this  late  date  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Ottawa. 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


709 


From  1851  to  1873  our  subject  was  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  with  Lacon  for  his  home  and 
radiating  point,  his  business  extending  over  a  wide  circuit,  and  into  the  federal  as  well  as  state 
courts.  Years  ago  it  was  made  apparent  to  the  bar  of  the  twelfth  judicial  circuit  that  Mr.  Burns 
was  not  only  an  able  lawyer,  but  an  excellent  judge  of  law,  and  a  man  of  a  judicial  mind,  and  in 
1873  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  just  mentioned.  By  reelection  he  is  serving  his  tenth 
year  on  the  bench,  and  time  has  shown  the  wisdom  of  the  selection.  One  of  the  leading  daily 
papers  of  Chicago  says  of  Judge  Burns:  "He  administers  law  according  to  testimony,  and  his 
rulings  are  very  seldom  reversed  by  the  supreme  court."  Regarding  his  general  character,  a 
Peoria  paper  speaks  as  follows:  "In  the  walks  of  private  life  no  man  stands  higher  than  Judge 
Burns.  He  is  esteemed  and  respected  by  all,  and  is  regarded  as  a  gentleman  of  unswerving 
integrity.  His  great  ability,  and  his  long  practice  in  his  circuit  and  before  the  supreme  court, 
eminently  qualify  him  for  his  present  position." 

In  1861  Judge  Burns  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention,  representing  Putnam, 
Marshall  and  Woodford  counties,  and  some  years  ago  he  was  a  candidate  on  the  democratic  ticket 
for  state  senator.  He  was  mayor  of  the  city  three  times,  and  has  held  other  local  offices. 

The  judge  was  first  married  in  1850,  to  Miss  Priscilla  Connon,  of  Lacon,  she  dying  in  1866, 
and  the  second  time  in  1868,  to  Mrs.  Catherine  (Stedham)  Swinheart,  she  being  a  resident  of  Lacon. 
He  has  three  daughters  and  one  son  by  his  first  wife,  and  Mrs.  Burns  has  a  daughter  by  a  former 
husband. 

Judge  Burns  is  emphatically  a  self-built  man.  He  laid  his  own  foundation,  and  without  the 
prestige  of  wealthy  and  influential  friends,  by  his  own  great  industry,  native  ability,  studiousness 
and  perseverance,  he  has  reared  a  superstructure  which  any  ambitious  young  man  might  be 
proud  to  copy. 

WILLIAM    FULLER. 

CLINTON. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  lawyer  of  excellent  natural  ability,  who  by  industry  and  per- 
severance has  attained  a  high  rank  at  the  bar  in  the  section  of  the  state  where  he  resides. 
William  Fuller  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  in  Green  county,  February  19,  1823,  and 
is  the  son  of  Daniel  and  Nancy  Fuller.  The  father  of  Mr.  Fuller  followed  the  occupation  of 
farmer  and  blacksmith,  and  excelled  in  the  latter,  especially  in  fine  work.  William  was  the  old- 
est of  a  family  of  eight  boys,  of  whom  all  but  one  are  now  living.  He  commenced  his  education 
in  the  common  schools,  and  made  the  very  best  use  of  the  advantages  afforded  him,  and  added 
materially  to  the  knowledge  gained  therein  after  leaving  school,  by  study  of  text  books  and  gen- 
eral reading.  He  was  a  very  apt  scholar,  which  fact  secured  him  a  position  as  teacher  in  his 
native  county,  when  quite  young.  He  taught  the  first  free  school  ever  taught  in  his  own  district. 
In  November,  1848,  he  came  to  De  Witt  county,  and  engaged  in  farming  and  taught  school  four 
winters.  He  purchased  law  books,  and  during  his  spare  moments  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  elementary  principles  of  the  law.  Long  before  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  while  he 
was  teaching,  he  was  often  called  into  cases  in  the  lower  courts,  and  gained  quite  a  wide  reputa- 
tion as  an  advocate  in  this  class  of  cases  in  which  at  one  time  his  business  exceeded  that  of  any 
lawyer  in  the  county.  In  1854  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  De  Witt  county,  the  duties  of  which  office 
he  performed  with  entire  satisfaction  to  all.  After  passing  a  very  satisfactory  examination  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1867,  and  has  been  in  active  practice  ever  since  that  time,  and 
has  been  very  successful  in  his  cases  in  court,  and  has  established  the  reputation  of  being  an 
excellent  counselor,  well  versed  in  all  the  subtleties  of  the  law,  and  possessing  integrity,  upright- 
ness and  a  sense  of  honor  surpassed  by  no  man.  He  reasons  from  cause  to  effect,  and  often 
introduces  similes  and  anecdotes  to  illustrate  and  illumine  his  subject. 

He  is  an  excellent  manager  in  a  lawsuit,  is  reticent  and  has  a  rare  faculty  of  eliciting  the  hand 
of  his  opponent  without  showing  his  own. 


UNITED    STA  TES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAR  Y. 

«    • 

He  is  well  known  as  a  democratic  campaign  speaker  of  great  force  and  fluency,  and  has  a 
happy  style  of  address,  a  life-long  democrat,  a  Mason,  and  an  excellent  citizen.  He  is  a  courte- 
ous gentleman,  with  social  faculties  of  a  high  order.  Few  men  are  more  highly  prized. 

He  was  married  to  Miss  Rebecca  Parker,  an  estimable  lady  of  Madison  county,  Ohio,  Febru- 
ary 22,  1847.  They  have  six  children  living,  four  boys  and  two  girls. 


ROMAINE  J.  CURTISS,   M.D. 

JO  LIE  T. 

A  MONO  the  medical  practitioners  of  Will  county,  Illinois,  is  Romaine  J.  Curtiss,  of  Joliet, 
t\.  where  he  has  resided  for  ten  years,  steadily  attending  to  his  professional  duties,  and  where 
he  has  established  a  professional  reputation.  He  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Richland  county, 
Ohio,  October  i,  1840.  He  received  a  good  common-school  education,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
entered  Hillsdale  College,  Michigan,  and  after  leaving  there,  attended  a  series  of  lectures  at  the 
Buffalo  Medical  College.  He  remained  there  until  1862,  when  he  entered  the  United  States  ser- 
vice as  hospital  steward  for  the  i23d  regiment  Ohio  infantry,  and  in  April,  1863,  was  appointed 
medical  cadet  in  the  regular  army,  and  did  much  hard  work  for  the  country,  serving  in  the  hos- 
pital boat,  which,  during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  conveyed  the  wounded  soldiers  up  the  Mississippi 
River  to  Memphis  and  Saint  Louis.  He  was  afterward  transferred  to  the  general  hospital,  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he  completed  his  studies,  and  in  1864  graduated,  receiving  his  degree  of 
doctor  of  medicine,  being  fully  equipped  with  unexceptionable  experience  as  a  physician  and 
surgeon.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  assistant  surgeon  in  the  United  States  navy,  where 
he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  after  which  he  settled  down  in  Erie  county,  New  York,  where_ 
he  practiced  medicine  for  seven  years,  and  during  this  time  he  also  pursued  a  special  course  of 
medical  lectures  at  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  including  private  instruction  by 
specialists. 

In  1873,  Doctor  Curtiss  settled  in  Joliet,  Illinois,  where  he  has  been  since,  faithfully  engaged 
in  the  active  duties  of  his  profession,  and  where  he  has  won  the  highest  respect  of  the  commu- 
nity. He  is  also  honored  with  a  professorship  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  of 
Chicago,  where  he  has  a  great  field  of  labor,  in  which  his  knowledge  and  experience  are  put  to 
valuable  use  by  his  fellow  practitioners.  Doctor  Curtiss  married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Beal,  of  Erie 
county,  New  York,  November  29,  1870. 


LE 


HON.   LEONARD  SWETT. 

CHICAGO. 
EONARD  SWETT  was  born  near  the  village  of  Turner,  Oxford  county,  Maine,  on  what  was, 


and  is  now,  known  as  the  "  Albine  Richer"  farm.  His  mother,  about  eighty-seven  years  of 
age,  is  still  living  on  the  homestead.  At  the  age  of  twelve  years,  having  previously  been  in  the 
schools  of  his  neighborhood,  he  began  the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek  with  Rev.  Thomas  R.  Curtis, 
his  parents  and  the  wise  ones  of  the  neighborhood  having,  as  they  supposed  elected  him  for  the 
ministry.  When  fifteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  North  Yarmouth  Academy,  where  he  remained 
two  years,  and  then  entered  Waterville  College  (now  known  as  Colby  University),  where  he 
remained  three  years,  and  left  on  account  of  some  misunderstanding  with  the  faculty,  involving, 
however,  nothing  dishonorable  on  his  part.  He  then  read  law  with  Howard  and  Shepley,  of 
Portland,  two  years,  when  he  left  to  take  his  chances  in  the  battle  of  life,  and  seek  his  fortune. 
He  has  fought  the  battle  successfully,  and  has  gained  a  fortune.  He  intended  to  settle  in  the 
South,  but  after  traveling  through  the  southern  states  for  a  time,  he  came  west  in  1847.  At  that 
time  the  war  with  Mexico  was  raging,  and  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  5th  Indiana  infantry, 


LIBRARY 

ILLINOIS 


i:  XI  TED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


713 


commanded  by  General  James  H.  Lane,  afterward  United  States  senator  from  Kansas.  Although 
not  commissioned  as  an  officer,  he  had  practical  command  as  captain  of  the  company,  of  which 
he  was  orderly  sergeant.  Having  entered  the  city  of  Mexico  after  its  capture,  the  company  was 
detailed  to  guard  trains  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Jalapa,  Pueblo  and  Cordova  and  return.  In  May, 
1848,  he  was  taken  sick  at  Vera  Cruz,  and  lay  in  a  hospital  one  month,  when  peace  was  made  and 
he  returned  to  the  North  with  shattered  health,  which  was  not  soon  restored.  Upon  regaining 
his  health  he,  in  1849,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  and  there  began  the 
practice  of  law.  He  rode  the  circuit  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  John  T.  Stuart, 
U.  F.  Linder,  Edward  D.  Baker,  Edward  Hannagan,  and  other  prominent  lawyers  of  that  day, 
and  while  being  trained  in  that  school  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  leaders  and  among  the  ablest. 
He  spent  six  months  of  the  year  in  courts  with  Lincoln  from  that  time  on  until  the  latter  was 
elected  president,  and  always  found  in  him  a  warm  friend,  a  safe  counselor  and  a  congenial  com- 
panion. This  intimacy  continued  up  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  death. 

When  he  started  out  to  practice  law  there  were  two  men  who  took  him  by  the  hand  and 
helped  him  along,  with  that  affection  and  kindness  which  marks  a  father's  conduct  toward  a  son. 
These  two  men  were  Abraham  Lincoln  and  David  Davis,  who  remained  true  and  confidential 
friends  to  the  last.  Next  to  Judge  Davis  Mr.  Swett  was  most  influential  in  securing  the  nomina- 
tion of  Lincoln  for  the  presidency,  and  was  the  prime  mover  and  controlling  influence  in  planning 
and  executing  that  remarkable  campaign,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  that  great  man. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  both  came  to  Chicago  to  secure  this  result,  and  Judge  Davis  being  Swett's 
senior  by  twelve  years,  he  was  very  naturally  the  nominal  leader.  The  nomination  was  secured, 
under  their  management,  through  a  combination  of  the  Illinois,  Indiana  and  Pennsylvania  dele- 
gations, and  in  this  the  hand  of  Leonard  Swett  was  powerful  and  controlling. 

But  it  is  as  a  lawyer  that  he  is  best  known.  During  the  war  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the 
Quicksilver  Mining  Company,  a  corporation  owning  the  great  Almaden  quicksilver  mine  in  Cali- 
fornia, which  was  involved  in  litigation  for  twelve  years,  the  last  four  of  which  Mr.  Swett  had  the 
full  control,  which  kept  him  in  Washington  the  greater  part  of  the  time.  As  he  did  not  want  any 
office  because  of  better  employment,  it  left  him  untrammeled,  and  insured  the  full  confidence  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  hence  he  was  a  power  behind  the  throne  to  an  extent  of  which  few  have 
any  knowledge.  In  1865  he  came  to  Chicago  permanently.  He  has  held  but  one  office,  that  of 
state  senator  one  term,  and  has  declined  all  tenders  of  office  made  to  him.  He  has  devoted  him- 
self assiduously  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  has  been  passionately  devoted _the 
past  twenty-five  years,  attaining  to  an  eminence  which  ranks  him  among  the  first  at  the  bar,  espe- 
cially as  a  criminal  lawyer.  Of  the  nineteen  murder  cases  which  he  has  defended,  he  has  lost  but 
one,  and  these  cases  are  among  the  most  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  our  courts.  He  is  a  born  ora- 
tor; has  a  fine  physique  and  commanding  presence;  an  attractive  delivery;  is  an  entertaining 
speaker,  an  affable  and  genial  gentleman,  and  is  esteemed  and  honored  as  a  citizen  and  a  man. 
In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  his  voice  is  heard  in  defense  of  that  party  in  all  important  cam- 
paigns and  from  the  lecture  platform.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  effort  made  to  secure  the 
nomination  of  General  Grant  to  the  presidency  in  the  Chicago  convention. 

He  is  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  is  a  noble  example  of  what  may  be  accomplished  by  earnest, 
conscientious  and  faithful  work  in  the  direction  of  one's  native  inclination  and  abilities.  He  is 
one  of  the  conspicuous  citizens  of  Illinois,  and  is  thoroughly  identified  with  the  history  of  the 
state;  has  been  a  part  of  it,  and  one  of  its  most  notable  and  important  factors;  at  the  bar  he  has 
ably  illustrated  its  annals.  His  pleadings  before  the  highest  courts,  his  brilliant  efforts  from  the 
platform  as  lecturer  and  orator,  evidence  his  profound  knowledge  of  law,  the  accuracy  of  his  judg- 
ment, the  extent  of  his  scholarship  and  reading,  the  force  of  his  logic  and  the  grace  of  his  diction. 
He  has  varied  and  comprehensive  legal  learning  and  general  accomplishments  which  have  won 
for  him  the  highest  respect  of  the  bar,  as  well  as  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  general  public; 
a  man  of  spotless  integrity,  which  all  attempts  to  assail  have  been  fruitless.  He  is  not  a  man  of 
circumstances;  he  has  made  and  controlled  them. 


714  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

When  he  settled  in  Chicago,  in  1865,  he  formed  with  Van  H.  Higgins  and  Colonel  David 
Quigg  a  partnership  which  continued  for  several  years.  His  previous  reputation  and  well  known 
ability  brought  him  at  once  into  prominence,  and  insured  him  a  lucrative  practice  which  he  has 
to  this  day.  The  present  firm  is  Swett  and  Haskell.  He  is  retained  in  the  most  important  cases 
which  have  come  before  the  higher  courts;  he  devotes  himself  almost  exclusively  to  his  profes- 
sion; and  while  his  comprehensive  and  well  trained  mind  and  large  experience  and  knowledge 
of  men  fit  him  for  doing  any  work  ably,  it  is  as  an  advocate  that  he  is  most  conspicuous.  He  is 
a  clear  reasoner,  and  applies  to  every  subject  he  considers  strong  logical  power,  his  appeals  to 
jury  or  court  often  being  masterpieces  of  oratory. 


CLIFTON   H.   MOORE. 

CLINTON. 

ONE  of  the  most  polished,  scholarly  gentlemen  who  grace  the  legal  profession  in  central 
Illinois  is  Clifton  H.  Moore.  He  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  that  section  of  the  state  where 
literature  and  scholarship  are  largely  patronized.  He  is  a  son  of  Isaac  Moore,  a  native  of  the 
Empire  State,  a  man  of  great  natural  ability,  who  in  a  great  measure  overcame  the  inconvenience 
occasioned  by  the  defective  educational  facilities  afforded  in  the  days  of  his  youth,  by  general 
reading.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  he  removed  from  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  to  the 
Western  Reserve,  Ohio,  accompanied  by  an  unmarried  and  two  married  sisters  and  their  hus- 
bands, and  his  mother,  and  settled  in  Kirtland,  Lake  county,  Ohio,  where  he  resided  until  1880, 
when  he  came  to  Illinois  to  live  with  his  children.  He  died  in  the  fall  of  '1882,  at  his  son,  Milan 
Moore's.  The  maiden  name  of  his  wife  was  Philena  Blish.  She  died  May  14,  1832.  The  grand- 
father of  our  subject  served  during  the  entire  period  of  the  revolution  as  a  soldier.  He  was  of 
English  ancestry,  and  possessed  wonderful  physical  powers  and  activity,  which  he  "retained  to  a 
considerable  extent  up  to  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three  years. 

Clifton  H.  Moore  commenced  his  education  in  the  common  schools,  and  afterward  completed 
a  thorough  classical  and  scientific  course  under  the  instruction  of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  at 
Bedford,  Ohio,  and  at  Paynesville  Academy,  and  Western  Reserve  Teachers'  Seminary,  taught 
in  the  old  Mormon  Temple  at  Kirtland.  While  he  was  obtaining  his  education  he  taught  school, 
and  gained  a  high  reputation  as  an  educator.  After  arriving  at  his  majority,  he  came  to  Illinois, 
and  located  at  Pekin,  entering  the  law  office  of  Bagley  and  Wilmot.  He  assiduously  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  law  until  he  had  mastered  its  elementary  principles;  passed  a  satis- 
factory examination,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  at  Springfield  in  July,  1841;  and  in 
August  of  that  year  he  located  in  Clinton,  De  Witt  county,  being  the  pioneer  attorney  in  that 
county.  His  means  consisted  of  a  mind  well  informed  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  his  profession, 
and  possessing  the  courage  and  untiring  energy  that  has  characterized  him  through  life,  he  at 
once  entered  upon  a  successful  career  as  a  lawyer,  where  he  has  remained  ever  since  in  the  practice 
of  the  law,  and  has  amassed  a  large  fortune. 

Mr.  Moore  is  a  careful,  painstaking  lawyer.  His  examination  of  a  subject  is  very  thorough 
and  exhaustive,  tracing  principles  to  their  source,  and  examining  conflicting  decisions  with  keen 
analysis.  His  foresight  is  remarkable.  He  seldom  fails  in  a  case  to  which  he  has  given  his 
mature  deliberation.  He  is  excellent  counsel,  and  can  express  his  ideas  in  cogent,  logical  lan- 
guage. He  is  a  shrewd  manager  in  a  lawsuit,  but  he  always  conducts  all  of  his  cases  according 
to  the  highest  standard  of  professional  ethics.  He  is  true  to  himself,  the  courts,  and  his  clients, 
having  great  influence  with  the  courts  before  whom  he  practices;  for  when  he  makes  a  statement 
in  regard  to  any  fact  in  a  case,  or  refers  to  a  decision,  he  never  attempts  to  mislead  the  court. 
He  has  a  fine  law  library,  and  in  his  luxurious  home,  which  he  well  knows  how  to  enjoy,  he  has 
fitted  a  room,  extending  from  the  first  floor  to  the  roof,  and  ornamented  it  with  numerous  oil 
paintings,  engravings,  and  works  of  art,  in  which  he  has  placed  his  magnificent  library,  selected 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  715 

with  great  care  and  refined  taste;  the  largest  library  in  the  state,  excepting  one  or  two.  Except- 
ing one  only,  it  contains  all  of  the  principal  encyclopaedias,  historical  and  biographical  works  in 
great  numbers,  and  extensive  classical  translations  in  English;  works  of  nearly  all  of  the  ancient 
a«d  modern  poets;  scientific  works,  works  of  fiction,  and  many  rare  curiosities  in  literature, 
including  many  ancient  books  that  are  not  easily  found  elsewhere. 

The  dwelling  house  of  Mr.  Moore  is  a  very  handsome  building,  and  is  surrounded  by  ever- 
greens and  other  ornamental  trees.  In  the  winter  of  1883,  these  beautiful  trees  were  heavily 
loaded  with  sleet,  frozen  to  their  trunks  and  branches,  and  while  this  magnificent  sight  was  in  its 
glory,  sparkling  like  diamonds  in  the  sun,  Mr.  Moore  had  photographs  taken  and  enlarged  of  his 
home  and  its  surroundings,  which  he  has  preserved  and  added  to  his  collections  of  pictures  and 
other  beautiful  things. 

Personally,  Mr.  Moore  is  a  gentleman  who  is  celebrated  for  his  liberality,  and  is  considered  a 
public-spirited  citizen,  of  broad  views.  He  has  a  large  circle  of  admiring  friends,  who  prize  him 
for  the  true  manhood  that  is  in  him,  and  his  intellectual  attainments.  He  is  courteous  and  oblig- 
ing, and  in  personal  appearance  is  attractive,  being  of  medium  height,  well  proportioned,  and 
stoutly  built,  with  a  high,  broad  forehead,  and  dark  eyes. 

In  1852,  in  company  with  Hon.  David  Davis,  he  purchased  large  tracts  of  land,  and  they  are 
still  the  owners  of  many  highly  cultivated  farms.  Their  interests  in  land  are  very  extensive,  and 
Mr.  Moore  attends  faithfully  and  with  great  ability  to  all  of  the  details  of  this  branch  of  business. 
Mr.  Moore,  in  political  sentiments,  is  a  republican,  and  was  formerly  a  whig;  but  his  extensive 
professional  and  private  business  has  so  thoroughly  occupied  his  time  that  he  has  refused  to  allow 
his  name  to  be  used  in  connection  with  public  office.  However,  he  consented  to  become  a  member 
of  the  constitutional  convention  in  1870,  and  made  valuable  contributions  to  its  deliberations. 

He  was  married,  August  14,  1845,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Richmond,  of  Tremont,  Tazewell  county, 
Illinois,  a  lady  of  superior  excellence,  the  daughter  of  Aronet  Richmond,  of  Rhode  Island.  She 
died  May  30, 1871.  He  had  by  her  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  now  (1883)  living,  being  Arthur 
Moore  and  Mrs.  Winifred  Warner.  In  July,  1873,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Rose  Onstine,  an  amia- 
ble lady,  highly  accomplished  and  refined. 


SAMUEL    R.  REED. 

MONTICELLO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  prominent  lawyer,  who  has  attained  a  high  position  by  strict 
attention  to  business  and  fidelity  to  his  clients'  interests.  He  is  a  well  read  lawyer,  and  is 
equally  efficient  in  all  branches  of  the  profession.  He  prepares  his  cases  thoroughly,  and  as  a 
trial  lawyer  has  few  equals.  His  examination  of  a  subject  is  very  thorough;  he  sees  the  points  in 
a  case  clearly,  and  he  can  explain  their  details  in  a  lucid,  luminous  manner.  He  is  a  logician  of 
the  highest  order,  and  he  enlivens  his  discourses  with  apt  illustrations  and  comparisons.  He  is 
an  eloquent  advocate,  and  especially  convincing  on  account  of  the  sincerity  and  honesty  of  pur- 
pose manifested  by  him,  and  which  coincide  with  his  character  as  manifested  in  his  daily  life. 
For  uprightness  of  character  and  unfeigned  honesty,  no  lawyer  at  the  bar  surpasses  him.  In  all 
of  his  professional  practice,  he  adheres  to  a  high  standard  of  professional  ethics,  and  in  all  of  his 
business  relations,  never  fails  to  do  justice  to  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

Samuel  R.  Reed  was  born  in  Monroe  county,  Ohio,  June  16,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Reed,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  who  was  born  at  Gettysburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  educated 
at  Cannonsburgh,  and  was  graduated  from  the  theological  seminary  at  Allegheny  City.  His 
mother  was,  before  marriage,  Miss  Margarett  Thompson.  Samuel  R.  resided  in  Ohio  until  he  was 
eighteen  years  of  age.  He  received  a  scientific  and  classical  education  in  the  high  school,  and 
removed  to  Piatt  county,  Illinois,  in  1860.  He  taught  school  and  followed  agricultural  pursuits 
after  he  came  to  Illinois.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  Smith,  of  Champaign,  Illinois,  about  two 


716  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY, 

years,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1866.  He  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Monticello  in  April,  1867,  where  he  has  been  in  the  practice  of  the  law  ever  since,  doing  an  exten- 
sive general  practice.  Of  late  he  has  been  engaged  in  most  of  the  important  cases  tried  in 
Piatt  county.  He  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  in  1872,  which  office  he  held,  giving  the 
utmost  satisfaction,  until  1875;  but  the  duties  of  that  office  interfering  materially  with  his  prac- 
tice, he  resigned.  In  February,  1875,  he  was  appointed  master  in  chancery,  which  office  he  held 
until  1879,  declining  a  reappointment. 

Mr.  Reed  was  married,  in  1863,  to  Miss  Jennie  Clouser.  They  have  five  children:  George  M., 
Erasmus  E.,  Maggie  L.,  Carl  S.  and  Agnes  D. 

Mr.  Reed  is  a  quiet  gentleman,  yet  of  a  social  turn,  courteous  and  obliging,  and  modestly 
wears  the  laurels  he  has  won. 


H 


HON.   HENRY  W.   BLODGETT. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

ENRY  WILLIAM  BLODGETT  stands  prominent  among  the  few  men  whose  personal 
and  public  history  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  jurisprudence  of  Illinois.  His  sound 
and  clear  judgment,  his  achievements,  his  upright  character,  his  unremitting  labors  in  ascertain- 
ing the  right,  and  administering  exact  justice,  have  contributed  largely  to  the  high  reputation 
which  attaches  to  the  bench  of  the  United  States  courts  in  the  Northwest.  He  commenced  prac- 
tice during  the  formative  period  of  the  substantial  jurisprudence  of  the  West,  and  has  been  one 
of  its  most  important  factors  from  that  time  until  the  present.  Throughout  the  period,  while  the 
great  outlines  of  this  jurisprudence  were  being  established,  and  its  foundations  being  laid  upon 
an  enduring  basis,  one  may  trace  the  impress  of  his  mind  upon  every  important  advance  step. 
Being  so  important  a  factor  in  formulating,  and  now  in  administering,  he  deserves  the  gratitude 
of  the  public  since  the  jurisprudence  is  an  indispensable  element  to  the  growth,  prosperity  and 
permanence  of  the  commonwealth,  conserving  and  harmonizing  all  other  forces  of  civilization. 
Without  an  impartial  administration  of  law  and  justice,  no  form  of  popular  government  can  long 
survive.  Judge  Blodgett  may  be  said  to  act  with  these  considerations  in  view.  In  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  many  important  cases  which  come  before  him,  he  is  guided  solely  by  facts  in  evidence, 
and  the  law  applicable  to  them.  His  decisions  are  impartial,  simple  in  style,  lucid  and  forcible, 
never  sensational,  florid  or  highly  ornate  ;  he  expresses  his  thoughts  and  opinions  in  a  clear  and 
concise  manner,  not  to  be  misunderstood,  and  with  a  pleasing  diction.  His  fame  rests  mainly 
upon  his  scholarly  attainments,  and  his  profound  knowledge  of  common  and  statute  law  ;  his 
more  important  decisions  are  monuments  of  learning  and  research,  and  have  won  for  him  the 
profound  respect  of  the  bench  and  bar.  He  is  an  indefatigable  worker  and  constant  student,  and 
has  great  power  of  concentration,  a  remarkable  memory  and  a  clear  and  accurate  judgment. 

Judge  Blodgett  was  born  in  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  in  1821.  His  parents  removed  to  Illi- 
nois when  he  was  about  ten  years  of  age.  His  father  was  a  blacksmith,  his  mother  a  woman  of 
superior  education  and  refinement.  Both  were  sincere  and  earnest,  and  devoted  themselves  to 
the  correct  development  and  training  of  their  children.  When  seventeen  years  of  age  Henry 
went  to  the  Amherst  Academy  one  year,  whence  he  returned  to  Illinois,  and  engaged  in  teaching 
school,  and  subsequently,  in  land  surveying  until  twenty-one  years  of  age.  In  1842  he  com- 
menced the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  J.  Y.  Scammon  and  Norman  B.  Judd,  in  Chicago,  and 
three  years  later,  in  1845,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  commenced  practice  in  Waukegan,  Illi- 
nois, where  he  still  resides.  In  1844  he  voted  the  anti-slavery  ticket,  and  has  since  been  an 
adherent  of  the  anti-slavery  and  republican  parties,  remaining  true  to  the  principles  and  the  cause 
he  then  espoused.  In  1852  he  was  elected  to  the  general  assembly  of  Illinois,  being  the  first 
avowed  anti-slavery  member  who  ever  occupied  a  seat  in  that  body,  and  in  the  following  year 
was  elected  to  the  state  senate. 

As  a  legislator  he  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  useful,  and  was  largely  instrumental  in 


ppf 


4  C  C  -  ,  r  a  r  .„>  &  Co 


LIB3A1Y 

or  THE 
UNIVERSITY  uf  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  719 

shaping  the  legislation  of  the  commonwealth,  and  in  promoting  the  development  of  the  immense 
resources  of  Illinois,  by  internal  improvements  and  otherwise.  In  1855,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  subsequently,  he  was  associated  with  the  legal  department  of  the  Chicago  and  North-West- 
ern  railway,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  projectors.  He  was  the  pioneer  in  the  building  of  the 
then  Chicago  and  Milwaukee  railroad,  on  the  lake  shore  from  Chicago  to  Milwaukee,  and  was 
identified  with  it  in  the  several  capacities  of  attorney,  director  and  president.  He  procured  the 
charter  for  the  road,  and  to  his  influence  and  personal  efforts  was  mainly  due  the  securing  of  the 
money  necessary  to  its  construction.  Later  he  was  solicitor  of  the  Michigan  Southern,  Fort 
Wayne,  Rock  Island  and  North-Western  roads,  and  retired  when  the  business  reached  such  pro- 
portions that  it  was  impossible  for  one  man  to  attend  to  it.  As  a  solicitor  he  was  regarded  as 
the  peer,  indeed  the  superior  of  anyone  in  the  Northwest.  During  all  these  years  he  had  been 
industrious  and  studious,  and  formed  habits  which  have  characterized  his  subsequent  notable 
career. 

In  1870  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Grant,  judge  of  the  United  States  district  court  for 
the  northern  district  of  Illinois,  and  holds  that  position  now  (1883),  discharging  the  duties  of  his 
important  trust  with  signal  ability  and  fidelity.  He  brought  to  the  bench  varied  legal  learning, 
a  self-gained  scholarship  (for  he  is  essentially  a  self-made  man),  wide  experience  and  an  emi- 
nently judicial  mind.  His  rulings  and  decisions  will  live  as  long  as  the  jurisprudence  of  the 
United  States  courts  exists,  and  his  history  and  name  will  outlive  him.  He  is  a  model  of  benev- 
olence and  generosity  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  and  his  deportment  is  characterized  by  courtesy 
and  unswerving  impartiality.  Magnanimous  and  pure  in  private  and  official  life,  he  is  a  worthy 
citizen,  an  upright  judge  and  a  true  man.  His  deeds  are  indelibly  written  in  the  history  of  his 
time  so  plainly  that  all  may  read.  He  has  turned  his  abilities  to  good  account  in  bettering 
others,  and  developing  in  himself  a  noble  manhood.  Such  is  an  outline  of  the  life  and  career  of 
one  who  mapped  out  his  own  course,  guided  by  the  teachings  and  admonition  of  a  noble  mother 
at  the  beginning,  and  inspired  and  impelled  by  a  noble  ambition  to  make  the  most  of  his  powers. 
How  near  he  has  "hewn  to  the  line,"  let  his  life  work  tell,  for  in  this  one  may  find  the  true 
measure  of  his  success. 

HENRY    DECKER. 

CHICAGO. 

HENRY  DECKER  was  born  in  Livonia,  Livingston  county,  New  York,  December  4,  1832. 
His  ancestors  on  the  father's  side  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  on  the  Livingston 
Manor,  on  the  Hudson  River.  Henry  Decker  (the  father)  settled  in  Livingston  county  in  1795, 
and  was  a  farmer  of  means  and  influence.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  His  mother's 
(Martha  Mather)  ancestors  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Connecticut,  and  her  father  was  a 
pioneer  in  Ontario  county,  New  York.  The  subject' of  this  sketch  received  his  early  education  at 
the  Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary,  in  Lima,  New  York.  Afterward  he  went  to  Genesee  College, 
now  known  as  the  Syracuse  University,  Syracuse,  New  York,  where  he  spent  three  years.  After- 
ward he  entered  Williams  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1854.  Immediately  thereafter  he 
entered  the  law  school  of  the  Albany  University,  at  Albany,  New  York.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1850.  The  same  year,  in  company  with  his  brother-in-law  and  partner,  Colonel  George  B. 
Goodwin,  now  a  distinguished  lawyer  in  Milwaukee,  he  removed  to  Menasha,  Wisconsin,  and 
entered  upon  the  practice  in  that  village.  Here  he  was  quite  successful,  but  failing  health  caused 
him,  in  1859,  to  return  to  his  old  home  in  New  York. 

Having  finally  recovered  his  health,  Mr.  Decker  began  again  the  practice  in  his  native  county. 
Here  he  was  immediately  successful,  and  became  widely  known  as  one  of  the  best  lawyers  in  that 
section.  He  was  engaged  in  most  of  the  large  cases  in  that  locality,  notably  the  Genesee  College 
case,  in  which  it  was  sought  to  remove  that  college.  He  was  retained  by  the  citizens  of  Lima 
and  vicinity  to  prevent  the  removal,  in  which  he  was  triumphant.  He  also  became  widely  known 
7° 


720  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

as  a  criminal  lawyer,  in  which  capacity  he  was  called  to  Towanda,  Pennsylvania,  to  prosecute 
Henry  Ward  for  the  murder  of  Wesley  E.  Shader,  the  murderer  being  a  man  of  large  means,  and 
his  victim  of  high  social  and  business  standing.  This  case  is  one  of  the  causes  ce'ttbres  in  the  crim- 
inal annals  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1873  Mr.  Decker  removed  to  Chicago.  Here  again  he  became 
almost  immediately  successful,  but  in  a  year  or  two  his  health  again  failed,  and  for  two  years  he 
was  almost  entirely  unfitted  for  work  in  his  profession.  Regaining  health,  he  again  started  out 
to  build  up  a  practice  in  that  stirring  city,  in  which  he  was  practically  a  stranger.  In  1880,  he 
formed  a  partnership,  under  the  name  of  Decker  and  Douglas,  with  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Jr.,  the 
youngest  son  of  the  great  Illinois  senator,  who  had  then  just  moved  to  Chicago  from  North  Car- 
olina. He  is  now  of  the  firm  of  Bisbee,  Ahrens  and  Decker. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Decker  is  a  republican.  In  his  religious  faith,  he  is  a  Presbyterian,  in  which 
church  he  is  a  communicant,  and  in  whose  Sunday  schools  he  teaches  a  Bible  class.  He  is  a  stu- 
dent and  a  worker,  a  man  of  brains  and  character,  who  is  most  highly  estimated  by  those  who 
know  him  best.  

EMILIUS    CLARK  DUDLEY,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

^T^HE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  physician  of  much  promise,  having  gained  considerable  dis- 
i.  tinction  as  an  able  practitioner  and  skillful  surgeon  at  an  early  age.  He  was  born  May  29, 
1850,  at  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  and  is  the  son  of  John  Harmon  Dudley  and  Marana  P.  (Mason) 
Dudley.  His  progenitor  in  the  paternal  line  landed  in  Boston  in  1638,  and  proceeded  to  Guil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  that  town.  He  belongs  to  the  family  of  Dud- 
leys connected  with  the  colonial  history  of  Massachusetts.  Two  of  his  father's  family  were 
provincial  governors  of  that  state.  His  paternal  grandfather,  Joseph  Dudley,  and  his  brother, 
Harmon,  were  in  the  revolutionary  war;  were  large  New  England  farmers,  and  were  typical  men  of 
their  class.  His  father  succeeded  to  the  farm,  but,  having  no  taste  for  agriculture,  became  a  school 
teacher,  and  afterward  engaged  in  mechanical  pursuits,  as  a  carpenter,  contractor  and  builder. 
His  paternal  grandmother  was  a  sister  of  the  late  General  Amos  P.  Granger,  member  of  congress 
from  Syracuse,  New  York;  a  niece  of  the  old  postmaster  general,  Gideon  Granger,  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Doctor  William  Granger,  who  practiced  in  Suffield,  Connecticut,  in  the  last  century,  and 
was  a  physician  of  note. 

His  maternal  grandfather  was  the  village  blacksmith  in  Belchertown,  Massachusetts,  a  man  of 
originality,  and  good  natural  ability.  He  came  to  Bureau  county,  Illinois,  in  the  prime  of  his 
life,  where  he  died,  leaving  his  widow  in  Belchertown,  Massachusetts,  with  a  family  of  four  sons 
and  three  daughters,  whom  she  reared  respectably,  by  her  own  exertions,  and  also  amassed  a 
small  fortune.  There  is  a  legend  that  his  mother's  maternal  great-grandfather,  Hyde,  was  brought 
to  America  in  his  infancy,  by  individuals  interested  in  his  inheritance.  His  mother's  maternal 
grandfather  served  as  a  sergeant  in  the  revolutionary  war. 

Doctor  Dudley  attended  the  public  schools  in  Westfield  until  the  age  of  thirteen,  when 
at  the  death  of  his  mother  he  became  an  under  clerk  in  the  wholesale  drug  house  of  J.  W. 
Colton,  in  Westfield,  where  he  remained  three  years.  He  then  attended  the  winter  session  of 
four  months  at  the  village  academy,  and  then  was  employed  as  chief  clerk  in  Henry  Holland's 
drug  store,  where  he  remained  nearly  two  years.  He  then  went  to  Willeston  Seminary,  East 
Hampton,  where  his  father  had  been  educated  thirty  years  before,  and  made  arrangements  to 
study  the  natural  sciences  for  one  year,  but  before  fairly  entering  upon  his  studies  at  the  institution 
he  was  induced  by  an  old  friend,  H.  H.  Scott,  a  sophomore  at  Dartmouth  College,  to  devote 
the  year  to  studies  preparatory  for  college.  Accordingly,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  in  September, 
1868,  he  went  to  Hanover,  the  seat  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  commenced  the  studies  of  Latin, 
Greek  and  geometry,  and  to  these  branches  and  such  others  as  were  requisite  in  his  preparation 
for  college,  gave  his  entire  energy,  with  such  assistance  as  Mr.  Scott  could  give  him,  for  a  period 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  721 

of  ten  months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was  admitted,  at  the  regular  June  examination,  to  the 
freshman  class. 

Returning  to  Westfield  for  the  summer  vacation,  he  found  his  father  strenuously  opposed 
to  his  pursuing  the  course  upon  which  he  had  entered,  and  for  the  following  reasons:  He 
was  unable  to  maintain  his  son  through  the  college  course ;  he  was  disappointed  that  five 
years'  experience  in  the  drug  businessw  as  thus  to  be  set  aside;  but  perceiving  that  his  objections 
were  to  be  disregarded,  he  generously  offered  to  contribute  from  his  own  scanty  means  toward 
the  college  expenses.  For  the  following  four  years  young  Dudley  could  not  have  been  idle, 
because  during  all  this  time  he  not  only  maintained  his  standing  in  college,  but  also  earned  by 
his  own  exertions  sufficient  money  to  pay  more  than  two-thirds  of  all  college  expenses.  The 
remainder  was  contributed  by  his  father,  and  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  at  great  personal  sacrifice, 
for  his  own  means  were  then  limited.  It  is  said  by  one  of  his  class  that  Doctor  Dudley,  during 
his  college  course,  besides  keeping  up  with  his  class,  found  opportunities  of  earning  a  larger 
amount  of  money  than  any  other  member  of  his  class,  and  it  may  be  said  in  this  connection  that 
the  students  of  Dartmouth  are  to  a  greater  extent  dependent  for  their  education  upon  their  own 
exertions  than  are  those  of  any  other  one  of  the  more  prominent  eastern  colleges.  During  these 
four  years  he  taught  in  Blandford,  Southwick  and  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts.  During 
his  vacations  he  was  engaged  in  various  occupations,  such  as  assisting  the  village  physician,  trav- 
eling as  a  commercial  salesman,  etc.  He  spent  one  or  two  summer  vacations  on  Georges  Banks 
as  a  fisherman  before  the  mast. 

He  was  graduated  from  the  academical  department  of  Dartmouth  in  June,  1873,  having  in  the 
senior  year  devoted  a  considerable  amount  of  time  outside  of  the  regular  course  to  the  study  of 
anatomy.  After  graduation,  he  continued  the  study  of  medicine.  His  preceptors  were  Doctor 
James  Holland  and  E.  C.  Clark,  of  Westfield,  and  Doctor  Robert  Hubbard,  of  Bridgeport,  Con- 
necticut, but  the  greater  part  of  his  under-graduate  studies  were  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
where  he  attended  his  first  course  of  lectures  at  the  medical  department  of  Yale  College,  and  at 
L'ong  Island  College  Hospital,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  where  he  attended  his  second  course,  and 
graduated  in  June.  1875,  as  valedictorian  of  his  class.  During  his  professional  career  we  again 
find  him  self-supporting,  by  teaching  private  pupils  Greek,  Latin  and  mathematics. 

After  graduation  in  medicine  the  career  of  Doctor  Dudley  includes  a  number  of  changes  in 
location  and  seeming  changes  of  plan,  at  least  he  would  seem  to  have  possessed  a  temperament 
more  than  usually  restless  and  impatient.  He  first  proceeded  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  where 
for  a  few  weeks  he  filled  the  position  of  resident  physician  at  the  West  Pennsylvania  Hospital. 
About  the  middle  of  July,  1875,  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine until  the  following  June,  but  feeling  himself  unprepared  for  the  more  responsible  work  of 
his  profession,  he  returned  to  New  York,  and  at  once  entered  upon  the  duties  of  resident  phy- 
sician at  Charity  Hospital,  Blackwell's  Island.  Here  he  remained  only  three  months.  October 
i,  1876,  he  was  appointed,  by  competitive  examination,  to  a  position  on  the  house  staff  of  the 
Woman's  Hospital,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  the  first  hospital  of  the  kind  ever  founded.  This 
hospital  owes  its  fame  to  its  founders,  Doctor  J.  Marion  Sims  and  Doctor  Thomas  Addis  Emmet. 
The  latter  brilliant  surgeon,  and  others,  such  as  Doctor  Edmund  R.  Peaslee,  Doctor  Fordyce  Bar- 
ker and  Doctor  T.  Gaillard  Thomas,  were  then  at  its  head.  It  was  under  the  patronage  of  these 
gentlemen  that  Doctor  Dudley  commenced  the  study  of  his  specialty.  He  remained  in  this  insti- 
tution during  the  full  term  of  service,  eighteen  months,  serving  successively  as  junior  and  senior 
assistant,  and  as  house  surgeon.  At  the  expiration  of  this  term  in  April,  1878,  he  returned  to 
Chicago  to  engage  in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession.  But  his  practice  early  taking  the 
direction  of  the  diseases  of  women,  he  soon  gave  his  attention  more  especially  to  that  depart- 
ment. 

In  January,  1880,  he  founded  the  "Chicago  Medical  Review,"  a  semi-monthly  magazine, 
devoted  to  medicine,  surgery  and  the  allied  sciences,  designed  to  circulate  among  physicians. 
He  continued  to  edit  this  periodical  three  years,  and  then  relinquished  his  editorial  connection 


722  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

for  the  purpose  of  concentrating  his  energy  in  other  professional  work.  Besides  the  editorial 
writing  during  the  first  three  years  of  the  "Chicago  Medical  Review,"  he  is  the  author  of  a 
number  of  monographs  on  subjects  pertaining  to  uterine  surgery,  published  from  time  to  time 
since  1878. 

In  April,  1882,  he  was  elected  to  the  chair  of  the  medical  and  surgical  diseases  of  women  in 
Chicago  Medical  College,  which  is  the  medical  department  of  Northwestern  University.  This 
chair  had  for  over  twenty  years  been  filled  by  his  distinguished  predecessor,  Professor  William 
H.  Byford,  of  Chicago.  This  professorship  involves  the  giving  of  two  lectures  a  week  before  the 
senior  class  in  the  college,  and  a  surgical  clinic  once  a  week  in  Mercy  Hospital. 

Doctor  Dudley  has  gained  his  reputation  more  particularly  with  the  profession  than  with  the 
public,  and  is  more  especially  known  in  the  surgical  branch  of  his  specialty. 

June  29,  1882,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Titcomb,  of  Winnetka,  Illinois,  a  niece  of  the 
late  John  L.  King,  the  founder  of  the  city  library  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  of  whose  family 
she  was  a  member  during  the  early  years  of  her  life.  Their  family  consists  of  themselves  and  one 
daughter,  Katharine,  born  May  n,  1883.  The  history  of  Doctor  Dudley  requires  no  comment; 
the  facts  will  speak  for  themselves. 


HON.  FRANCIS  E.  BRYANT. 

BEMENT. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  is  descended  from  the  best  of 
New  England  stock.  He  was  born  in  Nelson,  February  3,  1818.  His  parents  removed  from 
Massachusetts  to  New  Hampshire  in  1815.  His  grandfather  Bryant  was  a  member  of  the  patriot 
army,  and  served  seven  years,  and  was  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  received  a  pension  for  his 
services  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Francis  E.  has  a  pocketbook  which  his  grandfather 
carried  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  The  parents  of  Francis  E.  removed  to  Ohio  in  1833,  where 
they  followed  the  occupation  of  farming.  His  mother  was,  before  marriage,  Miss  Betsy  E. 
Sprague,  and  taught  school  in  her  younger  days.  Francis  E.  was  thoroughly  educated  and. pre- 
pared to  enter  an  eastern  college,  but  he  afterward  changed  his  purposes,  studied  surveying,  and 
June  15,  1837,  he  removed  to  Schuyler  county,  Illinois,  where  he  followed  the  occupation  of  sur- 
veyor six  years.  He  resided  in  Schuyler  county  nineteen  years,  and  was  married  there  July  4, 
1840,  to  Miss  Sarah  E.  Brisco,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  George  H.  Brisco,  a  soldier  of  the  war  of 
1812,  and  formerly  a  resident  of  Mercer  county,  Kentucky.  He  removed  to  Bement'july  26,  1856, 
and  engaged  in  the  grain,  salt  and  lumber  trade,  opening  the  first  merchandise  stiore  of  the  place 
May  18,  1857.  From  that  time  until  the  present  he  has  been  the  leading  business  man  of  that 
place,  and  has  been  instrumental  in  building  up  that  town  and  developing  its  resources  more  than 
any  other  individual.  He  is  a  man  of  untiring  energy,  with  excellent  business  talent.  His  judg- 
ment is  unerring,  and  he  is  one  of  the  cool,  clear-headed  business  men  to  whom  the  Great  North- 
west owes  its  marvelous  development,  and  unparalleled  prosperity.  He  has  amassed  a  handsome 
fortune,  is  largely  interested  in  real  estate  in  Bement,  owning  six  stores,  the  bank  building,  and  a 
large  amount  of  other  property,  both  personal  and  real. 

The  community  in  which  Mr.  Bryant  has  resided  has  not  been  slow  to  recognize  his  merits. 
In  1852  he  was  elected  from  Schuyler  county  to  the  eighteenth  general  assembly,  where  he  served 
with  distinction,  at  once  advancing  to  a  leadership,  and  was  honored  by  being  placed  on  several 
of  the  most  important  committees.  He  was  also  elected  to  represent  the  counties  of  Piatt  and 
Champaign,  in  the  twenty-eighth  general  assembly,  where  he  devoted  his  time  and  attention 
strictly  to  the  interests  of  his  constituency.  His  associates  confided  in  his  judgment,  and  his  clear, 
well  trained  mind  was  found  as  valuable  in  shaping  the  legislation  of  the  state  as  it  had  been  in 
his  ever-successful  business  career. 

He  took  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the  Masonic  lodge  of  Bement,  and  was  appointed 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


723 


by  the  grand  lodge  its  first  master,  in  which  capacity  he  served  three  years.  Mr.  Bryant  has  trav- 
eled considerably  in  this  country,  and  spent  the  summer  of  1878  in  traveling  over  Europe.  In 
1882  Mr.  Bryant  erected  an  elegant  residence  which  for  beauty  of  design  and  artistic  finish  has 
no  equal  in  that  part  of  the  state.  It  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  and  most  luxurious  homes  in 
the  West.  He  has  been  in  the  banking  business  for  the  last  twelve  years.  He  is  the  father  of 
six  children,  only  one  of  whom,  Mrs.  Bruer  Sprague,  is  living.  Their  two  grandchildren,  Edwin 
and  Frank  Sprague,  cheer  the  declining  years  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bryant. 

Mr.  Bryant  is  a  courteous,  affable  gentleman,  in  whose  integrity  and  uprightness  all  confide, 
who  are  favored  with  his  acquaintance. 


W.  E.   LODGE. 

MONTICELLO. 

OF  the  reliable  and  highly  respected  attorneys  of  central  Illinois  we  are  pleased  to  record  the 
name  of  W.  E.  Lodge.  He  is  well  read  in  all  the  branches  of  his  profession,  is  accurate  in 
the  details  of  office  business,  and  is  a  good  trial  lawyer.  He  examines  a  subject  very  exhaustively, 
tracing  principles  to  their  source,  and  can  enforce  his  ideas'by  cogent,  logical  reasoning.  W.  E. 
Lodge  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  was  born  at  Mount  Hope,  Hamilton  county,  December  8,'  1834. 
He  removed  with  his  parents  to  Edgar  county,  Illinois,  in  1837.  He  is  self-educated,  and  has 
added  rich  stores  of  information  every  year  of  his  life,  by  general  reading. 

He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Green  and  Eads,  of  Paris,  Illinois,  two  years.  He  removed  to 
Piatt  county,  Illinois,  February  4,  1859,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  the  following  March,  and 
has  been  in  the  successful  practice  of  the  law  ever  since. 

Mr.  Lodge  is  an  honorable,  upright  gentleman,  and  a  citizen  who  stands  high,  and  is  respected 
by  all  for  his  true  manhood  and  intellectual  attainments.  He  has  the  confidence  of  the  courts 
before  whom  he  practices,  the  good  will  of  his  professional  brethren,  and  the  admiration  of  his 
many  clients. 

He  was  married  January  30,  1868,  to  Miss  Frances  Piatt,  an  estimable  lady,  daughter  of  Will- 
iam H.  Piatt,  and  granddaughter  of  James  A.  Piatt,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Piatt  county,  and  for 
whom  it  was  named.  They  have  four  children,  William  F.,  James  P.  and  Charles  V.  (twins),  and 
Paul  E. 


o 


OWEN   P.  MILES. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

WEN  PHILIPS  MILES,  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank,  Mount  Carroll,  dates  his  birth. 
June  3,  1832,  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  his  father,  Nathaniel  Miles,  Jr.,  and  his 
grandfather,  Nathaniel  Miles,  Sr.,  were  also  born.  The  former  was  a  mechanic  and  farmer  at  the 
East;  moved  to  Mount  Carroll  in  1854,  and  here  died  in  1867.  He  was  a  deacon  of  the  Mount 
Carroll  Baptist  Church,  and  a  man  highly  esteemed  by  the  community.  He  married  Sarah 
Philips,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  she  died  in  1854.  She  was  a  granddaughter  of  Joseph  Philips, 
who  was  born  in  Wales  in  1716;  came  to  this  country  in  1755,  and  settled  at  first  near  West 
Chester,  Pennsylvania.  From  his  sons  have  sprung  a  large  family  of  Philipses,  now  scattered 
over  most  of  the  eastern  and  western  states,  representing  the  various  industries  and  profes- 
sions. A  very  pleasant  reunion  of  the  family  was  held  at  the  Vincent  Baptist  Church,  in  Chester 
county,  Pennsylvania,  May  30,  1877,  when  hundreds  of  the  descendants  of  Joseph  Philips  were 
present.  They  are  largely  a  Baptist  people,  with  a  liberal  representation  of  ministers  and  deacons 
among  them.  The  family  is  also  noted  for  its  longevity,  showing  that  there  is  a  vast  deal  of  life 
in  the  Welsh  blood. 

Owen  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Chester  county;  farmed  till  nearly  of  age;  was 


724  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

then  a  clerk  in  a  country  store  for  two  or  three  years,  and  came  to  Carroll  county  with  the  family 
in  1854.  He  commenced  business  here  in  January,  1855,  as  bookkeeper  in  the  flouring  mill,  in 
which  he  purchased  an  interest  about  1860,  and  which  he  retained  till  two  or  three  years  ago.  In 
1877  he  became  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Mount  Carroll,  one  of  the  best  managed 
and  most  substantial  institutions  of  the  kind  in  Carroll  county,  and  that  position  he  still  holds, 
the  president  being  Duncan  Mackay. 

Mr.  Miles  has  held  various  town  offices,  and  in  1859  was  elected  county  treasurer,  and  by  re- 
peated reelections  held  that  office  until  the  close  of  1873,  a  period  of  fourteen  years.  He  is  one 
of  those  safe  and  reliable  men  on  whom  the  citizens  of  the  county  like  to  bestow  offices  of  trust. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  of  its  board  of  trustees.  He  is  also  an  Odd-Fellow, 
and  has  passed  the  several  chairs  in  that  order. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Miles  was  Miss  Hannah  Shirk,  who  was  from  Franklin  count}',  Pennsylvania, 
and  to  whom  he  was  joined  in  marriage  October  15,  1857.  They  have  buried  two  children  and 
have  seven  living,  their  names,  as  recorded  in  "The  History  of  Carroll  County,"  being  Joseph, 
Charles  K.,  Jacob  H.,  Adoniram  Judson,  Jessie  F.,  Susan  R.,  and  Mary  D. 


PROF.  WALTER   C.   LYMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

WALTER  C.  LYMAN  was  born  February  6,  1838,  in  La  Porte  county,  state  of  Indiana.  In 
the  same  year  his  father  and  family  removed  to  Geneva,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  where 
our  subject  passed  his  boyhood,  and  received  his  early  education.  In  1852  he,  with  the  family, 
returned  to  his  native  state,  and  settled  at  Edinburgh,  and  soon  after  commenced  a  course  of 
studies  at  Franklin  College,  in  the  state  of  Indiana,  from  which  school  he  graduated  _with  distin- 
guished honors  in  his  class,  in  the  year  1857. 

He  soon  after  removed  to  the  city  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  and  opened  a  literary  and  news  depot  and 
book  store,  and  to  add  to  his  income  in  this,  his  first  business  enterprise,  he  made  a  contract  for 
carrying  the  "Daily  Gate  City,"  a  periodical  of  Keokuk.  In  the  meantime,  our  subject  was  pre- 
paring himself  for  the  stage,  having  a  strong  inclination  and  determination  to  make  that  his  call- 
ing, but  through  the  influence  of  his  parents  and  friends,  he  abandoned  his  purpose,  and  prepared 
himself  for  the  profession  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  life  with  such  unparalleled  success. 

In  1861  he  was  appointed  professor  of  elocution  in  Asbury  University,  of  Indiana,  but  upon 
the  opening  of  the  civil  war,  he,  April  19,  1861,  enlisted  in  the  i4th  regiment,  Indiana  infantry, 
and  was  chosen  first  lieutenant.  After  serving  two  years  with  his  regiment,  and  sharing  the  for- 
tunes of  "  stern-visaged  war,"  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health.  In  1863,  recovering  his  health, 
he  returned  to  the  army,  in  connection  with  the  3oth  Iowa  regiment,  and  was  employed  as  drill 
master  in  military  tactics  and  manual  of  arms. 

He  at  one  time  acted  as  aid-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  General  Wyman,  in  the  White  River  expe- 
dition. After  the  close  of  the  war,  he  again  resumed  his  calling  of  teaching  elocution,  opening  a 
school  for  instruction  in  the  science  or  art  of  voice  training,  and  public  speaking,  at  Saint  Louis, 
Missouri,  where  he  remained  some  three  years.  In  1868  he  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
there  followed  his  profession  until  1875,  when  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  since  been 
engaged  in  his  profession,  with  unrivaled  success. 

Mr.  Lyman  was  educated  a  Presbyterian,  and  brought  up  under  strict  discipline,  but  is  liberal 
in  his  religious  sentiments  and  belief.  In  politics  he  is  now,  and  always  has  been,  a  consistent 
republican.  Mr.  Lyman  has  been  married  twice.  He  first  married  Miss  E.  B.  (Seleck)  Swan,  a 
teacher  of  anatomy  and  physiology,  a  highly  educated  lady.  His  second  marriage  occurred 
December  u,  1879,  he  being  united  in  wedlock  to  Miss  Marie  E.  Boyce,  of  Geneva,  New  York,  a 
most  estimable  lady. 

Prof.  Lyman  is  about  medium  height,  of  fine  personal  bearing ;  has  a  pleasing  address  and 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  725 

manners.  He  stands  in  the  first  rank  of  his  profession,  and  has  traveled  throughout  the  Union, 
lecturing  and  teaching  elocution.  Socially,  Mr.  Lyman  is  welcomed  in  the  best  society,  and  is 
fully  appreciated  by  the  literati  of  Chicago,  as  wherever  his  ability  and  fame  is  known  in  his  pro- 
fession. 

He  is  often  invited  to  give  recitations  by  the  literary  religious  societies,  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  funds  for  benevolent  purposes. 

Professor  Lyman  is  eminently  social,  and  being  a  natural  born  actor,  it  is  an  entertainment 
to  spend  an  evening  or  a  lesson  hour  at  his  rooms,  where  friends  are  at  suitable  times  made  wel- 
come. He  is  still  young  in  years,  and  in  his  profession,  and  may  still  hope  to  achieve  greater 
honors  and  still  brighter  laurels  in  the  future  of  his  life. 


GEORGE    HERBERT. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE  HERBERT  was  born  at  Ellsworth,  in  the  state  of  Maine,  September  7,  1815.  Mr. 
Herbert  was .  a  descendant  from  legal  stock,  his  father,  George  Herbert,  who  was  a 
native  of  Deerfield,  old  Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts,  was  bred  to  the  profession  of  the  law; 
he  was  a  student  of  Dartmouth  College,  having  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1800.  He  read 
law  with  Judge  Theodore  Sedgwick,  a  great  lawyer,  and  one  of  the  judges  of  the  old  supreme 
court. 

Mr.  Herbert,  the  elder,  was  inspired  by  the  magnetic  influence.  This  great  man,  the  ancestor 
of  three  generations  of  distinguished  lawyers,  as  a  soldier,  politician,  statesman,  philanthropist 
and  judge,  filled  so  many  positions  of  honor  and  .responsibility  in  the  state  and  nation.  With  his 
earnestness  and  zeal,  he  entered  on  his  profession  at  Ellsworth,  Maine,  in  1803,  and  closed  his 
short  and  busy  life  in  1820,  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  his  eldest  living  son,  was  but  four 
years  of  age.  Hon.  William  Willis,  in  his  "  Law  and  Lawyers  of  Maine,"  has  devoted  more  than 
twenty  pages  of  his  book,  one  of  the  most  interesting,  and  to  a  lawyer  most  fascinating,  books  of 
its  kind,  to  a  notice  of  the  elder  Mr.  Herbert.  An  interesting  fact  is  that  Judge  Sedgwick  was 
the  author  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  under  which  the  northwestern  territory,  including  all  north- 
west of  the  Ohio  and  east  of  the  Mississippi  Rivers,  was  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the  United  States, 
justly  considered  as  the  Magna  Charta  of  five  of  our  most  magnificent  states. 

The  maiden  name  of  our  subject's  mother  was  Charlotte  Tuttle;  she  was  a  native  of  Middle- 
sex county,  Massachusetts. 

Young  Herbert  obtained  such  education  as  the  schools  of  his  native  town  afforded.  He  early 
had  opportunities  to  receive  an  academic  course  by  attending  a  select  school  under  the  tutelage 
of  the  Rev.  Peter  Nausse,  a  truly  great  educator  at  Ellsworth,  a  man  that  comprehended  the 
philosophy  of  the  sciences  he  taught,  and  a  man  of  genius  in  his  day,  a  half  a  century  at  least 
ahead  of  his  compeers.  In  1831,  Mr.  Herbert  commenced  a  classical  course  at  Amherst  College, 
where  he  continued  until  1834,  when,  being  threatened  .with  pulmonary  consumption,  he  was 
forced  to  abandon  his  studies;  but  he  rose  above  the  impending  disease,  which  has  always  pursued 
him.  In  1834  he  commenced  reading  law  at  Ellsworth,  with  Hon.  J.  W.  Hathaway  (subsequently 
a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state),  and  afterward  continued  the  study  of  his  profession 
with  the  firm  of  McGaw,  Allen  and  Poor,  at  Bangor.  In  February,  1837,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  immediately  took  the  office  and  business  of  Judge  Hathaway,  at  Ellsworth,  he  having 
arranged  to  remove  to  Bangor  and  practice  his  profession  in  that  city. 

Mr.  Herbert  continued  in  business  at  the  place  of  his  nativity  until  1854,  when  he  removed  to 
Chicago.  For  the  first  three  years  of  his  residence  in  the  city  he  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits, 
after  which,  in  1857,  he  again  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law.  He  followed  his  profession  alone 
until  1871,  when  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  John  H.  S.  Quick,  constituting  the  firm  of  Her- 
bert and  Quick,  practicing  in  all  the  courts,  state  and  national,  at  Chicago,  and  surrounding  cir- 


726  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

cuits.  In  1876,  John  S.  Miller  was  associated  with  them  as  a  partner.  This  firm,  under  the 
name  and  style  of  Herbert,  Quick  and  Miller,  are  still  practicing,  and  their  names  are  associated 
with,  and  they  are  connected  with,  some  of  the  most  important  suits  claiming  the  attention  of  the 
courts  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Herbert  has  had  a  large  chancery  practice,  and  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  principles 
and  practice  of  courts  of  equity,  and  is  very  thorough  in  his  investigation  of  cases,  and  careful  in 
making  up  his  opinion  in  cases  intrusted  to  his  management.  He  is  firm  and  tenacious  in  his 
views  and  position  when  once  formed;  he  is  a  safe  counselor,  and  a  reliable  representative  of  his 
clients'  rights;  a  man  of  integrity,  and  stands  in  his  profession  without  reproach. 

Mr.  Herbert  was  married  at  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1840,  to  Miss  Theresa  T.  Ames, 
daughter  of  Pliny  Ames,  a  lawyer  of  Franklin  county,  Massachusetts. 


GEORGE   D.   HAWORTH. 

DECA  TUR. 

OF  the  enterprising  and  successful  men  of  Illinois,  we  are  pleased  to  record  the  name  of 
George  D.  Haworth.  He  was  born  in  Clinton  county,  Ohio,  November  29,  1833,  and  is  the 
son  of  Mahlon  Haworth,  who  was  born  in  Ohio.  His  grandfather  was  also  named  Mahlon 
Haworth.  Both  his  grandfather  and  great-grandfather  were  natives  of  Virginia.  His  remote 
progenitors  on  the  maternal  line  were  English  Quakers,  and  his  grandfather  on  his  father's  side 
was  also  ra  Quaker.  His  mother  before  marriage  was  Miss  Sarah  J.  Woolman,  a  relative  of  John 
Woolman,  the  early  Quaker  preacher  and  opponent  of  slavery.  She  was  a  native  of  Clark  county, 
Ohio.  Her  grandmother  was  a  Newton,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Newton,  a  cousin  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton. 

George  D.  spent  his  boyhood  on  a  farm  near  Port  William,  in  Clinton  county,  and  he  enjoyed 
and  well  improved  the  privileges  afforded  by  the  excellent  school  system  in  that  part  of  Ohio, 
which  was  well  settled  at  that  time.  But  by  close  observation,  and  much  general  reading,  he  has 
abundantly  added  rich  stores  of  knowledge,  and  perfected  his  education  in  later  years. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  had  drawn  great  numbers  of  enterprising  men  to  the 
Pacific  slope,  and  in  the  spring  of  1852  he  made  the  most  important  venture  in  life  on  his  own 
account.  In  company  with  his  next  older  brother,  Uriah  E.,  he  set  out  to  try  his  fortune  in  the 
gold  regions  of  the  new  Eldorado.  Their  route  was  by  boat  from  Cincinnati  to  Saint  Joseph, 
Missouri ;  thence  they  started  with  a  wagon  train  across  the  plains.  Their  journey  was  prosper- 
ous and  pleasant  until  they  had  traveled  westward  several  hundred  miles,  when  his  brother  was 
taken  sick,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  with  him  to  Saint  Joseph,  where  he  died.  This  unfortu- 
nate incident  ended  his  trip  to  California,  and,  in  company  with  his  father,  he  commenced  his 
journey  homeward  through  Illinois,  and  the  favorable  impressions  gained  by  them  as  they  passed 
through  this  state  induced  his  father  to  remove  with  his  family  to  Illinois  the  following  autumn 
(1853),  settling  on  a  farm  near  Mechanicsburgh,  \n  Sangamon  county. 

Mr.  Cyrus  Correll  and  Doctor  A.  J.  Randall,  citizens  of  Mechanicsburgh,  had  been  experi- 
menting for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  with  the  purpose  of  constructing  a  corn-planting 
machine,  the  need  of  which  was  greatly  felt  by  farmers.  Although  Mr.  Haworth  had  never  regu- 
larly learned  a  trade,  he  was  a  good  workman  at  the  lighter  kinds  of  blacksmithing.  From  his 
earliest  boyhood  he  had  manifested  a  taste  for  mechanical  pursuits,  and  had  become  familiar 
with  the  working  of  various  kinds  of  machinery.  These  gentlemen,  accordingly,  called  upon 
him.  He  was  then  nearly  twenty  years  old.  The  experiments  were  carried  on  during  the  winter 
°f  l853~4>  and  by  the  following  spring  two  hundred  corn  planters  were  ready  for  sale,  some  of 
the  main  features  of  which  were  Mr.  Haworth's  invention.  These  were  the  first  corn  planters 
ever  placed  on  the  market.  Though  crude  and  imperfect  in  comparison  with  those  now  made, 
they  worked  successfully.  The  corn  was  dropped  by  means  of  a  trigger,  and  the  machine  was 
drawn  by  one  horse.  They  were  largely  sold,  but  were  finally  superseded  by  the  two-horse  planters. 


H.C.C.of,r  Jr  4  ! 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  729 

His  attention  having  been  attracted  to  the  manufacture  of  labor-saving  agricultural  imple- 
ments, he  began  to  consider  the  feasibility  of  constructing  corn  harvesters  and  reaping  machines^ 
In  1857  he  went  to  Ohio,  on  account  of  the  greater  facilities  for  the  manufacture  of  new  machin- 
ery then  existing  in  that  state,  and  began  work  at  Xenia.  He  invented  a  corn  harvester,  which 
was  patented,  July  21,  1857,  to  be  used  for  shocking  corn,  a  machine  having  many  excellent 
points,  but  its  great  expense  prevented  it  from  going  into  general  use.  He  removed  from  Xenia 
to  Dayton.  In  1858  he  invented  a  combined  reaper  and  corn  harvester,  a  number  of  which  were 
manufactured  and  sold.  These  machines  worked  well,  but  their  construction  on  a  successful 
scale  requiring  a  large  amount  of  capital,  they  were  never  made  extensively. 

Returning  to  Illinois  in  1859,  he  invented  a  two-horse  corn  planter,  and  began  their  manufact- 
ure in  1860  at  Mechanicsburgh.  In  1861  he  manufactured  these  machines  at  Decatur,  to  which 
place  his  father  had  removed  in  1857,  and  then  went  to  Springfield,  where  he  was  engaged  in  their 
manufacture,  in  company  with  John  C.  Lamb,  until  1870.  Other  makers  of  corn  planters  still 
use  some  of  the  essential  principles  patented  by  him.  While  manufacturing  the  corn  planters,  he 
had  seen  the  necessity  for  some  invention  to  regulate  by  machinery  the  dropping  of  the  corn  from 
the  planter  and  in  1866  began  experimenting,  with  a  view  to  meeting  this  difficulty,  which  experi- 
ments resulted  in  the  Haworth  Check  Rower, "completed  in  1869,  being  the  first  check  rower  ever 
invented,  giving  at  once  great  satisfaction.  In  the  fall  of  1869,  he  was  associated  as  a  partner 
with  his  father,  Mahlon  Haworth,  and  his  brothers,  L.  L.  and  James  W.  Haworth,  and  began  the 
manufacture  of  check  rowers.  During  the  season  of  1870,  three  hundred  were  sold.  The  next  year 
the  sales  increased  to  two  thousand,  and  in  each  succeeding  year  the  demand  has  been  increased. 

The  Haworth  manufacturing  establishment  is  one  of  the  features  of  Decatur,  and  has  contrib- 
uted extensively  to  its  reputation  as  a  manufacturing  center.  Both  wire  and  rope  check  rowers 
are  manufactured.  Various  improvements  have  been  made  since  their  first  invention,  and  great 
care  is  taken  in  their  construction,  in  which  only  simple  principles  are  involved.  The  great  sav- 
ing of  time,  labor  and  expense  to  the  farmer,  has  made  their  use  very  popular,  and  durjng  the 
last  few  seasons,  the  number  sold  has  been  limited  only  by  the  capacity  to  manufacture  them. 

He  was  married  at  Springfield  in  June,  1863,  to  Miss  Kizzie  McCandlers,  daughter  of  Robert 
McCandlers.  She  was  born  near  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  1870.  His  present  wife, 
to  whom  he  was  married,  December  27,  1876,  was  Miss  Mary  E.  Grunendike,  a  native  of  Monroe 
county,  New  York.  She  was  born  near  the  city  of  Rochester,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Captain 
Reuben  A.  Grunendike,  a  native  of  the  same  county,  who  removed,  in  1861,  to  Illinois.  Mrs. 
Haworth  gained  a  high  reputation  as  a  teacher,  an  occupation  she  followed  previous  to  her  mar- 
riage in  the  schools  of  Decatur,  where  she  was  very  successful. 

Mr.  Haworth  has  led  the  quiet  life  of  a  private  citizen,  and  has  never  taken  an  active  part  in 
public  affairs.  He  is  known,  however,  as  a  man  of  the  highest  personal  character,  and  as  a  lib- 
eral public-spirited  man. 

He  went  to  California  in  1881  and  traveled  over  the  state  quite  extensively,  visiting  interesting 
points.  He  has  recently  invented  a  corn  planter,  a  very  fine  and  useful  invention,  more  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  check  rower  than  those  in  present  use. 

His  genius  for  invention  has  brought  him  wealth,  which  he  has  bestowed  with  a  liberal  hand. 
He  has  contributed  largely  toward  giving  Decatur  a  reputation  as  a  city  of  fine  residences.  In 
addition  to  other  fine  residences  built  by  him  heretofore,  in  1882  he  built  a  magnificent  residence, 
in  which  he  now  lives,  on  the  corner  of  Jackson  and  El  Dorado  streets.  For  elegance  in  design, 
and  fine  finish,  it  has  few  equals. 

On  religious  subjects  his  views  are  liberal  and  progressive,  and  differ  somewhat  from  the 
doctrines  maintained  by  orthodox  denominations.  From  his  father,  who  was  an  early  anti- 
slavery  man,  and  was  called  an  abolitionist,  in  the  days  when  the  term  was  a  synonym  with 
unpopularity,  he  inherited  views  in  opposition  to  slavery,  which  attached  him  to  the  republican 
party  from  its  first  foundation. 

Amid  the  cares  of  busy  life,  he  has  found  time  to  indulge  his  natural  tastes  for  fine  literature. 
71 


73° 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


While  he  has  never  sought  distinction,  nor  cared  to  come  into  public  prominence,  his  name 
deserves  mention  as  one  of  that  class  who  have  been  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  West,  in  revo- 
lutionizing agriculture,  and  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  in  place  of  the  slow  and 
laborious  implements  of  fifty  years  ago,  machinery  that  enables  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  ten. 


HUGH   CUNNING. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  biography,  a  son  of  Patrick  Cunning  and  Elizabeth  (Nowry)  Cunning, 
was  born  March  22,  1824,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Coldrain, 
on  the  river  Ban,  North  of  Ireland,  whence  he  emigrated  to  America  in  1822,  settling  first  at  Bal- 
timore, Maryland,  but  shortly  afterward  removing  to  Pittsburgh.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
of  Scotch  descent. 

The  boy  first  began  attending  school  when  he  was  five  years  old,  in  his  native  city;  but  two 
years  later,  his  father,  being  unsuccessful  in  business  in  the  city,  leased  a  farm,  and  removed  his 
family  thither.  The  soil  was  poor,  and  it  was  only  by  dint  of  hard  work  that  he  could  gain  a 
livelihood,  and  give  his  boy  the  education  which  he  desired.  At  that  day  the  log  school  house, 
with  it£  huge  fire  place,  was  to  be  seen  in  every  district,  and  people  were  strangers  to  all  those 
improved  methods  of  instruction  and  educa'tional  appliances  which  characterize  the  public  schools 
of  to-day.  Yet  the  society  was  good,  and  the  farmers  in  their  primitive  and  simple  homes  were 
happy  and  contented. 

Our  subject  early  developed  a  fondness  for  study  and  self  culture,  and  so  applied  himself  to 
his  studies,  together  with  general  and  useful  reading,  that  when  sixteen  years  of  age  he  was  well 
fitted  for  teaching.  After  teaching  two  terms,  he  took  a  trip  through  the  states  of  Illinois,  Wis- 
consin and  Iowa,  and  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  country  and  the  enterprise  which  he  every- 
where saw  exhibited,  that  he  resolved  to  induce  his  father  to  remove  to  the  West.  In  this,  how- 
ever, he  was  unsuccessful,  since  the  old  gentleman  was  firm  in  his  determination  not  to  "go  out 
among  the  Indians."  Nevertheless,  he  did  induce  his  father  to  leave  the  place  in  which  he  was 
then  living,  and  purchase  a  large  farm  near  Beaver,  twenty-eight  miles  from  Pittsburgh.  Here 
he  employed  his  time  managing  the  farm  during  summers,  and  through  the  winter  months  pur- 
sued his  studies,  often  poring  over  his  books  until  the  hour  of  midnight.  Thus  he  continued  to 
work  and  study  until  1850,  when,  all  incumbrances  being  removed  from  the  homestead,  and  feel- 
ing that  he  could  be  spared  by  his  father,  he  began  studying  for  the  profession  which  he  had  long 
desired  to  enter,  and  which  he  has  since  honored. 

Entering  the  office  of  Hon.  S.  B.  Wilson,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Beaver,  he  applied  himself 
assiduously  for  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  passed  an  examination  before  the  author- 
ized examining  committee,  and  received  his  license  admitting  him  to  practice.  Immediately  there- 
after, he  removed  to  Port  Washington,  Wisconsin,  and  opening  an  office,  began  the  work  of 
building  up  a  business,  and  making  for  himself  a  name.  He  remained  at  Port  Washington  until 
1869,  and  became  widely  known  throughout  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  being  associated  in  many 
cases  with  Hon.  Matt  H.  Carpenter,  and  Hon.  Edward  G.  Ryan,  late  chief-justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  that  state.  Mr.  Cunning  was  attorney  in  many  important  cases,  one  especially  deserving 
of  mention  being  reported  in  the  sixteenth  volume,  "  Wisconsin  Reports."  It  was  a  case  growing 
out  of  a  resistance  to  the  draft  during  the  war,  the  Germans  who  were  drafted  charging  fraud 
upon  the  officials.  Being  infuriated  at  what  they  regarded  unfair  treatment,  it  became  necessary 
to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  United  States  troops,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  them  were  placed 
under  arrest.  Assisted  by  E.  G.  Ryan,  Mr.  Cunning  applied  for  writs  of  habeas  corpus,  which 
were  granted  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and  when  the  matter  was  presented  before  that 
tribunal,  the  parties  were  released.  From  the  exciting  causes  leading  to  the  trouble,  and  the 
large  number  of  persons  interested  in  the  issue,  the  case  probably  created  more  attention  than 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  73! 

any  other  case  that  ever  came  before  the  courts  of  that  state,  and  out  of  it  grew  a  number  of  very 
important  cases,  in  which  Mr.  Cunning  was  employed  as  attorney.  During  his  residence  at  Port 
Washington,  he  became  known  not  only  as  an  able  lawyer  and  advocate,  but  also  as  an  enterpris- 
ing and  public-spirited  citizen.  In  1859  he  was  honored  with  the  appointment  of  collector  of 
customs,  but  declined  the  office.  In  the  following  year,  1860,  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate, 
and  during  the  term  of  his  office,  two  years,  represented  his  district  with  distinguished  ability. 
Among  his  services  may  be  mentioned  the  securing  of  a  grant  of  land  for  a  colony  in  San  Salva- 
dor, Central  America,  with  free  transportation  by  the  government  of  San  Salvador.  The  favorite 
scheme  was,  however,  rendered  impracticable,  by  reason  of  the  opening  of  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion, and  abandoned. 

After  leaving  Wisconsin,  in  1869,  Mr.  Cunning  settled  in  Chicago  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  and  until  his  health  became  impaired,  in  1879,  was  constantly  and  actively  em- 
ployed. As  a  lawyer,  he  is  careful  and  conscientious,  thoroughly  investigating  the  law  of  his 
cases,  while  as  an  advocate,  though  singularly  unostentatious,  his  arguments  are  strong  and 
effective. 

His  religious  training  was  under  Roman  Catholic  influences.  In  political  sentiment  he  is  a 
democrat,  but  since  settling  in  Chicago  he  has  given  little  attention  to  politics  more  than  to  per- 
form his  duties  as  a  citizen. 

Mr.  Cunning  was  married,  in  1857,  to  Catharine  Kenna,  a  niece  of  N.  Kenna,  a  merchant  of 
Fort  Washington,  Wisconsin. 

Mr.  Cunning's  disease,  epilepsy,  being  pronounced  incurable  by  his  physicians,  the  pathology 
of  that  ailment  remaining  unknown  to  the  profession,  he  went  to  work  with  a  will  to  study  the  dis- 
ease, in  which,  after  several  years,  he  has  been  entirely  successful,  and  is  now  preparing  a  work 
on  the  pathological  anatomy  of  the  complaint,  which  he  hopes  will  not  only  render  the  prevention 
and  cure  of  this  and  kindred  maladies  possible,  but  sure  and  simple.  After  the  completion  of  this 
work,  he  will  again  resume  the  practice  of  his  profession. 


MAJOR    VESPASIAN    WARNER. 

CLINTON. 

VESPASIAN  WARNER,  a  rising  lawyer  of  rare  natural  abilities  and  fine  attainments,  is  a 
native  of  Illinois,  and  was  born  April  23,  1842,  in  De  Witt  county.  He  is  the  son  of  Doctor 
John  Warner,  of  Clinton,  a  native  of  Virginia,  a  prominent  banker  and  business  man,  accom- 
plished and  highly  respected  for  his  intelligence  and  purity  of  character.  He  has  a  brilliant 
record  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  4151  Illinois  infantry.  The  mother  of  Vespasian,  before  mar- 
riage, was  Miss  Cynthia  A.  Gardiner. 

Vespasian  commenced  his  education  in  the  public  schools,  and  completed  it  in  Lombard  Uni- 
versity, Galesburgh,  Illinois.  In  the  winter  of  1860  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Moore  and 
Greene,  of  Clinton,  where  he  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  with  great  diligence  until  the  spring 
of  1861,  when  the  war  of  the  rebellion  broke  out,  and  he  entered  the  army,  and  after  a  service  of 
five  years,  was  brevetted  major. 

He  afterward  pursued  a  course  of  study  in  the  law  department  of  Harvard  University,  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  from  that  institution.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1867,  and  in  1868  formed  a  partnership  with  C.  H.  Moore,  and  has  continued  in  that  connection 
in  the  practice  of  the  law  ever  since  that  time,  doing  a  very  extensive  business.  Major  Warner 
is  well  read  in  all  the  different  branches  of  his  profession,  and  has  a  retentive  memory.  His  mind 
is  well  stored  with  useful  information,  from  which  he  draws  at  will.  He  has  a  copious  flow  of 
language,  and  some  of  his  forensic  efforts  have  been  pronounced  very  eloquent.  He  is  a  ready 
speaker,  and  is  considered  the  ablest  advocate  in  the  part  of  the"  state  where  he  resides.  He  pre- 
pares his  cases  for  trial  with  great  diligence,  and  always  goes  into  court  with  a  thorough  knowl- 


732  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

edge  of  his  case,  and  can  readily  produce  the  authorities  that  sustain  his  propositions.  He  sees 
his  subject  clearly,  and  is  enabled  to  express  his  conclusions  with  great  force  and  clearness.  He 
is  a  logician  of  high  order,  and  often  enlivens  his  discourses  with  illustrations  and  comparisons. 
He  has  attained  a  very  high  rank  at  the  bar,  and  seems  destined  to  rise  still  higher,  and  ulti- 
mately reach  the  highest  anticipations  of  his  many  admiring  friends.  He  is  a  man  of  unspotted 
integrity,  and  has  the  universal  confidence  and  respect  of  the  community  in  which  he  moves. 
Personally,  he  is  very  attractive.  He  is  tall  and  slender,  with  a  graceful  figure;  has  a  well  shaped 
head,  keen  black  eyes,  dark  hair,  and  classic  features,  and  is  polished  and  refined  and  urbane  in 
his  manners. 

He  was   married  to  Miss  Winifred  Moore,  March  26,  1868,  an  estimable,  accomplished,  and 
highly  educated  lady,  the  daughter  of  C.  H.  Moore,  of  Clinton. 


MARVIN  A.   LAWRENCE. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  June  12,  1820,  on  the  Susquehanna  River,  in  Otsego 
township,  Otsego  county,  New  York.  His  parents,  Charles  and  Hannah  Lawrence,  came 
from  Hartford.  Connecticut,  and  lived  for  thirty-three  years  on  the  farm  where  he  was  born.  His 
ancestors  were  of  Scotch  origin,  and  immigrated  to  this  country  at  an  early  day,  settling  in  the 
New  England  states.  Marvin  received  his  early  education  at  home  institutions,  much  of  it  being 
acquired  by  the  light  of  a  tallow  candle.  He  left  a  clerkship  in  a  store  at  Norwich,  New  York,  in 
the  fall  of  1837,  being  determined  to  strike  out  for  himself,  and  immigrated  to  Girard,  Erie  county, 
Pennsylvania,  which  was  then  considered  in  the  Far  West.  There  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  carriages,  sleighs,  etc. 

February  3,  1843,. he  married  Miss  C.  M.  Hall,  daughter  of  John  Hall,  one  of  the  oldest  set- 
tlers of  that  section.  In  1845  ne  removed  to  Newark,  Ohio,  where  he  followed  merchandising. 
Three  years  later  he  moved  to  Evansville,  Indiana,  then  a  city  of  12,000  inhabitants,  where  pros- 
perity attended  him  in  various  kinds  of  business.  During  the  first  twelve  years  he  carried  on 
extensive  marble  works.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  was  interested  in  a  boot  and  shoe  and 
hat  and  cap  house,  also  crockery  and  glassware,  and  had  a  large  country  store  at  Princeton, 
Indiana,  twenty-five  miles  distant.  The  last  three  establishments  he  bought  of  rebel  sympathiz- 
ers, who  wanted  to  leave  Evansville  and  enlist  in  the  southern  cause. 

In  1850  he  became  a  stockholder  in  the  Canal  Bank,  just  organizing,  and  was  a  director  of  the 
same  until  1866.  With  an  authorized  capital  of  $500,000  and  a  large  surplus,  it  was  the  first  bank 
in  Evansville  to  change  to  a  national  bank.  He  afterward  helped  to  organize  the  Merchants' 
National  Bank  in  that  city.  For  a  number  of  years  he  had  charge  of  the  southern  end  of  the 
Wabash  and  Erie  canal,  from  Terre  Haute  to  Evansville,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  ten  miles, 
the  whole  line  extending  from  Toledo  to  Evansville.  In  1863  he  was  a  large  contributor  to  and 
spent  much  time  in  superintending  the  building  and  completing  of  the  Walnut  Street  Presby- 
terian Church,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee  and  afterward  a  member.  His  numerous  busi  ness  interests 
prevented  him  from  going  into  active  service  during  the  civil  war,  but  he  was  instrumental  in  the 
enlistment  of  two  others,  for  whose  families  he  helped  to  provide  during  the  term  of  their  service. 
In  the  spring  of  1866  he  removed  with  his  family,  consisting  of  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  to 
Chicago,  where  he  invested  in  real  estate,  and  entered  into  commission  business,  controlling  one 
of  the  leading  houses  of  the  city.  The  first  three  years,  his  business  was  largely  remunerative, 
but  afterward  severe  losses  were  sustained  through  the  fraud  and  deception  of  others.  He  then 
began  the  buying  and  selling  of  real  estate,  but  the  great  fire  of  1871  and  panic  of  1873  caused 
further  losses,  and  finally,  struggling  against  fate,  he  decided  to  leave  his  family  in  Chicago  and 
pull  out  for  Leadville,  Colorado,  which  was  then  becoming  the  great  mining  center  of  the  state 
of  Colorado. 


HCCccp.r   Jr   S.  Co 


I  I 


C.ig.  by  L  S  WiH,a^5  X,    B-n,Nr 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  735 

He  arrived  at  Leadville  May  25,  1879,  loaded  with  dust  accumulated  during  a  ride  of  thirteen 
hours  in  the  stage.  He  there  secured  the  services  of  a  miner,  whose  experience  of  eighteen  years 
in  the  mountains  enabled  him  to  read  formations  as  one  would  a  book.  They  loaded  a  little 
burro  or  Jack  with  a  miner's  outfit,  and  started  for  the  mountain  ranges  and  gulches  on  a  pros- 
pecting tour.  Exposure  to  winds,  snow  storms  and  rain  had  no  terror  for  them.  They  would 
sometimes  find  in  the  morning  an  additional  blanket  of  snow,  but  as  they  were  after  the  almighty 
dollar,  failure  was  not  thought  of.  This  and  other  trips  of  like  nature  resulted  in  the  securing  of 
some  valuable  prospects  in  fissure  veins,  many  of  them  located  in  the  now  famous  Mosquito 
Gulches,  about  ten'miles  east  of  Leadville,  in  Park  county,  Colorado.  Among  the  number  is  the 
Bonanza  King,  from  which  valuable  ore  was  taken  last  fall  and  winter,  creating  a  great  sensation 
in  the  camp.  The  same  season  he  commenced  running  a  tunnel  in  the  Cornucopia  mine,  located 
in  South  Mosquito  Gulch.  .Storms  and  hard  rock  caused  the  failure  of  four  different  contracts, 
but  by  indomitable  will  and  remaining  with  the  miners,  eating  and  sleeping  with  them  in  an  old 
log  cabin,  with  dirt  floor,  often  covered  with  snow  in  the  morning,  with  work  progressing  at  the 
rate  of  three  to  four  inches  per  day  in  the  tunnel,  he  finally  broke  through  the  solid  granite  walls, 
at  a  distance  of  forty-six  and  a  half  feet  from  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  on  to  a  fissure  vein,  that 
proved  to  be  over  ten  feet  wide,  composed  of  decomposed  quartz.  Being  thus  fully  rewarded  for 
his  energy  and  persevei*ance,  he  filled  a  sack  with  seventy  pounds  of  the  ore,  and  walked  on  snow 
shoes,  the  snow  being  from  three  to  six  feet  in  depth,  with  the  ore  on  his  back,  a  distance  of  three 
quarters  of  a  mile,  where  he  obtained  a  horse  that  carried  him  to  Alma.  There  the  ore  was 
tested,  and  found  to  contain  from  one  to  three  and  a  half  ounces  of  gold  to  the  ton,  besides  some 
silver.  He  sent  the  following  dispatch  to  his  family  at  Chicago:  "Found  fissure  vein  in  Cornu- 
copia better  than  expected;  home  soon."  It  was  good  news  for  them,  for  during  three  years  he 
had  been  deprived  of  the  society  of  his  family,  and  home  comforts  about  three-fourths  of  the 
time.  He  now  has  eight  lodes,  consisting  of  large  fissure  veins  in  Mosquito  Gulches,  besides 
seven  in  other  places.  He  ran  fourteen  tunnels  last  summer,  and  will  return  in  the  spring  of  1883 
to  continue  the  work  begun! 


DENIS  J.  SWENIE. 

CHICAGO. 

DENIS  J.  SWENIE  has  been  connected  with  the  fire  department  of  this  city  for  over  a  third 
of  a  century.  He  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  introducing  steam  instead  of  hand  engines, 
and  he  organized  the  department  in  its  present  paid  form,  displacing  thereby  the  old  volunteer 
system.  He  has  been  a  fireman  from  his  boyhood,  and  has  not  only  thoroughly  mastered  the 
practical  work  of  his  profession,  but  has  entered  into  the  difficult  scientific  problems  always  pre- 
sented in  a  conflagration.  He  is  possessed  of  a  strong  analytical  mind,  and  readily  seizes  upon 
any  new  fact,  labels  it,  and  arranges  it  in  his  collection  for  future  use.  He  is  also  practical  to  an 
unusual  degree,  and  progressive  as  well,  and  is  quick  to  discern  the  best  method  of  meeting  an 
emergency,  and  as  ready  to  adopt  an  improvement  suggested  by  another  as  one  invented  by  him- 
self. His  mind  is  always  on  the  alert  for  better  methods  and  new  appliances  to  meet  the  enemy, 
and  hence  the  Chicago  Fire  Department  has  become  noted  the  world  over,  not  only  for  its  mar- 
velous efficiency,  but  for  being  always  fully  abreast  of  the  times.  In  order  to  be  fully  posted  in 
everything  pertaining  to  his  department,  Mr.  Swenie  has,  at  different  times,  made  the  tour  of  all 
the  principal  cities  of  America,  and  is  always  on  hand  at  conventions  and  tournaments.  Every 
year  something  is  added  to  the  appliances  under  his  control,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  department 
visibly  increased.  In  the  management  of  the  force  nothing  is  left  to  chance;  every  company, 
every  engine,  and  every  man  is  at  all  times  as  much  under  the  direction  and  control  of  the  chief 
as  the  organs  of  the  body  are  under  the  direction  of  the  head.  Through  the  wonderful  fire- 
alarm  telegraph  system,  which  went  into  operation  in  1865,  the  exact  location  and  condition  of 


736  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

every  portion  of  the  force  —  horses,  engines  and  men  —  is  always  known  to  the  chief,  and  their 
duties  in  any  extraordinary  emergency  directed  by  him.  A  clear  and  comprehensive  system  of 
laws  regulates  the  force  under  all  ordinary  conditions,  so  that  the  whole  department  is  a  vast  and 
complicated  machine,  yet  working  for  the  purposes  designed  with  wonderful  regularity  and  effi- 
ciency. 

Among  the  excellent  improvements  which  have  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Swenie,  may  be  men- 
tioned a  very  important  invention  by  a  member  of  the  department — Mr.  John  Ashworth.  It  is 
called  the  portable  stand  pipe  and  water  tower,  and  consists  of  a  series  of  pipes  telescoping  into 
each  other,  and  running  up  at  will  from  thirty  to  sixty-five  feet,  and  which  may  be  inclined  at  any 
angle  or  turned  in  any  direction  by  machinery  at  the  base.  Four  engines  can  be  worked  on  this 
one  pipe,  and  a  two-inch  stream  thrown  from  the  top  and  forced  the  extraordinary  distance  of 
two  hundred  feet  horizontally  if  necessary.  By  this  means  the  firemen  can  largely  avoid  the 
dangerous  and  slow  methods  of  ladder  duty,  and  yet  have  the  whole  burning  front  of  a  building 
under  control,  and  when  necessary,  send  a  powerful  stream  through  its  entire  length.  Mr.  Swenie 
himself  first  suggested  the  idea,  and  the  ingenious  mind  of  Mr.  Ashworth  went  to  work  at  once 
to  solve  the  problem.  Fortunately  enough  funds  had  been  saved  from  the  annual  appropriations 
for  repairs  to  carry  on  the  experiments  and  to  complete  a  perfect  machine,  so  that  the  department 
had  not  to  wait  the  slow  and  tedious  action  of  the  city  fathers,  but  werft  energetically  to  work, 
and  in  November,  1882,  after  several  most  satisfactory  trials,  it  was  adopted  and  put  at  once  into 
the  service.  The  patentees  are  Mr.  Ashworth,  the  foreman,  and  C.  S.  Petrie,  the  superintendent 
of  the  repair  shop,  and  the  city  gets  the  right  to  make  and  use  an  indefinite  number  for  all  time 
to  come,  for  the  time  spent  by  its  employes  and  the  money  used  to  bring  it  to  perfection.  We 
mention  this  incident  to  show  how  ready  Mr.  Swenie  is  to  keep  fully  abreast  of  the  times,  and 
support  or  adopt  any  improvement  in  the  working  of  his  department. 

Mr.  Swenie  is  of  Irish  parentage,  and  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  the  city  of  Glasgow,  July 
20,  1834.  He  is,  therefore,  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  is  as  robust,  vigorous  and  active  as  most 
men  who  are  many  years  his  junior.  He  remained  in  "Bonnie  Scotia"  till  fifteen  years  old,  and 
received  such  schooling  as  the  public  schools  of  Glasgow  could  furnish.  In  1848  he  came  directly 
to  Chicago,  and  served  an  apprenticeship  with  C.  E.  Peck,  at  that  time  chief  of  the  Chicago  fire 
department,  at  harness  making;  leather  hose,  fire  hats,  and  other  fireman's  supplies  were  also 
manufactured  in  the  shop.  That  very  year  he  joined  hose  company  number  3,  connected  with 
engine  company  number  3,  as  hose  boy,  and  which  was  subsequently  changed  to  Niagara  engine 
company  number  3.  His  enthusiasm  and  efficiency  increasing  with  his  experience,  he  was  elected 
assistant  foreman  of  Red  Jacket  engine  company  number  4,  in  1852.  This  was  for  a  time  the 
"crack"  company  of  the  city,  and  among  its  most  efficient  members  enrolled  the  names  of  the 
five  Quirk  brothers,  who  were  afterward  members  of  Colonel  Mulligan's  23d  Illinois  infantry. 
This  company  disbanded  in  1854,  reorganized  in  1855  as  the  "Humane,"  was  changed  to  its  origi- 
nal name,  and  finally  disbanded  in  1858,  after  the  organization  of  the  paid  department. 

In  1856  Mr.  Swenie  was  elected  first  assistant  engineer  of  the  department,  and  in  1858  suc- 
ceeded Silas  McBride  as  chief.  October  17,  1857,  occurred  the  great  fire  on  Water  and  Lake 
streets,  when  twenty-three  lives  were  lost,  seven  being  firemen.  Mr.  Swenie  had  charge  of  the 
diggers,  and  recovered  eighteen  of  the  twenty-three  bodies  supposed  to  be  lost.  This  fire  awoke 
the  authorities  to  a  consciousness  of  the  inferiority  of  hand  to  steam  fire  engines,  and  the  import- 
ance of  greater  efficiency  in  their  fire  department  to  meet  the  growing  needs  of  the  Garden  City. 
The  press  began  the  agitation,  and  in  the  following  November  the  council  ordered  a  new  steam 
engine  capable  of  throwing  four  streams  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  This  was  delivered  in  the 
next  February,  and  named  "  Long  John,"  after  his  Honor,  John  Wentworth,  then  mayor.  It  was 
put  into  service  about  May  i,  1858,  and  located  at  the  old  armory  building,  corner  of  Adams  and 
Franklin  streets.  The  first  fire  it  worked  at  was  at  the  corner  of  Wells  and  Van  Buren  streets, 
where  nine  persons  perished  in  the  flames. 

In  March  of  that  year,  Mr.  Swenie  began  the  work  of  reorganizing  the  fire  department,  sub- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  737 

stituting  the  volunteer  with  the  paid  system.  He  met  with  very  bitter  opposition  at  the 
start.  Firemen  who  had  been  accustomed  to  pursue  the  dangerous  but  exciting  occupation  as  a 
pastime  for  the  glory  there  was  in  it,  felt  indignant  not  only  that  steam  should  hereafter  super- 
sede the  display  of  muscle,  but  that  any  American  citizen  should  be  so  disgraced  as  to  be 
offered  pay  for  the  performance  of  so  necessary  a  duty  devolving  upon  the  whole  community 
as  fighting  the  common  enemy,  fire.  At  first  the  only  paid  men  were  the  engineer,  Joel  A.  Prescott, 
and  his  assistant,  William  Homer;  the  remainder  of  the  company  were  volunteers.  The  first 
company  commissioned  under  full  pay  was  the  Atlantic  engine  company  number  3,  organized 
October  23,  1858. 

The  bitterness  and  feuds  engendered  by  the  attempt  to  substitute  one  system  for  the  other, 
would  have  discouraged  most  men,  but  Mr.  Swenie  manifested  an  admirable  steadiness  of  purpose 
and  a  wise  and  judicious  spirit  that  finally  mastered  all  difficulties,  and  placed  the  volunteer  sys- 
tem on  a  gradual  decline,  and  it  disappeared  as  fast  as  the  city  fathers  could  be  induced  to  pur- 
chase the  steam  engines  to  take  their  place.  From  the  close  of  1857  to  the  opening  of  1860,  four 
new  engines  were  purchased  and  as  many  companies  organized  upon  the  new  system,  while 
several  volunteer  companies  gave  up  the  struggle  and  disbanded.  The  volunteers  were,  however, 
yet  in  the  majority,  and  at  the  election  in  March,  1859,  revenged  themselves  on  the  man  who  had 
doomed  them  to  extinction,  by  electing  U.  P.  Harris  chief,  and  sending  Mr.  Swenie  back  to  his 
company. 

April  27,  1861,  Liberty  engine  company  number  7,  was  put  into  commission,  and  Mr.  Swenie 
elected  foreman.  In  1867  he  took  command  of  the  Fred  Gund  company  number  14,  organized 
April  7.  He  was  captain  of  this  company  at  the  time  of  the  great  fire  in  October,  1871,  and  with 
his  men  was  forced  to  abandon  their  engine  at  the  corner  of  Canal  and  Van  Buren  streets,  and  • 
flee  for  their  lives.  This  was  one  of  three  engines  destroyed  in  the  great  conflagration.  Not- 
withstanding the  loss  of  their  engine,  and  the  dreadful  perils  through  which  they  had  passed, 
Mr.  Swenie  took  charge  with  his  company  of  affairs  on  the  North  Side,  and  was  instrumental  in 
saving  five  entire  blocks  near  Kinzie  street  bridge.  No  company  did  more  heroic  service  or 
showed  greater  intrepidity  and  devotion  than  the  Fred  Gund  company  number  14. 

On  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Harris  as  chief  engineer  of  the  department  in  1868,  R.  A.  Williams 
was  appointed  by  the  fire  commissioners  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  upon  assuming  the  duties  of 
chief,  he  tendered  Mr.  Swenie  the  position  of  first  assistant.  This  he  declined  for  good  reasons, 
preferring  to  retain  his  old  position  as  foreman  instead.  This  he  did  until  October  i,  1873,  when 
he  accepted  the  position  of  first  assistant  fire  marshal  under  Chief  Benner.  In  August,  1875,  the 
city  adopted  an  ordinance  abolishing  the  board  of  police  and  fire  commissioners,  and  establishing 
the  present  management  of  the  department  under  a  fire  marshal,  who  should  be  also  styled 
"Chief  of  Brigade."  This  change  has  proved  a  most  important  one  for  the  efficiency  of  the  de- 
partment, as  it  consolidates  the  whole  force  into  one  individuality,  and  gives  it  but  one  directing 
head.  Mr.  Swenie  continued  to  perform  the  duties  of  first  assistant  marshal  until  July  3,  1879, 
when  he  was  appointed  acting  chief  by  Mayor  Harrison,  and  upon  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Benner, 
on  the  tenth  of  the  following  November,  he  was  appointed  by  the  mayor,  and  confirmed  by  the 
council,  fire  marshal  and  chief  of  brigade.  Thus,  after  twenty  years  of  faithful  labor  in  perhaps 
the  most  important  branch  of  the  city  service,  Mr.  Swenie  finds  himself  once  more  at  the  head  of 
the  department  he  was  most  instrumental  in  organizing.  His  present  position  is  a  fine  testimonial 
to  his  efficiency  as  an  officer  and  his  worth  as  a  man,  anc]  in  him  and  his  experience  and  proved 
ability  the  department  and  the  general  public  repose  the  utmost  confidence.  As  an  illustration 
of  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  the  tenth  anniversary  of  his  first 
appointment  as  foreman,  his  many  friends  in  the  department  gave  a  grand  banquet  in  honor  of 
the  occasion,  at  number  14  engine  house,  which  was  a  most  enjoyable  affair.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  banquet,  C.  N.  Holden,  in  a  neat  speech,  presented  Mr.  Swenie  with  a  gold  watch  and 
chain,  with  fire  hat  and  trumpet  as  charms,  costing  $450. 

Mr.  Swenie  was  married  October  16,  1853,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  to  Miss  Martha  Toner,  by 


738  -     UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

whom  he  has  had  seven  children,  six  still  living.     Two  daughters  are  married  and  settled  in  life. 
His  eldest  son,  Frank,  is  fire-alarm  telegraph  operator  in  the  central  office. 

Although  a  democrat 'in  sympathy,  Mr.  Swenie  has  the  good  sense  to  perceive  that  the  fire  de- 
partment, of  all  others,  should  be  free  from  political  influences,  and  has  done  all  he  could  to  keep 
it  so.  Its  discipline  has  therefore  never  been  impaired  by  political  issues  or  controversies,  and  it 
is  justly  the  pride  and  boast  of  the  city. 


JUDGE  WILLIAM   E.  NELSON. 

DECA  TUR. 

HON.  WILLIAM  E.  NELSON  is  a  highly  respected  member  of  the  bar  in  central  Illinois; 
a  thorough  lawyer,  of  sound  judgment,  and  efficient  in  the  trial  of  causes.  He  is  lucid  and 
logical,  and  has  a  refinement  in  his  methods  of  thought  that  gives  him  rank  with  other  able  men 
in  the  profession.  He  possesses  the  power  of  analysis  and  condensation  to  an  eminent  degree. 
Mr.  Nelson  is  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  was  born' at  Sparta,  White  county,  June  4,  1824,  and  is 
the  eldest  son  of  Richard  Nelson,  a  prominent  Tennessee  lawyer,  who  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
stitutional convention  that  formed  the  constitution  of  that  state,  in  1834,  and  grandson  of  John 
Nelson,  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  the  revolution.  His  mother,  before  marriage,  was  Miss  Eliza 
McCampbell,  daughter  of  Andrew  McCampbell,  who  was  also  a  revolutionary  soldier.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844,  and  immediately  entered  upon  a  successful 
career  as  a  lawyer  in  his  native  town,  gaining  a  reputation  as  a  trial  lawyer  at  an  early  age. 

In  February,  1857,  he  settled  at  Decatur,  Illinois,  where  he  has  pursued  his  profession  ever 
since,  doing  a  general  law  business,  being  equally  successful  in  both  criminal  and  civil  cases.  In 
1870  he  was  appointed,  by  Governor  Palmer,  on  a  commission  to  revise  the  statutes  of  Illinois, 
and  operated  with  the  commission  until  his  duties  commenced  in  the  twenty-seventh  general 
assembly,  which  met  in  January,  1871.  As  a  legislator  he  was  efficient,  and  at  once  took  a  prom- 
inent position.  No  important  legislation  was  enacted  without  his  cooperation.  He  paid  strict 
attention  to  the  interests  of  his  constituents  and  the  state.  He  served  on  important  committees, 
including,  among  others,  the  judiciary  committee,  and  committee  on  education,  and  was  appointed 
on  a  special  committee  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  penitentiary  at  Joliet.  In  August,  1877, 
he  was  elected  one  of  the  judges  of  the  fourth  judicial  circuit,  and  filled  that  term  with  ability. 
He  then  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Decatur,  where  he  has  remained  ever  since. 

In  addition  to  Judge  Nelson's  abilities  as  a  lawyer,  no  man  stands  higher  as  a  citizen.  He  is 
an  affable  gentleman,  of  easy  and  graceful  deportment,  warm  in  his  friendships,  and  faithful  in 
his  social  relations. 

He  was  married  in  Sparta,  Tennessee,  to  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Colonel  James  Snod- 
grass,  of  that  place.  They  have  had  five  children,  only  one  of  whom  has  attained  to  the  age  of 
majority.  Theodore  Nelson  is  an  active  business  man  of  Decatur.  The  other  children  died  in 
infancy. 

GEORGE  D.  THOMAS. 

THOMASVII.LE,  M.   T. 

/^  EORGE  DEMENT  THOMAS  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Saint  Clair  county,  Illinois,  July  26  ,1834. 
VJT  He  is  the  third  son  and  sixth  child  of  John  and  Isbellin  Thomas,  whose  family  consisted  of 
ten  children,  five  boys  and  five  girls.  His  father,  Colonel  John  Thomas,  of  Belleville,  Illinois,  is 
at  this  writing  (1882)  a  state  senator,  and  in  his  eighty-third  year;  his  biography  and  portrait  are 
on  page  724  of  first  edition  of  "Eminent  and  Self-made  Men  of  Illinois."  His  mother  was  born 
in  Illinois,  and  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  Kinney,  who  emigrated  from  Kentucky  and 
settled  in  Illinois  while  it  was  a  territory,  four  miles  east  of  Belleville,  the  present  county  seat  of 


•LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  74 1 

Saint  Clair.  His  grandfather  Kinney  lived  on  and  cultivated  a  large  farm  for  many  years  ;  was 
an  influential  man  in  southern  Illinois  at  an  early  day,  and  was  once  lieutenant-governor  of  the 
state.  His  politics  were  democratic. 

George  D.  remained  on  the  farm  till  the  age  of  twenty-one  ;  after  twelve  years  of  age  he  took 
an  active  part  in  the  farm  work,  and  performed  his  share  of  the  labor  cheerfully.  He  plowed 
and  assisted  in  planting  the  crops,  which  in  those  days  were  principally  corn.  As  a  corn  dropper 
he  was  skillful  and  an  expert,  the  main  corn  dropper  on  his  father's  large  farm,  where  there  was 
planted  from  100  to  300  acres  of  corn  in  a  season.  In  1848  he  and  a  hired  man  of  his  father's 
cultivated  a  crop  of  corn  of  nearly  ninety  acres,  plowing  it  three  times,  and  laying  it  by  in 
August,  with  little  or  no  assistance  after  planting. 

His  father  was  a  large  land  owner,  and  each  year  the  acreage  rapidly  increased,  till  in  1850  the 
crop  reached  320  acres  ;  1852  this  acreage  was  all  in  wheat,  making  over  300  acres,  largest  wheat 
crop  cultivated  there  at  that  time.  The  harvest  lasted  four  weeks.  George  was  one  among  the 
best  binders  of  the  sixteen  men  employed  to  take  care  of  this  crop.  He  had  assisted  to  fence 
and  break  about  1500  acres  of  his  father's  land  up  to  1852. 

Having  labored  constantly  on  the  farm,  his  mind  had  been  much  neglected  up  to  this  time, 
and,  feeling  the  need  of  a  better  education,  he  entered  Shurtleff  College,  at  Upper  Alton,  at  the 
autumn  term  of  1852,  and  entered  upon  a  regular  classical  course.  Most  of  the  time  while  at 
college  he  kept  at  the  head  of  his  class;  mathematics,  grammar,  Latin  and  Greek  were  his  favorite 
studies.  When  he  entered  college  his  intention  was  to  take  a  full  classical  course  and  study  a 
profession,  but  being  strongly  attached  to  the  agricultural  pursuits,  he  changed  his  mind  and  left 
college  in  1855,  in  his  sophomore  year.  Soon  afterward,  November  29,  1855,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Lucy  Alice  Alexander  ;  she  was  educated  at  Monticello  Seminary,  near  Alton,  and  left  school 
before  completing  her  course.  They  had  attended  district  school  together  at  Shiloh  in  their 
younger  days.  She  was  a  daughter  of  William  and  Sarah  Alexander,  who  resided  near  Shiloh  in 
Saint  Clair  county.  Her  father  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania  to  Illinois  with  his  father's  family  at 
an  early  day,  and  settled  near  Shiloh,  in  what  was  known  as  the  Alexander  settlement.  He  was  a 
prominent  and  prosperous  farmer  in  his  day,  and  died  in  1847.  Her  mother,  Sarah  Scott,  was  a 
daughter  of  James  and  Sarah  Scott,  who  settled  in  Saint  Clair  county,  near  Shiloh,  with  their 
numerous  relatives,  who  emigrated  from  Virginia.  They  were  all  land  holders  and  good  thrifty 
citizens.  Her  mother  was  a  cousin  of  Judge  J.  M.  Scott,  of  Bloomington. 

In  1856  Mr.  Thomas  settled  upon  a  farm  near  Shiloh.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  he 
organized  the  first  home  guard  company  of  Shiloh,  of  which  he  was  captain.  He  afterward 
entered  service  in  company  A,  as  a  private  in  the  Fremont  body  guard,  with  which  he  served  in 
the  Fremont  campaign  in  Missouri  until  the  removal  of  General  Fremont  in  November,  1861.  In 
1862  he  received  an  appointment  with  rank  of  lieutenant,  in  a  branch  of  the  United  States  ser- 
vice, organized  for  the  protection  of  the  overland  emigrants  from  Omaha  to  Walla  Walla,  Wash- 
ington Territory.  Captain  Madorem  Crawford,  of  Oregon,  had  command  of  this  expedition,  to 
whom  he  reported  in  May  at  Omaha  for  duty.  There  he  remained  in  charge  till  the  necessary 
supplies  and  equipments  were  put  in  readiness  for  the  expedition.  During  the  time  he  organized 
a  company  of  about  sixty  men,  whom  he  drilled  as  far  as  practicable  in  the  cavalry  tactics,  so  as 
to  be  serviceable  on  the  road  in  case  of  Indian  attacks.  He  had  charge  of  this  company  of 
mounted  men  on  the  entire  route,  and  rendered  efficient  services  to  the  command  and  expedition 
till  it  reached  its  destination,  making  about  fifteen  hundred  miles.  The  expedition  was  successful 
in  making  the  trip  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  or  the  transaction  of  any  incident  which  is  not 
common  to  an  expedition  crossing  the  plains. 

Lieutenant  Thomas  received  a  discharge  from  this  service  from  his  captain,  which  highly  and 
strongly  commended  his  services  and  deportment  upon  the  expedition.  He  had  occasion  soon 
after  to  show  his  discharge  to  General  Ringgold,  who  was  then  United  States  quarter-master  at 
San  Francisco,  California,  who  remarked  that  it  was  a  valuable  paper,  and  advised  him  to  take 
good  care  of  it.  He  took  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  visit  Oregon  and  California,  with  a 
72 


742  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

view  of  future  settlement.  About  December  i,  1862,  he  started  home  by  the  way  of  Panama. 
In  the  early  part  of  January,  1863,  he  reached  his  home  in  Illinois,  having  traveled  over  ten  thou- 
sand miles  in  less  than  a  year,  and  brought  home  with  him  six  hundred  dollars  of  his  earnings 
over  the  expenses  of  the  journey. 

In  1863,  he  remained  on  the  farm  and  cultivated  a  crop  ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  making  pre- 
parations to  go  west  with  his  family  —  at  that  time  intended  removing  to  California;  but  the 
mines  being  discovered  at  Virginia,  Idaho,  at  that  time,  and  greenbacks  being  at  heavy  discount 
in  California,  he  concluded  to  go  to  the  former  place  and  invest  his  surplus  money  in  groceries, 
which  he  could  sell  for  gold  dust,  and  if  dissatisfied  with  the  country,  could  go  to  California  with 
gold  instead  of  greenbacks. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  he  outfitted  six  ox  teams,  of  four  yoke  to  each  wagon,  and  loaded  them 
principally  with  groceries  and  provisions;  with  this  outfit  he  left  Omaha  about  the  first  of  June, 
with  his  family,  consisting  then  of  wife  and  two  small  boys.  More  than  fifteen  hundred  miles 
had  been  traversed,  five  hundred  of  which  were  through  a  hostile  Indian  country,  and  more 
than  five  months  of  travel  had  been  consumed  on  the  road,  when  he  reached  his  destination 
without  serious  accident  to  himself  or  family  —  all  in  good  health  and  spirits. 

October  10,  1864,  he  settled  on  a  farm  near  the  present  site  of  Hamilton,  on  the  west  side  of 
the  West  Gallatin  River,  in  Gallatin  county,  Montana.  Here  a-  house  was  soon  built  of  cotton- 
wood  logs,  eighteen  by  twenty  feet,  with  puncheons  for  floor.  Here  he  resided  and  farmed  until 
1871;  during  the  time  the  old  house  had  given  way  to  one  of  much  better  structure.  Here  he 
used  the  first  gang  plow  ever  introduced  into  Montana  (1866). 

He  removed  to  Gallatin  City,  in  Gallatin  county,  to  take  charge  of  the  Madison  flouring  mill, 
of  which  he  had  now  become  the  sole  owner.  Here  he  had  a  wide  field  for  his  progressive  spirit, 
studying  the  art  of  milling,  and  planning  improvemetUs  which  he  deemed  necessary  to  establish 
a  successful  business  in  his  trade.  In  1872  he  made  changes  and  improvements  in  the  mill,  and 
started  his  "  Extra,''  a  fancy  grade  of  flour,  which  he  put  in  the  markets  with  such  uniform  quality 
and  excellence  as  soon  gave  it  the  lead  at  one  dollar  per  hundred  pounds  more  than  any  other  flour 
manufactured  in  Montana.  This  grade  stood  at  the  head  of  flour  markets  in  Montana  till  1879  — 
although  several  millers  had  made  an  attempt  for  three  years  to  compete  with  it,  but  failed  ;  he 
became  his  own  competitor,  and  placed  "Thomas's  White  Rose"  into  the  markets,  which  has 
taken  the  lead.  In  1874  he  introduced  the  first  middling  purifier  ever  brought  to  Montana ;  and 
in  1875  introduced  the  only  emery  wheel  burr  dresser  ever  used  in  Montana. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1877,  he  secured  one  of  the  finest  water  powers  in  the  county,  and 
equally  as  fine  a  location,  and  in  July  of  this  year,  visited  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  which  was 
famous  for  the  great  improvements  that  her  progressive  mill  men  had  made  in  the  new  process 
system  of  milling.  He  also  visited  Milwaukee,  and  went  all  through  three  of  her  largest  and 
most  complete  mills. 

Having  fully  decided  to  build  with  the  latest  new  process  machinery,  and  the  modern  style  of 
arrangement,  he  contracted  with  Edward  P.  Allis  and  Company  for  a  complete  three-run  mill, 
with  latest  improved  machinery.  This  mill  he  completed  in  December,  1878,  and  called  it  Empire 
Mill;  it  has  the  largest  capacity  of  any  flouring  mill  in  the  territory;  is  located  on  Ross  Creek, 
eleven  miles  north  of  Bozeman,  Montana.  The  grades  of  flour  manufactured  at  the  Empire  Mills 
have  taken  high  rank  in  the  leading  markets  of  the  territory.  .  ^ 

He  is  active  and  thorough  in  business,  carrying  on  a  large  flour  trade,  personally  superintends 
his  mill,  keeps  the  books,  and  attends  to  his  large  business  correspondence;  is  liberal  in  his  dealing, 
and  generous  to  the  needy,  asking  few  favors,  but  granting  man}-.  His  integrity  in  business 
matters  has  been  of  great  advantage  to  him,  and  that  coupled  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
trade,  is  the  secret  of  his  success  in  the  manufacture  of  flour.  In  business  transactions  his  word 
is  his  bond,  and  is  so  regarded  by  those  with  whom  he  deals.  He  has  been  a  leading  and  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Gallatin  county  since  1865,  and  was  the  first  assessor  of  the  county  ;  was  clerk  of 
the  first  grand  jury  impaneled,  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  all  public  enterprises  in  the 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.    '"  743 

county.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order  ;  has  twice  been  master  of  Washington  Lodge, 
Montana  Territory.  He  belongs  to  the  Millers'  National  Association.  In  1865,  when  Gallatin 
county  was  organized,  he  was  the  first  assessor  .of  the  county,  by  appointment  of  Governor  Edger- 
ton.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  a  leading  and  prominent  citizen  of  the  county,  and  favorably 
known  throughout  the  territory  in  business  circles.  Though  not  connected  with  any  church,  he 
believes  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  contributes  liberally  to  its  support.  He  has  been  a  repub- 
lican since  the  organization  of  the  party,.  and  is  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  republican  party  of  his 
count}'.  In  the  autumn  of  1882,  he  was  elected  councilman  to  the  territorial  legislature,  a  great 
triumph,  for  Gallatin  has  long  been  a  strong  democratic  county. 

He  resides  at  Empire  Mills,  where  he  owns  several  hundred  acres  of  fine  land,  and  with  its 
improvements  makes  it  one  of  the  most  desirable  country  places  in  the  county.  He  also  owns 
other  real  estate,  160  acres  near  Hamilton,  where  the  survey  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad 
runs. 

His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and  six  children;  they  had  seven,  but  Annie  Julia  died  in  1863. 
Samuel  Homer  and  George  Edgar  were  born  in  Illinois  ;  Lillian  Eugenia,  James  Finley,  Rosa 
Alberta,  and  Sarah  Isabella  were  born  in  Montana.  Homer  is  now  doing  for  himself,  and  owns 
160  acres  of  land,  and  is  farming  with  a  fair  prospect  for  a  young  man.  George  is  also  doing  for 
himself  ;  he  has  a  small  band  of  horses,  and  is  making  some  money.  The  other  four  are  at  home. 

Mr.  Thomas  attributes  his  success  to  early  habits  of  industry,  and  a  taste  or  ambition  to  do 
everything  better  than  anyone  else. 

CHARLES  C.   BONNEY. 

CHICAGO. 
/'~AHARLES  CARROLL  BONNEY  has  been  prominently  before  the  public  in  various  honor- 


able  positions  for  many  years.  He  is  a  native  of  Hamilton,  New  York,  which  is  widely 
known  as  the  seat  of  Madison  University,  and  as  the  most  beautiful  village  in  the  Chenango 
Valley.  His  father,  Jethro  May  Bonney,  was  a  farmer.  The  farm  was  on  Bonney  Hill,  in  the 
vicinity,  and  embraced  a  charming  variety  of  woodland,  field  and  meadow.  Here  the  son  was 
born,  September  4,  1831.  His  mother  was  Jane  C.  Lawton,  daughter  of  George  Lawton,  whose 
"old  mansion  among  the  poplars,"  on  another  hill  to  the  eastward,  was  long  one  of  the  stateliest 
landmarks  of  pioneer  life  in  that  part  of  central  New  York.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  had  two 
brothers  and  one  sister.  The  most  eminent  scholars,  divines  and  politicians  of  the  locality,  .were 
visitors  at  his  father's  house,  and  the  conversations*  he  heard  there  powerfully  stimulated  his 
efforts  and  ambition.  The  father  afterward  removed  to  Hamilton  village.  . 

During  his  boyhood  and  youth  the  son  worked  upon  the  farm,  and  attended  the  district  school, 
Hamilton  Academy,  and  lectures  at  Madison  University;  but,  though  offered  the  full  university 
course,  and  enjoying  friendly  relations  with  many  of  the  faculty  and  students,  he  declined  it, 
feeling  that  he  could  not  afford  the  time  required  for  the  classical  course,  and  that  teaching  and 
private  study  must  suffice.  He  then  taught  common  and  academic  schools  in  New  York  and 
Illinois  until  he  was  twenty-one.  He  also  began  the  study  of  law  while  teaching,  and  was  ready 
for  admission  to  the  bar  before  attaining  his  majority. 

Though  :\  non-graduate,  he  freely  acknowledges  that  he  is  under  very  great  obligations  to  the 
university,.and  regards  its  influence  and  associations  as  potent  in  determining  his  course  in  life. 

He  came  to  Illinois,  September  28,  1850  ;  located  at  Peoria,  October  15,  of  that  year;  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  of  Illinois,  September  23,  1852,  and  to  that  of  the  United  States  suprenre  court, 
January  5,  1866.  September  12,  1860,  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided. 

From  1850  to  1854  he  took  an  active  part  in  establishing  the  present  educational  system  of 
Illinois,  delivering  a  large  number  of  addresses,  and  participating  in  the  proceedings  of  more 
than  twenty  educational  conventions  and  societies.  During  a  part  of  this  time  he  was  employed 
by  the  authorities  of  Peoria  county  as  public  lecturer  on  education,  and  in  this  connection  advo- 


744  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

cated  free  schools,  school  district  libraries,  teachers'  institutes,  normal  schools,  state  and  county 
superintendents,  and  an  enlarged  course  of  study  for  the  common  schools.  The  first  state  educa- 
tional convention  was  called  through  his  instrumentality.  He  was  also  one  of  the  officers  of  a 
State  Teacher's  Institute,  and  for  some  years  a  frequent  writer  on  educational  topics.  But  a  con- 
stantly increasing  love  of  the  legal  profession  drew  him  irresistibly  to  its  service,  and  determined 
his  future  career. 

Already  known  throughout  the  state,  from  educational  correspondence  and  addresses,  he  en- 
tered on  his  admission  to  the  bar  into  a  successful  and  lucrative  practice,  which  has  continued 
and  extended  to  the  present  time.  His  reputation  and  practice  are  not  confined  to  his  own  state, 
but  extend  to  other  parts  of  the  Union.  His  practice  has  embraced  an  active  and  varied  experi- 
ence in  almost  every  department  of  law,  and  includes  many  cases  of  great  importance,  particu- 
larly in  equity  and  in  the  law  of  corporations,  patents,  wills,  commercial  transactions  and  the 
administration  of  estates. 

Among  the  more  interesting  cases  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  may  be  mentioned  :  The 
People  vs.  Fash,  habeas  corpus,  involving  the  liberty  of  the  press;  Johnson  vs.  Stark  county, 
municipal  subscription  to  build  railroad;  the  Sherman  House  cases,  negotiable  instruments  and  a 
wide  range  of  technical  defenses;  Miller  vs.  Wells,  inter-state  laws  of  administration;  The  People 
vs.  Church,  right  of  the  general  government  to  tax  process  of  state  courts;  Gage  et  al.  vs.  Derby, 
the  law  of  government  contracts  and  the  doctrine  of  seals;  the  Huston  Administrations,  liens  on 
estates  of  deceased  persons;  the  Schenck  Sewing  Machine  cases,  infringement  and  trial  by  jury; 
the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  case,  corporations  and  trusts;  the  Fuller  and  Barnum  Tuck-creaser  Patent 
cases;  the  Yerby's  Subdivision  Land  cases;  the  Allaire  Will  case;  the  West  Chicago  Park  case, 
executive  power;  the  case  of  the  State  Savings  Institution,  equity  administration  of  corporate 
assets;  Ely  vi.  Douglas  county,  state  power  relating  to  equitable  remedies  in  the  national  courts; 
Ligare  vs.  Semple,  securities  conditioned  on  removing  objections  to  title;  Fuller  vs.  Hunt,  custom 
and  usage  in  commercial  transactions;  and  the  Auditor  vs.  Chicago  Life  Insurance  Company 
state  supervision  and  control  of  corporations. 

This  brief  list  includes  cases  in  the  courts  of  Illinois,  Michigan,  Nebraska,  New  York,  and 
New  Jersey,  and  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Bonney  was  elected  president  of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association,  in  January,  1882.  This 
high  honor  was  conferred  while  he  was  absent  from  the  association  and  engaged  in  the  trial  of  an 
important  cause. 

In  the  August  following,  Mr.  Bonney  was  elected  vice-president  of  the  American  Bar  Associa- 
tion for  Illinois,  succeeding  David  Davis  j,n  that  honorable  position.  A  few  days  later  he  pre- 
sented to  the  American  Bankers'  Association,  in  session  at  Saratoga,  a  proposal  for  an  act  of 
congress  to  secure  uniformity  of  commercial  paper  throughout  the  United  States.  This  proposal 
was  received  with  decided  favor,  and  means  were  taken  to  favor  its  adoption. 

Mr.  Bonney's  character  and  reputation  as  a  lawyer  may  be  gathered  from  comments  made 
during  his  professional  career  by  the  public  press  on  numerous  occasions.  The  newspapers  of  his 
own,  and  of  other  states  speak  of  him  as  having  "acquired  a  brilliant  reputation  as  a  lawyer";  as 
"one  who  could  take  any  given  subject  and  present  all  salient  points  in  a  condensed,  methodical 
and  lucid  manner";  as  "well  and  favorably  known  throughout  the  entire  Northwest  as  a  lawyer  of 
large  experience,  systematic,  thorough  and  reliable  ";  as  "one  who  holds  an  enviable  position  among 
the  leading  lawyers  of  the  West,  a  gentleman  of  high  culture,  polished  manners,  and  deeply  de- 
voted to  the  duties  of  his  profession";  as  "favorably  known,  and  highly  esteemed  for  promptitude, 
dispatch  and  integrity  in  attention  to  legal  business,  winning  confidence  and  patronage  by  his 
talents,  assiduity  and  uprightness";  as  "one  of  our  most  eminent  lawyers";  as  "one  of  the  most 
distinguished  members  of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  a  writer  on  political  and  legal  subjects  of  wide  rep- 
utation"; as  "a  profound  and  accomplished  lawyer,  and  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  effective 
speakers  in  the  state";  and  "as  a  lawyer  who  stands  at  the  head  of  his  honorable  calling,  not 
only  as  respects  all  professional  attainments,  but  as  a  citizen,  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman,  whose 


UNITED   STATF.S  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


745 


influential  voice  and  pen  are  devoted  to  every  good  word  and  work  in  his  city."  Another  elabo- 
rate notice  says: 

"It  was  he  who  first  raised  and  argued  the  constitutionality  of  the  excise  tax  on  judicial  pro- 
cess and  other  state  proceedings.  He  was  also  the  first  who  stated  the  powers  of  the  courts  under 
the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus,  and  which  was  reproduced  two  years  later  by  Mr.  Binney, 
the  eminent  Philadelphia  lawyer;  and  he  anticipated  by  more  than  a  year  Mr.  David  Dudley 
Field's  exposition  of  the  modern  humbug  of  emotional  insanity." 

The  foregoing  expressions  of  public  esteem  are  selected  from  a  large  number  of  similar 
notices,  in  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  western  states. 

From  his  early  years  Mr.  Bonney  has  found  in  authorship  a  charm  which  has  made  it  the  un- 
failing recreation  of  a  severe  professional  life.  Besides  a  great  number  of  other  contributions  of 
a  legal,  political,  financial  or  literary  nature,  he  is  also  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  "The  Law  of 
Railway  Carriers,"  and  of  another  on  "The  Law  of  Insurance;"  also  of  essays  on  "The  Powers 
of  Non-resident  Guardians  and  Executors,"  "  The  Rights  of  Married  Women  to  Hold  Personal 
Property."  "  The  Doctrine  of  Insanity  in  the  Criminal  Law,"  "  The  Powers  of  Courts  and  Legis- 
latures over  the  Railway  Question,"  "The  Administration  of  Justice,"  "The  Characteristics  of  a 
Great  Lawyer,"  "Government  Reform,"  "Judicial  Proceedings  without  Personal  Service,"  "The 
True  Province  of  the  Government,"  "  National  Regulation  of  Inter-state  Commerce,"  "An  Equity 
Bankruptcy  Law,"  "Practical  Law  Reform,"  and  of  discourses  on  "The  Future  of  the  Legal 
Profession,"  "The  True  Doctrine  of  the  Tariff,"  "Judicial  Supremacy,"  and  other  subjects  of 
public  interest.  He  also  edited,  in  a  very  finished  and  scholarly  manner,  the  poetical  works  of 
the  late  Judge  Arrington.  His  books  on  railway  and  insurance  law,  though  small  and  unpreten- 
tious, and  designed  for  business  men  rather  than  the  legal  profession,  were  highly  commended 
by  eminent  authorities  as  also  of  great  value  to  the  bench  and  the  bar.  Those  books  are  now  out 
of  print,  the  plates  having  been  destroyed  in  the  Chicago  fire.  His  eldest  son,  Charles  L.  Bonney, 
has  supplied  the  place  of  the  treatise  on  railway  carriers  by  an  admirable  summary  of  the  law 
relating  to  the  subject,  entitled  "Railway  Law  for  Railway  Men."  Mr.  Bonney's  efforts  in  the 
field  of  authorship,  says  one  reviewer,  have  been  received  by  the  public  with  decided  approba- 
tion, as  the  product  of  an  able  and  scholarly  writer,  whose  material  is  full  of  sound  sense  and 
practical  value,  and  arranged  in  a  manner  intelligible,  accurate  and  comprehensive. 

Though  Mr.  Bonney  has  never  held  or  been  a  candidate  for  any  political  office,  he  has  taken  an 
active  part  in  public  affairs  from  1852  to  the  present  time;  was  a  party  democrat  until  1860,  a  war 
democrat  during  the  rebellion,  and  has  been  independent  in  politics  since  that  time.  He  was 
a  leader  of  the  movement  that  defeated  the  effort  of  a  private  corporation  to  obtain  control 
of  the  Illinois  River;  was  a  special  commissioner  from  Peoria  to  Saint  Louis  in  that  connection, 
and  as  such  delivered  an  elaborate  argument  to  the  city  government  of  the  latter,  which  was 
highly  commended.  He  was  one  of  the  original  advocates  of  the  constitutional  prohibition  of 
special  legislation;  also  of  a  national  currency  under  a  national  law,  with  a  prohibition  of  state 
issues;  also  of  national  regulation  of  interstate  commerce  and  corporations;  also  of  largely  ex- 
tending the  jurisdiction  and  practice  in  equity;  also  of  state  commissioners  to  represent  the  people 
in -their  relations  with  railway  and  other  corporations;  and  of  more  careful  and  thorough  legisla- 
tion, suggesting  that  the  houses  of  representatives  be  popular  bodies  to  express  the  public  will, 
and  the  senates  legislating  jurists  to  frame  and  perfect  the  laws,  holding  terms  of  office  somewhat 
similar  to  those  of  the  judges.  He  has  also  publicly  advocated  many  other  reforms  in  the  vari- 
ous departments  of  government  in  a  series  of  papers  under  the  title  of  "Government  Reform." 

As  early  as  1858  Mr.  Bonney  procured  the  adoption,  by  a  congressional  district  convention,  of 
resolutions  favoring  a  national  currency,  and  a  suppression  of  state  bank  bills.  The  prohibition 
of  special  legislation,  advocated  by  him,  was  established  in  the  Illinois  constitution  of  1870;  and 
in  other  respects  Mr.  Bonney's  efforts  as  a  reformer  have  met  with  success.  He  has  given  much 
attention  to  the  executive  and  judicial  powers  of  the  government,  and  believes  that  they  should 
have  a  larger  development  and  application. 


746  UNITED   STATES  BIOGKAPJflCAL   DICTIONARY. 

That  Mr.  Bonney  is  a  political  orator  of  no  mean  rank  is  abundantly  demonstrated  in  the 
newspaper  notices  of  the  day,  which  characterize  him  as  a  profound  and  accomplished  speaker, 
combining  sound  argumentative  powers  and  a  quiet  earnestness  of  manner  with  a  precision  of 
rhetoric  and  an  oratorical  ability  rarely  exceeded  by  any  public  speaker.  One  such  notice  says: 
"  His  style  of  address  is  peculiar,  and  highly  gentlemanly  in  tone.  We  have  heard  the  best 
speakers  of  the  old  world  and  the  new,  but  this  is  the  first  instance  wherein  we  have  observed  the 
entire  triumph  of  a  speaker  securing  the  close  attention  of  his  audience  in  a  subdued  tone  of 
voice  "  Another,  that  "  His  speech  in  reply  to  Senator  Trumbull  [at  Peoria  in  1858],  as  a  whole 
and  in  all  its  parts,  compares  favorably  with  anything  we  have  heretofore  heard  as  a  calm,  con- 
servative and  eloquent  argument.  In  addition  to  this  he  demonstrated  himself  to  be  the  almoner 
of  an  imperial  oratory,  which  held  the  large  audience  in  attendance  for  nearly  four  hours,  willing 
and  eager  listeners."  Another,  that  "  It  may  be  said  of  Mr.  Bonney  that,  although  he  is  far  from 
being  devoid  of  humor,  he  depends  more  for  effect  upon  other  than  the  feelings.  His  discourses 
are  of  a  kind  —  rarely  attained  —  that  read  as  well  months  after  as  they  sounded  at  the  time  of 
their  delivery.  They  are  in  no  sense  ephemeral  in  their  character,  and  although  they  may  be 
given  before  the  limited  audience  of  a  country  town  they  are  as  carefully  prepared,  are  as  full  of 
information  and  instruction,  and  as  deserving  of  preservation,  as  if  they  were  state  papers  to  be 
read  by  both  hemispheres.  .His  effort  at  Waukegan  [in  1880]  might  have  been  without  any  dis- 
credit delivered  before  the  British  parliament,  or  any  other  body  of  statesmen  and  politicians  in 
the  world."  And  another,  that  "In  style  Mr.  Bonney  is  precise,  incisive  and  clear,  and  withal  a 
ready  if  not  a  redundant  speaker,  writer  and  conversationalist  His  political  speeches  demon- 
strated the  possession  of  an  impassioned  oratory,  based  upon  a  clear  and  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge of  the  issues  involved  and  their  germane  facts.  In  the  character  of  a  politician  no  speaker 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact  was  more  popular  or  more  influential,  and  had  he  devoted  himself 
to  this  department  of  effort  he  might  have  attained  almost  anything  within  the  gift  of  the 
pex>ple." 

Though  never  entering  the  lecture  field  except  at  occasional  intervals  between  professional 
engagements,  his  list  of  lectures  embraces  many  subjects  of  general  importance,  such  as  "Why 
Ninety-seven  Merchants  in  a  Hundred  Fail,"  "Government  Reform,"  "The  Government  of  Cities," 
and  "The  Relation  of  Religion  to  the  Government." 

Mr.  Bonney  was  at  one  time  president  of  the  Chicago  Library  Association,  and  was  the  author 
of  the  agitation  that  finally  resulted  in  the  Chicago  Free  Public  Library.  He  was  for  several 
years  one  of  the  managers  of  the  Chicago  Athenaeum,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Chicago 
Literary  Club.  He  has  also  delivered  courses  of  lectures  on  medical  jurisprudence  to  medical 
college  students. 

Mr.  Bonney  has  also  been  for  some  years  an  active  member  and  officer  of  the  Citizens'  League 
to  enforce  the  laws  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquor  to  minors,  and  has  also  taken  an  active  part  in 
other  departments  of  temperance  work,  though  not  a  member  of  any  prohibitory  or  total  absti- 
nence association.  He  was  president  of  the  first  national  convention  of  Law  and  Order  Leagues, 
held  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  February  22,  1883,  and  reviewed  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  law  and  order  movement  in  an  elaborate  address,  that  has  been  widely  circulated 
and  commended. 

In  religious  faith  Mr.  Bonney  is  a  New  Churchman,  or  Swedenborgian,  in  which  church  he 
has  been  active  as  a  Bible-class  teacher  and  as  president  of  the  State  Sunday  School  Association. 
His  ancestors  on  the  father's  side  were  Baptists,  and  upon  the  mother's  side  they  were  Friends. 
In  his  youth  he  read  extensively  upon  the  various  systems  of  religion,  and  although  a  firm  ad- 
herent of  his  own  church  has  always  cultivated  the  most  friendly  relations  with  all  other  religious 
denominations,  being  a  vigorous  opponent  of  sectarianism  and  bigotry. 

He  was  married  August  16,  1855,  at  Troy,  New  York,  to  Miss  Lydia  Pratt,  by  whom  he  has 
had  two  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom,  except  the  youngest  daughter,  who  died  in  in- 
fancy, still  survive.  The  family  home  is  a  handsome  residence  on  Fulton  street,  near  Union  Park, 
and  is  a  well  known  social  and  literary  center. 


UNITED    STATKS  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  747 

Mr.  Bonney  is  domestic  in  his  habits,  and  likes  to  gather  about  his  fireside  a  congenial  com- 
pany for  the  elaboration  of  literary  ideas  and  the  more  graceful  of  the  social  qualities.  Enjoying 
an  enviable  position  as  lawyer  and  author  and  litterateur,  he  has  before  him  a  future  which  prom- 
ises still  more  flattering  and  enviable  results. 

The  facts  of  the  foregoing  sketch  have  been  gathered  from  the  books  mentioned  and  an 
inspection  of  more  than  twenty  volumes  of  law  cases,  pamphlets,  magazines  and  newspaper  pub- 
lications, and  in  part  from  biographical  notices  in  "  Wilkie's  Chicago  Bar,"  "  The  Biographical 
Encyclopaedia  of  Illinois,"  and  "The  Bench  and  Bar  of  Chicago." 


T 


WILLIAM    S.   FORREST. 

CHICA  GO. 

HE  subject  of  this  biography  is  a  native  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  was  born  July  9,  1852. 
As  a  boy  he  was  energetic  and  industrious,  fond  of  study,  and  among  his  companions  a 
leader  in  their  boyish  sports.  His  native  tastes  inclined  him  toward  the  legal  profession,  and 
early  in  life  he  determined  to  prepare  himself  for  its  duties.  After  a  careful  and  thorough  prep- 
aration, William  entered  the  freshman  class  of  Dartmouth  College,  in  New  Hampshire,  where  he 
pursued,  the  regular  classical  course  of  study,  and  graduated  with  the  class  of  1875.  In  college 
he  was  popular  among  his  fellow  students,  ranked  high  as  a  scholar  and  was  honored  with  an 
election  to  the  Psi  Upsilon  Fraternity. 

Soon  after  leaving  college  he  began  reading  law  in  the  office  of  Gaston,  Field  and  Jewell,  of 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  whence,  in  1878,  he  removed  to  Chicago,  where,  in  October  of  the  same 
year,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Illinois.  Although  his  professional  career  may  be  said  to 
have  only  begun,  Mr.  Forrest  has  already  attained  a  wide  and  worthy  reputation  at  the  Chicago 
bar.  He  has  a  clear,  logical  and  judicial  mind,  and  is  a  forcible  and  eloquent  speaker.  Although 
well  versed  in  the  various  branches  of  American  jurisprudence,  and  thoroughly  qualified  and 
eminently  successful  in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession,  he  has  devoted  his  special  attention 
to  the  study  and  practice  of  criminal  law,  and  achieved,  as  the  result  of  his  efforts,  a  most  satis- 
factory success. 

In  this  practice  he  has  been  called  to  defend  men  charged  with  almost  every  crime  known  to 
the  law,  and  has  carried  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  state  many  cases  that  have  been  remanded 
for  a  new  trial.  Among  the  more  important  cases  with  which  he  has  been  identified  as  attorney, 
may  be  mentioned  that  of  The  People  vs.  Charles  Schank.  This  man  was  indicted  for  the  killing 
of  Fredrick  Kandzia.  The  defense,  which  was  interposed,  and  upon  which  the  defendant  was 
fully  acquitted,  was  that  the  deceased  came  to  his  death  not  by  the  dagger  of  Schank,  but  by  the 
malpractice  of  the  surgeon  after  the  stabbing.  Another  case  exciting  public  attention  was  that 
of  The  People  vs.  Wing  Lee,  a  Chinaman.  Upon  the  trial  of  this  case  a  plea  of  self  defense  was 
interposed,  and  the  jury,  standing  eight  for  acquittal  and  four  for  conviction,  were  discharged  in 
the  absence  of  the  defendant,  Wing  Lee  being  at  the  time  of  their  discharge  a  prisoner  in  the 
custody  of  the  sheriff.  When  the  case  was  again  called  for  trial,  a  plea  of  former  jeopardy  was 
interposed  and  sustained  by  the  court,  on  the  ground  that  the  jury  was  illegally  discharged,  and 
the  trial  unlawfully  ended.  Wing  Lee  was  discharged. 

Mr.  Forrest  was  also  one  of  the  attorneys  for  Mrs.  Ada  Roberts,  on  her  application  for  dis- 
charge, under  a  writ  of  habeas  (orpus,  from  the  insane  asylum,  where  she  had  been  confined  two 
years,  having  been  adjudged  insane  and  sent  thither  by  the  jury  upon  her  trial  for  the  killing  of 
Theodore  Webber.  But  a  case  which  attracted  perhaps  as  much  public  attention  as  any  on  the 
criminal  calendar  of  Illinois  was  that  of  The  People  vs.  John  Lamb,  who  was  indicted  for  burg- 
lary and  for  the  murder  of  Albert  Race,  a  member  of  the  Chicago  police  force.  Mr.  Forrest  was 
Lamb's  attorney  from  the  time  of  his  arrest  until  his  final  acquittal,  a  period  of  three  years. 
Lamb  was  first  tried  for  murder,  and  convicted  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  but  upon  appeal  to 


748  UNITED 'STATES  BIOGK. //•///< •,//,  DICTIO.VAKY. 

the  supreme  court  the  case  was  remanded  for  a  new  trial.  Lamb  was  subsequently  tried  for 
burglary  and  acquitted.  He  was  then  tried  a  second  time  for  murder,  and  acquitted.  The  pros- 
ecution in  these  cases  was  most  vigorous  and  relentless.  Public  opinion  was  wrought  up,  a  gen- 
eral belief  prevailing  that  Lamb  was  the  real  murderer.  A  cloud  of  witnesses  appeared  for  the 
state,  two  testifying  that  Lamb  was  the  man  who  actually  fired  the  fatal  shot,  one  of  them  being 
an  accomplice.  Lamb  himself  had  been  known  to  the  detectives  of  the  Northwest  as  a  notorious 
character  for  twenty  years. 

The  case  has  a  special  interest  to  lawyers,  from  the  fact  that  in  their  decision  the  supreme 
court  passed  fully  and  fairly  on  the  extent  of  the  liability  of  a  conspirator  for  the  acts  of  a 
co-conspirator. 

Mr.  Forrest  is  now  in  the  full  vigor  and  strength  of  manhood,  and,  with  his  present  achieve- 
ments, may  hopefully  look  to  the  future.  Untiring  in  his  efforts,  and  zealous  in  all  his  under- 
takings, he  cannot  but  attain  a  first  rank  in  his  chosen  profession.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  in  politics  adheres  to  the  principles  of  the  democratic  party.  He  was 
married  at  Chicago,  April  17,  1879,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Whitney,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and 
daughter  of  the  late  Melvin  Whitney,  for  many  years  a  prominent  merchant  in  New  York  city. 

Mr.  Forrest  is  a  man  of  fine  social  and  personal  qualities,  -and  is  known  among  his  friends  as 
a  genial  companion.  He  is  domestic  in  his  tastes,  and  with  his  native  fondness  for  study  and 
literary  culture,  finds  in  his  own  home  the  most  pleasant  and  agreeable  respite  from  his  profes- 
sional cares. 

HON.   LESTER   L.   BOND. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

OF  the  many  able  lawyers  in  the  Northwest  who  make  a  specialty  of  patent  law  and  patent 
causes,  Hon.  Lester  L.  Bond  has  no  superior.  Endowed  by  nature  with  a  comprehensive 
mind  and  great  mechanical  ingenuity,  he  has  attained  great  proficiency  in  the  arts  and  sciences 
especially  applicable  to  that  branch  of  his  profession  to  which  he  has  given  particular  attention. 
He  is  learned  not  only  in  mechanics,  but  also  in  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy;  he  has,  also, 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  law  and  the  general  practice,  being  a  good  special  pleader,  conversant 
with  all  of  the  rules  of  practice  in  both  the  state  and  United  States  courts.  He  is  thoroughly 
posted  in  all  of  the  decisions  of  the  courts  in  Europe  and  America  bearing  upon  patent  litigation. 
He  is  a  very  able  trial  lawyer,  a  logical  reasoner,  and  an  excellent  advocate. 

The  practice  of  his  firm  extends  from  Portland,  Maine,  to  San  Francisco,  California.  Mr. 
Bond  is  often  called  into  the  courts  in  the  eastern  cities,  where  he  has  measured  lances  with  many 
of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  America,  and  on  such  occasions  has  received  high  encomiums  from  both 
bench  and  bar  for  his  skill,  profound  knowledge  of  the  law  and  depth  of  reason  in  his  arguments. 

In  the  United  States  supreme  court  at  Washington,  where  he  tries  a  large  number  of  cases 
every  year,  he  stands  very  high,  having,  in  addition  to  great  legal  lore  and  ability  in  his  profes- 
sion, a  keen  sense  of  justice,  the  principles  of  which. he  is  ever  ready  to  uphold  with  a  zeal  that 
reflects  credit  upon  himself,  and  sustains  the  dignity  and  honor  of  his  profession.  Mr.  Bond  is  a 
gentleman  Of  fine  presence,  weighing  over  two  hundred  pounds;  is  over  six  feet  high  and  is  easy 
and  graceful  in  his  movements.  He  is  affable  in  his  manner,  and  secures  the  friendship  of  all  who 
are  favored  with  his  acquaintance. 

Lester  Legrand  Bond  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  a  son  of  Jonas  Bond,  of  Ravenna,  where  our 
subject  was  born,  October  27,  1829.  His  father  removed  from  Connecticut,  and  settled  in  Ohio 
in  1824.  His  mother,  before  marriage,  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Story,  a  relative  of  the  celebrated 
jurist  and  legal  author,  the  late  Judge  Story,  of  the  United  States  supreme  court. 

Lester  L.  attended  select  school  in  his  native  town  four  years,  and  afterward  entered  Ellsworth 
Academy.  Leaving  there  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  assisted  his  father  in  farming  and  manufac- 
turing in  the  summer,  ami  attended  school  during  the  winter  months.  During  this  period  he 


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75' 


acquired  a  taste  for  mechanics,  which  in  later  years  ass<-rt<-<l  itself  in  his  profession  as  a  lawyer. 
In  1850  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  with  Francis  W.  Tappen,  in  Ravenna,  and  afterward 
continued  his  studies  with  Bierce  and  Jefferies,  the  senior  partner  of  which  firm,  General  Bi<-n  >-., 
was  considered  one  of  the  ablest  criminal  lawyers  in  northeastern  Ohio.  After  completing  his 
studies^  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Akron,  in  October,  1853.  In  October,  1854,  he  settled  in 
Chicago,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law.  His  means  were  limited,  and  he  had  but  two 
acquaintances  in  the  city.  His  business,  therefore,  was  for  some  time  necessarily  small,  and  in 
the  hope  of  bettering  his  circumstances  he  joined  his  name  with  that  of  a  young  man  in  the 
commission  business.  His  partner  absconded,  leaving  him  to  settle  the  debts  of  the  firm.  This 
occurrence  was  very  embarrassing,  but  he  struggled  through  it,  and  discharged  all  of  his 
obligations. 

About  the  year  1859  some  parties,  knowing  the  natural  taste  of  Mr.  Bond  for  mechanical 
studies,  employed  him  to  take  charge  of  their  patent  interests,  as  well  as  to  procure  other  patents 
for  their  inventions.  This  soon  led  to  considerable  business,  which  continued  to  increase  until 
1869,  when  he  concluded  to  withdraw  from  the  general  practice  of  the  profession,  and  devote 
himself  exclusively  to  patent  business,  since  which  time  the  marvelous  growth  of  manufactures, 
and  the  steadily  increasing  reputation  of  Mr.  Bond  as  a  patent  lawyer,  had  a  tendency  to  fill  his 
office  with  business,  and  in  1864  he  became  associated  with  the  law  firm  of  West,  Bond  and  Hris- 
coll,  he  himself  taking  charge  of  the  business  pertaining  to  patents.  The  following  year  Mr. 
Driscoll  was  elected  city  attorney,  which  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  withdraw  from  the  firm, 
and  the  business  was  continued  under  the  name  of  West  and  Bond. 

On  account  of  the  large  experience  acquired  by  Mr.  Bond  in  patent  cases,  and  also  his 
familiarity  with  mechanics,  he  has  been  intrusted  with  very  important  cases,  and  at  an  early  period 
in  his  practice  was  frequently  called  upon  as  an  expert  in  important  trials,  in  matters  relating  to 
patents.  Among  the  cases  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  as  counselor  may  be  mentioned  those 
of  the  Babcock  Fire  Extinguisher,  the  Evarts  Shingle  Mill,  the  Tubular  Lantern,  the  Marsh  Har- 
vester, the  Keystone  Corn  Planter,  the  Kenyon  Cultivator,  and  numerous  other  cultivator  cases. 
He  defended  the  Moline  Plow  Company  in  its  numerous  contested  cases,  also  the  Furst  and  Brad- 
ley Manufacturing  Company,  was  connected  with  the  Barb  Wire  Fence  cases,  and  was  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  usually  on  the  defense,  in  nearly  all  of  the  agricultural  implement  cases  that 
have  been  tried  in  the  seventh  United  States  circuit. 

His  skill,  which  was  so  evidently  manifested  in  these  and  other  cases,  has  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  his  profession  in  this  department. 

In  politics  he  has  been  a  republican  since  he  has  had  a  vote,  his  father  having  joined  the  free- 
soil  party  in  1844.  His  first  experience  of  political  position  was  in  1852,  when  he  was  sent  as  a 
town  delegate  to  the  Pittsburgh  convention,  which  nominated  John  P.  Hale  for  president. 

In  1863  he  was  elected  alderman  from  the  eleventh  ward  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  was  in 
1864  reflected  for  two  years,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  was  again  tendered  the  office  from 
both  parties,  but  on  account  of  the  pressure  of  the  business  was  compelled  to  decline. 

In  1867  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature,  and  reflected  in  1869.  During  this  session  he 
was  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee,  the  most  important  in  the  house.  In  his  first  term  he 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  internal  improvements,  and  aided  largely  in  procuring  the 
passage  of  the  act  for  the  improvement  of  the  Illinois  River. 

Contrary  to  his  wishes,  in  1871,  just  after  the  great  fire,  he  was  placed  on  the  ticket  for  alder- 
man of  the  tenth  ward,  and  was  elected. 

In  1873  Hon.  Joseph  Medill  obtained  leave  of  absence  for  the  remainder  of  his  term  as  mayor, 
on  account  of  ill  health,  and  Mr.  Bond  was  elected  by  the  council  to  fill  the  place  for  the  remainder 
of  the  term.  The  following  November  he  was  nominated  for  mayor  (or  two  years,  and  although 
he  received  the  large  number  of  eighteen  thousand  five  hundred  votes,  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Col- 
vin.  During  Mr.  Bond's  short  term  of  the  office  of  mayor  the  panic  occurred,  and  he,  with 
others,  taking  a  decided  stand  against  the  issue  of  scrip,  the  credit  of  the  city  was  maintained. 
73 


752  UNITKD    STA'/'KS   IUOGKA  1'IIICA  L    DICTIONARY. 

He  also  reorganized  the  fire  department  so  satisfactorily  that  the  organization  was  not  afterward 
disturbed,  and  settled  the  long-standing  claims  of  the  gas  companies  on  a  basis  that  has  since 
been  followed. 

Mr.  Bond  was  for  four  years  a  member  of  the  board  of  education,  and  in  1872  was  presidential 
elector  for  the  second  congressional  district  of  Illinois.  In  all  these  various  positions  he  has  dis- 
tinguished himself  for  his  energy,  prudence  and  faithfulness. 

He  was  married,  October  12,  1856,  to  Miss  Amie  Scott  Aspinwall,  daughter  of  Rev.  Nathaniel 
W.  Aspinwall,  of  Peacham,  Vermont,  a  lady  of  excellent  womanly  qualities,  and  an  affectionate 
wife.  They  have  one  daughter.  They  are  both  members  of  the  Centenary  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  Chicago.  

GEORGE  DRIGGS. 

CHICAGO. 

EORGE  DRIGGS,  a  member  of  the  legal  fraternity  of  Chicago,  is  a  native  of  Livingston 
county,  New  York,  and  was  born  at  Mount  Morris,  May  18,  1846.  His  parents  were  Elias 
Beach  Driggs,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  Sarah  (Rowell)  Driggs,  a  native  of  Vermont.  After 
the  death  of  his  parents,  when  only  a  lad,  Mr.  Driggs  went  to  live  with  relatives  at  Fairlee,  Ver- 
mont, near  the  New  Hampshire  line.  In  early  years  he  attended  the  academy  at  Orford,  New 
Hampshire,  afterward  continuing  his  studies  under  private  instruction  up  to  the  time  of  his  ap- 
,  pointment  to  a  position  in  the  United  States  treasury  department  under  Secretary  McCullough. 
While  in  Washington  he  found  opportunity  to  continue  his  law  studies  already  begun,  and  was 
graduated  from  the  Columbia  Law  School,  in  the  class  of  1868,  immediately  entering  upon  the 
practice  of  law  in  Washington,  where  he  remained  for  about  two  years,  when  he  went  to  New 
York  city.  In  1871  Mr.  Driggs  accepted  a  position  in  the  office  of  Hon.  J.  R.  Swan,  at  Columbus, 
Ohio,  at  that  time  general  solicitor  of  the  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati  and  Saint  Louis  Railway  Company. 
He  continued  as  the  assistant  of  Judge  Swan,  and  of  his  successor,  Hugh  J.  Jewett,  until  the 
latter  assumed  the  presidency  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  early  in  1875,  when  Mr.  Driggs  was 
appointed  assistant  counsel  of  the  Pennsylvania  company,  and  Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati  and  Saint 
Louis  Railway  Company,  with  headquarters  at  Pittsburgh,  in  which  position  he  remained  until 
he  came  to  Chicago,  February  i,  1881,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  George  Willard,  of  whom 
a  sketch  is  given  on  another  page.  Willard  and  Driggs,  in  addition  to  a  general  legal  business, 
are  the  solicitors  for  several  railway  and  other  corporations. 

Mr.  Driggs  is  a  firm  republican  in  politics,  entertains  liberal  religious  views,  and  is  a  Knight 
Templar  in  the  masonic  order. 

In  1872  he  married  Miss  Helen  Griffing,  a  native  of  Ohio;  they  have  two  children,  a  son  and 
a  daughter. 

JAMES    ENNIS. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES  ENNIS  was  born  at  Enniscorthy,  County  of  Wexford,  Ireland,  March  27,  1837.  His 
father,  Lawrence  Ennis,  died  on  his  son's  fifteenth  birthday,  and  James,  together  with  his 
mother  and  five  sisters,  immigrated  to  America.  His  father  had  been  what  is  known  as  a  gentle- 
man farmer,  and  James  had  received  a  good  education  in  the  ordinary  branches.  On  reaching 
America  his  mother  purchased  a  farm  in  Lake  county,  Illinois,  but  James,  with  his  delicate  health, 
was  not  born  to  be  a  farmer.  With  little  difficulty  he  secured  the  position  of  teacher  in  a  neigh- 
boring school,  and  taught  for  some  time,  when  he  fell  sick  with  a  dangerous  fever,  and  his  life 
was  for  weeks  despaired  of.  In  1854,  on  a  bitter  cold  day  in  winter,  accompanying  a  neighbor 
farmer,  who  with  an  ox  team  was  hauling  a  load  of  produce  to  Chicago,  James  walked  to  the  city, 
which  destiny  chose  for  the  place  in  which  he  was  to  achieve  success,  and  pass  the  remainder  of 


UNITED  .STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  753 

his  days.  With  a  five-dollar  bill  in  his  pocket,  and  great  expectations,  he  reached  the  city  of  his 
hopes,  without  a  single  acquaintance  in  the  great  metropolis.  He  soon  secured  a  situation  in  a 
clothing  store,  but  as  the  proprietor  did  not  see  fit  to  pay  him  as  agreed  upon,  he  left  the  store 
one  day  and  went  out  on  the  street  without  any  definite  purpose,  when  a  sign  "justice  court," 
attracted  his  attention.  As  he  was  seeking  justice  he  entered  the  office,  and  met  Calvin  DeWolf, 
a  citizen  well  known  to  the  people  of  Chicago,  and  who  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  many 
years.  After  a  long  conversation  with  Mr.  DeWolf,  the  result  was  that  James  was  hired  by  him 
as  clerk,  and  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  also  the  study  of  German,  as  he  foresaw  that 
the  knowledge  of  that  language  would  be  of  great  aid  to  him  in  Chicago,  with  its  large  German 
population.  January  n,  1856,  although  not  yet  of  age,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  law,  and 
November  3,  1858,  he  married  Mary  A.  Sexton,  a  native  of  Chicago,  and  a  daughter  of  one  of  the 
original  Chicago  settlers,  Stephen  Sexton. 

In  1861,  the  civil  war  breaking  out,  Mr.  Ennis,  who  was  a  stanch  Douglas  democrat,  was 
eager  to  enlist,  but  on  account  of  the  delicate  state  of  his  health  his  friends,  after  a  hard  struggle, 
kept  him  at  home,  as  his  physician  said  that  the  exposure  incidental  to  the  campaign  would  kill 
him,  as  he  was  then  suffering  from  lung  troubles.  He  had  built  his  home  on  North  La  Salle  street, 
north  of  Division  street,  where  most  of  his  children  were  born,  and  had  his  office  for  several  years 
at  109  Madison  street.  In  May,  1871,  however,  he  furnished  two  elegant  offices  at  the  new  Open 
Board  Building,  145  Madison  street,  in  a  most  complete  and  magnificent  manner,  and  they  were 
said  to  be  by  the  bar,  and  commented  upon  by  the  press  as,  two  of  the  finest  law  offices  in  Chicago. 
His  law  library  alone  was  valued  at  seven  thousand  dollars.  A  few  months  later,  in  October  of 
the  same  year,  the  ever-memorable  fire  swept  away  his  offices,  his  home,  and  his  houses  on  the 
North  Side,  and  he  lost  in  twenty-four  hours  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  of  property  which  he 
had  worked  for  long  and  industriously.  His  real  estate,  his  wife  and  seven  children,  together 
with  a  house  on  West  Randolph  street,  remained.  All  his  personal  property,  save  an  album  of 
family  pictures  and  a  horse  and  buggy,  had  been  swept  away.  His  property  had  been  insured  in 
a  home  company,  which  paid  but  three  mills  on  the  dollar,  but  with  his  characteristic  energy  he 
furnished  his  West  Side  house,  opened  his  law  office  in  the  parlor,  and  proceeded  after  only  a 
week's  delay  with  his  law  business. 

In  1872  he  moved  his  office  to  room  22,  Metropolitan  Block,  where  it  remained  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  aifc  is  now  occupied  by  his  son  and  successor  in  business,  Lawrence  M.  Ennis.  The 
panic  which  swept  the  country  in  1873  cost  him  forty  thousand  dollars.  He  had  purchased  a 
large  tract  of  Chicago  real  estate,  and  owing  to  the  depression  in  business,  was  unable  to  meet 
his  payments,  and  lost  the  whole  tract.  August  n,  1876,  his  loving  wife  died,  leaving  nine  chil- 
dren, the  eldest  of  which  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  the  youngest  a  mere  babe.  This  was  the 
heaviest  loss  of  all,  and  he  never  seemed  to  recover  from  it.  A  couple  of  years  later  he  married 
again,  and  had  one  child  by  his  second  wife.  November  9,  1880,  after  a  two  days'  illness,  he  died 
of  heart  disease  at  his  residence,  aged  forty-two  years,  seven  months  and  twelve  days,  and  two 
days  later,  in  the  presence  of  sorrowing  friends,  relatives,  clients  and  neighbors,  he  was  buried  in 
Calvary  Cemetery,  and  his  short  but  busy  life  was  over.  A  few  days  after,  a  large  meeting  of 
the  Chicago  bar  was  held,  attended  by  the  judges  and  lawyers,  and  long  resolutions  were  drawn 
up  and  adopted  to  his  memory. 

Mr.  Ennis  was  tall,  slim  in  figure,  with  a  strikingly  intellectual  countenance,  with  coal  black 
hair  and  eyes;  his  face,  saving  a  black  mustache,  was  kept  clean-shaven,  and  he  looked  to  be  no 
more  than  thirty-three  or  thirty-four  years  of  age.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  he  neglected  to  have 
his  photograph  taken  since  his  early  youth,  we  are  unable  to  preserve  an  engraving  of  him  in  this 
work.  His  eldest  son  was  often  taken  for  his  brother  by  those  who  did  not  know  that  he  was 
brotherless.  He  was  a  deep  student.  Science,  histflry  and  the  study  of  German  and  Latin  were 
his  recreations.  He  was  a  hospitable  host,  but  despised  parties  and  society  generally.  He  was  a 
man  of  firm  convictions,  and  with  sufficient  energy  to  carry  his  projects  into  effect.  In  religion 
he  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  his  wife  and  children  are  of  the  same  faith.  In  politics  he  was  a 


754  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

life-long,  active  democrat.  Although  often  tendered  nomination  for  different  offices  by  his  party, 
he  always  answered,  "Wait  till  Lawrence  (his  eldest  son)  is  old  enough  to  take  care  of  my  prac- 
tice, but  not  now."  His  son,  Lawrence,  inherited  his  father's  politics,  and  was  of  age  November 
2,  1881,  the  day  of  the  presidential  election.  Father  and  son  cast  the  same  ticket  for  Winfield 
Scott  Hancock,  and  one  week  later  the  father  died,  leaving  Lawrence  just  old  enough  to  carry  on 
his  business.  He  spoke  German  so  fluently  that  his  nationality  was  often  discussed  and  doubted, 
and  there  is  many  a  good  old  German  in  Chicago  to-day,  who,  if  you  tell  him  that  James  Ennis 
was  not  a  German,  will  shake  his  head  dubiously,  but,  if  you  dare  go  further  and  say  that  Ennis 
was  an  Irishman,  you  will  receive  a  very  emphatic  denial  to  your  statement. 

As  an  advocate  Mr.  Ennis  was  at  his  best.  He  was  a  clear,  logical,  convincing  speaker,  and 
with  his  ready  Irish  wit,  remarkable  memory,  teeming  with  droll  and  witty  stories,  was  a  success 
before  a  jury.  The  history  of  the  Chicago  bar  can  never  be  completely  written  without  a  page 
devoted  to  him.  He  was  honest,  able,  capable  and  the  soul  of  honor,  and  in  his  twenty-four 
years'  practice  never  forgot  his  duties  as  a  gentleman  and  a  lawyer.  He  was  very  successful 
before  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  as  the  reports  will  show.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  clear 
perception  of  principles  of  law  pertaining  to  any  litigation  with  which  he  was  connected.  He 
appreciated  by  intuition  the  character  and  motives  of  litigants,  jurors  and  witnesses;  was  persua- 
sive and  convincing  in  argument,  and  achieved  success,  not  only  by  his  eloquence,  but  by  clear  and 
terse  presentation  of  truths  as  applied  to  the  common  interests  of  society. 

His  practice  was  large  and  lucrative,  and  at  his  death  he  left  about  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  real  estate  to  his  children.  His  love  of  Latin  can  be  seen  in  some  of  their  names, 
which  are  as  follows:  Lawrence  M.,  James  I.,  Callistus  S.,  Lullus  J.,  Susie  M.,  Felicia  A.,  Stephen 
F.,  Agnes  M.,  Laura  G.  and  Juventius  T.  James  I.  Ennis  has  an  important  position  in  the  Mer- 
chants' Loan  and  Trust  Bank.  Callistus  is  with  J.  V.  Farwell  and  Company.  Lullus  is  with  a 
prominent  board  of  trade  firm,  the  four  eldest  being  graduates  of  the  Chicago  high  school.  The 
remainder  of  the  children  are  attending  school.  They  all  bear  many  of  their  father's  characteris- 
tics, and  possess  a  marked  family  individuality,  and  although  their  father  was  the  last  of  his  name, 
it  will  undoubtedly  be  some  years  before  the  family  name  dies  out  in  Chicago. 


HON.   LYMAN    LACEY. 

HA  VAN  A. 

CMAN  LACEY,  for  years  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Mason  county,  and  now  judge  of  the  circuit 
and  appellate  courts,  dates  his  birth  May  9,  1832,  at  Dryden  Four  Corners,  Tompkins 
county,  New  York,  at  the  celebrated  mineral  springs,  then  owned  by  his  father,  John  Lacey,  who 
was  a  native  of  New  Jersey.  His  mother,  Chloe  (Hurd)  Lacey,  was  a  native  of  the  Empire  State. 
In  1836  the  family  came  as  far  west  as  Macomb  county,  Michigan,  near  Rochester,  and  the  next 
year  settled  in  Fulton  county,  this  state,  where  John  Lacey  engaged  in  farming,  and  where  he  is 
still  living.  His  wife  died  in  1879. 

The  son  had  a  fine  opportunity  to  develop  his  muscle  and  harden  his  constitution  by  hard 
work  on  the  farm,  till  twenty  years  of  age,  and  he  no  doubt  owes  his  excellent  health  to  his  early 
physical  training.  He  is/a  graduate  of  Illinois  College,  class  of  '55;  studied  law  with  Hon.  Lewis 
W.  Ross,  of  Lewiston,  since  a  member  of  congress,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1856.  In  the 
autumn  of  that  year  he  settled  in  Havana,  and  was  in  practice  here  until  he  went  on  the  bench. 
In  1862  he  was  elected  by  his  democratic  constituents  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  legisla- 
ture, and  served  one  term.  In  June,  1873  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  seventeenth  district,  comprising 
the  counties  of  Mason,  Menard,  Logan  and  Be  Witt.  Four  years  afterward  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  districts  were  consolidated,  and  designated  the  seventh  judicial  circuit,  and  Judge 
Lacey  was  appointed  by  the  supreme  court  one  of  the  three  appellate  judges  of  the  third  or 
Springfield  district.  He  was  reflected  one  of  the  circuit  judges  in  June,  1879,  of  the  seventh 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  757 

judicial  circuit,  comprising  the  ten  counties  of  Mason,  Logan,  De  Witt,  Menard,  Cass,  Morgan, 
Scott,  Calhoun,  Greene  and  Jersey,  and  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  appellate  judges  by  the 
supreme  court  for  the  second  district,  held  at  Ottawa.  Judge  Lacey  is  a  clear-headed  man,  with 
a  fine  judicial  mind,  and  stands  high  among  the  jurists  of  the  state. 

Judge  Lacey  was  first  married  May  9,  1860,  to  Miss  Caroline  A.  Potter,  of  Beardstown,  Cass 
county,  she  dying  September  12,  1863;  and  the  second  time  May  19,  1865,  to  Mattie  A.  Warner,  of 
Havana.  He  has  one  child  living  by  the  first  wife,  Lyman  Lacey,  Jr.,  and  five  by  his  present 
wife:  Charles,  Frank,  Mattie,  Edward  and  Alice  G.  One  child  by  the  first  wife  and  two  by  the 
second  have  died. 


HON.  CONSIDER   H.  WILLETT. 

CHICAGO. 

/CONSIDER  HEATH  WILLETT  was  born  in  the  town  of  Onondaga,  near  Syracuse,  New 
V_x  York,  December  12,  1840.  His  education  was  obtained  in  a  select  school  near  his  home,  and 
•in  Onondaga  and  Cortlandville  academies.  He  took  a  course  of  private  instruction  in  higher 
mathematics  under  Professor  H.  N.  Robinson,  at  Elbridge,  New  York,  and  was  graduated  at  the 
New  York  State  Normal  School  at  Albany,  in  the  spring  of  1862.  He  then  volunteered  as  a  pri- 
vate soldier  at  thirteen  dollars  a  month  and  rations,  and  was  afterward  promoted  to  a  captaincy, 
and  served  in  the  army  of  the  rebellion  till  the  close  of  the  war.  After  his  army  life  he  attended 
a  short  course  of  medical  lectures  at  Bellevue  Medical  Hospital  College,  in  New  York  city. 

In  the  army  our  soldier,  after  studying  every  work  on  military  tactics,  and  on  international 
and  military  law,  read  Kent  and  Blackstone  under  the  instructions  of  another  captain,  who  had 
practiced  law  in  Boston  for  many  years.  He  attended  the  war  class  of  the  Albany  Law  School, 
it  being  the  first  lectures  after  the  war,  and  most  of  its  members  being  veterans.  The  lecturers 
were  Professor  Amos  Dean,  Senator  Ira  Harris  and  Judge  Amasa  J.  Parker.  May  10,  1866,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  upon  an  examination  in  open  court,  in  the  supreme  court  at  Albany,  New 
York.  He  studied  law  in  Syracuse,  in  the  office  of  the  well  known  firms  of  Sedgwick,  Andrews 
and  Kennedy,  and  Ruger  and  Jenney,  Charles  H.  Andrews  being  the  late  chief-justice  of  the 
court  of  appeals  of  New  York,  and  Henry  C.  Ruger  occupying  that  position  at  present. 

He  then  entered  the  law  department  of  Michigan  University,  and  was  graduated  in  1867,  the 
professors  being  Judges  J.  V.  Campbell,  Thomas  M.  Cooley  and  C.  I.  Walker  and  Ashley  Pond. 
After  spending  a  few  weeks  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  in  closing  up  a  law  and  pension  claim  busi- 
ness established  there,  he  located  in  Chicago,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Illinois  bar,  July  29, 
1867.  He  was  married  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  November  5,  1867,  to  Miss  L.  Addie  Wilder,  who 
is  an  educated  and  accomplished  lady.  They  have  a  pleasant  home,  and  a  flock  of  little  ones. 
He  has  been  conscientious  and  fearless  in  the  discharge  of  public  duties,  giving  satisfaction  to 
those  who  sought  the  public  good,  and  being  feared  and  traduced  by  those  who  only  sought 
their  own  good  at  the  expense  of  the  public.  The  parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  were  pio- 
neer farmers  in  the  most  fertile  and  beautiful  parts  of  the  Empire  State.  When  a  lad,  he  was 
taught  all  sorts  of  work  which  constitute  farming,  besides  obtaining  a  practical  knowledge  of 
many  kinds  of  manual  labor.  He  was  a  clerk  in  a  store,  and  deputy  postmaster,  and  for  two 
winters  taught  school.  In  the  army  he  spent  his  time  first  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
then  in  Florida,  in  the  department  of  the  Gulf. 

His  life  in  Chicago  has  been  that  of  a  laborious  lawyer.  He  has  never  been  a  candidate  for  a 
popular  office,  though  he  has  been  an  active,  influential  and  earnest  politician  ;  b'ut  has  been 
appointed  village  attorney  of  the  village  of  Hyde  Park  three  times,  and  county  attorney  of  Cook 
county  four  times,  the  duties  of  such  appointments  being  strictly  within  the  line  of  his  law  busi- 
ness. His  legal  attainments,  and  attention  to  business  early  made  his  success  assured.  He  has 
had  his  share  of  the  varied  law  business  which  centers  at  Chicago.  His  employment  has  been 
sought  in  the  most  intricate  and  difficult  cases,  which  are  finally  to  be  determined  by  the  courts 


758  UNITKn    STATES  BIOUKAP111CAI.    jnCTIONARY. 

of  last  resort.  The  legal  accuracy  and  attention  to  close  questions  by  Mr.  Willett  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  case  of  Fisher  vs.  Deering,  60  111.,  114.  To  win  his  case  he  had  to  overrule  Chap- 
man vs.  McGrew,  20  111.,  101,  and  Dixon  vs.  Buell,  21  111.,  203,  which  held  that  leases  were  not 
assignable  because  not  embraced  in  the  statutes  concerning  negotiable  instruments.  Mr.  Willett 
demonstrated  that  leases  were  assignable  at  the  common  law  by  virtue  of  the  32,  Hen.  VIII, 
Chap.  34,  Sec.  i,  which  had  been  adopted  by  our  statutes  concerning  the  common  law.  The 
principles  of  the  ancient  common  law  are  living  forces  to-day  in  the  titles  and  complications  of 
real  estate. 

He  has  an  industry  in  the  preparation  of  cases  which  will  not  permit  any  details  to  escape 
their  place  of  usefulness,  and  understanding  the  principle  which  should  govern  the  case,  all 
things  else  are  subordinated  to  the  main  design,  and  help  to  bring  success.  In  the  discharge  of 
his  duty  to  his  clients,  are  found  integrity  and  industry,  honesty  and  zeal,  and  none  ever  feel  that 
aught  has  been  left  undone  that  could  contribute  aid  to  the  case.  He  has  the  ability,  and  takes 
rank  among  those  who  excel  in  whatever  work  is  undertaken,  and  these  are  some  of  the  many 
qualifications  which  indicate  the  sort  of  character  he  has  built. 

Mr.  Willett  is  not  a  man  to  waste  time  and  force  in  keeping  up  mere  appearances.  He  is  in* 
no  sense  a  conventional  man,  and  is  too  thoroughly  in  earnest  to  ever  be  contented  with  the 
petty  aim  of  mere  success.  He  has  to  the  thoughtful  observer  always  an  earnestness  akin  to 
tragedy,  yet  his  manner  is  undemonstrative,  and  his  speech  reserved.  His  earnestness  shows  an 
utter  indifference  to  the  trivialities,  and  in  being  absorbed  in  the  principal  things  which  are 
essential  to  accomplish  results.  Opportunity,  which  comes  to  most  men  veiled,  so  that  they  do 
not  recognize  her  until  she  has  passed,  is  to  this  man  an  open  secret,  consequently  he  pushes  by, 
and  wins  the  race,  while  other  men  wonder  at  his  audacity  and  success. 


A1 


AREA   N.  WATERMAN. 

CHICAGO. 
RBA  NELSON  WATERMAN  is  a   native  of  Orleans  county,  Vermont,  and   was  born   at 


Greensboro,  February  5,  1836.  His  father,  Loring  F.  Waterman,  a  merchant,  was  born  at 
Johnson,  Vermont,  and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Stevens,  was  born  in  Greens- 
boro, her  father  being  a  mill  owner  and  prominent^ business  man  in  that  town.  The  paternal 
great-grandfather  of  Arba  was  a  captain  in  the  revolutionary  army,  and  had  a  number  of  sons 
who  were  substantial  men,  and  among  the  leading  citizens  of  Lamoille  county,  Vermont.  One 
of  them,  Arunah  Waterman,  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  woolen  manufacturer  at  Mont- 
pelier,  and  served  in  the  state  senate  for  several  years.  Mr.  Waterman  received  a  first  class  aca- 
demic education  at  Johnson,  Montpelier,  Georgia,  and  Norwich  military  schools,  all  in  his  native 
state;  taught  one  year  in  the  Georgia  Academy;  studied  law  at  Montpelier  and  the  Albany  (New 
York)  Law  School:  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1861;  opened  a  law  office  in  Joliet,  Illinois,  and  in 
1862  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  tooth  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  made  up  in  Will  county,  and 
connected  with  the  department  of  the  Cumberland;  was  in  numerous  engagements,  including 
Chicamaugua,  Resaca,  Dalton,  and  Altoona  Mountains,  etc.  At  the  first-named  battle  he  had  his 
horse  killed  under  him,  and  was  afterward  shot  through  the  right  arm  and  in  the  right  side,  but 
did  not  leave  the  service  until  August,  1864,  being  mustered  out  as  a  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
regiment.  On  leaving  the  army  Colonel  Waterman  opened  a  law  office  in  Chicago,  with  residence 
at  Waukegan,  until  1868, when  he  removed  to  this  city.  He  is  doing  a  general  civil  business,  and 
has  a  good  class  of  clients,  who  impose  in  him  the  most  implicit  confidence.  He  is  a  thorough 
lawyer,  and  maintains  the  esteem  and  respect  of  both  bench  and  bar. 

Mr.  Waterman  represented  the  eleventh  ward  in  the  city  council  for  two  years,  1*73-1874,  that 
being  the  only  civil  office  that  he  has  ever  held.  He  is  a  decided  and  somewhat  active  republi- 
can and  a  Master  Mason. 


UNITED    STAT£S   lUOCKArillCAI.   DICTIONARY 

He  married  in  December,  1862,  Ella  Louisa,  daughter  of  Samuel  Hall,  formerly  a  merchant  in 
Brooklyn,  New  York. 

Mr.  Waterman  has  been  a  student  all  his  life,  and  has  a  keen  relish  for  scientific  studies.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Chicago  Philosophical  Society,  before  which  he  has  lectured  on 
one  or  more  occasions.  He  is  president  of  the  Irving  Literary  Society,  which  is  composed  of  pro- 
fessional men  and  others  residing  in  the  west  division  of  Chicago. 


HON.    LYMAN    TRUMBULL. 

CHICAGO. 

NATURE  is  sometimes  generous,  but  never  prodigal  of  her  resources.  Notwithstanding  its 
general  intelligence,  its  intense  mental  activities,  its  scientific,  artistic  and  literary  develop- 
ment, our  country  has  produced  few  men  worthy  to  be  called  statesmen,  and  still  fewer  profound 
constitutional  lawyers.  Of  these,  however,  Illinois  is  conceded  to  have  given  the  nation  one,  Hon. 
Lyman  Trumbull. 

He  was  born  in  Colchester,  Connecticut,  October  12,  1813,  and  received  his  early  education  at 
Bacon  Academy,  in  his  native  town.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  commenced  teaching  school, 
and  at  twenty  assumed  charge  of  an  academy  at  Greenville,  Georgia.  In  addition  to  the  onerous 
duties  of  teacher,  Mr.  Trumbull  now  devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  the  study  of  law,  and  in  1837 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Georgia.  Sagaciously  perceiving  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  destined 
to  become  the  seat  of  mighty  states,  he  immediately  removed  to  Illinois,  and  settled  at  Belleville, 
in  Saint  Clair  county,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law.  This,  however,  was  soon  interrupted, 
for  in  1840  he  was  a  representative  to  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  and  before  the  expiration  of  his 
term  was  appointed  secretary  of  state,  which  position  he  filled  for  two  years.  Returning  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  he  devoted  himself  so  zealously  and  assiduously  thereto  that  in  a  few 
years  he  became  the  peer  of  the  most  eminent  and  experienced  lawyers  in  the  state.  In  recogni- 
tion of  his  peculiar  fitness  for  the  position,  he  was,  in  1848,  elected  one  of  the  justices  of  the 
supreme  court  of  Illinois,  and  in  1852  was  reelected  for  nine  years.  In  1853  he  resigned  from  the 
supreme  bench,  and  in  the  following  year  was  chosen  to  represent  his  district  in  congress.  Before 
he  had  taken  his  seat,  the  legislature  elected  him  senator  for  six  years,  from  March,  1855.  In 
1861  he  was  reelected  senator,  and  again  in  1867.  After  eighteen  consecutive  years'  servicfe  as 
senator  from  Illinois,  he  returned  to  the  state  he  had  served  so  long  and  faithfully,  and  resumed 
the  practice  in  Chicago,  where  he  still  resides. 

His  ability  and  eminence  as  a  statesman  and  constitutional  lawyer  have  received  fitting  and 
graceful  recognition  from  McKendree  and  Yale  Colleges,  both  of  which  have  conferred  upon  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws.  Unlike  too  many  of  our  public  men,  Judge  TrumbuH's 
private  life  has  been  pure,  unsullied  and  upright,  as  his  public  career  has  been  brilliant,  honorable 
and  successful. 

JOHN   OLNEY. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  biography  was  born  January  10,  1822,  at  Shawneetown,  Illinois,  where 
his  family  had  settled,  having  come  thither  from  the  East.  John  passed  his  boyhood  and 
youth  in  his  native  place,  receiving  a  good  common-school  education.  He  was  studious  and 
industrious  in  his  habits,  and  early  in  life  evinced  a  strong  liking  for  the  legal  profession,  and  a 
determination  to  prepare  himself  for  its  duties.  With  this  purpose  in  view,  he  entered  an  office 
at  his  nativejjlace,  and  in  1844,  after  a  thorough  and  careful  course  of  study,  passed  an  examina- 
tion, and  received  his  license  to  practice.  He  at  once  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  profession 
in  his  native  town,  and  gradually  rose  to  an  honorable  position  at  the  bar,  being  known  as  an 
able  advocate  and  a  safe  and  conscientious  adviser. 


760  UNrri'.n  sr.-irxs  /.vo(;A',//v//r..//.  D 

At  the  opening  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  in  1861,  Mr.  Olney  enlisted  in  the  service,  and 
being  chosen  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  6tli  regiment  Illinois  cavalry,  at  once  proceeded  to  Padu- 
cah,  Kentucky,  at  which  post  he  was  placed  in  command.  Colonel  Olney  was  actively  engaged 
in  the  service  until  1863,  when  he  was  honorably  discharged,  having  been  wounded  and  disabled, 
and  returned  to  his  home,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Two  years  later,  in  1865, 
he  removed  to  Cairo,  Illinois,  where,  in  1867,  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court  of  Alexan- 
der, Pulaski,  Massac  and  Pope  countTes.  Although  elected  for  a  term  of  six  years,  he  resigned 
his  office  in  1869,  and  accepting  the  office  of  supervisor  of  internal  revenue,  to  which  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Grant,  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  still  resides.  Judge  Olney  satisfac- 
torily performed  the  duties  of  his  appointment  until  1871,  when,  being  removed  from  office,  he 
again  resumed  his  profession,  giving  his  attention  especially  to  matters  growing  out  of  the  law 
respecting  internal  revenue,  a  line  of  work  to  which  he  was  peculiarly  adapted,  and  in  which  he 
secured  an  extensive  practice.  Like  many  others,  Judge  Olney  suffered  the  loss  of  his  valuable 
law  library  and  many  valuable  papers  in  the  great  fire  of  October  9,  1871,  but  with  unabated 
vigor,  and  courage  undaunted,  he  immediately  opened  another  office  and  began  to  repair  his 
losses. 

In  1876  Judge  Olney  was  the  recipient  of  a  very  high  compliment,  being  appointed  revenue 
agent  at  Chicago,  the  duties  of  which  office  were  very  like  those  which  devolved  upon  him  as 
supervisor  of  internal  revenue,  that  office  having  been  abolished.  To  form  any  just  estimate  of 
the  responsibilities  of  this  office  during  the  time  of  Judge  Olney's  appointment,  and  to  appreciate 
the  position  in  which  he  was  placed,  one  needs  to  review  the  history  of  that  period, —  the  high- 
handed and  open  defiance  of  the  law,  the  bargain  and  sale  among  politicians,  the  offers  of  bribery, 
to  which  so  many  fell  willing  victims,  the  criminal  prosecutions,  in  which  were  involved  so  many 
high  in  office  and  in  public  esteem,  and  the  final  disgrace  that  came  to  those  who  had  participated 
in  the  revenue  frauds.  Through  this  trying  time  Judge  Olney  passed,  faithful  to  his  trust,  show- 
ing at  the  close  of  his  official  career  a  clean  record,  and  a  character  above  the  slightest  reproach. 
Judge  Olney  is  now  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession,  and  wherever  known  is 
recognized  as  an  able  lawyer  and  upright  man. 


HON.    ELIJAH    B.   SHERMAN. 

CHIC  A  GO. 

OF  Mr.  Sherman  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  he  belongs  to  that  class  of  self-made  men  to 
whom  Chicago  owes  so  much  of  its  prosperity.  He  is  of  Anglo-Welsh  ancestry,  his  father 
being  Elias  H.  Sherman,  and  his  mother  Clarissa  (Wilmarth)  Sherman,  who  were  residents  of 
Fairfield,  Vermont,  where  he  was  born  June  13,  1832.  He  remained  upon  the  ancestral  farm  en- 
gaged in  farm  avocations  during  the  summer  months,  and  in  attending  school  and  teaching 
during  the  winter- until  about  twenty-two  years  of  age.  In  1854  he  removed  to  Brandon,  Ver- 
mont, where  he  was  for  a  time  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  drug  store.  During  the  following  year 
he  entered  the  academy  at  Manchester,  where  he  began  a  course  of  study  preparatory  to  entering 
college.  Upon  leaving  the  academy  he  entered  Middlebury  College  at  Middlebury,  Vermont, 
where  he  completed  the  full  college  course,  graduating  in  1860.  From  the  first  he  took  high  rank 
in  college,  and  was  selected  as  poet  for  the  junior  exhibition  as  well  as  for  the  graduating  exer- 
cises of  his  class.  Since  graduation  he  has  been  twice  invited  to  address  the  associated  alumni 
of  his  college. 

After  graduation  Mr.  Sherman  spent  a  year  in  teaching  at  South  Woodstock,  Vermont,  at  the 
expiration  of  which  time  he  took  charge  of  the  Brandon  Seminary,  where  he  continued  until  May, 
1862.  He  then  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  gth  Vermont  infantry,  and  was  soon  after  elected  lieu- 
tenant of  company  C.  He  served  with  his  regiment  until  January,  1863,  when  he  resigned,  his 
regiment  then  being  on  duty  at  Camp  Douglas,  Chicago.  He  immediately  entered  upon  the 


LIBRARY 
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UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  763 

study  of  law,  and  attended  the  full  course  of  lectures  at  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  graduating  in  1864.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  upon  graduation,  and  at  once  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Chicago,  and  has  been  in  continuous  and  successful  practice 
from  that  time.  He  has  for  several  years  been  the  solicitor  for  the  state  auditor,  and  in  that 
capacity  has  had  charge  of  many  important  litigations.  As  such  solicitor  he  instituted  the  pro- 
ceedings for  closing  the  affairs  of  the  Republic  Life  Insurance  Company,  the  Chicago  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  and  the  Protection  Life  Insurance  Company,  in  all  of  which  cases  constitutional 
questions  of  the  first  importance  were  involved.  Mr.  Sherman's  interpretation  of  the  general 
insurance  laws  under  which  these  companies  are  being  wound  up  have  been  sustained  by  the 
highest  courts,  and  have  thus  become  precedents  for  guidance  in  future  cases.  One  of  these  cases 
is  now  pending  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  involving  the  entire  question  of  legis- 
lative control  over  corporations,  and  the  extent  to  which  such  control  may  be  exercised  without 
impairing  the  obligation  of  the  charter  contract.  The  decision  of  this  question  will  make  this 
litigation  the  most  important  as  regards  the  law  of  corporations  since  the  historic  Dartmouth 
College  case.  He  has  also  prosecuted  other  important  cases  involving  kindred  questions,  among 
the  more  notable  of  which  is  the  case  of  Eames  vs.  The  State  Savings  Institution,  in  which  the 
largest  savings  bank  in  the  West  was  taken  from  a  voluntary  assignee  and  placed  under  the  man- 
agement of  a  receiver,  upon  a  bill  filed  by  Mr.  Sherman,  assisted  by  other  eminent  lawyers,  in 
behalf  of  all  the  depositors  and  creditors  of  the  bank. 

In  1876  he  accepted  the  republican  nomination  for  the  Illinois  house  of  representatives  for  the 
then  fourth  senatorial  district.  He  was  elected  by  a  flattering  majority,  and  was  reelected  in 
1878.  His  thorough  training  and  ripe  scholarship,  coupled  with  his  experience  at  the  bar  and  his 
profound  knowledge  of  the  law,  at  once  gave  him  high  rank  as  a  legislator,  and  his  name  is  iden- 
tified with  all  the  more  important  legislation  of  those  years.  He  served  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  judicial  department,  and  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  formulating  the  law  establishing 
the  system  of  appellate  courts  which  are  now  a  part  of  the  judicial  system  of  Illinois.  He  was 
also  chairman  of  the  committee  on  corporations  and  a  member  of  the  judiciary  committee,  as 
well  as  of  the  military  committee  which  prepared  the  military  code  now  in  force.  As  a  legislator 
he  was  uniformly  arrayed  against  all  jobbing  schemes,  and  proved  himself  an  earnest  and  elo- 
quent champion  of  the  rights  of  the  people.  His  long  experience  in  the  trial  of-  causes  at  the 
bar  gave  him  a  quickness  and  readiness  in  debate  which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  as  a  de- 
bater, and  his  services  as  a  legislator  constitute  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  features  of  his  suc- 
cessful career. 

In  1879  Mr.  Sherman  was  appointed  one  of  the  masters  in  chancery  of  the  United  States  cir- 
cuit court  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois  by  Judges  Harlan,  Drummond  and  Blodgett.  The 
appointment  was  made  at  the  request  of  the  leading  members  of  the  bar  of  the  city  and  state, 
and,  as  the  result  has  shown,  was  in  every  respect  a  most  fitting  one.  His  long  and  successful 
practice  in  chancery  causes,  his  thorough  familiarity  both  with  the  principles  and  procedure  of 
courts  of  chancery,  coupled  with  unusual  habits  of  industry,  application  and  accuracy,  have  ena- 
bled him  to  discharge  the  duties  of  this  important  office  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  the  bench 
and  bar,  while  he  has  at  the  same  time  continued  in  the  successful  practice  of  his  profession. 
His  name  has  frequently  been  mentioned  for  higher  office  upon  the  bench  and  elsewhere,  for 
which  h's  experience  and  abilities  have  well  qualified  him,  but  he  has  thus  far  preferred  to  retain 
the  very  satisfactory  position  which  he  now  occupies  in  his  profession. 

Mr.  Sherman  has  served  as  grand  master  of  the  grand  lodge  of  the  order  of  Odd-Fellows, 
and  was  its  representative  for  two  years  to  the  sovereign  grand  lodge.  He  is  an  active  member 
of  the  Chicago  Philosophical  Society,  of  the  Chicago  Bar  Association,  and  of  the  Chicago  Law 
Institute.  He  is  a  member  of  the  State  Bar  Association,  of  which  he  has  been  president,  and  he 
delivered  the  annual  address  before  that  body  at  its  association  in  January,  1882.  This  address 
was  published  by  the  association  and  was  largely  circulated,  attracting  much  attention,  not  only 
for  its  merit  as  a  brilliant  literary  production,  but  because  of  its  keen,  incisive  and  well  aimed 

74 


764  UNITED    STATES   RIOGKArillCAl.   DICTIONARY. 

blows  at  the  existing  faults  in  our  jurisprudence,  coupled  with  some  admirable  suggestions  for 
their  reform.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  and  a  member  of  the 
General  Council,  and  has  been  prominently  identified  with  various  other  societies  and  organiza- 
tions of  a  public  and  philanthropic  character. 

In  private  and  in  social  life  he  is  one  of  the  most  agreeable  of  gentlemen.  Well  read  in  the 
literature  of  the  times,  a  close  and  accurate  thinker,  a  brilliant  conversationalist,  courteous,  chari- 
table and  considerate  to  all,  he  combines" in  an  eminent  degree  the  qualities  essential  to  a  culti- 
vated gentleman,  in  the  best  sense  of  that  much  abused  term. 

In  1866  he  was  married  to  Hattie  G.  Lovering,  daughter  of  S.  M.  Levering,  of  Iowa  Falls, 
Iowa,  a  lady  of  most  estimable  character,  and  possessing  in  a  marked  degree  the  solid  accom- 
plishments and  womanly  devotion  which  render  home  and  home  life  restful  and  happy. 


LUTHER    M.   SHREVE. 

CHICAGO. 

T  OTHER  MARTIN  SHREVE  was  born  September  n,  1819,  near  Nicholasville,  in  the  county 
1  j  of  Jessamine,  state  of  Kentucky,  and  was  the  youngest  child  of  William  and  Ann  Shreve, 
each  of  whom  had  families  of  sons  and  daughters  at  the  time  of  their  marriage  by  former  mar- 
riage. William  Shreve,  for  many  years  judge  of  the  county  court  of  Jessamine,  was.  born  in  Mary- 
land, and  while  but  a  boy  at  a  country  school  in  his  native  state,  joined  a  passing  company  of 
volunteer  infantry,  and  served  the  full  term  for  which  he  enlisted  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  was 
awarded  a  pension  in  after  life.  He  emigrated  to  Kentucky  in  early  manhood,  where  he  acquired 
an  ample  fortune,  and  lived  and  died  respected  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  A  lofty  shaft 
of  Italian  marble  reared  over  his  remains  can  be  seen  by  every  passenger  upon  the  Kentucky  Cen- 
tral, and  though  the  beautiful  farm  has  passed  into  other  hands,  the  family  burying  ground  with  its 
broad  approach  is  preserved  in  perpetuity,  where  repose  his  widow  and  many  of  the  family.  His 
eldest  sons,  L.  L.  Shreve  and  I.  T.  Shreve,  of  Louisville,  engaged  in  the  iron  manufacture,  and 
through  his  direction  and  financial  indorsement  in  every  crisis  which  attended  the  business,  and 
closed  every  manufactory  which  could  not  withstand  the  fluctuations  that  changes  in  the  tariff 
system  produced,  they  were  enabled  to  amass  large  fortunes,  and  L.  L.  Shreve  is  remembered  by 
the  people  of  Louisville  to-day,  as  one  of  the  largest-minded,  public-spirited  men  of  that  city. 
But  three  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  William  Shreve  survive:  Ann,  the  widow  of  L.  Y.  Martin, 
and  mother  of  a  numerous  family  of  enterprising  men  and  several  married  daughters;  John  M. 
Shreve,  a  resident  of  Louisville,  and  known  as  a  man  of  large  intelligence  and  great  purity  of  life, 
and  Luther  M.,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  and  the  only  member  of  the  numerous  family  who  em- 
barked in  the  profession  of  the  law. 

Having  graduated  in  the  Saint  Mary's  Collegiate  Institute  of  Kentucky,  the  youngest  gradu- 
ate of  the  school,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  entered  Cambridge,  and  was  received  by  the  pres- 
ident of  the  institute,  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  as  a  university  student,  being  considered  then  too 
young  to  enter  the  law  department.  After  remaining  one  year  in  this  department,  during  which 
time  he  had  the  benefit  of  the  lectures  of  all  the  distinguished  men  who  were  then  connected  with 
that  institution,  under  the  direction  of  Hon.  Joseph  Story  and  Simon  Greenleaf,  he  here  pursued 
the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  two  years  after  received  his  diploma  from  that  law  school.  The 
death  of  his  father  during  this  period  left  him,  on  his  return  to  Kentucky,  without  the  guidance 
and  protection  enjoyed  by  the  older  members  of  the  family,  but  with  ample  means  to  commence 
the  struggle  of  life. 

The  successful  effort  of  the  denizens  of  that  portion  of  Mexico  now  known  as  the  state  of 
Texas,  to  form  an  independent  government,  was  now  in  progress,  and  fired  with  the  movement, 
after  a  few  days  passed  with  his  aged  mother,  he  determined  to  join  the  army  of  Texans,  and 
hastened  to  the  scene,  but  being  delayed  by  want  of  conveyance  for  several  weeks,  reached  the 


UNITED    STATES   ftlOCK.  /  />///('.//.    DICTIONARY.  765 

shores  of  the  "  lone  star  "  too  late  to  be  a  participant  in  that  revolution  in  which  his  brother  John 
was  engaged  from  its  commencement  to  its  memorable  close  at  San  Jacinto. 

He  sojourned  about  two  years  in  Texas,  during  which  time  sickness  induced  his  return  to 
Kentucky,  where  he  soon  afterward  met  the  daughter  of  King  Strong,  of  New  York,  who  was  vis- 
iting his  brother,  Doctor  Henry  L.  Strong,  and  married  her,  and  immediately  settled  in  Saint 
Louis,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  soon  after  elected  city  attorney, 
and  after  serving  a  second  term  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Hon.  Uriel  Wright,  perhaps  the  most 
accomplished  lawyer  and  eloquent  advocate  at  the  bar.  This  partnership  continued  until  the  war 
of  the  rebellion,  when  Mr.  Wright  joined  the  army  of  the  South,  and  urged  Mr.  Shreve  to  go  with 
him,  but  he  refused.  And  though  in  full  sympathy  with  the  South  and  the  justice  of  the  cause, 
he  declined  to  participate  in  the  rebellion,  and  in  a  speech  made  from  the  court-house  steps  to  an 
immense  audience  proclaimed  the  position  he  occupied  in  that  eventful  hour.  On  this  occasion 
he  declared  his  conviction  that  his  people  had  just  cause  for  complaint,  just  even  to  resistance, 
but  whatever  the  grievance,  it  should  be  righted  in  the  Union,  and  that  he  would  never  join  any 
military  organization  that  did  not  wave  the  national  emblem,  the  stars  and  stripes;  that  the 
rebellion  must  be  fought  in  the  Union,  not  out  of  it;  that  secession  was  death  to  the  cause  for 
which  they  contended,  and  firm  in  these  convictions  he  took  no  active  part  in  that  unfortunate 
struggle.  As  a  result  of  the  war,  prescriptive  laws  were  passed  in  Missouri,  and  among  these  the 
notorious  iron-clad  oath  which  debarred  every  lawyer  from  practice  who  did  not  take  and  sub- 
scribe to  it.  This  Mr.  Shreve  refused  to  take,  and  for  some  years  was  denied  the  privilege  of  pur- 
suing his  profession. 

The  death  of  his  wife  during  the  last  year  of  the  rebellion  was  a  terrible  blow,  and  for  several 
years  he  devoted  more  attention  to  an  unsuccessful  culture  of  cotton,  than  to  the  practice  of  the 
law,  and  in  1867  made  a  trip  to  Europe,  where  he  renewed  acquaintaince  with,  and  married  his 
present  wife,  Julia  P.  Aldershaw,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Hon.  Aldershaw,  master  in  chan- 
cery, of  London,  by  whom  he  has  two  children  living:  Luther  and  Violet. 

While  Mr.  Shreve  positively  refused  to  enlist  beneath  the  folds  of  the  bonnie  blue  flag,  he  with 
equal  firmness  declined  to  join  the  army  of  the  Union,  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  he  could 
not  conscientiously  take  up  arms  against  those  among  whom  he  was  born  and  reared,  nor  fight 
their  battles  under  a  foreign  flag,  floating  upon  the  iconoclastic  principles  of  secession.  Despite 
this  resolution  firmly  adhered  to  through  the  rebellion,  he  was  court-martialed,  tried  and  convicted 
for  treason,  the  specific  charges  being  outspoken  expression,  and  aiding  the  enemy  in  the  pur- 
chase of  quinine,  sent  to  the  South  for  the  benefit  of  southern  soldiers  shaking  with  the  ague. 
The  only  proof  submitted  before  the  august  drumhead,  composed  of  the  son  of  General  Curtis  as 
judge  advocate,  and  two  soldiers  of  German  origin,  one  of  them  known  to  him  as  the  carriage 
driver  of  Hon.  Luther  M.  Kennett,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Saint  Louis,  and  the  other  convicted  of 
having  robbed  a  stranger  in  his  saloon,  was  that  a  small  amount  of  money  had  been  sent  to  Mr. 
Shreve  to  pay  an  order  for  some  quinine,  made  upon  the  druggist  who  furnished  it  unknown  to 
him.  The  conviction  was  promptly  set  aside  by  General  Rosecrans  as  soon  as  the  facts  were 
made  known  to  him.  Confiscation  of  private  property  was  the  order  of  the  day,  and  even  the  fur- 
niture in  the  dwellings  of  those  who  refused  to  participate  in  the  war,  or  became  obnoxious  to 
the  ruling  provost,  was  dragged  from  their  houses  and  sold.  Such  an  order  was  resisted  by  him. 
and  when  late  in  the  evening  attempted  to  be  enforced  by  an  orderly  and  a  few  subalterns,  he 
stood  upon  the  threshold  of  his  own  house  armed  for  the  occasion,  and  defied  them  with  sugges- 
tive expression  if  they  attempted  to  enter  the  house,  which  was  at  once  reported  to  headquarters. 
The  order  was  suspended  until  next  day  and  never  carried  out;  being  afterward  placed  under 
bonds  of  $40,000,  and  enjoined  not  to  leave  the  state,  which  he  had  no  purpose  of  doing. 

Amusing  incidents  sometimes  occurred  showing  the  fury  of  the  times.  On  one  occasion,  hav- 
ing been  paroled  from  imprisonment  in  the  military  prison  upon  honor  to  his  own  house,  where 
his  wife  was  lying  on  the  lied  of  sickness  and  death,  a  lady  friend  visited  Mrs.  Shreve,  and  at  nine 
o'clock  was  compelled  to  return  home.  As  it  was  raining,  Mr.  Shreve,  with  an  umbrella,  escorted 


766  UN/77- D    STATl-.S    IHO(,KA PIIICAL   DICTIONARY. 

her  to  the  cars  two  squares  distant.  During  the  walk  he  was  observed  by  one  of  the  spies  offici- 
ating, the  fact  made  known  to  the  provost,  and  it  was  thirty  days  before  he  saw  his  wife  again. 
Soon  after  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  knowing  the  commotion  it  would  create  in  Saint  Louis,  Mr. 
Shreve  suggested  to  some  friends  that  it  would  be  a  good  time  to  go  fishing.  John  J.  Anderson, 
a  well  known  banker  of  the  city,  and  John  Y.  Page,  a  brother  lawyer,  neither  of  whom  had  taken 
any  part  in  the  drama  enacting,  and  Hon.  Asa  Jones,  then  United  States  district  attorney  for  that 
district,  a  noble  son  of  Vermont,  and  as -ardent  a  lover  of  the  Union  as  any  one,  were  his  com- 
panions. Having  procured  two  buggies,  they  proceeded  to  Mud  River,  intending  to  remain  all 
night  at  the  house  at  which  they  stopped  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  socially  enjoying  the  even- 
ing retired  to  bed,  but  before  twelve  o'clock  were  aroused  by  the  clatter  of  horses'  feet  and  sol- 
diers' gear,  followed  by  the  bursting  of  the  door  of  the  large  room,  and  made  prisoners  by  sixty 
stalwarts  in  the  uniform  of  the  United  States.  The  captain  was  much  inclined  to  release  Mr. 
Shreve,  as  he  had  done  him  some  service  on  an  occasion  in  the  criminal  court,  but  Jones  they 
knew  to  be  an  arrant  rebel,  his  lofty  mien  and  jet-black  full  beard  and  piercing  black  eyes  fully 
establishing  his  rebel  proclivities.  As  a  consequence,  they  were  all  marched  across  the  hills  of 
the  Merrimac,  fourteen  miles  distant,  to  the  fortress  in  the  darkness  of  night,  riding  double  upon 
the  bare-back  buggy  horses.  The  incident  was  subject  of  amusement  to  the  newspapers,  but 
never  much  enjoyed  by  the  district  attorney. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  Europe  Mr.  Shreve  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  is  now  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Since  his  residence  here  he  has  taken  no  part  in  politics.  He 
is  a  democrat  in  feeling,  believing  the  principles  of  the  democratic  party  insure  the  largest  liberty 
to  the  citizen,  and  are  the  surest  safeguard  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  republican  institutions. 

Although  not  a  professor  of  religion,  he  declares  that  advancing  years  but  more  firmly  con- 
vince him  of  the  great  moral  truths  of  the  Bible,  perhaps  better  illustrated  in  the  teachings  of 
the  Christian  denomination  than  any  other,  but  dependent  -upon  no  profession  to  determine  the 
hereafter. 

HON.  EVERT  VAN   BUREN. 

CHICAGO. 

ONE  of  the  oldest  men  still  practicing  at  the  bar  of  Cook  county,  and  one  who  has  made  a 
brilliant  record  as  a  lawyer,  both  in  New  York  and  this  state,  is  he  whose  name  we  place  at 
the  head  of  this  sketch,  and  who  was  born  at  Kinderhook,  Columbia  county,  New  York,  Novem- 
ber 3,  1803. 

Evert  received  an  academic  education  ;  read  law  with  J.  and  A.  Vanderpoel,  at  Kinderhook  ; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1827,  and  settled  at  first  in  Penn  Yan,  Yates  county,  New  York.  The 
bar  of  that  county  at  that  time  was  represented  by  such  distinguished  members  as  John  C. 
Spencer,  Mark  H.  Sibley  and  Dudley  Marvin,  who  were  located  at  Canandaigua,  Ontario  county. 
His  practice  increased  rapidly,  and  soon  extended  into  the  neighboring  counties,  and  he  showed 
himself  the  peer  of  the  best  of  the  legal  fraternity  in  that  part  of  the  state. 

In  1836,  Mr.  Van  Buren  went  to  Buffalo,  New  York,  it  being  "flush  times,"  when  everybody 
was  rich  or  becoming  so  rapidly.  He  had  or  made  influential  friends  there,  and  soon  had  a 
highly  remunerative  practice.  He  distinguished  himself  in  the  famous  trial  of  Benjamin  Rath- 
bun,  for  forgery,  being  one  of  the  lawyers  employed  on  the  defense. 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  Yates  county  friends,  Mr.  Van  Buren  returned  to  Penn  Yan 
in  1840,  resuming  his  practice,  and  having  many  important  criminal  trials,  in  connection  with 
which  he  greatly  increased  his  reputation  as  a  criminal  lawyer.  His  triumphs  were  many  and 
brilliant.  But  his  practice  was  by  no  means  confined  to  criminal  business.  His  civil  practice, 
both  in  the  courts  of  law  and  chancery,  extended  over  the  adjoining  counties,  and  first  suggested 
to  him  the  idea  of  removing  to  a  larger  field,  which  he  did  by  coming  to  Chicago. 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  then  a  very  young  man,  represented  his  congressional  district  in  the  national 


UNITED   STATES   RIOGRA />///( \ll.   DICTIONARY.  767 

anti-masonic  convention  which  nominated  William  Wirt  for  president  in  1833.  He  was  the 
youngest  man  in  the  convention,  and  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  resolutions.  He  sup- 
ported Martin  Van  Buren  for  president  in  1836  and  1840,  and  has  usually  voted  the  democratic 
ticket. 

In  1856  he  moved  to  Chicago,  where  he  immediately  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice, 
and  in  1862  was  elected  judge  of  the  recorder's  court,  faithfully  and  honorably  discharging  the 
duties  of  that  office,  and  at  the  end  of  the  term  he  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in 
which  he  is  still  engaged.  He  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  his  profession,  having  few  superiors  in 
the  state.  

HON.  JOHN    SCHOLFIELD. 

MARSHALL. 

JOHN  SCHOLFIELD  was  born  in  Clark  county,  Illinois,  August  i,  1834.  His  father  was 
Thomas  Scholfield,  and  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Ruth  Beauchamp.  He  received 
a  common-school  education,  and  in  1853  began  reading  law,  subsequently  attending  the  law  de- 
partment of  the  Louisville  University,  where  he  graduated  in  1856.  He  then  commenced  to 
practice  his  profession  at  Marshall,  the  county  seat  of  his  native  county,  where  he  still  resides. 
During  his  first  year  at  the  bar  he  was  elected  state's  attorney  for  the  fourth  judicial  circuit,  an 
office  which  he  filled'  very  satisfactorily  for  four  years,  gaining  considerable  reputation  as  an 
attorney.  In  1860  he  was  elected  as  a  Douglas  democrat  to  represent  Clark  county  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  legislature,  where  he  served  one  term.  In  1869  he  was  chosen  as  delegate  from 
Clark  and  Cumberland  counties  to  the  constitutional  convention;  and  in  June,  1873,  was  elected 
for  the  unexpired  term  of  six  years,  of  Judge  Thornton,  of  the  second  judicial  district,  who 
had  resigned.  This  district  comprises  the  counties  of  Clark,  Crawford,  Lawrence,  Richland, 
Clay,  Jasper,  Cumberland,  Effingham,  Marion,  Shelby,  Christian,  Fayette,  Bond,  Madison,  Jersey, 
Calhoun,  Greene,  Montgomery  and  Macoupin.  He  served  this  term  with  the  greatest  satisfaction, 
and  was  reflected  in  1879. 

Judge  Scholfield  is  the  youngest  man  on  the  supreme  bench,  and  is  considered  by  all  who 
know  him  to  be  a  very  able  and  well  read  member  of  the  profession. 


HIRAM   NANCE,  M.D. 

KEWANEE. 

WE  place  at  the  head  of  this  sketch  the  name  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  successful  medical 
practitioners  in  Henry  county,  a  native  of  Floyd  county,  Indiana,  born  September  23, 
1822.  His  parents  were  William  and  Nancy  (Smith)  Nance.  He  was  partly  educated  in  an 
academy  at  New  Albany;  left  Indiana  in  1836,  and  came  with  his  family  to  Adams  county,  this 
state,  settling  at  Columbus,  where  he  finished  his  education,  and  was  for  some  time  in  a  drug 
store  and  clerk  in  the  postoffice.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine 
with  Doctor  J.  W.  Hollowbush,  remaining  with  him  for  three  years.  He  attended  lectures  at  the 
University  of  Missouri,  Saint  Louis;  practiced  one  year  at  Lafayette,  Mount  Stark  county,  this 
state;  returned  to  the  university,  took  another  course  of  lectures,  and  graduated  in  1847.  Re- 
turning to  Lafayette,  he  remained  there  a  few  years  longer,  and  then  settled  (1860)  in  Kewanee. 
He  has  made  a  splendid  record,  both  as  a  physician  and  surgeon;  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  and  the  State  Medical  Society,  and  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Military 
Tract  Medical  Society,  and  its  second  president.  He  has  engaged  extenstvely  in  real  estate  and 
financial  operations,  in  which  enterprises  he  has  met  with  great  success. 

He  was  married,  April   20,   1847,  to  Sarah   R.  Smith,  of  Knox  county.     The  issue  has  been 
twelve  children,  viz.,  Albinus,  governor  of  Nebraska;  Adella,  a  graduate  of  Normal  University, 


768  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

married  to  C.  A.  Shilton,  merchant,  Kewanee;  La  Clede,  died  in  1858;  Hiram  Irving,  educated  at 
Knox  College,  Galesburgh,  and  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  practicing  at  Creston,  Iowa; 
Sarah  Belle,  educated  at  Normal  University,  married  to  George  Castle,  state  senator  and  merchant 
at  Blue  Springs,  Nebraska;  Roswell  S.,  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising  on  an  800  acre  farm 
in  Jefferson  count)',  Nebraska;  Claud  B.,  died  in  1867;  Roy,  studied  at  Knox  College,  at  present 
studying  dentistry;  Frederick  B.,  farming  in  Knox  county,  near  Galva;  Grace  Lillian,  died  in 
1867;  Charles  H.  and  Willis  Orville,  students  in  high  school,  Kewanee. 

Doctor  Nance  has  a  brother,  Doctor  William  H.  Nance,  a  prominent  physician,  retired,  and 
living  at  Vermont,  this  state;  another  brother,  John  S.  Nance,  a  pioneer  gold  seeker  in  California, 
going  out  by  ox  and  mule  team  in  1849,  now  living  at  Salina  City,  in  that  state.  Another  brother, 
Clement  Nance,  many  years  a  merchant,  died  at  Quincy,  Illinois,  in  1879.  The  grandfather  of 
these  brothers  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  a  noted  mathematician,  and  a  writer  of  sacred  poems. 


HON.  T.    LYLE    DICKEY. 

CHICAGO. 

TLYLE  DICKEY  is  a  native  of  Bourbon  county,  Kentucky,  and  was  born  October  2,  1811. 
.  He  entered  the  Ohio  University  in  the  fall  of  1826,  and  continued  there  four  years,  and 
then  entered  the  senior  class  of  Miami  University,  and  was  graduated  from  that  institution  in 
1831.  December  6,  of  that  year,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Juliet  Evans.  He  taught  school  in  Ohio 
and  Kentucky  with  marked  success.  He  removed  to  McDonough  county,  Illinois,  in  the  winter 
of  1834,  when  he  met  Hon.  Cyrus  H.  Walker,  who  persuaded  him  to  study  law.  He  commenced 
the  practice  of  the  law  at  Macomb,  before  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  with  good  success,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Illinois  bar  in  1835,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years.  He  removed  to  Rushville, 
Illinois,  in  1836,  and  while  practicing  law,  edited  a  whig  paper  at  that  place.  He  engaged  in 
real-estate  speculations,  and  the  crash  of  1837  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  meet  his  obliga- 
tions for  a  period  of  twenty-one  years,  the  most  of  his  notes  bearing  interest  at  twelve  per  cent. 
In  1839  he  removed  to  Ottawa,  and  continued  his  practice.  In  1846  the  Mexican  war  broke  out, 
and  he  raised  a  fine  company  of  men,  of  which  he  was  appointed  captain,  and  joined  the  ist  reg- 
iment of  Illinois  infantry.  After  considerable  service,  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health,  and 
returned  home  and  resumed  his  practice. 

In  1848  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit,  comprising  twelve  counties,  which  position  he 
filled  four  years,  and  then  resigned  and  resumed  practice.  In  1854  he  opened  an  office  in  Chi- 
cago, still  residing  in  Ottawa.  His  wife  died  December  31,  1855.  He  practiced  law  four  years, 
and  was  then  enabled  to  pay  all  his  indebtedness,  principal  and  interest,  and  in  1858  returned  to 
Ottawa,  prepared  to  live  easier.  In  that  year,  though  a  whig  so  long  as  that  party  lasted,  Judge 
Dickey  espoused  the  cause  of  Douglas,  in  his  famous  contest  with  Lincoln,  and  gave  him  effective 
support  in  public  addresses  in  many  parts  of  the  state. 

He  formed  a  partnership  with  W.  H.  L.  Wallace  and  his  son,  Cyrus  E.  Dickey,  and  practiced 
law  until  the  war  broke  out,  in  1861,  when  he  raised  a  regiment  (the  4th  Illinois  cavalry),  and  was 
appointed  its  colonel.  He  was  with  General  Grant  at  the  capture  of  Fort  Henry;  led  the  advance 
at  Fort  Donelson;  participated  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  with  both  his  sons  and  his  son-in-law. 
General  Wallace,  who  was  killed.  In  the  year  1862  he  was  appointed  chief  of  cavalry  on  General 
Grant's  staff,  and  sent  to  Memphis  in  command  of  that  post.  He  was  in  the  battle  of  luka.  He 
was  placed  in  command  of  all  of  the  cavalry  in  General  Grant's  army,  comprising  four  brigades. 
He  fought  General  Pemberton  far  in  advance  of  his  supports,  four  days,  on  his  retreat  from  Tal- 
lahassee. He  took  600  selected  men,  and  made  the  first  extensive  raid  into  the  enemy's  country 
through  a  region  filled  with  rebels,  and  returned  without  the  loss  of  any  men.  It  was  he  who 
suggested  and  organized  the  celebrated  raid  of  Grierson,  destroying  the  railroads  about  Jackson. 
Mississippi,  in  1863. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  769 

He  resigned  in  1863,  returned  home,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  John  B.  Rice.  In  1866  he 
was  democratic  candidate  for  congress  for  the  state  at  large.  In  1868  lie  was  appointed  assistant 
attorney  general  of  the  United  States,  and  had  charge  of  all  government  suits  in  the  court  of 
claims,  and  in  that  branch  of  litigation  in  the  United  States  supreme  court,  which  duties  he  per- 
formed with  fidelity  and  great  ability.  He  received  high  encomiums  from  the  judges  of  that 
high  court  for  the  prompt  and  thorough  manner  in  which  he  performed  his  duties.  One  of  the 
most  important  cases  ever  tried  in  that  court  was  that  of  the  Floyd  acceptance  case,  where  Judge 
Dickey  contended  successfully  against  Judges  Curtis  and  Jeremiah  Black,  the  opposing  counsel, 
and  was  sustained  by  the  court.  This  position  he  held  about  two  years,  and  then  resigned  and 
spent  the  winter  in  Florida. 

In  the  summer  of  1870,  he  married  Mrs.  Hirst,  of  Prince  Ann,  Maryland.  He  then  returned 
to  Ottawa,  and  practiced  law.  He  removed  to  Chicago  in  December,  1873.  He  was  elected 
judge  of  the  supreme  court  in  December,  1875,  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  was  reelected  in  1879  as  an 
independent  candidate,  over  Thomas  Dent,  a  very  worthy  gentleman,  the  regular  nominee,  but 
Judge  Dickey's  personal  popularity  secured  his  election,  although  Mr.  Dent's  party  was  in  the 
ascendancy.  He  has  since  remained  upon  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  which  posi- 
tion he  fills  to  the  utmost  satisfaction  of  all. 


JOHN  S.  THOMPSON. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN  S.  THOMPSON  was  born  July  31,  1824,  at  Wilmington,  Ohio.  He  was  the  son  of  Abel 
VV.  Thompson  and  Elizabeth  (Scarff )  Thompson.  John  was  indeed  a  self-educated  and  origi- 
nal character,  securing  his  educational  training  at  a  private  school  at  Xenia  in  Ohio,  but  being  of 
an  inquiring  mind  and  of  studious  habits,  he  early  cultivated  literary  tastes,  and  had  an  especial 
zest  for  historical  research.  At  seventeen  years  of  age,  in  1841,  he  emigrated  from  Ohio  to  Illi- 
nois, and  commenced  the  preparation  for  his  life  calling,  the  profession  of  the  law.  He  entered 
the  law  office  of  his  brother,  an  eminent  and  thoroughly  read  lawyer  of  Mercer  county,  Illinois, 
James  S.  Thompson,  at  Millersburgh,  then  the  county  seat  of  Mercer  county.  In  1843,  a'  nineteen 
years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  by  license  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  member  of  the  bar  of  Illinois,  to  practice  in  all  courts  of  record  of  the  state.  He 
immediately  commenced  practice,  and  followed  the  routine  of  an  extensive  practice  from  1843  to 
1845  in  Mercer  county  and  the  surrounding  counties  and  circuits. 

In  the  year  of  1855,  he  was  chosen  judge  of  the  tenth  judicial  circuit  of  the  state  of  Illinois, 
which  judicial  district  was  composed  of  Mercer,  Henderson,  Warren  and  Knox.  The  district 
formerly  included  Fulton  county,  but  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  the  state,  passed  through 
the  advocacy  of  our  subject,  Fulton  county  was  dropped  from  the  tenth  circuit. 

Elected  for  a  constitutional  term  of  six  years,  he  held  the  responsible  position  for  about  five 
years  and  two  months,  resigning  his  position  and  laying  aside  the  ermine.  In  1861  he  again 
resumed  practice  in  Mercer  county,  and  followed  the  routine  of  legal  business  until  1864,  when 
Judge  Charles  B.  Lawrence  was  elected  supreme  judge  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  leaving  the  judge- 
ship  of  the  tenth  circuit  vacant,  when  Judge  Thompson  was  reelected  circuit  judge  to  fill  the 
vacancy  in  the  same  circuit  where  he  had  presided  with  credit  to  himself,  and  to  the  satisfaction 
and  approval  of  the  bar  in  his  district.  In  1868  the  heavy  duties  of  the  office  proving  too  labori- 
ous for  his  health,  he  again  resigned.  In  the  year  1866  Judge  Thompson  enlisted  in  the  enter- 
prise of  building  a  railroad  from  Galva,  in  Henry  county,  to  the  Mississippi  River,  the  terminus 
being  at  New  Boston.  He  raised  a  subscription  among  the  agriculturists  and  capitalists  of  Mercer 
county,  of  about  $175,000,  and  succeeded  in  building  the  road. 

In  1866,  against  his  protest,  he  was  nomimited  as  a  candidate  for  congress,  and  ran  against 
General  Abner  C.  Harding,  one  of  the  most  popular  men  of  his  district,  upon  an  independent 
ticket,  but  by  ousting  some  counties  of  the  fourth  congressional  district,  he  was  defeated. 


770  UNITED   STATES  ftlOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY 

In  the  year  1870  our  subject  removed  to  California,  remaining  at  Oakland  about  two  years, 
during  which  time  he  was  engaged  in  traveling  up  and  down  the  coast  of  southern  California  to 
Oregon.  In  1872  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Los  Angeles,  there  resuming  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  at  the  same  time  engaging  in  politics.  Against  his  protest  he  was  made  a  candidate 
of  the  independent  party  of  the  state,  there  being  three  tickets  in  the  field,  the  democratic,  re- 
publican and  the  independents,  the  latter  being  opposed  to  railroad  monopoly.  He  was  a  candi- 
date for  congress  at  the  same  time  John  Bidwell,  one  of  the  best  and  most  deservedly  popular 
men  of  California,  was  a  candidate  for  governor,  but  the  railroad  interest  and  money  effected  his 
defeat,  though  while  canvassing  the  state,  in  concert  with  Governor  Bidwell,  they  had  a  perfect 
ovation,  and  their  meetings  were  large  and  enthusiastic.  After  the  campaign  closed  he  went  to 
Los  Angeles  and  resumed  practice.  Judge  Thompson  is  at  present  engaged  in  railroading  at 
Chicago. 

He  is  phenomenally  unostentatious,  but  of  a  clear  mind  and  quick  comprehension,  an  able 
advocate,  a  safe  counselor,  conscientious  in  his  opinions,  cautious  and  shrewd  as  a  manager  in 
any  enterprise  he  enters  into. 

Judge  Thompson  is  social  and  companionable  to  all  whom  he  meets  in  his  business  concerns. 
He  is  a  republican  in  his  political  views  and  adherence,  independent  in  his  views,  but  not  obtru- 
sive in  his  sentiments,  having  a  large  charity  for  all  sects  and  conditions,  a  true  friend,  and 
sincere  and  self-reliant  in  his  intercourse  and  business  and  social  relations  with  all. 


D 


DAVID   BRAINERD  LYMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

AVID  B.  LYMAN  was  born  March  27,  1840,  in  Hilo,  in  the  Island  of  Hawaii,  Sandwich 
Islands.  He  is  a  son  of  Rev.  David  B.  Lyman,  who  was  formerly  of  New  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, and  who,  having  graduated  at  Williams  College,  studied  theology  at  the  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  After  completing  his  theological  studies,  Mr.  Lyman,  Sr.,  married,  and  sailed, 
in  November,  1831,  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  as  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions,  where  he  and  his  wife  still  reside,  laboring  for  the  cause  of 
Christianity  and  civilization.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  acquired  his  education  by  his  own 
efforts,  having  maintained  himself  since  early  boyhood,  and  applied  his  leisure  hours  to  study.  At 
a  very  early  age  he  held  several  important  positions  under  the  government  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  thereby  obtaining  means  to  prepare  himself  for,  and  go  through  with,  a  university  edu- 
cation. 

In  1859  he  left  Honolulu,  sailed  around  Cape  Horn,  and  arrived  in  New  Bedford,  Con- 
necticut, in  May,  1860.  He  entered  Yale  College  in  September  of  that  year,  and  graduated  in 
arts  in  1864.  After  leaving  Yale,  Mr.  Lyman  went  to  Harvard  Law  School,  and  entered  upon 
the  study  of  law,  and  graduated  in  1866.  After  leaving  Yale,  and  during  the  time  that  he  was 
enrolled  as  a  student  at  Harvard  Law  School,  in  the  years  1864  and  1865,  he  was  connected  with 
the  sanitary  commission  as  hospital  visitor.  He  was  then  in  charge  of  the  5th  corps  hospital,  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  also  the  Point  of  Rocks  hospital,  in  Virginia,  and  for  the  last  few 
weeks  of  his  service  was  in  charge  of  the  sanitary  commission  of  the  forces  concentrated  around 
Washington. 

In  1866,  after  finishing  his  course  at  the  law  school,  Mr.  Lyman  having  been  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Boston,  removed  to  Chicago,  and  entered  the  office  of  Waite  and  Clark  as  a  clerk,  and 
remained  in  that  capacity  two  years.  July  i,  1869,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Huntington  W. 
Jackson,  under  the  firm  name  and  style  of  Lyman  and  Jackson,  which  is  to-day  one  of  the  oldest 
partnerships  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Lyman  has  fine  literary  attainments,  and  is  a  good  classical  scholar.  He  has  been  highly 
successful  in  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession.  While  he  has,  perhaps,  devoted  more  time  to 


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fcv  E   'JW.tl.am^  &Qr!l.Y 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  -j-j-^ 

real  estate  and  commercial  law  than  to  any  other  branch,  so  general  has  been  his  reading,  and 
such  has  been  his  industry,  that  he  is  a  general  practitioner,  being  at  home  everywhere,  and 
always  ready  for  attack  or  defense.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  much  natural  ability,  yet  by 
the  thoroughness  with  which  he  prepares  his  cases,  he  illustrates  the  truth  of  the  well  known 
maxim,  "there  is  no  excellence  without  labor." 

While  Mr.  Lyman  has  probably  a  higher  reputation  as  an  able  and  learned  counselor  than  as 
an  advocate  before  a  court  or  jury,  yet  such  is  his  standing,  and  so  thoroughly  does  he  investigate 
and  prepare  his  cases,  that  his  arguments  usually  carry  more  weight  than  those  of  other  members 
of  the  bar  who  may  possess  more  of  the  gift  of  eloquence. 

He  has  the  confidence  of  his  clients,  because  they  know  he  will  not  advise  them  to  commence 
a  suit  unless  their  course  is  right,  and  then  only  when  there  is  no  remedy  for  them  save  in  litiga- 
tion. Mr.  Lyman  is  noted  for  his  indefatigable  industry,  for  his  painstaking  preparation  and 
management  of  his  cases,  for  his  unvarying  courtesy  toward  everyone  with  whom  he  comes  in 
contact,  and  for  his  most  thorough  and  conscientious  discharge  of  his  duty  to  his  clients.  These 
qualities,  added  to  his  well  known  ability  and  learning,  have  given  him  a  high  standing  with  his 
brethren  of  the  bar,  as  well  as  with  the  courts. 

Mr.  Lyman  takes  no  active  part  in  politics,  but  is  a  stanch  republican.  He  was  married,  Octo- 
ber 5,  1870,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Cossitt,  daughter  of  F.  D.  Cossitt,  of  Chicago,  and  has  three  children 
living.  He  resides  in- La  Grange,  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Chicago. 


HON.  DAVID  HARRISON  PATTON. 

PAXTON. 

A^IONG  the  early  pioneer  settlers  of  Illinois  is  enrolled  the  name  of  David  H.  Patton,  who 
was  born  near  Lexington,  Clark  county,  Kentucky,  November  15,  1806.  His  parents  were 
Matthew  and  Rebecca  (May)  Patton,  his  father  being  a  native  of  England,  while  his  mother  was 
from  Ireland.  The  early  education  of  our  subject  was  such  as  the  log  school  houses  of  a  sparsely 
settled  and  imperfectly  organized  new  country  afforded.  When  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  by 
great  industry,  he  had  gathered  sufficient  knowledge  to  teach  school,  and  leaving  home  he 
obtained  a  school  in  Preble  county,  Ohio,  where  he  taught  for  five  years,  at  the  same  time  improv- 
ing his  opportunities  by  hard  study.  When  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  had  accumulated 
a  small  amount  of  money,  and  made  his  first  purchase  of  real  estate,  buying  eighty  acres  of  land 
for  $100,  which  he  held  for  about  one  year  and  sold  it  for  $500.  He  began  the  study  of  law  under 
the  instruction  of  the  late  Hon.  Oliver  H.  Smith  of  Congressville,  Indiana.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1830  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Lafayette,  Indiana,  and  practiced  with 
great  success  for  ten  years,  accumulating  considerable  wealth.  He  then  engaged  in  farming  for 
a  few  years,  dealing  in  stock  very  extensively,  buying  hogs,  cattle  and  horses,  and  at  the  same 
time  carrying  on  a  dry-goods  business,  where  he  made  considerable  money.  He  only  continued 
the  dry-goods  business  for  two  years,  when  he  closed  out  the  store  and  gave  his  full  attention 
again  to  farming,  which  he  carried  on  in  Indiana  very  successfully  and  extensively  until  1853, 
when  he  came  to  what  is  now  Paxton,  but  what  was  then  nothing  but  a  wild  waste  of  prairie 
land.  He  settled  on  a  farm  of  over  900  acres,  about  two  miles  from  the  town,  where  he  carried  on 
a  very  large  business,  farming,  stock  raising  and  speculating,  and  in  1865,  being  worn  out  by  active 
life,  he  rented  the  farm  and  moved  to  Paxton,  which  was  then  a  small  town.  Here  he  speculated 
and  made  a  great  deal  of  money,  which  he  used  liberally  in  all  the  public  interests.  Many  pros- 
perous men  owe  their  success  to  his  kindness.  He  has  been  elected  Judge  of  Ford  county  for  four 
successive  terms  of  four  years,  making  him  in  all  sixteen  years  on  the  bench,  where  he  was  highly 
respected.  He  is  a  man  of  great  purity  of  character,  is  well  read  in  law,  has  good  judgment, 
dignity,  decision  of  character,  and  other  qualities  which  made  him  an  excellent  and  truly  a  great 
and  impartial  judge.  While  Judge  Patton  prospered  .in  all  his  undertakings  from  his  first 
75 


774  UNITF.D    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

land  purchase  at  $100  to  his  later  speculations  involving  thousands,  his  free  good  will  and  kind- 
ness toward  others  proved  disastrous  to  him  in  the  panic  of  1873. 

In  religion  the  judge  is  an  Episcopalian,  but  is  liberal  in  his  views  and  is  a  worshiper  of  God 
and  not  denomination,  and  has  been  a  very  liberal  supporter  of  all  denominations.  In  politics 
he  is  republican,  but  has  never  taken  any  special  or  active  part,  except  in  the  town  elections. 

Mr.  Patton  married  July  14,  1829,  Miss  Synthe  Bush,  of  Lafayette,  and  they  had  four  children, 
three  daughters  and  one  son.  His  wife  who  was  an  estimable  lady  of  fine  native  endowments,  a 
great  help  to  him  during  his  dark  hours  of  late  years,  a  devoted  wife,  and  fond  mother,  died 
January  5,  1878.  He  afterward  married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Plummer,  of  Paxton,  and  they  are  now 
living  a  quiet  life,  the  judge  being  perfectly  contented  with  his  lot  and  enjoying  life  as  much  as 
he  did  in  his  prosperity.  His  character  for  integrity  and  uprightness  is  unimpeachable,  and  he 
occupies  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives  a  position  that  commands  the  respect,  confidence 
and  love  of  all  his  fellow  citizens. 


E 


HON.  EDWARD   R.  ALLEN. 

AURORA. 

DWARD  RICHARDS  ALLEN,  for  more  than  forty  years  a  resident  of  Aurora,  Kane 
county,  is  a  son  of  Edward  and  Anna  (Richards)  Allen,  and  was  born  in  Cortland,  Cortland 
county,  New  York,  November  7,  1819.  When  fifteen  years  old  he  went  to  Lockport,  New  York, 
and  was  indentured  to  George  W.  Merchant,  a  druggist,  with  whom  he  remained  four  years. 
In  1839  he  came  to  Chicago,  where  he  was  in  the  drug  business  for  two  years,  and  then  (1841) 
settled  in  Aurora.  Here,  at  first,  for  a  period  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  Mr.  Allen  was  engaged  in 
general  merchandise,  and  in  1853,  in  company  with  L.  D.  Brady,  built  a  warehouse,  and  has  since 
been  in  the  grain  and  produce  business,  and  real  estate,  at  times  also  adding  manufactures,  run- 
ning a  sash,  door  and  blind  factory,  which  he  now  rents.  He  is  a  stockholder  of  the  Silver  Plate 
Company,  and  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank,  of  Aurora. 

Mr.  Allen  was  postmaster  of  Aurora  during  the  democratic  administrations  of  Polk  and  Pierce; 
became  a  republican  when  his  old  party  threw  itself  into  the  arms  of  the  slave  power,  and  was 
sent  to  the  lower  house  of  the  Illinois  legislature  in  1858,  and  to  the  upper  house  in  1860, 
serving  six  consecutive  years  in  the  legislature.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who  located 
the  asylum  for  the  feeble-minded. 


H 


HON.   HORACE  S.    CLARK. 

MA  TTOON. 

GRACE  S.  CLARK  first  saw  light,  August  12,  1840,  in  Geauga  county,  Ohio.  His  father 
was  Captain  J.  M.  P.  Clark,  a  native  of  New  England,  and  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother 
was  Charlotte  Brainard,  a  native  of  Ohio.  Mr.  Clark  received  such  education  as  was  obtainable 
from  the  ordinary  country  school,  until  the  age  of  fourteen,  when  he  started  for  the  West.  He 
had  sufficient  means  to  enable  him  to  reach  Chicago,  where  he  arrived  without  money,  friends  or 
influence. 

Mr.  Clark  started  as  a  common  laborer  in  Chicago,  and  afterward  worked  on  a  farm  during 
the  busy  season,  attending  school  during  the  winter,  and  in  this  way  gained  considerable  knowl- 
edge and  saved  some  money.  He  then  entered  the  Iowa  State  University,  and  worked  his  way 
through  that  institution  by  teaching  school,  and  studying  law  during  his  vacations,  and  subse- 
quently taught  school  while  studying  law  under  Hon.  W.  E.  Miller,  and  was  thus  engaged  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  rebellion,  when  he  raised  and  organized  a  company,  but  afterward  became 
dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the  administration  and  disbanded  his  troops,  resolving  to  take  no 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  775 

part  in  the  war.  But.  owing  to  subsequent  change  of  affairs,  and  his  patriotism  still  existing,  he 
enlisted  as  private  in  company  E,  73d  regiment  Ohio  infantry.  He  was  soon  promoted  to 
orderly  sergeant,  and  afterward  he  was  commissioned  first  lieutenant,  and  in  this  capacity  he 
served  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg!!,  where  he  was  severely  wounded,  which  disabled  him  for  the 
service,  and  he  was  honorably  discharged.  He  was  afterward  offered  the  position  of  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  a  new  regiment,  by  Governor  Todd,  but  was  forced  to  decline,  not  being  able  to  serve. 

Immediately  after  the  war  he  settled  in  Mattoon,  and  continued  his  study  of  the  law,  and  in 
1868  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Previous  to  his  admission,  he  was  elected  police  magistrate  of 
Mattoon,  and  afterward  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  of  Mattoon,  and  has  since  his  admis- 
sion practiced  law  with  great  success.  He  has  won  an  enviable  reputation  in  central  Illinois  as 
a  criminal  lawyer,  and  is  a  strong  advocate  before  a  jury,  possessing  powerful  elocutionary  pow- 
ers, and  never  tiring  in  the  interest  of  his  client. 

In  1880  he  was  elected  state  senator  by  the  republican  party.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican, 
and  has  always  been  an  active  worker  and  is  a  leading  man  in  the  party  in  Coles  county,  and  is 
considered  one  of  the  best  orators  of  central  Illinois. 


HON.  SAMUEL    H.  TREAT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JUDGE  TREAT,  who  has  spent  nearly  half  of  his  life  on  the  bench,  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and 
Elsie  (Tracy)  Treat,  and  was  born  in  Otsego  county,  New  York,  June  21,  1812.  He  received 
an  academic  and  legal  education  in  his  native  state  ;  came  to  the  West  and  settled  in  Springfield 
in  1834,  and  five  years  afterward  (1839)  was  appointed  circuit  judge,  successor  to  Hon.  Stephen 
T.  Logan,  filling  that  office  until  1841.  He  then  became  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illi- 
nois, being  assigned  to  circuit  duties,  and  holding  that  position  until  1855,  when  he  was  appointed 
by  President  Pierce  to  the  bench  of  the  United  States  district  court.  That  office  he  has  held  for 
twenty-seven  years,  and  has  made  for  himself  a  highly  creditable  record  as  a  jurist.  He  has  been 
on  the  bench  so  long,  and  is  so  far  advanced  in  age,  that  many  of  his  friends  think  he  is  a  little 
slow  in  his  court  business,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  by  the  time  this  work  is  out  of  the  press,  he 
may  be  on  the  retired  list. 

The  judge  is  a  man  of  great  purity  of  character,  and  his  opinions  are  regarded  as  fine  speci- 
mens of  judicial  writing,  being  clear,  direct  and  .terse.     He  has  a  wife,  but  no  children. 


HON.   JAMES  C.  ALLEN. 

OI.NE  Y. 

JAMES  C.  ALLEN  was  born  January  22,  1822,  in  Shelby  county,  Kentucky.  His  father  was 
Benjamin  Allen,  of  Irish  ancestry,  and  a  native  of  Virginia.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother 
was  Margaret  Youel,  who  was  of  Scotch  ancestry,  her  people  settling  in  Virginia  as  early  as  1800. 
His  parents,  soon  after  his  birth,  removed  to  Indiana,  settling  on  a  farm  in  Park  county,  where 
James  remained  until  1830.  His  time  was  spent  as  that  of  most  farmer  boys.  He  had  a  poor 
chance  of  obtaining  an  education,  but  obtained  what  he  could  by  his  own  exertions  after  his  day's 
work,  taking  the  advantage  of  an  occasional  few  months'  schooling,  and  finishing  his  education  at 
Rockville  high  school,  supporting  himself  while  there,  paying  his  own  tuition.  He  then  studied 
law  with  Fillman  A.  Howard,  and  subsequently  with  Hon.  Jas.  A.  Wright,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Indiana  bar  in  1843,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  settled  in  Sullivan,  where  he  began  his  practice 
and  continued  in  a  very  successful  clientage  for  four  years,  in  the  meantime  being  elected  prose- 
cuting attorney  in  that  circuit.  In  1847  he  removed  to  Palestine,  Crawford  county,  where  he  con- 
tinued his  practice,  and  in  1850  was  sent  to  the  legislature,  where  he  took  an  active  part.  The 


7/6  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

principal  question  arising  in  that  session  was  between  the  liberal  policy  and  the  state  policy. 
The  latter  gained  the  point,  and  railroad  charters  were  then  granted  for  any  corporations  who 
could  bond  them. 

In  1852  he  was  elected  to  congress,  where  he  also  took  an  active  part.  The  principal  feature 
of  that  session  was  passing  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill.  He  was  reflected  in  1854,  and  during 
that  session  there  were  many  important  questions  discussed.  In  1858  Mr.  Allen  was  elected  as 
representative  from  this  district  to  United  States  congress,  and  was  clerk  of  the  house;  and  dur- 
ing this.time  there  was  a  severe  struggle  which  resulted  in  Pennington  being  elected  as  clerk  of 
the  house,  which  position  Mr.  Allen  had  Occupied  about  nine  weeks. 

In  1860  he  was  nominated  for  governor,  but  was  defeated,  and  the  next  fall  he  was  elected 
judge  of  this  circuit,  which  position  he  resigned  to  be  a  candidate  for  congress,  and  was  elected 
to  that  office  from  the  state  at  large  in  1862.  In  1870  he  was  elected  to  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion which  revised  the  constitution  of  the  state,  and  in  1873  was  again  elected  circuit  judge  of 
this  circuit,  and  while  in  that  position  removed  to  Olney,  and  at  the  expiration  of  the  term  of 
office  withdrew  from  public  life  and  began  to  practice  law  and  soon  enjoyed  a  good  clientage. 
He  has  always  been  a  stanch  member  of  the  democratic  party,  and  a  hard  worker.  There  are 
few  who  have  held  more  positions  of  honor  than  Judge  Allen,  while  in  the  political  field,  and  who 
have  been  more  worthy  of  honors. 

HON.   CHARLES    B.   LAWRENCE. 

CHICAGO. 

HARLES  B.  LAWRENCE  was  born,  December  17,  1820,  at  Vergennes,  Vermont.  He  was 
a  true  type  of  the  New  England  gentleman,  and  in  his  blameless  life  furnished  a  worthy 
example  of  what  may  be  accomplished  by  a  lifetime  of  honest,  conscientious  and  faithful  work. 
His  rise  to  eminence  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist  was  a  gradual  growth,  the  result  of  honest  work  and 
true  merit,  and  few  have  attained  such  honors  with  as  few  blemishes.  As  to  his  public  career, 
every  successive  step  was  wisely  and  happily  taken,  and  as  a  whole  was  no  less  honorable  to  the 
individual  than  useful  to  those  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  Throughout  his  life,  his  talents, 
his  patriotism,  his  learning  as  a  lawyer,  and  his  clearness  as  a  judge,  shone,  not  dazzlingly,  but 
with  a  steady  and  tranquil  ray,  that  survives  the  flash  of  cotemporary  lights  that  blazed  for  a 
time  to  be  quickly  extinguished. 

He  was  educated  in  Vermont ;  attended  Middlebury  College  there,  and  subsequently  gradu- 
ated at  Union  College  in  eastern  New  York,  in  1841.  His  father  was  a  merchant,  a  member  of 
the  Vermont  state  senate,  held  other  important  positions,  and  was  much  in  public  life.  After 
Charles  B.  graduated,  he  engaged  in  teaching  in  Alabama  for  two  years  ;  thence  to  Saint  Louis 
and  read  law  in  the  office  of  Senator  Geyer,  one  of  the  ablest  members  of  the  bar  of  that  city,  and 
was  soon  after  admitted  to  the  bar.  From  there  he  moved  to  Quincy,  Illinois,  and  commenced 
practice  in  the  spring  of  1845,  soon  attaining  to  a  high  position  at  the  bar  as  an  attorney,  and 
gaining  the  esteem  of  the  profession  and  the  public. 

In  1856,  on  account  of  impaired  health,  he  gave  up  practice  and  went  to  Europe,  remaining 
two  years,  and  returned  much  improved  in  health  ;  bought  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Warren 
county,  Illinois,  and  actively  engaged  in  farming.  Three  years  later  the  circuit  judgeship  of  that 
district  became  vacant,  and  he  was  solicited  to  accept  the  nomination,  which  he  did,  and  was 
elected  to  the  place  without  opposition,  which  was  a  decisive  expression  of  the  confidence  and 
regard  of  his  neighbors,  and  their  appreciation  of  his  qualifications  and  fitness  for  the  place.  He 
remained  on  that  bench  until  1864,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  of 
Illinois,  and  subsequently  elected  chief-justice  of  that  court.  On  the  bench  his  capacity  was  as 
conspicuous  as  his  industry  was  untiring.  The  majesty  of  the  civil  law  had  in  him  a  courageous 
defender,  and  an  able  and  clear  exponent.  As  a  judge  he  was  the  peer  of  any  of  the  same  grade 
in  the  Northwest.  He  had  natural  judicial  ability,  great  legal  learning,  purity  of  purpose  and 


I',,    lyi;  I  WC.  ITI  * 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

strict  integrity,  and  maintained  the  purity  of  his  ermine.  His  term  expired  in  1873,  when  he 
removed  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  practice,  being  the  senior  member  of  the  able  and  widely 
known  firm,  Lawrence,  Campbell  and  Lawrence,  principally  engaged  in  important  railroad  and 
corporation  cases.  He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  counsels  and  advocates  in  this  connec- 
tion in  the  Northwest. 

Judge  Lawrence  was  closely  identified  with,  and  ably  illustrated  the  annals  of  the  legal  juris- 
prudence of  this  state  at  the  bar  and  on  the  bench.  His  decisions  and  opinions  will  live  as  long 
as  the  jurisprudence  of  Illinois  lives.  He  was  clear  and  accurate  in  his  investigations  of  import- 
ant and  intricate  cases,  and  forcible  in  presenting  them.  He  possessed  a  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge of  law,  a  logical  ability  and  great  industry,  and  signalized  himself  by  many  notable  successes 
in  complicated  and  important  litigation. 

As  a  rule,  in  his  social  relations,  he  was  rather  reticent,  never  curt,  and  had  that  surest  mark 
of  one  who  is  at  once  well  bred  and  kindly,  his  manners  were  the  same  to  everyone  ;  a  model  of 
benevolence,  generosity  and  magnanimity,  a  worthy  citizen,  respected  and  honored  by  all  ;  dig- 
nified but  genial  and  agreeable,  a  gentleman  of  the  older  type.  His  life  work  is  written  plainly 
in  the  chronicles  of  his  time. 


HON.  CHARLES   B.  FARWELL. 

CHICAGO. 

CHARLES  B.  FARWELL  was  born  at  Painted  Post,  New  York,  July  i,  1823,  the  son  of 
Henry  and  Nancy  Farwell.  He  studied  at  Elmira  Academy,  and  after  leaving  school  spent 
six  years  in  farming,  and  in  surveying  public  lands.  He  settled  in  Chicago  in  1844,  being  then 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  engaged  in  real  estate  and  banking 
business.  He  served  two  terms  as  county  clerk  of  Cook  county,  being  first  elected  in  1853,  and 
afterward  became  associated  with  the  noted  wholesale  house  of  J.  V.  Farwell  and  Company,  of 
Chicago.  He  served  on  the  state  board  of  equalization  in  1867,  and  the  following  year  was  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  supervisors  of  Cook  county.  He  was  elected  on  the  republican  ticket  to  the 
forty-second  congress,  reelected  to  the  forty-third,  and  again  elected  to  the  forty-seventh.  Dur- 
ing his  terms  of  office,  he  served  on  important  committees,  and  rendered  valuable  service.  Mr. 
Farwell  has  been  successful  in  whatever  he  has  attempted,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  Chicago's 
stanch  citizens  and  thorough  business  men. 


HON.   ROBERT  T.   LINCOLN. 

CHICAGO. 

OBERT  TODD  LINCOLN,  the  only  surviving  son  of  the  patriot,  statesman  and  martyred 
A  v  president,  Abraham  Lincoln,  shares  the  affections  of  the  people  of  this  country  to  a  greater 
extent  than  any  other  citizen  of  this  republic.  The  tragic  death  of  the  father  at  the  close  of  the 
rebellion,  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  sensitive  hearts  of  the  American  people,  the  memory  of 
which,  together  with  the  history  of  the  eventful,  honorable  and  useful  life  of  the  father,  intensifies 
their  interest  in  the  son.  The  mother  of  Robert  before  marriage  was  Miss  Fanny  Todd,  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  of  a  family  that  numbers  among  its  different  branches  numerous  eminent  men,  as 
jurists,  lawyers  and  patrons  of  literature,  poetry  and  art.  Fanny  Todd,  in  her  youth,  was  highly 
accomplished,  refined  and  intelligent,  and  possessed  rare  personal  beauty,  and  while  Robert 
resembles  her  personally,  he  has  inherited  also  the  sagacity,  cool,  deliberate  judgment  and  wis- 
dom of  his  father,  while  he  has  but  one  of  his  features.  He  has  the  same  sincere,  mild  expression 
of  the  eyes  that  all  who  knew  his  father  will  recall. 

He  was  born  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  August  i,  1843.     When   but  seven  years  of  age  he  was 
sent  to  the  academy  of  Mr.  Estabrook,  and  remained  there  three  years,  and  then  entered  the  Illi- 


780  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

nois  State  University  at  Springfield.  In  1860  he  entered  Phillips  Academy,  at  Exeter,  New 
Hampshire.  After  passing  a  creditable  examination  he  entered  Harvard  University,  and  gradu- 
ated therefrom  in  1864.  He  entered  Harvard  Law  School,  but  left  in  1865  to  accept  a  commis- 
sion in  the  United  States  army  as  captain,  and  assistant  adjutant-general  on  General  Grant's 
staff.  He  shortly  afterward  resigned  his  commission,  and  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  in 
Chicago,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867. 

He  commenced  practice  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Scammon  and  Lincoln,  but  dissolving  this 
partnership  he  visited  Europe  in  1872,  and  on  his  return,  after  a  six  months'  trip,  formed  a  part- 
nership with  Edward  S.  Isham,  under  the  name  of  Isham  and  Lincoln,  to  which  firm  he  still 
belongs.  In  1876  he  was  elected  supervisor  of  the  town  of  South  Chicago,  and  in  1880  repre- 
sented Cook  county  in  the  Illinois  state  convention  at  Springfield,  which  nominated  delegates  to 
the  national  convention  held  at  Chicago  in  1880.  He  was  one  of  the  electors  on  the  republican 
ticket  for  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  early  in  1880  was  appointed  by  the  governor  one  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad.  He  was  appointed  secretary  of  war  under  President  Garfield, 
and  has  performed  the  duties  of  that  office  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  whole  country. 


COLONEL  JOHN    DEMENT. 

DIXON. 

JOHN  DEMENT,  the  son  of  David  and  Dorcas  (Willis)  Dement,  was  born  April  26,  1804,  at 
Gallatin,  the  county  seat  of  Surhner  county,  Tennessee.  In  1817  his  family  removed  to  Illinois, 
he  being  at  that  time  a  lad  of  thirteen,  and  during  the  succeeding  years,  until  he  attained  his 
majority,  he  was  employed  upon  his  father's  farm.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two,  such  was  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  that  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  sheriff,  an  office  to 
which  were  added  the  duties  of  county  collector  and  treasurer.  In  1828  he  was  elected  to  repre- 
sent Franklin  county  in  the  Illinois  legislature,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  was  reelected  to 
the  same  office.  By  three  successive  elections  by  the  general  assembly  he  was  chosen  state  treas- 
urer, and  for  six  years  most  acceptably  performed  the  duties  of  that  office,  and  while  holding  that 
position  closed  up  the  affairs  of  the  old  state  bank.  Having  made  Vandalia,  then  the  state  capi- 
tal, his  home,  he  was  chosen  to  represent  that  county  in  the  legislature  during  the  term  of  1836-37, 
and  resigned  the  state  treasurership  for  this  purpose,  turning  over  his  books  and  accounts  to  the 
finance  committee  of  the  general  assembly,  who  audited  them  and  found  them  correct.  In  1837 
he  was  appointed  by  President  Jackson  receiver  of  the  .land  office,  which  was  then  located  at 
Galena,  but  which  was,  in  1840,  removed  to  Dixon,  Illinois.  This  position  he  held  through  Jack- 
son's and  Van  Buren's  administrations.  Being  removed  by  President  Harrison,  he  was  reinstated 
by  President  Polk,  but  again  removed  by  President  Taylor,  and  again  reinstated  by  President 
Pierce;  holding  the  position  until,  on  account  of  the  decline  in  business,  the  records  were  removed 
to  Springfield  during  Buchanan's  term  of  office.  During  this  term  of  public  service,  Mr.  Dement 
became  known  as  an  able  financier  and  an  incorruptible  man.  In  1844  he  was  elected  presiden- 
tial elector  for  James  K.  Polk,  against  the  late  Hon.  Martin  Sweet  for  Henry  Clay.  While  acting 
as  state  treasurer  he  made  three  campaigns  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  once  as  captain  of  a  com- 
pany, once  as  major,  and  again  as  special  aid  to  Governor  Reynolds,  with  the  rank  of  colonel. 
He  was  a  member  of  three  state  constitutional  conventions,  first  in  1847-48,  again  in  1862,  and 
lastly  in  that  of  1868,  being  thus  singularly  honored  with  a  voice  in  all  the  conventions  called  for 
the  purpose  of  revising  the  state  constitution  since  the  organization  of  the  state  government  in 
1818.  In  the  convention  of  1847-48  he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  legislation,  a  position 
which  he  again  held  in  the  convention  of  1862;  while  in  the  last  convention  he  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  the  right  of  suffrage.  He  pioneered  that  piece  of  statesmanship  which  provided 
that  if  the  "fifteenth  amendment"  to  the  federal  constitution  should  be  ratified  and  adopted  in 
accordance  with  the  prescriptive  rule  of  that  constitution,  the  new  constitution  of  Illinois  should 


UNITED    STATES  KIOGRAPH1CAL    DICTIONARY.  781 

be  made  to  conform  with  it,  by  striking  out  the  descriptive  and  inviduous  word  "white,"  as  the 
legal  prefix  to  the  phrase  "male  citizens."  This  was  the  new  departure  advocated  by  him  as  one 
of  the  leading  democrats  in  the  Illinois  constitutional  convention  of  1868.  He  was  four  times 
elected  mayor  of  Dixon,  his  nomination  and  election  occurring  twice  when  he  was  absent  from 
home.  During  his  life  he  filled  many  positions  of  public  confidence  within  the  gift  of  the  people 
of  the  state,  and  the  administration  of  the  state  and  federal  governments,  and  built  up  a  reputa- 
tion for  unimpeachable  integrity  and  rare  intelligence  and  ability  which  very  few  men  can  flatter 
themselves  in  possessing. 

Colonel  Dement  was  married  in  1835  to  Maria  Louisa  Dodge,  daughter  of  Governor  Dodge, 
of  Wisconsin. 

Colonel  Dement  died  January  17,  1883,  at  Dixon,  Illinois,  and  thereupon  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  introduced  and  passed  in  the  state  legislature: 

Resolutions  of  respect  and  sympathy  introduced  by  Hon.  James  Herringlon,  in  the  house  of  representatives  of  the 
thirty-third  general  assembly  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  adopted  by  the  house  January,  1883: 

WHEREAS,  This  house  has  heard,  with  feelings  of  deep  regret,  of  the  death  of  Colonel  John  Dement,  of  Dixon, 
Illinois,  on  the  lyth  instant,  after  a  long  and  useful  life,  who  was  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  this  state,  a  member  of 
the  house  of  representatives  of  this  state,  of  the  sixth,  seventh  and  tenth  general  assemblies,  state  treasurer  from  1831 
to  1836,  and  a  member  of  the  constitutional  conventions  of  1847,  1862  and  1870,  besides  holding  other  positions  of 
trust  and  honor;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  here"by  testify  our  esteem  and  regard  for  the  personal  character  of  the  deceased,  and  a  high 
appreciation  of  his  faithful  public  services  on  behalf  of  the  state. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  sincere  sympathy  to  his  son,  the  secretary  of  state,  and  to  the  other  members  of  the 
family,  in  the  loss  they  have  sustained. 

Resolved,  That  this  preamble  and  resolutions  be  spread  at  large  upon  the  journals  of  this  house,  and  a  copy  thereof 
forwarded  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 


THOMAS  BATES. 

CHICAGO. 

AMONG  the  younger  class  of  lawyers  in  Chicago  of  the  best  standing,  is  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch,  and  who  received  the  latter  part  of  his  legal  training  in  this  city, 
under  Hon.  Leonard  Swett,  one  of  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  profession  in  Chicago.  Mr. 
Bates  has  been  in  practice  but  a  few  years,  but  he  laid  a  good  foundation  at  the  start,  and  is  build- 
ing steadily,  and  as  he  loves  his  profession,  and  is  studious  and  ambitious,  a  brilliant  future  seems 
to  lie  before  him. 

Thomas  Bates  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  his  birth  being  dated  at  Griggsville,  Pike  county,  March 
4,  1845.  His  parents,  Thomas  Bates  and  Elvira  (Cleveland)  Bates,  were  born  in  Rutland,  Vermont, 
This  branch  of  the  Bates  family  we  are  unable  to  trace  back  farther  than  to  our  subject's  great- 
grandfather, Elias  Bates,  who  was  a  resident  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts,  at  the  time  when 
the  revolution  broke  out,  and  who  participated  in  the  struggle  for  independence,  holding  the 
rank  of  lieutenant. 

Mr.  Bates  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Illinois,  supplementing  his  mental  training 
there  with  some  outside  private  study;  was  in  the  government  service  as  a  wagon  master,  under 
General  Sully,  in  his  expedition  against  the  Indians  in  1865-6;  aided  his  father  more  or  less  in  his 
lumber  office  at  Lincoln;  was  principal  of  the  Gilman  public  school  four  years,  reading  law  dur- 
ing the  last  two  of  them;  in  April,  1876,  came  to  Chicago,  and  finished  his  legal  studies  in  the 
office  of  Mr.  Swett,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  September  following. 

For  a  little  more  than  two  years  Mr.  Bates  was  of  the  firm  of  Swett  and  Bates;  then,  for  one 
year,  of  Higgins,  Swett  and  Bates,  and  is  now  practicing  alone,  and  doing  a  large  business  in  the 
several  courts  of  the  commonwealth. 

Mr.  Bates  confines  himself  to  civil  law  exclusively;  has  wonderful  success  in  securing  busi- 
ness and  the  confidence  of  people;  is  quite  successful  before  a  jury;  and  is  eminently  trustworthy 
in  all  the  relations  of  life. 


782  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHIC AI.    DICTIONARY. 

Mr.  Bates  votes  the  democratic  ticket,  but  goes  no  farther  in  politics,  being  evidently  ambi- 
tious to  excel  in  his  profession,  or  to  at  least  make  a  notable  success  of  it,  and  knowing  that  in 
order  to  do  so  his  whole  time  must  be  given  to  legal  studies  and  practice. 

Mr.  Bates  married,  December  24,  1870,  Sarah  H.  Ricker,  daughter  of  Albion  Ricker,  of  Tur- 
ner, Maine,  and  they  have  two  children. 


WILLIAM    P.  BLACK. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  P.  BLACK  was  born  in  Woodford  county,  Kentucky,  November  n,  1842.  The 
family  dates  back  in  this  country  to  ante-revolutionary  times,  when  the  Scotch  ancestry 
found  homes  in  the  colonies,  first  in  South  Carolina,  and  afterward  in  Westmoreland  county, 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  revolutionary  struggle  they  were  on  the  patriot  side,  contributing  their 
share  alike  of  blood  and  their  scant  treasure  to  the  cause  of  liberty. 

From  childhood  William  was  a  close  student,  his  zeal  having  to  be  held  in  check  on  account 
of  delicate  health  and  a  frail  body.  He  entered  Wabash  College,  Crawfordsville,  Indiana,  in  the 
fall  of  1860.  He  at  once  took  a  leading  place  in  his  class  as  a  diligent  and  conscientious  student, 
and  in  the  societies  as  a  clear,  powerful  and  brilliant  speaker,  and  was  affectionately  esteemed  by 
all.  At  this  time,  having  joined  the  Presbyterian  church  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  was  studying 
with  reference  to  entering  the  ministry. 

But  the  outbreak  of  the  war  interrupted  the  collegiate  course,  never  to  be  resumed.  April  15, 
1861,  Mr.  Black  enlisted,  with  about  forty  other  students  of  the  college,  including  his  only 
brother,  as  a  private  soldier  in  company  I,  nth  Indiana  zouaves,  commanded  by  Colonel  (after- 
ward Major-General)  Lew.  Wallace.  Sharing  with  this  regiment  in  its  three  months'  campaign, 
chiefly  in  western  Virginia,  he  was  mustered  out  as  corporal,  and  at  once  engaged  in  assisting  in 
the  work  of  recruiting  a  company  in  Vermillion  county,  Illinois,  for  the  three  years'  service,  of 
which  company  he  was  elected  captain,  and  which  was  mustered  into  the  service  as  company  K, 
37th  Illinois  infantry,  at  Chicago,  September  18,  1861,  the  regiment  then  being  known  as  Fre- 
mont Rifles,  and  his  commission  as  captain,  dated  September  i,  1861,  being  received  by  him 
before  he  had  reached  his  nineteenth  birthday.  This  position  he  filled  faithfully  for  over  three 
years,  sharing  with  his  regiment  in  its  marches,  skirmishes  and  battles,  chief  among  which  may 
be  mentioned  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas,  Prairie  Grove,  Arkansas  (where  one-third  of  the  federal 
forces  were  killed  and  wounded),  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  in  the  latter  part  of  which  Captain 
Black  held  the  responsible  and  most  dangerous  position  of  brigade  picket  officer,  having  charge 
of  the  rifle  pits  of  his  brigade  ;  the  occupation  of  Texas,  and  the  observation  of  the  empire  of 
Maximilian.  Of  his  military  career  it  is  enough  to  say  that,  undertaken  not  from  choice,  but 
under  an  exalted  sense  of  the  duty  he  owed  an  imperiled  and  loved  country,  every  service 
required  was  performed  quietly,  unostentatiously  and  thoroughly.  He  could  always  be  depended 
upon  implicitly,  possessing  that  quality  of  courage  which  is  the  result  of  entire  devotion  to  duty, 
even  at  the  cost  of  complete  self  sacrifice. 

Commencing  the  study  of  law  in  October,  1865,  in  the  office  of  Arrington  and  Dent,  Chicago, 
he  was  in  about  sixteen  months  admitted  to  practice,  and  returned  to  Danville  to  enter  upon  his 
professional  career.  There  he  remained  only  a  year,  however,  returning  to  Chicago  in  March, 
1868,  to  form  the  association  with  Mr.  Thomas  Dent,  which  has  since  continued,  Mr.  Dent's  for- 
mer partner,  Judge  Alfred  W.  Arrington,  having  died,  December  31,  1867.  Mr.  Black's  career  as 
a  lawyer  has  been  unusually  successful. 

Mr.  Black  is  in  no  sense  a  politician,  though  taking  a  keen  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
country,  to  whose  service  in  the  tented  field  he  gave  three  and  a  half  years  of  his  life.  In  his 
views  he  is  thoroughly  independent,  casting  his  vote  and  his  influence  always  with  what  he 
believes  the  better  side  of  every  cause.  In  the  summer  of  1872  he  devoted  a  little  time  to  the 


HCCuoparJr  i  C  D 


Eag  \>y  E  O,Wilham«  1  Br  N"Y 


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OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  785 

advocacy  of  the  Greeley  movement,  as  opposed  to  the  increasing  corruption  in  public  affair's. 
His  speeches  in  this  campaign  elicited  much  praise,  and  added  to  his  already  high  reputation  as 
an  earnest,  logical  and  eloquent  speaker,  fearless  in  exposing  and  rebuking  wrong.  Prior  to  1872 
he  had  been  a  stanch  republican,  but  since  that  time  has  not  been  actively  identified  with  either 
of  the  great  parties,  though  usually  working  with  the  democratic.  He  took  no  part  in  politics, 
however,  after  the  campaign  of  1872,  until  in  1880,  when  he  made  one  speech  near  the  close  of 
the  canvass,  in  advocacy  of  the  election  of  General  Hancock,  which  was  published  in  full  in  the 
Chicago  "  Times,"  and  which  was  very  highly  esteemed  on  account  of  its  thoughtfulness  and 
force. 

In  the  fall  of  1882  Mr.  Black  became  a  candidate  for  congress  upon  the  unsolicited  nomina- 
tions, first  of  the  anti-monopolists  in  their  convention,  then  of  the  democracy,  and  afterward  of 
the  independent  republicans.  The  campaign  was  short  and  vigorous,  and  although  Mr.  Black 
was  defeated,  yet  it  was  only  by  treachery  in  the  democratic  camp,  and  then  by  a  majority  of  less 
than  2,400,  in  a  district  that,  two  years  before,  had  given  his  successful  opponent  a  majority  of 
over  6,000. 

In  1874  Wabash  College  conferred  on  Mr.  Black  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  a  graceful  rec- 
ognition of  his  professional  success,  and  his  services  as  a  man  of  letters. 

Mr.  Black  was  married,  May  28,  1869,  to  Miss  Hortensia  M.  MacGreal,  of  Galveston,  Texas,  a 
Christian  lady  of  clear-  and  strong  intellect,  ripe  culture  and  deep  enthusiasm  of  religious  experi- 
ence. She  is  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  late  Peter  MacGreal,  who  was  one  of  the  leading  lawyers 
of  the  Empire  State  of  the  Southwest. 

Mr.  Black  is  over  six  feet  in  height  and  has  dark  hair,  now  freely  intersprinkled  with  gray ;  of 
spare  but  graceful  figure,  and  a  face  strong  and  expressive  ;  and  a  dark,  bright  eye,  that  kindles 
under  emotion  or  excitement,  but  is  always  kindly.  His  voice  is  clear  and  strong,  and  these, 
added  to  an  unusual  flow  of  language,  make  him  a  speaker  of  great  power  and  magnetism. 


REV.  JOHN    CLARKE. 

RUSHVILLE. 

JOHN  CLARKE  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  September  24,  1806.  His  parents,  John 
and  Eleanor  (Greer)  Clarke,  were  natives  of  Tyrone,  Ireland,  and  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
great  reformation  under  John  Wesley,  with  many  other  godly  families  in  that  county  and  some 
of  the  adjoining  counties  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  these  families  being  mostly  of  Scotch-Irish  lin- 
eage. 

John  Clarke,  Sr.,  came  to  this  country  in  1802,  and  in  1814  moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  where  our  subject  was  educated,  mainly  by  his  father,  who  was  a  teacher  for  some 
years,  and  later  a  farmer. 

In  his  youth  Mr.  Clarke  was  engaged  in  farming,  and  learning  the  hatter's  trade  ;  married 
Ann  Ohern,  of  Pittsburgh,  November  16,  1826,  and  the  next  year  he  became  a  traveling  preacher 
of  the  Protestant  Methodist  church.  From  the  "Schuyler  County  Atlas"  we  learn  that  he  filled 
some  important  stations,  being  president  of  the  conference  several  years. 

Mr.  Clarke  came  to  Illinois  in  May,  1843,  and  while  preaching  at  Rushville  in  that  year,  he 
united  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  was  on  the  circuit  a  little  less  than  twenty  years 
longer,  being  stationed  at  Warsaw,  Pulaski  circuit,  Virginia  station  and  Rushville  circuit,  etc. 

In  1862  the  war  drew  some  of  his  sons  into  the  army,  and  he  thought  it  best  to  settle  and  take 
care  of  his  family,  though  he  continued  to  preach,  and  to  do  a  great  deal  of  Christian  labor  gratu- 
itously until  quite  recently. 

Mr.  Clarke  was  anti-slavery  from  his  early  manhood,  and  aided  J.  G.  Birney,  Doctor  Bailey,  of 
the  "National  Era,"  and  others,  in  forming  the  Indiana  State  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  he  was 
for  some  time  its  corresponding  secretary.  He  was  one  of  the  eleven  original  free-soil  voters 
76 


-,%  i'Ntri-:n  ST.-I  •/•/•: s  niocK.iriiic.n.  nn"no\. iv)  . 

in  Scluiyler  county;  was  a  presidential  elector,  in  1X48,  on  the  Van  Huren  and  Adams  ticket,  and 
was  a  delegate  to  and  vice  president  of  the  convention  which  met  at  Bloomington,  and  organixed 
the  great  party  of  freedom,  which  placed  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  presidential  chair,  March  4, 
1861;  and  when  the  emancipation  proclamation  of  that  great  and  noble  man  struck  the  fetters 
from  every  slave  in  the  land,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  in  Illinois  rejoiced  more  heartily  than 
Mr.  Clarke. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke  raised  nine  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  have  outlived  six  of  them.  John 
S.  was  killed  by  a  falling  tree  in  1853  ;  Thomas  was  brought  home  dead  from  the  army  in  1864  ; 
Francis  W.  died  in  1871,  and  Charles  Avery  and  George  G.  in  1876,  and  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Young  in 
1848.  James  F.  is  in  Portland,  Ohio  ;  Henry  A.  is  a  farmer  three  miles  from  Rushville  ;  Albert 
is  at  Kearney  City,  Nebraska  ;  Nicholas  S.  is  at  Lawrence,  Kansas  ;  Sarah  E.  is  the  wife  of  G.  W. 
Scripps,  of  Detroit,  Michigan. 

At  the  time  of  writing  (January,  1883),  Mr.  Clarke  is  quite  feeble,  and  seems«to  be  patiently 
waiting  for  "the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God."  He  and  his  wife  have  lived  together 
for  fifty-seven  years,  and  are  having  a  very  quiet  evening  of  life. 


HON.   BENJAMIN   S.   EDWARDS. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  youngest  son  of  Hon.  Ninian  Edwards,  the  first •  territorial 
governor  of  Illinois,  subsequently  a  United  States  senator  and  governor  of  this  state,  and 
was  born  at  Edwardsville,  Madison  county,  June  3,  1818.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  class 
of  '38;  studied  law  in  the  law  department  of  the  same  college,  and  with  the  late  Hon.  Stephen  T. 
Logan,  of  Springfield,  and  commenced  practice  in  1840.  In  1843  Mr.  Edwards  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Hon.  John  T.  Stuart,  and  that  partnership  has  continued  nearly  forty  years.  In  1860 
Christopher  C.  Brown  joined  these  parties,  and  the  firm  of  Stuart,  Edwards  and  Brown  repre- 
sents a  great  deal  of  legal  talent,  and  is  well  known  in  this  state,  and  not  unknown  in  other  states. 
Mr.  Edwards  represented  Sangamon  county  in  the  constitutional  convention  in  1862,  and  was 
defeated  for  congress  on  the  democratic  ticket  in  1868,  being  nominated  without  his  consent. 
The  next  year  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  and  served  faithfully  until  the  circuit  was 
enlarged  in  1870,  and  then  retired  from  the  bench.  He  was  never  an  office  seeker,  and  seems  to 
content  himself  with  a  first-rate  standing  at  the  Sangamon  county  bar,  of  which  he  has  been  a 
member  for  forty- three  years. 

HON.   AARON   SHAW. 

OLNKY. 

AARON  SHAW  was  born  in  Orange  county,  New  York,  in  1811,  and  there  spent  his  early  life 
t\  until  about  twenty  years  of  age.  In  the  meanwhile  he  studied  law  with  Hon.  Charles  Mo- 
nell,  and  obtained  a  good  classic  education.  In  1831  he  emigrated  to  the  West,  settling  in  Vin- 
ce'nnes,  Indiana,  and  continued  his  studies  in  the  office  of  Judge  John  Law,  and  in  1833  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  During  the  same  year  he  removed  to  Lawrenceville,  Illinois,  carried  on  his 
profession,  and  was  afterward  elected  by  the  legislature  state's  attorney  for  the  southern  district, 
and  rode  the  circuit,  which  then  embraced  fourteen  counties,  Hon.  William  Wilson  being  chief 
justice  of  the  supreme  court. 

In  1848  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  serving'  in  the  session  of  1849-50,  and  while  there 
worked  hard  to  break  up  the  state-policy  party,  which  opposed  the  chartering  of  any  railroad 
which  did  not  terminate  in  this  state.  Judge  Shaw  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  railroad,  which  was  then  chartered.  He  paid  his  own  expenses  during  his  work  with 
the  company,  and  remained  with  them,  serving  five  years,  when  he  resigned. 


ONITl-.J)    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  787 

• 

Judge  Shaw  was  elected  to  the  thirty-fifth  United  States  congress,  where  he  served,  taking 
quite  an  active  part,  and  was  subsequently  elected  circuit  judge  of  the  fourth  judicial  circuit  of 
Illinois.  Judge  Shaw  removed  to  Olney  in  1869.  He  named  the  county  seat  of  Richland  county 
Olney,  in  honor  of  Nathan  Olney,  a  personal  friend,  who  had  recently  died  in  Lawrenceville. 
The  judge  has  been  practicing  law  with  very  great  success,  having  a  reputation  second  to  none 
in  southern  Illinois,  and  he  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  advocates  of  the  southern  district.  In  the 
fall  of  1882  he  was  elected  to  the  forty-eighth  congress  from  the  southern  district. 

In  1840  Judge  Shaw  married «Miss  Mary  J.  Gray,  whose  parents  are  natives  of  Ireland,  she 
being  born  in  Elizabethtown,  Virginia.  They  have  three  children  now  living:  Rachel,  wife  of 
Joseph  Lyman,  of  Olney;  Mary,  wife  of  John  Corrie,  a  farmer,  and  Ellie,  wife  of  Robert  Byers, 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank. 

Judge  Shaw  has  led  an  eminently  busy  life,  and  filled  several  of  the  most  important  positions 
which  have  given  him  favor  throughout  the  county,  and  he  has  likewise  been  successful  in  his 
financial  enterprises,  being  one  of  the  largest  land  owners  in  Richland  county. 


HON.  JOHN  V.  EUSTACE. 

DIXON. 

THE  judge  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  thirteenth  judicial  district  is  a  son  of  Thomas  and 
Fanny  (Olmstead)  Eustace,  and  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  September  9, 
1821,  and  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  being  graduated  in  1839,  in  which  year 
he  moved  to  Saint  Louis,  and  read  law  in  that  city,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  before  he  had 
reached  his  majority.  In  1843  he  settled  in  Dixon,  which  has  been  his  home  for  nearly  forty 
years,  and  where  he  has  made  a  highly  honorable  record,  both  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist. 

In  1857  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  but  resigned  before  his  term  was  out.  Dur- 
ing the  civil  war,  1861-1865,  he  was  provost  marshal  of  the  district,  at  the  end  of  which  period  he 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Eustace,  Barge  and  Dixon. 

In  1877  he  was  again  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  two  years  later 
was  reelected  for  the  full  term  of  six  years.  He  is  a  democrat,  residing  in  a  republican  district, 
and  it  is  his  eminent  fitness  for  the  position  that  keeps  him  on  the  bench.  The  judge  has  served 
as  a  presidential  elector,  as  democratic  candidate  for  state's  attorney,  and  one  or  two  terms  in  the 
state  legislature.  He  was  married  in  Saint  Louis,  in  1843,  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Smith,  and  they  have 
four  children. 

HON.  ORLANDO   B.   TICKLAND. 

CHARLESTON. 

ORLANDO  B.  TICKLAND  was  born  in  Kentucky,  December  16,  1808.  His  father's  name 
was  William  Tickland,  and  the  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Elizabeth  Kenner  Williams. 
The  early  life  of  our  subject  was  spent  at  various  institutions  of  learning  in  Kentucky  and  Mis- 
souri, until  the  age  of  twenty,  when  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  Henry  Shorlds,  of  Potosi, 
Missouri.  Tn  March,  1830,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  began  practice  at  Mount  Carmel, 
Wabash  county,  Illinois,  where  he  continued  in  active  practice  for  seven  years.  During  this  time, 
in  1834,  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of 'the  state  legislature,  which  at  that  time  embraced 
among  its  prominent  members  Abraham  Lincoln,  J.  T.  Stuart,  Jesse  R.  Dubois,  and  others,  who 
have  since  been  conspicuous  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  state  and  nation.  In  the  winter  of  1834- 
35  he  was  chosen  by  the  legislature  state's  attorney  for  the  Wabash  district. 

In  1837  he  removed  to  Charleston,  Coles  county,  where  he  has  since  resided,  and  where  he  has 
a  reputation  and  clientage  extending  throughout  central  Illinois.  In  1838  he  was  again  elected 
to  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  and  in  1842  was  reelected.  In  1843  he  was  elected  to  United 


788  U KITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

States  congress,  for  what  was  then  the  Wabash  district,  and  among  his  colleagues  in  that  body 
were  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  General  John  A.  McClerland  and  John  Wentworth.  In  1844  he  was  re- 
elected  as  congressional  representative,  and  again  in  1846,  after  which  he  returned  to  his  profes- 
sional duties,  which  he  continued  uninterruptedly  until  1850,  when  he  was  again  elected  to 
congress.  This  term  expired  in  March,  1853,  and  since  then  his  attention  has  been  devoted  almost 
exclusively  to  his  practice. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  democratic  convention  which  nominated  Buchanan  for  the  presi- 
dency at  Cincinnati,  in  1856,  and  was  also  a  member  of  the.  democratic  convention,  held  in 
Charlestown,  in  1860,  being  present  at  the  time  of  the  secession  of  southern  members.  In  each 
of  these  bodies  he  represented  Illinois  on  the  committee  of  resolutions. 

In  politics,  he  belongs  to  the  old-school  democrats,  where  he  has  always  been  an  active  worker. 
In  1861  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  state  constitutional  convention. 

Mr.  Tickland  was  married  in  1846  to  Miss  Elizabeth  H  Colquitt,  the  daughter  of  Hon.  Walter 
T.  Colquitt,  United  States  senator  of  Georgia. 


HON.   THOMAS  S.  CASEY. 

MOUNT    VERNON. 

'"T^HOMAS  S.  CASEY  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  Illinois,  April  6,  1832.  His  father  was 
_L  Governor  Z.  Casey,  for  ten  years  a  member  of  congress.  His  mother  was  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky. Judge  Casey  was  educated  at  the  McKendree  College,  Lebanon,  Illinois,  and  subsequently 
studied  law  under  the  instruction  of  Hugh  B.  Montgomery,  and  after  three  years'  study,  in  1854, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  In  1860  he  was  elected  state's  attorney  for  the  twelfth  judicial  district, 
having  up  to  this  time  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1864  he  was  reflected 
to  the  same  position. 

In  1862  Judge  Casey  entered  the  United  States  army,  as  colonel  of  the  noth  regiment,  Illinois 
infantry.  He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  and  took  part  also  in  many  other  minor 
engagements.  On  his  return  from  the  field,  he  resumed  his  professional  labors,  and  until  1868 
filled  the  position  of  state's  attorney.  In  1870  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  legisla- 
ture, and  while  a  member  of  that  body  delivered  a  powerful  free-trade  speech,  which  is  notable 
as  having  been  the  first  speech  of  the  kind  ever  delivered  in  Illinois.  In  1872  he  was  elected  to 
the  state  senate,  and  in  1876  was  elected  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  which  position  he  now  fills. 

In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  democrat.  He  was  married  in  October,  1861,  to  Matilda  S. 
Moran,  of  Springfield,  Illinois. 

GENERAL  WILLIAM   R.   ROWLEY. 

GALENA. 

WILLIAM  REUBEN  ROWLEY,  judge  of  Jo  Daviess  county,  was  born  at  Gouverneur, 
Saint  Lawrence  county,  New  York,  February  8,  1824,  his  parents  being  Aaron  and  Martha 
(Campbell)  Rowley. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  Mr.  Rowley  came  as  far  west  as  Brown  county,  Ohio,  where  he 
taught  school  for  three  years,  and  then  pushed  westward  into  Jo  Daviess  county,  Illinois,  resum- 
ing teaching  at  Scoles  Mound,  and  pursuing  that  calling  for  several  years.  In  1849  he  was  ap- 
pointed assessor  and  collector  of  his  district,  faithfully  discharging  the  duties  of  that  office  for 
four  years,  when  he  became  deputy  circuit  clerk.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857.  In 
November,  1854,  he  was  elected  sheriff  ;  served  one  term  in  that  office;  was  then  elected  circuit 
clerk,  and  held  that  office  from  1856  to  1876.  During  three  years  of  that  time  the  duties  of  his 
office  were  performed  by  his  deputy,  he  being  absent  in  the  service  of  his  country. 

We  learn  from  "The  History  of  Jo  Daviess  County,"  published  in  Chicago  in  1878,  that  in  No- 


STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY,  789 

vember,  1861,  our  subject  enlisted  as  first  lieutenant  company  D,  45th  Illinois  infantry;  tha"t  after  the 
battle  of  Fort  Donelson  he  was  commissioned  as  captain  and  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  General 
Grant;  that  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh  he  was  commissioned  major  and  aide-de-camp  on  the  same 
staff ;  that  after  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  he  was  detailed  as  provost-marshal-general  of  the 
department  of  Tennessee  and  Cumberland,  holding  that  position  until  the  promotion  of  General 
Grant  to  the  exalted  position  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  army;  that  Major  Rowley  was  then 
promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel  and  military  secretary  to  General  Grant,  and  that  he  held  that 
office  until  his  health  failed,  and  he  resigned  in  October,  1864.  He  was  brevetted  successively  to 
the  ranks  of  colonel  and  brigadier-general. 

General  Rowley  was  chosen  county  judge  in  November,  1877,  and  the  duties  of  that  office  he  is 
performing  in  connection  with  his  practice  of  the  legal  profession. 


HON.  JOHN   H.   BRYANT. 

PRINCETON. 

JOHN  HOWARD  BRYANT,  son  of  Doctor  Peter  Bryant,  and  brother  of  the  late  William 
Cullen  Bryant,  first  saw  the  light  among  the  hills  of  western  Massachusetts,  at  Cummington, 
July  22,  1807.  He  finished  his  education  at  the  Rcnsselaer  School,  Troy,  New  York;  taught  com- 
mon schools  two  winters,  and  in  1831  came  to  Jacksonville,  this  state.  In  September  of  the  next 
year  he  settled  near  Princeton,  made  a  claim,  and  when  the  land  came  into  the  market  in  July, 
1835,  he  entered  his,  and  has  occupied  it  ever  since.  At  an  early  day  he  assisted  in  starting  a 
newspaper  in  Princeton,  and  edited  it  two  years  gratuitously.  He  also  started  the  first  brick  yard 
in  the  place,  and  has  always  been  active  in  pushing  forward  all  local  enterprises  of  the  highest 
consideration,  such  as  public  schools,  the  high  school  of  Princeton,  etc. 

In  June,  1833,  Mr.  Bryant  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  E.  Wiswall,  of  Jacksonville,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts;  in  1842  was  a  member  of  the  legislature;  was  the  free-soil  candidate  for  congress 
in  his  district  in  1852;  was  again  chosen  to  the  legislature  in  1856,  and  in  1862  was  appointed 
collector  of  internal  revenue,  holding  that  office  four  years. 

Mr.  Bryant  managed  his  farm  until  his  only  son,  and  only  child  living,  Elijah  W.  Bryant,  was 
old  enough  to  take  charge  of  it.  At  the  time  of  writing,  April,  1883,  he  is  making  preparations 
to  observe  his  golden  wedding. 

Mr.  Bryant  has  poetic  gifts  only  a  little  inferior  to  those  of  his  older  brother,  as  is  shown  by 
the  specimens  of  his  poetry  found  in  Griswold's  "Poets  of  America,"  and  other  compilations. 


JOHN  V.  HARWELL. 

CHICA'GO. 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL  is  the  son  of  Henry  and  Nancy  Farwell,  and  was  born  July  29,  1825,  in 
J  Steuben  county,  New  York.  He  worked  with  his  father,  who  was  a  farmer  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, and  attended  the  district  school  during  his  boyhood,  and  in  1838  removed  with  his 
father's  family  to  Ogle  county,  Illinois.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the  Mount  Morris  Semi- 
nary, boarding  himself,  and  there  mastered  those  studies  best  calculated  to  fit  him  for  business. 
He  settled  in  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1845,  having  as  his  moneyed  capital  $3.25,  and  obtained  a 
position  in  the  city  clerk's  office  at  a  salary  of  $12  per  month,  and  also  reported  the  proceedings 
of  the  city  council,  receiving  $2  per  report.  He  was  next  employed  in  the  dry-goods  house  of 
Hamilton  and  White  at  $8  per  month  for  one  year,  after  which  he  was  employed  by  Hamilton 
and  Day  at  a  salary  of  $250  per  annum.  He  showed  an  aptness  for  business,  and  next  secured  a 
situation  at  $600  per  annum  with  Wadsworth  and  Phelps,  and  eventually  became  a  partner  in  the 
business;  this  was  in  1851.  The  house  then  did  a  business  of  $100,000  per  annum,  and  in  1868  it 
had  increased  to  $10,000,000  per  annum. 


790  uNi'i'/'.n  .vy.4 /•/•;. v  KIOGKM'IIICM.  DICTIONARY.  • 

During*  the  civil  war  his  zeal  and  patriotism  were  shown  in  numerous  schemes  of  practical 
benevolence.  He  was  one  of  the  foremost  in  raising  the  Board  of  Trade  regiment  and  the  $40,000 
with  which  it  was  equipped,  and  gave  liberally  to  the  sanitary  and  Christian  commissions. 

When  fourteen  years  old  he  became  a  zealous  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
and  has  always  been  noted  for  his  earnestness  and  generosity  in  Christian  enterprises.  One-half 
of  his  first  year's  salary,  small  as  it  was,  was  given  to  the  church  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He 
was  an  active  co-worker  with  Mr.  D.  L.  Moody  in  the  organization  of  the  Illinois  Street  Mission 
in  1856,  which  has  grown  into  a  church  of  several  hundred  members,  and  a  Sunday  school  of 
nearly  one  thousand.  He  has  been  an  enthusiastic  temperance  worker,  and  to  his  influence  and 
zealous,  effective  work  is  largely  due  the  prosperous  condition  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Chicago. 

No  man  in  Chicago  is  more  universally  esteemed,  and  to  none  is  she  more  largely -indebted 
for  her  commercial  and  business  prosperity. 


HON.  WILLIAM   M.  SPRINGER. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

WILLIAM  M.  SPRINGER  was  born  in  New  Lebanon,  Sullivan  county,  Indiana,  May  30, 
1836,  and  immigrated  with  his  parents  to  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  in  1848.  He  was  the 
eighth  son  in  succession  of  his  father's  family. 

Prior  to  leaving  Indiana  he  worked  upon  a  farm,  and  attended  school  in  the  winter  time  from 
the  age  of  eight  years  until  the  removal  of  the  family  to  Jacksonville.  Here  he  continued  a  simi- 
lar mode  of  life  until  1854  ;  in  the  meantime  teaching  school  and  preparing  for  a  collegiate 
course.  He  entered  the  district  school  under  Professor  Bateman  in  1851,  and  continued  with 
him  until  May,  1854.  In  the  September  following  he  entered  the  Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville, 
pursuing  the  classical  course.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  junior  year,  March,  1857,  he  had  a  contro- 
versy with  the  faculty,  which  resulted  in  his  dismissal  from  the  institution.  The  difficulty  origi- 
nated from  his  political  views,  which  were  of  a  very  positive  democratic  cast.  The  address  which 
he  had  prepared  for  the  junior  exhibition  gave  an  indication  of  his  political  views.  The  faculty 
differing  from  him,  and,  perhaps,  for  other  reasons,  deemed  it  inadvisable  for  the  address  to  be 
delivered,  and  an  issue  between  the  faculty  and  himself  was  imminent.  He  was  prohibited  from 
delivering  it,  unless  he  would  submit  to  the  modifications  proposed  by  the  faculty.  He  did  not 
speak,  but  published  an  expose  of  the  whole  matter,  for  which  he  was  dismissed.  He  completed 
his  course  of  study  at  the  Indiana  State  University,  where  he  graduated  in  June,  1858. 

After  his  graduation,  in  1858,  he  settled  in  Lincoln,  Illinois,  where  he  assumed  the  editorial 
charge  of  the  "Logan  County  Democrat."  The  exciting  senatorial  contest  between  the  late 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Judge  Douglas  was  then  in  progress.  Mr.  Springer  characteristically 
espoused  the  cause  of  Judge  Douglas  through  the  columns  of  his  paper  and  in  public  addresses. 

In  1860  he  was  nominated  by  his  party  from  the  district  composed  of  the  counties  of  Logan 
and  Mason  for  the  legislature,  but  was  defeated  by  his  competitor,  Colonel  Robert  B.  Latham. 
In  1862  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the  convention  called  to  form  a  new  constitution  for  the  state 
of  Illinois,  having  very  powerful  competitors  for  the  caucus  nomination. 

Prior  to  this,  in  1859,  he  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  after  the  adjournment  of  the  con- 
vention, in  1862,  he  took  up  his  permanent  residence  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  opened  a  law 
office,  where  he  has  since  continued. 

In  1866  he  was  again  nominated  by  the  democratic  party  of  Sangamon  and  Logan  counties 
for  the  legislature,  his  opponent  being  James  C.  Conkling,  and  the  campaign,  occurring  immedi- 
ately after  the  close  of  the  war,  was  one  of  unusual  excitement.  Mr.  Springer  carried  his  own 
county  (Sangamon)  by  a  majority  exceeding  his  colleagues  on  the  same  ticket ;  but  the  county  of 
Logan  giving  a  large  republican  majority,  Mr.  Springer  was  again  defeated. 


r  \ITED  .v  y.  /•/'/•:  s  /,'/(><;/,'.//•///(• //.  DICTIONAKY. 

In  the  summer  of  1X70  he  was  nominated  to  represent  Sangamon  county  in  the  lower  branch 
of  the  Illinois  general  assembly,  and  was  elected  with  his  two  other  colleagues,  Charles  H.  Rice 
and  Ninian  R.  Taylor,  by  a  majority  exceeding  one  thousand.  This  legislature  was  one  of  the 
most  important  ones  that  had  occurred  for  many  years,  among  other  duties  devolving  upon  it 
being  the  codification  of  the  statutes  so  as  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  new  organic- 
law.  Both  branches  of  the  legislature  were  largely  republican,  and  the  intellect  of  the  republican 
and  democratic  parties  were  both  fairly  represented. 

In  all  the  deliberations  and  contests  occurring  in  the  body  of  which  Mr.  Springer  was  a  mem- 
ber, he  took  a  conspicuous  part,  and  was  recognized  as  among  the  leading  members  of  the  house. 
Though  in  the  minority,  and  this  being  his  first  legislative  experience,  he  was  thoroughly 
instructed  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  parliamentary  law,  which  knowledge  enabled  him  to 
worry  and  vex  the  majority,  and  arrest  their  attempts  to  invade  the  rights  of  the  minority.  The 
tariff  question  being  under  discussion  during  this  session,  and  a  resolution  on  the  subject  pend- 
ing, Mr.  Springer  embodied  his  views  in  the  form  of  an  amendment  to  the  resolution  in  the  fol- 
lowing words:  "And  that  all  systems  ofetaxation  for  protection,  and  all  class  legislation  and 
monopolies  are  wrong  in  principle,  and  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions."  His 
amendment  was  voted  down,  but  he  has  ever  adhered  to  the  principles  embodied  therein. 

In  August,  1874,  the  democracy  of  the  twelfth  district  of  Illinois,  composed  of  the  counties 
of  Cass,  Christian,  Menard,  Morgan,  Sangamon  and  Scott,  nominated  him  as  their  candidate  for 
congress.  The  campaign  was  a  spirited  one,  his  opponents  being  Andrew  Simpson  (republican), 
of  Christian  county,  and  Professor  J.  B.  Turner,  of  Jacksonville,  Morgan  county.  The  result  was, 
Mr.  Springer  carried  every  county  in  the  district,  except  Christian  (which  gave  Mr.  Simpson  a 
majority  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-two),  beating  his  competitors  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety-six 
votes  in  the  district.  He  has  been  reelected  at  each  succeeding  congressional  election,  and  has 
come  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  and  influential  members  of  the  national  assembly. 


HON.  G.   L.  FORT. 

LA  CON. 

GREENBERRY  LAFAYETTE  FORT,  deceased,  late  member  of  congress,  was  born  in 
r  Scioto  county,  Ohio,  October  n,  1825,  his  parents  being  Benjamin  and  Margaret  Fort.  In 
May,  1834,  the  family  came  to  this  state,  and  settled  at  Round  Prairie,  then  in  Putnam,  now  in 
Marshall  county,  when  the  son,  then  in  his  tenth  year,  had  solid  experience  in  opening  a  farm, 
driving  a  breaking  team  of  seven  yoke  of  oxen  for  his  father.  He  was  a  faithful  worker,  and  for 
amusement  occasionally  hunted  deer  and  other  wild  game,  finishing  his  education  meantime  at 
the  Rock  River  Seminary  at  Mount  Morris,  Ogle  county.  His  father  died  in.  1854  and  his  mother 
in  1855. 

Mr.  Fort  studied  law  at  Lacon,  and  when  he  commenced  practice  his  first  opponent,  in  a  cause 
(tried  in  Woodford  county)  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  trial  being  before  Judge  David  Davis. 
Mr.  Fort  was  elected  sheriff  in  1850,  county  clerk  in  1852,  and  county  judge  in  1857. 

On  the  first  call  for  troops,  April  17,  1861,  Mr.  Fort  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company  B,  ntR 
Illinois  infmtry,  and  was  first  lieutenant.  At  the  end  of  the  three  months  for  which  period  the 
regiment  was  called  out,  he  recruited  company  I  for  three  years'  service.  He  paid  $1,200  out  of 
his  own  pocket  for  transporting  the  men  to  the  field,  and  that  money  was  never  refunded.  He 
served  in  the  field  on  staff  duty  through  all  the  campaigns  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  was 
quartermaster  of  the  fifteenth  army  corps  during  its  march  from  Atlanta  to  the  sea,  thence 
through  the  Carolinas  until  the  final  surrender  of  Johnston's  army.  After  participating  in  the 
grand  review  at  Washington,  he  was  ordered  to  Texas  with  General  Sheridan's  command,  and 
was  finally  mustered  out  at  Galveston,  that  state. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Lacon;  was  elected  to  the 


792  UNITED    ST.ITKS   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

state  senate  in  1866,  to  the  forty-third  congress  in  1872,  and  by  repeated  reflections  was  kept  in 
congress  through  the  forty-fourth,  forty-fifth  and  forty-sixth  congresses,  his  place  being  on  the 
republican  side  of  the  house.  He  made  a  highly  commendable  record  while  in  that  national 
body.  He  died  in  the  spring  of  1883.  As  a  lawyer  he  was  thoroughly  read,  was  an  excellent 
counselor  and  an  able  advocate,  was  candid  and  conscientious,  and  had  the  fullest  confidence  of 
the  people  in  his  sincerity  and  integrity^  as  well  as  ability. 

The  widow  and  one  son,  Robert  E.,  aged  sixteen  years,  survive  him.  A  daughter,  Nina,  aged 
two  years,  died  in  1863,  while  her  father  was  in  the  army  —  a  grief  to  him  till  the  day  of  his 
death.  He  left  a  large  property,  and  the  widow  and  son  in  independent  circumstances. 


HON.   EDWARD  RUTZ. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

EDWARD  RUTZ,  a  prominent  republican,  politician  and  treasurer  of  the  state,  is  of  German 
birth,  first  seeing  the  light  at  Heidelberg,  in  1829.  When  eighteen  years  old,  he  left  the 
fatherland,  and,  coming  to  the  United  States,  settled  in  Saint  Clair  county,  this  state.  In  1858 
he  went  to  California,  where  he  remained  until  the  South  took  up  arms  against  the  Union,  which 
foul  act  awoke  his  patriotic  ardor,  and  he  immediately  entered  the  army,  before  crossing  the 
mountains,  joining  battery  C,  of  the  United  States  artillery,  which  was  connected  most  of  the 
time  with  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  He  was  in  more  than  twenty  battles,  including  those  of 
Yorktown,  South  Mountain,  Chancellorsville,  Fredericksburgh  and  Antietam.  He  served  three 
years,  and  was  discharged  in  October,  1864,  having  never  been  absent  from  duty  a  single  day  on 
account  of  sickness  or  disability  from  any  cause.  After  leaving  the  army  he  spent  a  few  months 
in  the  quartermaster's  department,  with  General  Myers,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1865  returned  to 
Saint  Clair  county,  and  was  elected  county  surveyor.  At  the  end  of  his  term  he  was  elected 
county  treasurer,  and  served  three  terms.  In  1873  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate,  and  was 
twice  reelected,  the  last  time  from  Cook  county,  which  had  become  his  home.  The  office  of  state 
treasurer  he  assumed  in  January,  1881,  and  is  a  safe  custodian  of  the  public  funds,  being  strictly 
honest  as  well  as  capable.  Mr.  Rutz  has  a  wife  and  four  children. 


H 


EMERY  A.- STORRS. 

CHICAGO. 

OW  difficult  is  it,"  writes  President  Brown,  in  his  preface  to  the  life  of  Rufus  Choate,  "to 
portray  the  peculiarities  of  his  character — its  lights  and  shades  so  delicate,  various  and 
evanescent.  I  cannot  but  feel  how  inadequate  is  any  delineation  to  present  a  complete  picture  of 
that  subtle,  versatile  and  exuberant  mind  with  psychological  exactness."  Similar  considerations 
embarrass  the  writer  as  he  approaches  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  As  difficult  is  it  to  "  paint  the 
bow  upon  the  bended  heavens;"  to  perpetuate  the  variegated  flashes  of  the  aurora,  or  by  the 
magic  of  art  to  reclaim  the  momentary  sparkle  of  a  gem,  as  with  words  to  delineate  an  adequate 
picture  of  Emery  A.  Storrs,  the  advocate,  the  orator,  the  scholar,  the  litterateur.  The  mere  fact 
that  Mr.  Storrs'  fame  as  an  orator  is  not  only  national  but  international,  is  indicative,  in  and  of 
itself,  of  the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  very  matter  in  discussion.  Oratory,  as  to  form,  is  protean, 
while  as  to  color  it  is  variable  as  the  chameleon  and  brilliant  as  the  prism.  Like  the  glories  of 
dawn  or  the  hues  of  sunset,  oratory  is  but  for  the  hour.  Like  the  electric  point,  its  light  is  intense 
yet  self-consuming.  The  very  term  implies  the  relation  of  speaker  and  hearer,  the  charmer  and 
the  charmed,  the  one  who  enchants  and  those  enchanted.  Separate  these  factors  and  the  spell  is 
broken.  Can  the  untutored  mind  see  aught  in  a  page  ol  Mozart  or  Beethoven  but  an  array  of 
meaningless  hieroglyphics?  Can  the  untuned  harp  reveal  its  marvelous  possibilities  to  the  inex- 


HCCoap.r  Jr    i.     C, 


EP.  lvEGW>lli. 


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UNITED   STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


795 


perienced  ?  So  is  it  with  the  orator  when  away  from  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  the  inspiration  of 
the  hour.  All  this  is  particularly  true  of  American  oratory,  as  contradistinguished  from  that  of 
every  other  age  and  country,  and  its  each  and  every  feature  is  forcibly  exemplified  in  the  genius 
of  Emery  A.  .Storrs.  For  a  genius  Emery  A.  Storrs  most  assuredly  is,  if  by  that  word  is  "implied 
high  and  peculiar  gifts  of  nature,"  impelling  the  mind  to  creative  imagery  of  the  highest  type, 
"and  reaching  its  ends  by  a  kind  of  intuitive  power."  Rufus  Choate  has  his  only  living  antitype 
in  Emery  A.  Storrs.  For  it  is  with  Storrs  as  it  was  with  Choate, —  his  style  is  a  combination  of 
all  that  was  best  in  the  rival  schools  of  Atticism  and  Asianism.  It  possesses  at  once  the  compact- 
ness, the  perspicuity  and  grace  of  the  first,  with  the  gorgeous  coloring  and  vivid  phrase  of  the 
latter.  In  outline  it  is  as  harmonious  as  the  Greek  statue,  while  its  hues  remind  us  of  an  oriental 
garden.  Although  in  his  style  Mr.  Storrs  thus  displays  the  merits  of  these  schools,  he  at  the  same 
time  avoids  their  defects.  In  their  endeavor  to  subordinate  form  to  thought,  the  Attic  orators 
were  ofttimes  cold  and  rigid  in  phrase.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Asiatics  manifested  a  tendency 
to  superabundant  ornament  and  inordinate  fancy.  Not  so  with  Mr.  Storrs,  who,  in  his  avoidance 
of  extremes  and  delicate  adjustment  of  substance  to  mould,  reveals  a  literary  art  akin  to  that  of 
Heinrich  Heine.  As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Storrs  is  scarcely  less  distinguished  than  as  an  orator.  He 
comes  of  a  family  of  lawyers,  and  is  .the  son  of  an  eminent  member  of  that  profession,  his  father 
being  Hon.  Alexander  Storrs,  now  a  resident  of  Cattaraugus  county,  New  York.  Emery  A. 
Storrs  was  born  in  the  same  county,  August  12,  1835.  He  studied  law  first  with  his  father  and 
Hon.  M.  B.  Champlain,  at  Cuba,  Allegany  county,  New  York.  M.  B.  Champlain  was  twice 
attorney  general  of  that  state.  Young  Storrs  then  went  to  Buffalo,  where,  after  diligently  pursu- 
ing his  legal  studies  in  the  office  of  Austin  and  Scroggs,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1855.  In 
1857  he  went  to  New  York  city,  remaining  there  but  two  years.  He  came  thence  to  Chicago  in 
1859.  Devoted  to  his  profession,  he  has  never  been  an  officeseeker  or  officeholder.  And  yet,  as  a 
conspicuous  citizen  of  the  republic,  he  has  ever  taken  a  profound,  intelligent  and  efficient  interest 
in  political  affairs.  Never  has  he  been  reluctant  to  sacrifice  either  personal  ease  or  professional 
profit  in  behalf  of  the  public  welfare.  Politically  a  decided  republican,  to  that  party  he  has  con- 
stantly dedicated  his  great  talent.  In  1868,  1872  and  1880  he  was  delegate-at-large  from  Illinois 
to  the  nationaj  republican  convention,  being  on  each  occasion  one  of  the  foremost  in  shaping  the 
policy,  characterizing  the  resolutions  and  formulating  the  platforms  of  the  party.  With  a 
trenchant  pen  and  a  clarion  voice  has  he  battled  for  the  right  as  he  understood  it.  Accomplished 
in  literature,  learned  in  jurisprudence,  proficient  in  political  philosophy,  familiar  with  economic 
science,  acute  and  alert  of  mind,  and  a  master  of  brilliant  and  lucid  expression,  Emery  A.  Storrs, 
whether  as  lawyer  or  politician,  advocate  or  orator,  has  been  useful  to  his  country  and  an  orna- 
ment to  his  state. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that,  considered  as  a  lawyer  merely,  Mr.  Storrs  has  few,  if  any, 
equals  in  the  West.  Although  versatile  and  facile,  as  we  have  seen,  he  is  not  superficial.  Exact- 
ness and  thoroughness  characterize  all  his  attainments,  whether  literary  or  professional.  With  a 
multiplicity  of  learning,  he  is  equally  proficient  in  every  part.  His  intellectual  possessions  are  at 
once  unified  and  assimilated.  They  are  his  own  —  a  part  of  the  warp  and  woof  of  his  mind. 
Everything  is  brought  to  bear  upon  his  life  work  as  a  lawyer.  No  erudition  is  too  precious,  no 
truth  too  great,  no  beauty  too  choice,  for  his  employment  as  an  advocate.  Vigilant,  zealous,  in- 
dustrious, could  he  be  otherwise  than  successful  ?  A  perfect  command  of  the  English  language 
as  an  art,  combined  with  the  histrionic  faculty  and  mimetic  artifice,  has  placed  Emery  A.  Storrs 
by  the  side  of  Erskine  and  Wedderburn.  He  is  at  his  best  only  in  great  trials  or  on  great  occa- 
sions, which  bring  out  the  resources  of  his  mind  when  his  efforts  are  often  those  of  a  high  order 
of  genius.  Then,  with  equal  facility  and  force,  he  employs  every  instrument  known  to  the  "art 
of  discourse."  He  is  clear,  eneigetic  and  figurative.  In  representative  imagery  he  is  peculiarly 
happy,  and  vision,  personification,  hyperbole,  simile,  contrast,  allusion  and  antithesis  succeed  each 
other  in  rich  and  varied  profusion.  Wit  and  humor  scintillate  continually  over  and  through  a 
substantial  background  of  searching  analysis  and  comprehensive  synthesis.  Whether  in  persua- 
77 


-g6  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

sion,  dissuasion  or  excitation,  Mr.  Storrs  is  equally  at  home.  The  grace  and  propriety  of  his  de- 
livery are  equal  to  the  copiousness  and  felicity  of  his  diction.  He  is  always  self-possessed  and 
prepared  for  any  emergency.  His  manner  and  action  are  energetic,  without  verging  on  that  ex- 
travagance which  is  unpleasant.  He  is  a  sort  of  beacon  light  in  the  midst  of  that  prosaic  misti- 
ness which  too  often  hovers  around  our  courts,  unrelieved  by  style  and  unadorned  by  wit, 
eloquence  and  humor.  In  a  word,  Mr.  Storrs  must  have  lived  in  the  light  of  those  well  known 
words  of  Schiller:  "I  hope  ultimately  to  advance  so  far  that  art  shall  become  a  second  nature, 
as  polished  manners  are  to  well  bred  men,  then  imagination  shall  regain  her  former  freedom  and 
submit  to  none  but  voluntary  limitation." 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Storrs  is  below  the  medium  height,  slender,  with  light  hair,  eyes 
and  complexion,  quick  and  nervous  in  movement,  of  courteous  and  gentlemanly  bearing  and 
address. 

BENJAMIN    R.   UPHAM. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

BENJAMIN  RUSH  UPHAM,  clerk  of  Morgan  county  since  December,  1877,  is  a  son  of 
Alvah  W.  Upham  and  Mary  (Rush)  Upham,  and  dates  his  birth  at  Youngstown,  Ohio,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1830.  His  father  was  a  native  of  New  York;  his  mother  of  Ohio.  The  family  came  to 
Morgan  countv  in  1840,  and  settled  at  Arcadia,  eight  miles  north  of  Jacksonville,  where  Benjamin 
finished  his  education  in  a  log  school  house.  In  1856  he  opened  a  grocery  store,  continuing  to 
trade  for  three  years.  He  was  then  a  clerk  until  1873,  when  he  was  elected  city  clerk,  and  was 
reflected  three  times,  acting  also  at  the  same  time  as  an  insurance  agent. 

In  the  autumn  of  1877  Mr.  Upham  was  elected  county  clerk,  and  by  a  change  in  the  constitu- 
tion, held  that  office  five  years,  when  (autumn  of  1882)  he  was  reelected,  and  is  now  serving  his 
second  term. 

A  republican  of  whig  antecedents,  he  is  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  influence  among  his  political 
confreres.  For  nearly  four  years,  during  the  civil  war,  he  was  sutler  of  the  ii4th  Illinois  in- 
fantry. % 

Mr.  Upham  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  has  been  treasurer  of  the  society 
for  the  last  ten  years. 


M 


MILTON  A.   HALSTED,  M.D. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

ILTON  ARNOLD  HALSTED,  physician  and  surgeon,  son  of  David  and  Mary  (Mechem) 
Halsted,  dates  his  birth  at  Battle  Creek,  Michigan,  September  17,  1838.  His  father  was 
born  in  Westchester  county,  New  York,  and  his  mother  in  Pennsylvania.  His  grandfather,  Jona- 
than Halsted,  was  a  Westchester  county  Quaker,  and  hence  took  no  part  in  either  war  with  the 
mother  country.  In  the  infancy  of  Milton,  the  family  returned  to  the  East,  and  settled  on  a  farm 
south  of  Auburn,  New  York,  where  our  subject  aided  his  father  in  cultivating  the  soil,  until 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years  old,  receiving  meantime  an  academic  education.  Returning  to  Bat- 
tle Creek,  he  studied  medicine  with  Doctor  S.  B.  Thayer,  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  at  the 
University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  one  course  in  the  Homreopathic  College,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
and  there  received  his  medical  degree  February  28,  1861. 

Doctor  Halsted  opened  an  office  at  Geneseo,  the  seat  of  justice  of  Livingston  county,  New 
York,  where  he  practiced  two  years,  and  then,  1863,  went  into  the  army  as  first  assistant  surgeon 
of  the  isth  New  York  cavalry,  serving  till  the  war  closed,  having  charge  of  the  regiment  most  of 
the  time.  In  1866  Doctor  Halsted  settled  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  where  he  remained  between 
ten  and  eleven  years,  and  where  he  had  a  very  good  practice  both  in  medicine  and  surgery.  In 
the  spring  of  1877  he  came  to  the  beautiful  city  of  Jacksonville,  the  home  of  his  wife,  whom  he  had 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  797 

married  in  May,  1870,  and  who  was  Elizabeth  Hockenhull,  daughter  of  Robert  Hockenhull,  one  of 
the  leading  bankers  of  this  city.  They  have  two  children,  Matilda,  aged  ten  years,  and  Robert, 
aged  four.  The  family  attend  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  Mrs.  Halsted  is  a  member. 

Doctor  Halsted  has  as  much  professional  business  as  any  one  man,  however  ambitious,  could 
reasonably  desire.  He  has  no  time  to  devote  to  politics,  except  to  vote,  his  choice  being  the 
republican  ticket;  is  connected  with  no  secret  society,  and  gives  all  the  time  he  can  spare  from 
his  ride,  to  the  study  of  his  profession,  he  having  a  well  selected  library,  and  a  choice  variety  of 
medical  periodicals.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  a  business  man  in  his  profession  in  Jacksonville,  or 
one  who  is  rising  more  rapidly.  He  received  a  very  thorough  drill  in  medical  science  before  com- 
mencing practice,  and  is  now  reaping  his  reward  for  the  pains  he  took  at  the  start,  and  for  his 
studiousness  since  opening  an  office. 


HON.  JOHN  A.  LOQAN. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN  A.  LOGAN  was  born  in  Jackson  county,  Illinois,  February  9,  1826.  His  father,  Doctor 
J  John  Logan,  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  whence  he  removed  to  Illinois  in  1823.  At  this  time 
southern  Illinois  was  very  sparsely  settled,  and  the  lad  had  few  opportunities  for  attending  school. 
But  the  paucity  of  schools  was  amply  atoned  for  by  the  instruction  received  from  his  father,  a 
man  of  education  and  intelligence.  After  a  preparatory  course  he  entered  Louisville  University, 
and  was  regularly  graduated  therefrom. 

The  Mexican  war  roused  the  martial  spirit  of  the  young  man,  and  he  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  ist  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  and  was  chosen  a  lieutenant  of  one  of  its  com- 
panies. His  energy  and  bravery  attracted  the  attention  of  the  officer  in  command,  and  he  was 
placed  on  the  regimental  staff,  and  filled  at  different  times  the  positions  of  quartermaster  and  of 
adjutant.  On  the  return  of  peace,  in  1848,  he  entered  the  office  of  his  uncle,  Governor  Alexander 
M.  Jenkins,  and  commenced  the  study  of  the  law.  The  next  year  he  was  elected  county  clerk  of 
Jackson  county,  and  devoted  himself  to  its  duties,  and  continued  at  the  same  time  his  legal 
studies. 

In  1852  he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  third  judicial  district,  a  position  which  he 
held  for  five  years. 

He  was  also  elected  as  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1852,  and  was  three  times  reelected.  In 
1856  he  was  chosen  as  one  of  the  presidential  electors.  In  1857  Mr.  Logan  formed  a  partnership 
with  his  uncle,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1858,  however,  he  was 
elected  to  congress  on  the  democratic  ticket,  and  in  1860  was  reelected  to  the  same  position.  At 
this  time  Mr.  Logan  was  an  ardent  friend  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  in  full  accord  with  the 
liberal  democracy  of  which  Mr.  Douglas  was  the  champion.  Many  of  Mr.  Logan's  friends  were 
in  full  sympathy  with  the  seceding  states,  and  very  many  of  his  political  friends  either  openly  or 
secretly  favored  the  rebellion;  but  as  soon  as  it  became  clearly  evident  that  the  leaders  of  the 
southern  democracy  had  systematically  planned  the  disruption  of  the  government,  that  the  cabi- 
net of  the  president  had  been  filled  by  graceless  thieves  who  had  plundered  the  national  treasury 
and  robbed  the  nation's  armories  of  the  munitions  of  war,  and  that  the  election  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln was  to  be  used  as  a  plausible  pretext  for  the  consummation  of  treasonable  schemes  shrewdly 
conceived  and  carefully  planned,  Mr.  Logan  broke  asunder  party  ties,  boldly  denounced  the  trea- 
sonable conspirators,  and  threw  himself,  heart  and  soul,  into  the  Union  ranks.  His  voice  rang 
out  in  clarion  tones,  thrilling  with  joy  all  loyal  hearts,  but  stirring  bitter  hate  in  those  around 
whom  secession's  sorceries  had  cast  their  fatal  spell.  He  openly  declared  that  if  forcible  resist- 
ance were  made  to  the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  he  would  shoulder  his  musket  and  aid 
in  the  consummation  of  the  people's  will.  Being  at  this  time  by  far  the  most  popular  man  in 
southern  Illinois,  to  him  is  fairly  due  the  credit  of  creating  and  fostering  the  loyal  spirit  which 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

kept  in  subjection  the  sympathizers  with  an  unholy  crusade  against  a  free  government.  During 
the  summer  of  1861,  while  in  congress,  Mr.  Logan  joined  the  army  and  fought  sturdily  in  the 
ranks  in  the  memorable  and  disastrous  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  was  one  of  the  last  of  those  who 
reluctantly  retreated  from  the  field  of  battle.  He  returned  to  his  place  in  congress,  and  sought 
to  discharge  the  important  duties  of  his  office;  but  the  grim  music  of  shot  and  shell  and  the  clash 
of  arms  had  stirred  too  deeply  the  soldier's  heart,  perhaps  aroused  a  lofty  ambition,  and  within  a 
month  after  Bull  Run,  Colonel  Logan  was  in  command  of  the  3ist  regiment  Illinois  infantry. 

At  Belmont  he  fought  bravely,  his  horse  being  shot  under  him.  He  won  laurels  at  Fort  Henry, 
and  at  Fort  Donelson  was  severely  wounded  while  gallantly  leading  in  the  assault.  Impatient 
at  inactivity,  long  before  he  had  recovered  from  his  wounds  he  reported  to  General  Grant  for 
duty.  In  March,  1862,  he  was  made  a  brigadier-general,  in  recognition  of  his  soldierly  qualities 
and  conspicuous  bravery.  A  bare  statement  of  the  simple  facts  of  General  Logan's  military 
career  would  fill  a  volume.  It  would  comprise  almost  a  complete  history  of  the  western  cam- 
paigns. In  the  Mississippi  campaign  General  Logan  commanded  the  third  division  of  the  seven- 
teenth army  corps,  then  under  the  command  of  the  gallant  McPherson.  In  this  position  his  mili- 
tary prowess  and  ability  were  so  conspicuous  that  he  was,  in  November,  1862,  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major-general  of  volunteers.  At  Port  Gibson,  Raymond,  Jackson  and  Champion  Hill, 
his  courage,  valor  and  skill  greatly  increased  his  renown.  His  column  was  the  first  to  enter 
Vicksburg,  of  which  he  was  made  military  governor.  In  November,  1863,  he  succeeded  General 
Sherman  in  the  command  of  the  fifteenth  army  corps.  He  led  the  advance  of  the  army  of  the 
Tennessee  at  Resaca,  repulsed  Hardee  at  Dallas,  and  dislodged  the  enemy  from  his  fortifica- 
tions at  Kenesaw  Mountain.  When  the  lamented  McPherson  fell  on  the  bloody  field  at  Atlanta, 
General  Logan  took  command  of  the  army  of  the  Tennessee.  He  shared  in  the  brilliant  march 
to  the  sea,  which  has  covered  the  name  of  General  Sherman  with  unfading  luster.  In  1866  he 
was  elected  to  Congress,  as  representative  of  the  state  at  large,  on  the  republican  ticket,  by  an 
overwhelming  majority,  and  was  reflected  in  1868  and  1870.  Before  he  had  taken  his  seat  in  the 
forty-second  congress  the  legislature  of  Illinois  elected  him  to  the  senate  of  the  United  States  for 
six  years.  He  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs  in  the  forty-first  congress, 
and  discharged  the  duties  of  that  responsible  position  with  eminent  ability.  He  was  reelected  to 
the  United  States  senate  in  1881,  and  now  holds  that  important  position. 

Senator  Logan  would  have  achieved  distinction  in  any  sphere  of  life.  He  possesses  great  ver- 
satility, indomitable  energy,  indefatigable  industry,  and  uncommon  sagacity  and  intellectual  vigor. 
Impetuous  and  enthusiastic,  he  is  always  self-contained  and  self-poised.  Enthusiasm  properly 
directed  and  controlled  by  sound  judgment  is  one  of  the  highest  forms  of  mental  power.  It  cap- 
tivates men  and  bears  them  along  with  the  resistless  energy  of  a  mighty  torrent.  As  a  successful 
military  leader,  General  Logan  stands  peerless  in  the  glorious  galaxy  of  heroes  whom  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  found  private  citizens,  unfamiliar  with  the  profession  of  arms,  and  returned  to  a 
grateful  and  admiring  country,  saved  by  their  valor  and  devotion,  thoroughly  skilled  in  the  art  of 
war,  and  crowned  with  the  well  earned  laurels  of  victory.  To  the  soldiers  under  his  command 
he  was  an  inspiration  —  a  prophecy  of  success.  They  believed  him  invincible,  and  not  without 
reason,  since  his  brilliant  career  was  untarnished  by  defeat.  As  a  member  of  congress  and  a 
senator  he  has  discharged  the  duties  of  his  position  without  ostentation  but  with  conspicuous 
ability.  His  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and  to  the  interests  of  its  brave 
defenders,  has  endeared  him  to  those  who  saved  the  government  and  protected  its  flag  from 
insult. 

Senator  Logan  is  affable  but  dignified  in  his  bearing.  There  is  no  truer  or  more  steadfast 
friend,  and  he  never  forgets  a  real  kindness.  But  when  roused  to  indignation  by  wrong  or  injus- 
tice, his  anger  is  majestic,  and  few  care  to  brave  his  displeasure  a  second  time.  He  is  an  eloquent 
orator — logical  and  terse  when  it  is  befitting  the  occasion,  always  earnest  and  vigorous,  and 
sometimes  ornate.  The  whole  magazine  of  wit,  satire  and  invective  is  always  at  his  command: 
and  lie  wields  with  equal  skill  the  polished  rapier  of  sarcasm,  the  keen  blade  of  ridicule,  or  the 


STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 


799 


thunderbolt  of  fierce  invective.  When  aroused  by  some  grand  emergency  he  carries  his  audience 
captive  by  hearty  enthusiasm  and  powerful  personal  magnetism.  His  farewell  address  to  the 
army  of  the  Tennessee,  in  1865,  was  one  of  his  most  brilliant  oratorical  efforts.  The  occasion 
was  one  peculiarly  touching;  the  orator,  the  occasion  and  the  theme  were  brought  together 
Characterized  by  lofty  eloquence  and  moving  pathos,  it  melted  into  tears  the  bronzed  and  scarred 
veterans  of  a  hundred  battle  fields.  Brave  men  who  had  faced  death  a  thousand  times  without  a 
quiver  of  a  muscle,  bowed  their  heads  to  hide  the  tears  they  could  not  repress. 


JOHN   C.   PEPPER. 

ALEDO. 

JOHN  CHARLES  PEPPER  was  born  in  Cambridgeshire,  England,  September  21,  1829. 
When  the  son  was  five  or  six  years  old  the  family  immigrated  to  this  country  and  settled  in 
Amboy,  Oswego  county,  New  York.  Young  Pepper  was  educated  at  the  Vernon  Academy  and 
the  Wayne  County  Institute,  teaching  school  in  the  winters.  In  1848  he  came  into  the  state  of 
Illinois;  taught  school  and  read  law  one  year  at  Peoria;  did  the  same  the  next  year  at  Keiths- 
burgh,  and  in  the  latter  place  continued  to  read  law  until  admitted  to  the  bar  January,  1851. 
About  that  time  he  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Martin,  of  Mercer  county. 

Mr.  Pepper  was  in  practice  at  Keithsburgh  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  had  a  remunerative 
business.  In  August,  1862,  he  went  into  the  army  as  captain  of  company  H,  84th  Illinois  infan- 
try; was  slightly  wounded  at  Stone  River,  and  served  about  one  year.  In  the  autumn  of  1869 
Mr.  Pepper  removed  to  Aledo,  continuing  the  practice  of  his  profession  and  always  maintaining 
an  honorable  position  at  the  Mercer  county  bar.  In  1879  he  was  the  democratic  candidate  for 
circuit  judge,  but  failed  of  an  election,  the  district  being  republican. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Pepper  has  been  an  energetic  worker  in  the  cause  of  prohibition,  and  has 
lectured  on  this  subject  in  eight  or  ten  states,  including  Kansas  and  Iowa  just  before  they  voted 
on  the  question  of  prohibition.  He  was  for  two  years  president  of  the  Illinois  Temperance  Alli- 
ance, and  at  the  union  of  that  body  and  the  Illinois  Temperance  Union,  in  January,  1882,  he  was 
elected  president,  which  honorable  post  he  holds  at  the  time  this  sketch  is  written.  The  great 
temperance  movement  has  no  more  untiring  and  courageous  worker  in  Illinois  than  Mr.  Pep- 
per. He  has  held  conventions  and  spoken  in  more  than  eighty  of  the  counties  in  the  state.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Temperance  Convention  which  met  at  Saratoga,  1881,  and  has 
spoken  several  times  in  the  state  of  New  York. 


HON.  JAMES  SHAW. 

MOUNT  CARROLL. 

JAMES  SHAW,  lawyer  and  late  speaker  of  the  Illinois  house  of  representatives,  was  born  in 
North  Ireland,  May  3,  1832.     Both  parents,  Samuel  and  Mary  (Campbell)  Shaw,  were  also 
born  in  that  country,  his  mother  being  Scotch-Irish  like  the  major  part  of  the  people  in  that  sec- 
tion of  Ireland.     The  family  immigrated  to  this  country  in  the  infancy  of  James,  and  settled  in 
Cass  coupty,  Illinois. 

Our  subject  began  the  study  of  law  before  finishing  his  classical  studies;  graduated  at  Illinois 
College,  Jacksonville,  in  1857;  finished  reading  law  with  Frederick  Sackett  of  Sterling,  White- 
side  count)7;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859  and  settled  in  Mount  Carroll  in  1860.  He  has  been 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  here  for  twenty-two  years,  and  long  ago  took  a  front  rank  at  the 
bar  of  Carroll  county.  He  has  a  legal  mind  and  a  studious  disposition,  and  hence  is  a  rising  man 
in  his  profession.  As  an  advocate  he  is  candid,  logical,  clear  and  forcible,  favorably  impressing 
both  court  and  jury.  Mr.  Shaw  held  the  office  of  assistant  state  geologist  for  three  years.  He 


8(DO  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

entered  public  life  in  1871  as  a  representative  to  the  state  legislature  from  Carroll  county,  after- 
ward eleventh  district,  that  being  the  twenty-seventh  assembly.  He  served  also  in  the  twenty- 
eighth,  thirtieth  and  thirty-first  assemblies,  and  took  a  high  position  among  the  law  makers  of  the 
state.  In  the  twenty-eighth  assembly  he  was  chairman  of  the  judicial  department,  the  most 
important  and  powerful  committee  in  that  session,  it  having  the  division  of  the  state  into  con- 
gressional, judicial  and  senatorial  districts,  and  being  composed  of  about  seventeen  members, 
among  them  the  picked  men  of  the  house. 

On  the  reappearance  of  Mr.  Shaw  in  the  thirtieth  assembly,  his  republican  associates  in  the 
house  selected  him  for  the  nomination  of  speaker,  to  which  office  he  was  elected,  and  in  which 
he  acquitted  himself  in  a  highly  creditable  manner.  In  the  thirty-first  assembly  he  was 
appointed  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee,  a  position  equally  as  honorable  as  that  of 
speaker,  and  much  more  laborious.  Mr.  Shaw  was  a  presidential  elector  on  the  republican  ticket 
in  1872,  and  in  1877-78  was  a  member  of  the  state  central  committee. 

He  married,  June,  1859,  Miss  Jennie  Harvey,  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  and  they  have  three 
children.  

HON.   GEORGE   E.  ADAMS. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE  EVERETT  ADAMS,  member  of  congress  from  the  fourth  district,  is  a  native  of 
the  Granite  State,  being  born  in  Keene,  Cheshire  county,  June  18,  1840.  His  father,  Ben- 
jamin F.  Adams,  a.  farmer,  and  later  in  life  a  manufacturer,  was  born  in  New  Ipswich,  same  state, 
and  married  Louisa  R.  Redington.  Mr.  Adams  was  educated  at  Exeter  Academy,  Harvard  Uni- 
versity and  the  Dane  Law  School,  Cambridge,  and  commenced  practice  in  Chicago  in  1867.  His 
thorough  legal  attainments,  fine  talents  and  close  attention  to  business,  soon  brought  him  a 
remunerative  practice,  and  gave  him  a  highly  creditable  standing  at  the  Chicago  bar. 

Mr.  Adams  was  elected  to  the  state  senate,  in  1880,  from  the  eighth  district,  and  served  until 
March,  1883,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  having  been  elected  by  the  republicans  of  the  fourth 
district  to  represent  that  constituency  in  the  forty-eighth  congress.  Mr.  Adams  was  married,  in 
1871,  to  Miss  Adele  Foster,  daughter  of  John  H.  Foster,  of  Chicago,  and  they  have  three  children. 


T 


HON.    CYRUS  EPLER. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

HE  judge  of  the  seventh  judicial  circuit  is  a  native  of  Indiana,  a  son  of  John  and  Sarah 
(Biggs)  Epler,  and  was  born  in  Charleston,  Clark  county,  May  12,  1823.  His  father  was 
born  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother  in  Charleston,  Indiana.  The  Eplers  are  of  Ger- 
man descent.  The  father  of  Sarah  Biggs  was  a  captain  of  Light  Horse  at  the  battle  of  Tippe- 
canoe.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  1831,  John  Epler  brought  his  family  to  Morgan  county,  this 
state,  and  the  son  was  reared  on  a  farm,  attending  school  meanwhile  in  a  log  school  house 
until  nineteen  years  old.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  receiving  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  arts  in  1847  and  master  of  arts  in  1850,  and  teaching  four-quarters  of  the  time  dur- 
ing the  four  years  he  was  in  college. 

Mr.  Epler  read  law  with  Hon.  Richard  Yates  and  Hon.  William  Brown;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1853,  and  was  in  practice  at  Jacksonville  until  he  went  on  the  bench  in  1873.  He  was 
reflected  in  1879.  While  practicing  his  profession  he  heW  the  office  of  state's  attorney  four  years 
and  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  1856  to  1860,  being  a  member  of  the  judiciary  commit- 
tee all  that  period.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics  and  a  third-degree  Mason.  While  at  the  bar 
Judge  Epler  paid  very  close  attention  to  his  business;  prepared  his  cases  with  great  care;  was  true 
to  his  client,  and  was  quite  successful.  As  a  judge  he  is  cautious,  cool  and  discriminating.  He 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  8OI 

carefully  weighs  the  facts  in  a  case,  and  ascertains  the  principles  governing  it,  and  usually  comes 
to  a  wise  decision.     His  standing  among  the  jurists  of  the  state  is  highly  creditable. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Epler  was  Miss  Cornelia  A.  Nettleton,  daughter  of  Doctor  Clark  Nettleton,  of 
Racine,  Wisconsin,  their  marriage  being  dated  August  3,  1852.  They  have  seven  children.  Carl 
E.  is  city  attorney  of  Quincy,  Illinois,  and  most  of  the  others  are  securing  their  education. 


HON.  JOSEPH   H.  JONES. 

HENR  V. 

T  OSEPH  HENDERSON  JONES,  a  leading  merchant  and  first-class  business  man,  is  a  son  of 
J  Cannah  and  Phebe  (Durnal)  Jones,  and  was  born  in  Washington  county,  Indiana,  in  1832. 
When  he  was  two  years  old  the  family  came  into  this  state,  settling  in  Canton,  Fulton  county. 
A  few  years  later,  his  father  becoming  sheriff,  the  family  removed  to  Lewiston,  the  county  seat. 
In  1851  Joseph  came  to  Henry,  and  after  holding  a  clerkship  two  years  in  a  store,  went  into  busi- 
ness for  himself.  He  has  been  a  merchant  there  for  thirty  years,  straightforward  and  successful. 
From  1861  to  1865  he  was  also  engaged  in  banking.  Mr.  Jones  has  held  various  offices,  such  as 
supervisor,  school  director,  alderman,  etc.,  and  in  1871-72  was  a  member  of  the  general  assembly, 
being  sent  there  by  his  republican  constituents.  He  is  an  elder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
solid  in  character  as  well  as  in  purse. 


THE   PARLIN  AND  ORENDORFF  COMPANY. 

CANTON. 

IN  1840  William  Parlin,  a  blacksmith  from  Massachusetts,  came  to  Fulton  county,  and  in  1847 
started  a  plow  shop  in  Canton,  without  machinery  of  any  kind.  In  1852  he  was  joined  by  his 
brother-in-law,  William  J.  Orendorff,  and  steam  power  was  introduced,  the  firm  being  William 
Parlin  and  Company.  The  name  of  the  firm  has  been  changed  two  or  three  times.  In  1880  the 
company  was  incorporated,  and  is  known  as  the  Parlin  and  Orendorff  Company,  a  son  of  Mr. 
Parlin  and  a  son  of  Mr.  Orendorff  being  at  the  same  time  taken  into  the  company.  Its  shops 
have  been  extended  from  time  to  time,  until  they  cover  nearly  a  square,  and  have  a  capacity  for 
300  men.  The  works  consume  annually  2,000  tens  of  iron  and  steel,  and  about  1,500,000  feet  of 
lumber.  The  chief  articles  manufactured  are  steel  plows  and  cultivators,  harrows,  shovels,  road 
scrapers,  stalk  cutters,  etc. 

WILLIAM  OSMAN. 

OTTAWA. 

THE  oldest  journalist  in  Illinois,  still  in  active  service  in  that  profession,  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads %this  sketch  and  who  has  spent  most  of  his  time  in  a  printing  office  since 
he  was  thirteen  years  of  age.  He  is  a  son  of  Robert  and  Catherine  (Schreiber)  Osman,  and  was 
born  in  Lykens  Valley,  Dauphin  county,  Pennsylvania,  June  18,  1820.  His  grandfather,  Thomas 
Osman,  was  from  England  and  settled  first  in  New  Jersey.  His  mother,  as  the  name  would  indi- 
cate, was  of  German  descent. 

William  finished  his  education  with  one  year's  attendance  in  the  preparatory  department  of 
the  college  at  Gettysburgh;  entered  a  German  printing  office  at  Harrisburgh  in  his  fourteenth 
year,  and  there  remained  until  1840,  when  he  came  to  Ottawa  and  worked  two  years  in  the  "Free 
Trader  "  office  for  Weaver  and  Hise.  He  then  became  a  partner  of  Mr.  Hise,  and  that  partner- 
ship continued  about  five  years.  In  1848  Mr.  Osman  married  Mary  Hise.  a  sister  of  his  partner, 
and  that  partnership  has  continued  to  "  this  present."  The  year  before  this  event,  Moses  Osman, 


8O2  UNITED    STATES  H10GKA  PHICA  I.    DICTIONARY. 

a  brother  of  William,  bought  out  Mr.  Hise,  and  the  two  brothers  published  the  "  Free  Trader  " 
in  company  until  1852,  when  Moses  bought  the  office  and  our  subject  went  to  Chicago  and  edited 
"  The  Democrat "  for  eight  or  nine  months  for  Hon.  John  Wentworth,  immediately  after  which  per- 
iod he  spent  almost  the  same  length  of  time  in  the  interior  department,  Washington.  In  1854  Mr. 
Osman  returned  to  Ottawa,  bought  out  the  "  Free  Trader,"  and  was  its  sole  proprietor  until  1866, 
when  Colonel  Douglas  Hapeman  bought  a  half  interest  in  the  paper  and  job  office,  and  that  part- 
nership still  continues. 

Mr.  Osman  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Ottawa  in  1854,  and  held  that  office  through  Pierce's 
administration  and  the  early  part  of  Buchanan's,  being  finally  turned  out  because  he  would  not 
turn  against  Judge  Douglas.  He  has  always  been  an  out-and-out  democrat  of  the  Douglas  school 
and  an  out-and-out  free  trader,  on  which  subject  he  has  written  and  published  enough  matter  to 
make  several  volumes.  

HON.  JAMES  D.    WEBBER. 

MINONK. 

JAMES  DWIGHT  WEBBER,  formerly  a  merchant  in  Minonk,  and  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
legislature,  hails  from  Greene  county,  New  York,  being  born  April  19,  1826.  His  parents, 
Henry  and  Louisa  (Pitts)  Webber  were  also  born  in  that  county.  He  learned  the  wagon  and  car- 
riage maker's  trade,  and  carried  on  that  business  at  Gayhead  until  1865,  marrying  meanwhile,  in 
1856,  Miss  Jemima  Tryon,  of  Catskill,  Greene  county.  In  1865  Mr.  Webber  came  to  this  state, 
halting  one  year  at  Rutland,  La  Salle  county,  and  then  settling  in  Minonk.  Here  he  was  engaged 
in  hotel  keeping  the  first  four  years,  and  then  went  into  the  mercantile  business. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  twenty-eighth  general  assembly,  his  place  being  on  the  democratic 
side  of  the  house.  He  is  a  Sir  Knight,  and  belongs  to  the  Cceur  de  Leon  Commandery,  El  Paso. 

Mr.  Webber  retired  from  business  in  1882.  He  has  a  farm  near  town,  cultivated  by  proxy, 
and  he  is  in  very  comfortable  circumstances.  He  has  been  an  alderman  of  the  city,  and  is  now 
holding  some  municipal  office. 

GEORGE  W.  KRETZINGER. 

.       'CHICAGO. 

EORGE  WASHINGTON  KRETZINGER  is  a  native  of  Scioto  county,  Ohio,  and  was  born 
August  n,  1844,  the  son  of  Rev.  Isaac  Kretzinger,  a  clergyman  of  the  United  Brethren 
denomination.  His  paternal  grandfather  emigrated  from  Germany,  and  settled  in  the  state  of 
Virginia.  George  W.  received  a  collegiate  education,  and  during  the  years  that  he  was  pursuing 
his  studies,  by  working  on  a  farm  and  in  other  avocations,  earned  the  means  for  defraying  the 
expenses  of  his  education,  as  well  as  of  his  personal  maintenance.  After  his  graduation  he  went 
to  Iowa,  when  he  became  a  teacher  in  the  Keokuk  classical  school,  and  also  began  the  study  of 
law,  under  the  preceptorship  of  Hon.  George  W.  McCrary,  an  ex-member  of  President  Hayes' 
cabinet,  and  now  (1883)  judge  of  the  United  States  circuit  court  for  the  district  of  Iowa.  Mr. 
Kretzinger  finished  his  legal  studies  with  Henry  Strong,  now  of  Chicago,  then  of  Keokuk,  and  at 
that  time  a  leading  railway  attorney  in  Iowa,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Iowa  in  March, 
1867.  Soon  after  his  admission  to  practice,  he  removed  from  Keokuk,  and  in  the  September  fol- 
lowing, formed  a  partnership  with  Judge  R.  L.  Hannaman,  at  Knoxville,  Illinois,  which  continued 
until  1873,  when  Mr.  Kretzinger  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  formed  a  partnership  with  John  I. 
Bennett,  now  master  in  chancery,  of  the  United  States  circuit  court.  This  partnership  was  dis- 
solved by  mutual  consent,  and  Mr.  Kretzinger  has  now  associated  with  him  his  younger  brother, 
under  the  name  and  style  of  G.  W.  and  J.  T.  Kretzinger. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  made  a  special  study  of  corporation  law,  and  his  business, 
which  is  very  extensive,  is  largely  confined  to  that  branch  of  practice.  Since  1877  he  has  been 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  805 

general  solicitor  for  the  Chicago  and  Iowa  Railway  Company,  and  has  represented  various  other 
railway  companies  in  some  of  the  most  important  legal  controversies  which  have  arisen  since  1873. 
Mr.  Kretzinger  has  a  keen  and  logical  mind,  a  tenacious  memory  and  mental  operations  of 
remarkable  quickness  and  accuracy.  He  is  full  of  resource,  and  fertile  in  invention,  and  possesses 
a  tireless  energy,  which  renders  him  almost  invincible,  when  once  fairly  aroused  and  thoroughly 
interested.  As  a  lawyer  he  possesses  a  powerful  reason,  comprehends  the  scope  of  a  complicated 
case  with  great  clearness,  and  analyzes  the  legal  propositions  involved,  with  accuracy.  As  a 
speaker,  he  is  vigorous,  logical  and  terse,  and  does  not  strive  so  much  for  ornate  diction,  or  well 
rounded  periods,  as  to  set  forth  succinctly,  forcibly  and  clearly,  the  legal  propositions  upon  which 
he  relies,  and  to  arrange  and  present  facts  to  which  the  legal  principles  involved  are  applied.  Mr. 
Kretzinger  was  married  August  20,  1878,  to  Miss  Clara  J.  Wilson,  of  Rock  Island,  and  has  one  son. 


HON.   JOHN    T.  STUART. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN  T.  STUART,  senior  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Stuart,  Edwards  and  Brown,  hails 
from  Kentucky,  being  born  in  Fayette  county,  near  Lexington,  November  10,  1807.  He  is  of 
sturdy  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  a  son  of  Rev.  Robert  Stuart,  who  went  from  Virginia  to  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  where  he  taught  the  languages  in  Transylvania  University,  and  where  he  married 
a  daughter  of  General  Levi  Todd.  John  was  educated  at  Danville  College,  Kentucky,  being  a 
graduate  of  the  class  of  1826,  and  studied  law  for  two  years  under  that  eminent  lawyer  and  jurist, 
Judge  Breck.  In  1828  he  came  to  Springfield,  in  those  days  a  ten  days'  trip  on  horseback;  and 
here,  as  we  learn  from  the  ''  History  of  Sangamon  County,"  he  found  five  lawyers,  James  Adams, 
Thomas  N.  Neale,  James  Strode,  Thomas  Moffett  and  Jonathan  H.  Pugh,  all  since  left  for  "  that 
undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourne  no  traveler  returns." 

Subsequently  such  legal  lights  appeared  here  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Ste- 
phen T.  Logan,  John  M.  Palmer,  and  in  the  court  room  Mr.  Stuart  was  regarded  as  the  peer  of 
any  of  them.  He  was  born  two  years  before  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  had  the  training  of  that  great 
statesman  for  the'bar,  a  noble  work  of  which  he  may  well  be  proud. 

Our  subject  entered  public  life  quite  early,  and  has  filled  different  positions,  always  with  much 
credit  to  himself  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  political  confreres.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
in  1832,  and  reelected  in  1834,  being  in  these  days  a  whig,  and  an  earnest  advocate  of  internal  im- 
provements, then  just  looming  up  as  an  important  question. 

Mr.  Stuart  was  defeated  for  congress  by  William  L.  May,  in  1836,  beat  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
for  the  same  office  in  1838,  and  was  reelected  in  1841,  that  great  whig  triumphal  year,  when  Tip- 
pecanoe  songs  had  about  as  much  influence  as  logic.  In  congress,  during  the  session  of  1841-42, 
he  secured  an  appropriation  for  the  harbor  at  Chicago,  an  act  for  which  he  is  still  kindly  remem- 
bered by  the  people,  particularly  in  northern  Illinois.  Mr.  Stuart  now  withdrew  awhile  from 
public  life,  but  in  1849  we  find  him  in  the  state  senate,  where  he  represented  the  counties  of  San- 
gamon, Mason  and  Menard  for  four  years. 

The  whig  party  was  broken  up  in  1854,  and  Mr.  Stuart  supported  Millard  Fillmore  on  the 
American  ticket  in  1856,  and  John  Bell  on  the  conservative  ticket  in  1860,  but  otherwise  kept  out 
of  politics  till  1862,  when  he  was  elected  to  congress  by  the  democrats  and  a  few  republicans,  he 
being  opposed  to  what  he  considered  the  radical  measures  of  the  administration.  He  was  an  out 
and  out  Union  man,  and  favored  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  but  thought  the  emancipa- 
tion proclamation  was  unnecessary,  and  that  the  objects  for  which  it  was  issued  could  be  attained 
in  some  other  manner.  That  was  Mr.  Stuart's  opinion  then,  but  we  believe  that  he  has  since 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  his  old  pupil  and  life-long  personal  friend,  Mr.  Lincoln,  acted  wisely 
and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Sluart  was  defeated  for  congress  in  1864,  and  since  that  time  has  lived  a  very  quiet  life, 
78 


806  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONAKV. 

attending  to  his  law  practice  with  great  diligence.  Says  a  writer  who  has  known  Mr.  Stuart  for 
thirty  or  forty  years:  "  His  leading  traits  are  sterling  integrity,  great  forecast  and  strong  will. 
In  the  management  of  professional  business  he  seeks  first  to  understand  his  own  side  of  the  case, 
and  next  to  penetrate  the  designs  of  his  adversary,  in  which  he  never  fails.  He  keeps  his  own 
batteries  effectually  masked,  while  those  of  the  opposite  side  are  closely  scrutinized.  He  knows 
their  caliber  and  position  completely.  -It  was  this  quality  which  made  him  so  eminently  success- 
ful as  a  politician.  Such  were  his  adroitness  and  sagacity,  that  his  adversaries  could  never  com- 
prehend how  he  could  obtain  a  knowledge  of  their  plans.  Therefore  they  dubbed  him  'Jerry 
Sly.'  " 

Mr.  Stuart  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the  railroad  interest  of  Sangamon  county  from 
their  start,  and  has  held  various  offices  in  connection  with  them,  and  has  also  served  as  president 
of  the  Springfield  City  Railway  Company,  the  Springfield  Watch  Company,  and  the  Bettie  Stuart 
Board  of  Trustees.  He  was  likewise  one  of  the  commissioners  for  building  the  new  state  house, 
and  chairman  of  .the  executive  committee  of  the  Lincoln  Monument  Association,  giving  a  great 
deal  of  time  to  these  latter  enterprises,  and  also  to  local  educational  institutions.  His  whole  heart 
is  in  any  cause  which  will  to  any  extent  benefit  the  community.  In  short,  he  has  all  the  attributes 
of  a  public-spirited,  kind-hearted  neighbor. 


OWEN    LOVEJOY. 

PRINCETON. 

OWEN  LOVEJOY  was  of  New  England  stock,  the  son  of  a  Congregational  minister,  Rev. 
Daniel  Lovejoy,  and  was  born  in  Albion,  Maine,  January  7,  1811.  He  was  a  brother  of 
Elijah  Lovejoy,  who  was  killed  at  Alton,  this  state,  in  1837,  because  he  was  the  publisher  of  an 
anti-slavery  newspaper.  He  entered  upon  his  theological  studies  at  Alton,  Illinois,  with  his 
brother,  in  1836;  three  years  afterward,  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at 
Princeton,  and  held  that  charge  nearly  seventeen  years.  In  1854  he  first  entered  upon  public  life 
as  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  general  assembly.  Two  years  afterward  he  was  elected  to 
congress,  and  by  repeated  reflections  held  a  seat  in  that  body  until  his  demise  in  the  city  of 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  March  25,  1864,  a  little  more  than  a  year  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  proclamation 
of  emancipation  had  declared  the  slaves  of  the  land  free.  Almost  the  first  knowledge  we  have  of 
Mr.  Lovejoy  in  this  state,  was  as  a  bold  and  fearless  denouncer  of  slavery,  and  he  never  ceased  his 
warfare  against  that  infamous  system  until  his  strength  and  breath  both  gave  way.  His  widow 
is  still  living.  His  son,  Owen  Glendower,  is  a  rising  lawyer  in  Princeton.  . 


HON.  BENJAMIN  R.  SHELDON. 

ROCKFORD. 

BENJAMIN  ROBBINS  SHELDON,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Sarah  (Robbins)  Sheldon,  was 
born  in  New  Marlborough,  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  in  1812.  Both  parents  were 
also  natives  of  that  state.  His  father  was  a  lawyer  and  at  one  period  a  member  of  the  legislature 
and  of  the  governor's  council.  Benjamin  prepared  for  college  at  Stockbridge.and  Lenox  Acade- 
mies, and  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1830,  being  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  He 
read  law  in  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  with'Hubbard  and  Rockwell,  and  was  admitted  to  practice 
1835,  in  which  year,  we  believe,  he  came  to  Illinois.  He  practiced  at  Hennepin  and  subsequently 
at  Galena,  until  1848,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  old  fourth  circuit,  and  has  been  on  the  bench 
from  that  date.  The  date  of  his  election  to  the  supreme  bench  was  in  1870.  Both  as  a  lawyer 
and  a  judge  he  is  a  man  of  fine  discriminating  powers;  and  his  sense  of  fairness  and  right 
between  man  and  man  is  keen  and  truly  exalted,  as  is  acknowledged  by  all  with  whom  he  comes 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  807 

in  contact.  His  analytical  powers  are  remarkably  clear,  and  he  is  entirely  dispassionate  and 
courageous,  and  follows  his  convictions  instead  of  prejudice.  No  more  honorable  and  strictly 
honest  man  than  Judge  Sheldon  wears  the  ermine  in  Illinois. 


HON.  SIMON    P.  SHOPE. 

LEWISTON. 

SIMON  P.  SHOPE  is  the  judge  of  the  judicial  circuit  which  includes  Fulton  county.  He  is  a 
Buckeye  by  birth,  and  the  light  of  this  world  first  dawned  upon  him  December  3,  1835,  his 
parents  being  Simon  P.  and  Lucinda  Shope.  They  were  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  and  came  to 
this  state  in  the  youth  of  our  subject,  who  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Woodford  county.  He 
taught  school  three  winters,  commencing  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  each  term  being  six  months  in 
length.  In  1855  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Judge  Powell,  of  Peoria,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1856,  settling  in  Lewiston  in  the  same  year.  He  made  a  brilliant  record  as  an 
attorney-at-law,  and  was  sent  to  the  legislature  by  his  democratic  constituents  in  1862,  serving 
two -consecutive  terms.  He  was  elected  judge  in  1877;  was  reelected  in  1879,  and  is  still  serving 
on  his  second  term.  His  ability  as  a  jurist  is  unquestioned. 


HON.  GRANVILLE  BARRERE. 

CANTON. 

-  RANVILLE  BARRERE  is  a  son  of  John  M.  and  Margaret  (Morrow)  Barrere,  and  was  born 
at  Hillsboro,  Highland  county,  Ohio,  July  n,  1831.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
a  merchant  at  Hillsboro,  and  died  there  in  1880.  Granville  was  educated  at  Augusta  College, 
Kentucky,  and  Marietta  College,  Ohio;  read  law  at  Hillsboro  with  his  uncle,  Nelson  Barrere; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  in  the  autumn  of  1854;  settled  in  Canton,  in  1856, 
and  has  been  in  practice  here  since  that  date.  He  is  the  leading  lawyer  practicing  at  the  Fulton 
county  bar.  He  has  great  power  in  elucidating  the  strong  points  of  a  case  and  presenting  them 
in  a  clear  light  and  forcible  manner  to  the  court  and  jury.  He  is  a  keen  logician,  cool  and  self- 
possessed,  and  seldom  disconcerted  by  the  sudden  presentation  of  unlooked-for  authority.  Mr. 
Barrere  was  elected  to  the  forty-third  congress  from  the  old  ninth  district  in  1872,  and  served  one 
term,  his  politics  being  republican.  Mr.  Barrere  has  made  a  success  financially  as  well  as  in  other 
respects  in  his  profession.  He  identifies  himself  thoroughly  with  the  interests  of  his  adopted 
home,  working  very  hard  in  its  behalf,  and  making  a  truly  valuable  citizen. 


DANIEL  J.  AVERY. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  comes  from  New  England  parentage,  and  is  a  direct  descendant 
of  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  (Mullins)  Alden,  whose  memory  has  been  immortalized  in  the 
"  Courtshi-p  of  Miles  Standish."  His  parental  ancestors  were  among  the  very  earliest  settlers  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut.  His  father  was  Ebenezer  W.  Avery,  and  his  mother  Tryphenia  T.  (Davis) 
Avery.  The  Averys  were,  during  the  revolutionary  struggle,  stanch  rebels,  and  rendered  their 
country  valuable  service  on  many  a  well  fought  field.  It  is  said  that  thirteen  bearing  the  family 
name,  all  brothers  and  cousins,  fell  in  one  battle,  and  were  buried  in  one  grave.  His  eldest 
brother  is  Doctor  Samuel  J.  Avery,  of  Chicago,  and  his  youngest  brother,  born  at  Avon,  Lake 
county,  Illinois,  in  1849,  is  John  A.  Avery,  now  editor  of  the  Lake  county  "  Republican." 

Daniel  was  born   in   Brandon,  Vermont,  December  i,  1836.     His  father  was  an  earnest   friend 


808  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

of  education,  and  would  gather  his  own  and  his  neighbors'  children  at  his  own  home,  and  during 
the  evenings  give  them  their  early  instructions.  The  celebrated  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  in  those 
days  one  of  his  pupils,  and  received  his  earliest  instruction  and  the  necessary  flagellation  at  his 
hands,  in  Brandon,  Vermont. 

In  1843,  Ebenezer  W.  Avery,  with  his  wife  and  family  of  seven  children,  of  whom  Daniel  was 
next  the  youngest,  came  west,  by  way  of  the  Erie  canal  and  the  lakes.  They  landed  in  Racine, 
Wisconsin,  in  October,  and  at  once  preempted  a  quarter  section  of  land  in  which  is  now  Avon,  in 
Lake  county.  Their  nearest  neighbor  was  three  miles  distant,  and  no  schools  in  the  town.  Dan- 
iel was  present  when  the  first  school  house  was  erected  in  his  district.  It  was  a  log  house,  and 
the  neighbors  each  furnished  his  quota  of  logs  to  erect  it.  Daniel  attended  school  until  about 
eighteen  years  old,  working  with  his  father  on  the  farm  summers,  and  going  to  school  winters. 
He  studied  the  higher  branches  at  home  evenings,  under  paternal  instruction,  and  furnished  him- 
self with  books  by  selling  quails,  at  twenty-five  cents  per  dozen,  which  he  caught  during  the 
winter.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  attended  the  village  academy  of  Waukegan,  then  under  the 
management  of  Francis  E.  Clark,  the  present  county  judge  of  Lake  county.  There  he  remained 
for  six  terms,  preparing  for  college,  but  abandoned  his  purpose  of  pursuing  a  collegiate  course, 
and  decided  instead  to  fit  himself  for  the  legal  profession.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  entered  the 
office  of  Hon.  J.  B.  Bradwell,  of  Chicago,  and  became  a  member  of  Mr.  Bradwell's  family,  and 
worked  for  his  board  and  washing.  At  the  end  of  one  year,  however,  he  went  to  the  law  office  of 
Brown  and  Runyan,  where  he  pursued  his  leeal  studies  until  June  30,  1859,  when  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  His  examiners  were  Judges  Beckwith,  Judd  and  Peck.  After  his  admission  to  the 
bar,  he  practiced  his  profession  until  Jujy  i,  1862,  when  he  enlisted  as  a  private,  in  the  ii3th  reg- 
iment Illinois  infantry,  and  October  i,  following,  was  promoted  to  second  sergeant.  He  was  in 
the  reserve  corps  at  the  battle  of  Chickasaw  Bluff,  December  29,  1862;  fought  in  the  battle  of 
Arkansas  Post,  January  n,  1863.  About  January  22,  he  moved  with  Sherman's  army  down  to 
Young's  Point,  opposite  Vicksburg,  and  awaited  the  cutting  of  a  channel  across  that  point  by 
command  of  General  Grant.  In  December,  1862,  he  was  accidently  poisoned  while  temporarily 
in  the  regiment's  hospital,  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  in  March,  1863,  was  sent  to  Lawson,  gen- 
eral at  Saint  Louis,  and  was  honorably  discharged  from  the  service  October  12,  1863.  He  imme- 
diately returned  to  Chicago,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  In  1864  the  firm  of  Runyan  and 
Avery  was  formed,  which  continued  until  1867,  when  Mr.  Comstock  was  admitted  to  it,  and  in 
r869  Judge  Loomis,  who  remained  till  1873,  when  he  retired  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Runyan 
soon  afterward.  The  firm  was  then  known  as  Avery  and  Comstock,  which  was  dissolved  in  1877. 

Mr.  Avery  conducted  the  extensive  chancery  business  during  the  whole  history  of  the  firm, 
and  acquired  an  enviable  reputation  in  that  line  of  business,  and  in  December,  1880,  was  appointed 
master  in  chancery  of  the  superior  court  of  Cook  county,  which  office  he  now  holds. 

He  has  always  been  an  active  republican  in  politics,  and  served  his  party  as  chairman  of  the 
Cook  county  republican  central  committee,  and  other  useful  positions,  but  has  never  aspired  to 
office,  and  never  been  a  candidate  before  the  people. 

In  1866  he  was  made  Master  Mason,  and  for  three  years  was  master  of  Hesperia  Lodge,  No 
411,  and  for  the  past  eight  years  has  filled  the  office  of  district  deputy  grand  master  for  the  sec- 
ond district  of  Illinois.  He  was  one  of  the  thirteen  members  who  constituted  the  masonic  board 
of  relief  organized  after  the  great  fire,  and  did  his  fellow  citizens  efficient  service  in  that  capacity. 
In  July,  1874,  he  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  Northwestern  Masonic  Aid  Association,  and 
was  elected  president,  and  has  been  successively  elected  to  that  position  every  year  since.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  successful  cooperative  benefit  associations  in  the  country.  Its  membership  has 
now  reached  more  than  15,000,  and  it  has  disbursed  in  the  eight  years  of  its  existence  over  $800,- 
ooo  to  beneficiaries. 

In  1867  Mr.  Avery  married  Miss  Mary  Comstock,  of  Wilton,  Saratoga  county,  New  York,  who 
died  January  n,  1873,  leaving  two  children.  May  29,  1874,  he  married  his  present  wife,  who  was 
Miss  Kate  Ellis,  of  New  York  city. 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  809 

Like  many  others,  Mr.  Avery  allowed  his  better  judgment  to  be  controlled  by  his  feelings,  and 
became  surety  for  a  friend.  The  venture  failed,  and  in  1867  he  lost  everything  except  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

In  person  Mr.  Avery  is  substantially  built,  tall,  well  proportioned,  and  of  commanding  pres- 
ence. In  complexion  he  is  a  blonde,  with  a  pleasing  expression,  very  approachable,  and  a  genial 
companion.  He  is  very  proficient  in  his  profession,  and  is  regarded  as  a  fluent  speaker,  and  a 
close,  logical  reasoner. 


M 


MYRON  A.  DECKER. 

CHICAGO. 

YRON  A.  DECKER  was  born  February  21,  1837,  in  Livingston  county,  New  York.  His 
ancestors  on  the  paternal  side  belonged  to  an  ancient  and  eminent  family  in  Holland,  a 
branch  of  which,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  emigrated  from  Amsterdam  and 
settled  in  New  York,  on  the  Hudson  River,  from  which  branch  his  father,  Henry  Decker,  descend- 
ed. In  1816  his  father  married,  and  settled  in  the  Genesee  Valley,  in  western  New  York,  and  was 
largely  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  ranked  among  the  ablest  and  most  highly  respected  citizens 
in  Livingston  county.  His  mother,  Martha  (Mather)  Decker,  traced  her  descent  through  the 
Connecticut  branch  of  the  Mather  family  to  the  Massachusetts  branch,  and  to  Increase  and  Cotton 
Mather,  whose  history  is  a  part  of  the  early  annals  of  New  England. 

His  mother  died  when  Myron  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  his  father  removed  to  Lima, 
where  were  located  the  Genesee  College  and  Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary,  in  order  that  his  fam- 
ily, of  whom  Myron  was  the  youngest,  might  receive  a  liberal  education  at  these  popular  institu- 
tions. Here  Myron  pursued  his  studies  till  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  when  he  resolved,  owing 
to  some  financial  embarrassments  into  which  his  father  had  fallen,  to  rely  wholly  upon  himself, 
and  from  that  time  till  the  completion  of  his  literary  and  legal  studies,  he  had  to  encounter  and 
overcome  difficulties  which  invariably  prove  the  best  school  for  training  a  youth  to  habits  of 
sturdy  self  reliance  and  confidence  so  essential  to  success  in  after  life. 

In  the  spring  of  1860,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  law  by 
the  supreme  court  of  New  York,  at  the  city  of  Auburn.  He  at  once  entered  upon  the  practice  of 
law  at  Lima,  and  met  with  flattering  success  for  nearly  two  years,  when  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
began,  and  as  legal  business  was  generally  suspended,  he  accepted  a  position  which  was  tendered 
him  in  the  United  States  treasury  at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  where  he  remained  till 
the  war  closed.  When  he  left  the  department  he  held  the  highest  grade,  and  had  charge  of  a 
division.  During  this  period  he  pursued,  with  untiring  assiduity,  further  legal  studies,  and  in 
February,  1865,  was,  upon  motion  of  Senator  Howe,  now  postmaster  general,  admitted  to  practice 
in  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  at  Washington,  District. of  Columbia. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  and  the  general  resumption  of  business,  he  resigned  his  position  in 
the  treasury,  inspired  by  a  laudable  ambition  to  establish  himself  in  the  profession  of  his  choice, 
and  soon  thereafter  accepted  a  retainer  to  procure  the  setting  aside  of  fraudulent  titles  procured 
from  the  United  States  to  some  large  and  valuable  tracts  of  pine  land  in  northern  Wisconsin,  and 
his  success  was  such  that  he  received  numerous  other  retainers  in  the  same  line  of  business,  which 
kept  him  in  constant  service  for  more  than  three  years  in  Wisconsin  and  Washington.  District  of 
Columbia,  and  his  success  for  his  clients  proved  a  financial  success  for  himself. 

Mr.  Decker  was  married  April  29,  1869,  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  to  Miss  Kittie  L.  Knox, 
daughter  of  Hon.  Thomas  M.  Knox,  deceased,  formerly  judge  in  the  city  of  Watertown,  Wiscon- 
sin. Early  in  1870  Mr.  Decker  removed  to  Chicago,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  soon,  by  his  energy  and  ability,  acquired  a  lucrative  practice.  In  the  great  fire  of  1871 
his  office  and  his  library,  with  many  valuable  papers,  were  consumed.  In  1873  Mr.  Decker  was 
prostrated  by  the  extreme  heat  while  in  Baltimore,  and  shortly  after,  in  New  York  city,  met  with 
an  accident  which  caused  internal  injury.  From  these  causes  his  nervous  system,  already  severely 


8lO  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

strained  by  the  cares  and  anxieties  of  his  large  practice,  was  for  the  time  completely  prostrated, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  take  a  partner  to  meet  the  urgent  demands  of  his  increasing  business. 
He  therefore  associated  with  himself,  in  Chicago,  Henry  Decker,  then  of  Lima,  New  York,  and 
the  firm,  under  the  name  of  Decker  and  Decker,  continued  for  about  two  years,  when  Myron 
found  that  it  was  absolutely  imperative  that  he  should  have  complete  relaxation  from  all  business 
cares,  and  devote  himself  to  the  restoration  of  his  health.  He  therefore  surrendered  his  entire 
business  to  Henry  Decker,  and  passed  three  years  in  travel  and  recreation.  In  1879  his  health 
was  sufficiently  restored  to  warrant  his  resuming  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  he  again 
opened  his  office  in  Chicago,  where  his  ability  and  integrity  being  fully  recognized,  he  at  once 
attracted  to  himself  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  which  he  now  enjoys. 

Mr.  Decker  is  an  attorney  of  rare  tact  and  sound  judgment,  fertile  in  resources  and  untiring 
in  energy.  These  qualities,  united  with  marked  financial  ability,  and  an  unusual  skill  in  delicate 
negotiations,  cause  his  services  to  be  in  much  request  by  corporations  and  large  companies,  to 
which  class  of  practice  his  time  is  mainly  devoted.  He  is  the  owner  of  considerable  improved 
city  property,  and  with  the  requisite  attention  given  to  its  management,  and  to  the  interests  of 
some  eastern  capitalists,  the  care  of  whose  investments  is  intrusted  to  him,  Mr.  Decker  finds  little 
time  for  recreation. 

In  politics  he  is  a  stanch  republican,  but  has  ever  confined  himself  strictly  to  his  profession, 
and  whenever  his  name  has  been  mentioned  for  any  office  or  political  preferment,  has  invariably 
declined.  Throughout  all  his  business  and  professional  engagements,  involving  frequently  sums 
of  great  magnitude,  he  has  ever  sustained  the  highest  character  for  integrity,  veracity  and  un- 
blemished honor. 


o 


COLONEL  NATHAN    M.   KNAPP. 

WINCHESTER. 

NE.of  the  most  prominent  men  in  Scott  county  for  many  years,  was  Nathan  Morse  Knapp, 
who  was  born  in  Royalton,  Vermont,  March  4,  1815,  and  died  at  Winchester,  October  4, 
1879.  He  received  an  academic  education,  taught  school  for  his  support  at  the  same  period,  and 
in  1837  came  to  Naples,  in  this  state.  Here  he  resumed  the  occupation  of  teacher,  and  also 
edited  a  newspaper.  In  the  autumn  of  1838  he  moved  to  Jacksonville,  Morgan  county,  and  when 
that  county  was  divided,  early  in  1839,  and  the  new  county  of  Scott  was  formed,  he  settled  in 
Winchester,  the  shire  town,  and  became  county  clerk.  Meantime,  he  read  law,  and  when  the  time 
of  service  in  that  office  had  expired,  he  gave  his  whole  attention  to  the  legal  profession,  having 
such  associates  at  the  bar  as  McConnell,  Douglas  and  Lincoln.  In  1847  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  constitutional  convention,  and  in  1850  to  the  legislature.  He  was  a  very  active  politician 
in  the  Anti-Nebraska  controversy,  aided  in  forming  the  republican  party,  and  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Chicago  convention,  which  nominated  his  life-long  friend,  Abraham  Lincoln,  for  president. 

Says  the  Winchester  "  Independent:"  "  When  the  rebellion  broke  out,  his  voice  and  pen  were 
conspicuously  employed  in  sustaining  the  old  flag  which  he  loved.  Early  in  1863  Mr.  Lincoln 
appointed  him  a  paymaster  in  the  army,  with  the  rank  of  major,  which  position  he  held  till  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  in  1865  appointed  by  President  Johnson  collector  of  internal  revenue 
for  this  district,  and  continued  in  this  office  until  its  consolidation  with  that  of  United  States 
assessor.  Millions  of  money  passed  through  his  hands,  involving  many  long-standing  accounts 
and  intricate  calculations,  without  the  loss  of  one  cent. 

Colonel  Knapp  was  a  man  of  superior  mind;  as  a  lawyer  he  was  sagacious,  discriminating, 
and  possessed,  to  an  eminent  degree,  that  faculty  called  common  sense.  He  knew  the  law  intui- 
tively, and  was  governed  more  by  general  principles  than  a  knowledge  of  precedents. 

As  a  politician,  he  was  among  the  first  to  aid  in  establishing  the  republican  party,  working 
with  Lincoln,  Yates,  Browning,  and  all  the  old  leaders  when  the  party  first  came  into  power.  He 
was  not  a  mere  follower  of  others,  but  originated  his  own  line  of  argument  in  the  great  cam- 
paigns, which  was  frequently  adopted  by  his  compeers. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  8ll 

His  religious  convictions  were  strong,  and  a  prominent  feature  in  his  character.  On  every 
question  that  arose  in  the  community  he  was  always  found  on  the  side  of  truth  and  justice.  In 
this  direction  benevolence  was  a  predominating  trait.  Although  having  a  membership  in  a  par- 
ticular denomination,  the  Christian,  there  is  perhaps  not  a  church  in  town  which  has  not  fre- 
quently received  the  benefit  of  his  contributions  and  assistance." 

Colonel  Knapp  married  Miss  Isabel  Pond,  and  she  and  two  children  survive  him.  The  mother 
of  Mrs.  Knapp  is  also  living,  and  is  with  her  daughter  at  Winchester. 


CHARLES  WHITNEY. 

WA  UKEGAN. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  this  county,  and  was  born  at  Warren,  October  6,  1849. 
His  father  is  Havelia  Whitney,  a  farmer,  who  came  to  Lake  county,  from  Ohio,  and  was  for 
a  period  of  fourteen  years  county  surveyor.  He  married  Miss  Harriet  McNitt,  who  was  from 
New  York.  Charles  received  an  academic  education  in  this  county,  read  law  with  Blodgett, 
Upton  and  Williams,  Waukegan,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  September,  1871.  He  was  in 
the  abstract  office,  Chicago,  most  of  the  time  from  that  date  until  February,  1876,  when  he 
opened  a  law  office  in  Waukegan.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  he  was  elected  state's  attor- 
ney for  Lake  county,  and  still  holds  that  office,  being  reflected  in  1880.  He  has  a  clear  and 
sound  mind,  is  an  industrious,  energetic  and  growing  man,  ambitious  to  excel  in  his  profession, 
and  belongs  to  that  class  of  young  men  who  very  rarely  fail  of  success. 


T 


HON.   ISAAC    L.  MORRISON. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

HE  subject  of  these  brief  notes  is  a  prominent  lawyer  at  the  Morgan  county  bar,  and  was 
leader  on  the  republican  side  in  the  thirty-third  general  assembly.  He  was  born  in  Barnes 
county,  Kentucky,  January  20,  1826.  He  finished  his  education  at  a  seminary  at  La  Grange,  Ken- 
tucky ;  read  law  with  A.  M.  Gayley  ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1849,  and  practiced  in  his  native 
state  until  1851,  when  he  settled  in  Jacksonville,  which  has  since  been  his  home.  He  is  one  of 
the  leading  lawyers  in  central  Illinois. 

Mr.  Morrison  was  originally  an  emancipationist ;  linked  his  fortunes  with  the  republican  party 
at  its  organization,  and  has  been  a  zealous  worker  in  its  interest.  For  the  last  four  years  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  and  in  its  last  session  (1883)  was  the  repub- 
lican leader.  He  is  a  profound  lawyer  and  a  powerful  debater.  He  has  a  wife  and  two  children. 


REV.  ALMER    HARPER. 

PORT  BYRON. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  has  been  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Port  Byron  for 
twenty-one  years,  and  has  become  seemingly  a  clerical  fixture  in  Rock  Island  county.     He 
has,  by  divine  help,  built  up  a  church,  from  forty  to  one  hundred  and  forty  members,  and  the 
attachment  between  pastor  and  people  has  become  very  strong. 

Aimer  Harper  was  born  in  Rush  county,  Indiana,  May  20,  1826,  his  father  being  Edward  Har- 
per, a  farmer  from  South  Carolina,  and  his  mother,  Charity  (Reed)  Harper,  of  Yorktown,  Vir- 
ginia. He  is  a  graduate  of  Oberlin  College,  class  of  1850,  and  of  its  Theological  Seminary,  class  of 
1853.  His  first  pastorate  was  in  the  State  Street  Congregational  Church,  Rochester,  New  York, 
where  he  spent  between  one  and  two  years,  and  in  1855  went  to  Tabula,  Iowa.  He  removed  to 


Si  2  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

La  Claire,  same  state,  opposite  Port  Byron,  in  1860,  and  after  preaching  there  one  year,  changed 
his  residence  to  this  place,  still  supplying  the  Le  Claire  pulpit  half  a  day  each  Sunday,  two  or 
three  years  longer.  He  has  been  and  still  is  a  very  active  Christian  worker,  being  assiduous  in 
pastoral  labors,  as  well  as  earnest  and  strong  in  his  pulpit  efforts.  The  steady  growth  of  his 
church  has  no  doubt  been  a  source  of  great  comfort  as  well  as  encouragement  to  him.  Through 
his  influence  an  academy  was  started  at  Port  Byron,  in  1881. 

Mr.  Harper  was  married,  August  31,  1853,  to  Miss  Eunice  Thomson,  and  they  have  buried  two 
children  and  have  three,  all  sons,  living.  Edward  T.,  a  graduate  with  honors,  of  Oberlin,  is  prin- 
cipal of  the  Port  Byron  Academy  ;  Robert  is  a  student  at  Oberlin,  and  Eugene  Howard  is  a  stu- 
dent under  his  eldest  brother. 


HON,  GEORGE    HUNT. 

• 
PARIS. 

EORGE  HUNT  is  a  son  of  Richard  and  Nancy  (Colopy)  Hunt,  and  was  born  in  Knox 
V_T  county,  Ohio,  May  i,  1841.  He  received  an  academic  education  in  Edgar  county,  this  state, 
and  was  on  a  farm  when  the  civil  war  began.  In  July,  1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  company 
E,  1 2th  Illinois  infantry,  and  served  four  years,  being  mustered  out  with  the  rank  of  captain. 

On  leaving  the  service,  Mr.  Hunt  read  law  at  Paris,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1868,  since 
which  date  he  has  been  in  practice  at  Paris.  Senator  Hunt's  strong  points  as  a  lawyer  consist 
in  the  most  careful  and  thorough  preparation  for  his  case  before  going  to  trial,  and  besides  know- 
ing the  law,  he  has  a  clear  and  concise  way  of  stating  it.  He  makes  his  client's  case  his  own,  and 
while  he  enjoys  fun  as  much  as  any  man,  he  does  not  indulge  in  it  at  the  risk  of  endangering  the 
interest  of  his  client.  In  jury  cases  he  is  strong  for  the  reason  that  he  always  convinces  the  jury 
at  once  of  his  own  confidence  in  his  case,  and  in  addressing  a  jury  he  uses  simple  and  practical 
words,  and  at  times,  when  the  circumstances  demand,  rises  to  the  point  of  most  graceful  and 
effective  eloquence. 

Mr.  Hunt  was  county  superintendent  of  schools  from  1865  to  1869,  and  in  1874  he  was  elected 
to  the  state  senate  ;  was  reflected  in  1878  and  1882,  and  is  now  serving  his  third  term.  He  now 
represents  the  thirty-first  district.  During  the  last  three  sessions  he  has  been  chairman  of  the 
judiciary  committee,  the  most  important  committee  in  that  body.  He  is  on  the  republican  side 
of  the  senate. 

LUTHER  LAFLIN   MILLS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  doctrine  once  generally  obtained,  that  if  a  man  did  not  realize  a  character,  in  any  pro- 
fession, soon  after  his  first  appearance,  he  hardly  ever  would  attain  one.  And  James  Otis 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  was  of  vast  importance  that  a  young  man,  entering  the  legal  profes- 
sion, should  be  able  to  make  some  eclat  at  his  opening.  Whether  these  opinions  be  correct,  we 
shall  not  stop  to  consider  here,  but  certain  it  is,  that  Luther  Laflin  Mills  early  in  his  career  dis- 
sipated whatever  of  doubt  might  then  have  clouded  the  hopes  and  ambitions  of  those  interested 
in  his  welfare.  At  the  very  threshold  of  his  professional  experience,  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
manifested  a  knowledge  of  legal  theory,  an  energy,  depth  and  acuteness  of  intellect,  and  a  ripeness 
of  judgment  rarely  developed  by  the  majority  of  men,  under  forty. 

Mr.  Mills  was  born  in  North  Adams,  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  September  3,  1848. 
When  but  two  years  of  age,  his  father  migrated  to  Illinois.  Locating  in  Chicago,  the  elder  Mills 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  and  it  was  in  the  schools  of  that  city  that  the  promising  son 
received  his  early  training.  "The  boy  is  father  of  the  man,"  and  the  precocious  Luther  soon 
resolved  upon  the  benefits  of  a  liberal  education.  Having  mastered  the  curriculum  fixed  by  the 


HC.Conp.r    Jr    S.  Co 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNfVERSITV  of  ILLINOIS 


/ 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  815 

educational  system  of  his  adopted  home,  he  became  a  matriculate  of  Michigan  University.  Re- 
turning to  Chicago,  in  due  course  of  time,  he  entered  as  a  law  student  the  office  of  Hon.  H.  N. 
Hibbard.  Admitted  to  the  bar  immediately  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  time  prescribed  for  pro- 
fessional study,  Mr.  Mills  was  soon  distinguished  as  an  advocate  of  natural  power,  strengthened 
by  judicious  culture.  It  has  been  said  that  forensic  eloquence  demands  for  its  success  a  union  of 
the  rarest  faculties,  "  the  most  varied  and  dissimilar  gifts."  The  orator,  like  the  poet,  is  born  and 
not  made,  and  his  power  is  the  product  of  both  intellectual  and  physical  force.  Of  the  truth  of 
this,  Mr.  Mills  is  an  exemplification.  Endowed  by  nature  with  a  clear  perception,  force  of  will, 
a  tenacious  memory  and  lively  imagination,  he  lost  no  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of  these 
faculties  to  the  utmost.  Combining  with  these  gifts  of  mind,  an  erect  and  supple  form,  a  dark 
and  lustrous  eye,  graceful  action,  a  goodly  range  of  facial  expression,  and  a  voice  at  once  melo- 
dious and  flexible;  is  it  surprising  that  Luther  Laflin  Mills  should  have  been  called,  at  twentv- 
eight  years  of  age,  to  the  responsible  position  of  state's  attorney  for  one  of  the  most  populous  and 
wealthy  counties  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  ?  Nominated  as  a  candidate  for  that  position, 
by  the  Cook  county  republican  convention,  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  in  the  autumn  of  1876,  he  was 
duly  elected.  His  peculiar  gifts  were  used  with  effect,  and  he  became  a  terror  to  evil  doers. 
They  found  in  him  not  merely  the  fluent  declaimer,  but  the  inexorable  nemesis  of  the  law.  It 
has  been  said  that  the  metaphor  is  the  orator's  figure,  and  the  simile  that  of  the  poet.  In  the 
annals  of  oratory,  this  was  demonstrated  by  Burke,  Curran  and  Sheridan.  Whether  Mr.  Mills 
has  made  these  great  models  a  study  is  not  known.  But  if  not,  he  has  intuitively  assumed  a 
rhetorical  form  best  adapted  to  the  orator's  art,  and  herein  lies  the  secret  of  his  influence  with  the 
popular  mind.  He  flashes,  as  it  were,  into  the  mind  of  a  juror,  a  vivid  succession  of  imagery. 
To  few  men  is  it  given  to  deal  successfully  with  the  mind  of  their  fellows,  to  at  once  quicken 
the  understanding  and  arouse  the  emotions.  Mr.  Mills  is  one  of  the  few.  As  an  advocate  he 
penetrates  clearly  that  vestibule  of  the  human  reason,  consciousness.  This  organic  faculty  has 
been  beautifully  described  as  a  chamber  of  aerial  transparency,  without  roof,  without  walls,  with- 
out bounds,  and  yet  somehow  inclosed  within  us  and  belonging  to  us.  It  is  into  this  wondrous 
chamber  that  Mr.  Mills  has  so  frequently  entered  as  a  master  of  the  occult  precinct.  In  logic  he 
is  an  adept,  but  it  is  not  the  formal  and  repulsive  logic  of  the  schools.  This  is  not  suited  to  the 
fervid  movement  of  his  mind,  neither  would  it  be  to  the  office  he  has  filled  with  such  phenom- 
enal ability.  The  syllogism,  in  its  cold  rigidity,  is  repulsive  to  the  average  mind,  unaccustomed  as 
it  is  to  the  aridness  of  abstraction.  Knowing  this,  Mr.  Mills  presents  his  propositions  in  a  series 
of  impassioned  and  articulate  exclamations;  in  each  of  which  are  fused  into  striking  unity,  major 
premise,  minor  premise,  and  conclusion.  Illustrative  is  his  method,  of  what  was  once  said  by 
Zeno:  "  Philosophic  argument  is  like  the  human  hand  closed,  the  oratorical  like  the  same  hand 
unfolded."  As  it  were,  he  enters  within  the  chamber  of  the  mind,  through  the  door  of  thought, 
and  then,  with  the  pencil  of  imagination,  places  there  a  beautiful  array  of  representative  forms, 
brilliant  of  color,  and  instinct  with  life.  Verily  is  it  true  that  "  oratory,  like  painting,  is  only  a 
language;  it  is  painting  and  sculpture  made  vocal  and  visible."  Not  that  we  would  be  understood 
to  imply  that  Mr.  Mills'  talent  is  confined  to  the  artful  use  of  oratorical  apostrophes;  not  that  we 
would  infer  his  sole  pursuit  is  that  of  culling  garlands  of  the  richest  hues  and  sweetest  fragrance, 
wherewith  to  tickle  the  fancy  and  bewitch  the  judgment.  With  him  ornament  is  subordinate  to 
substance.  He  employs  the  flowers  of  rhetoric,  but  to  relieve  the  sterility  of  facts,  and  soften  the 
ruggedness  of  their  outline.  From  exordium  to  peroration,  his  argument  clearly  indicates  the 
points  in  controversy.  The  objective  point  of  the  argument  is  kept  clearly  in  mind  from  first  to 
last;  and  rarely,  if  ever,  does  he  violate  what  is  so  essential  to  fullness  of  impression  and  clear- 
ness of  view,  that  is,  unity  of  purpose,  continuity  of  related  parts,  and  harmony  of  delineation. 
In  the  heat  of  discussion,  his  effort  is  a  symmetrical  confluence  of  mind,  emotion  and  physique. 
With  him,  neither  the  precision  of  logic,  nor  the  rose-hues  of  fancy  are  used,  but  to  "speak  the 
language  of  soberness  and  truth." 

So  much  for  the  man  as  an  advocate,  and  it  is  in  this  relation  lie  first  invites  attention.     Mr. 

79 


8l6  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Mills  was  first  elected  to  his  present  position  in  1876.  running  four  thousand  ahead  of  his  ticket. 
He  was  renominated  in  1880,  without  opposition,  and  reglected  by  an  increased  majority.  Ten- 
dered the  nomination  for  congress  by  an  admiring  constituency,  he  declined  in  order  to  com- 
plete the  unexpired  official  term  to  which  he  had  just  received  an  emphatic  call.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  republican  party  of  Cook  county  will  ultimately  elevate  this  able,  eloquent  and  honora- 
ble member  to  a  position  in  the  national  congress. 

Located  in  the  western  metropolis  of  the  United  States;  surrounded  by  some  of  the  most  ver- 
satile, brilliant,  learned  and  astute  lawyers  of  the  Great  West;  called  to  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant and  responsible  offices  in  the  gift  of  his  fellow  citizens;  at  thirty-four  vears  of  age  Luther 
Laflin  Mills  has  accomplished  the  work  of  a  lifetime.  Respected  as  a  citizen,  trusted  and  efficient 
as  a  public  servant,  eminent  as  a  lawyer,  conspicuous  as  an  orator,  may  our  genial  and  noble 
friend  garner  the  success  he  so  well  deserves. 

In  the  autumn  of  1876  Mr.  Mills  was  married  to  the  cultivated  and  amiable  Miss  Ella  M. 
Boies,  of  Saugerties,  New  York,  by  whom  he  has  had  four  children. 


HON.  CHANCEY  L.   HIGBEE. 

PITTSFIELD. 

LAWSON  HIGBEE,  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  and  a  member  of  the  appellate 
V — '  court,  is  a  son  of  Elias  and  Sarah  (Ward)  Higbee,  and  was  born  in  Clermont  county,  Ohio, 
September  7,  1821.  He  received  an  academic  education,  came  to  Illinois  at  an  early  day,  read  law 
with  Judge  Sylvester  Emmens,  late  of  Beardstown,  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1843,  and  the  next 
year  settled  in  Pike  county,  which  has  been  his  home  for  nearly  forty  years. 

Like  most  young  lawyers,  Judge  Higbee  early  became  interested  in  politics,  and  in  1854  he 
was  sent  to  the  legislature.  Four  years  afterward  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate,  and  while 
serving  in  that  body,  was  (1861)  elected  circuit  judge,  and  by  successive  reflections  has  been  kept 
in  that  honorable  position  for  more  than  twenty  years.  When  the  appellate  court  was  formed  he 
was  appointed  a  member  of  it,  and  is  serving  at  Springfield.  Members  of  the  bar  who  have  long 
known  Judge  Higbee,  look  upon  him  as  a  fatherly  friend  and  guide.  They  have  the  utmost  con- 
fidence in  him,  and  regard  his  decisions  usually  as  a  finality.  As  a  judge  of  law  he  has  but  few 
peers  in  the  state.  He  has  great  executive  ability,  dispatches  business  with  promptness,  and  his 
urbanity  on  the  bench  wins  for  him  the  high  respect  of  all  who  practice  before  him,  or  have  any 
business  relations  with  him. 


HON.  JAMES  M.  ALLEN. 

GENESEO. 

JAMES  M.  ALLEN  is  a  son  of  John  and  Nancy  (Hodge)  Allen,  and  was  born  in  Sumner  county, 
Tennessee,  November  23,  1814.  James  finished  his  education  at  Danville  College,  Kentucky 
came  to  Carrollton,  Greene  county,  Illinois,  in  1835,  and  the  next  spring  settled  in  Henry  county 
his  present  home.  He  was  elected  the  first  clerk  of  the  county  and  circuit  courts,  when  Rich- 
mond was  the  county  seat,  at  which  place  he  held  the  office  of  postmaster.  Mr.  Allen  settled  in 
Geneseo  in  1839,  and  was  postmaster  here  for  a  few  years.  At  an  early  day  after  coming  to 
Henry  county,  he  commenced  farming,  and  has  increased  his  business  in  this  line  from  time  to 
time  until  he  owns  half  a  dozen  farms,  all  in  Henry  county. 

In  1851  and  1852  Mr.  Allen  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature,  sent  there  to  aid  in  getting 
a  charter  for  what  was  then  called  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  railroad;  his  efforts  being 
crowned  with  success,  and  in  1854  the  road  was  completed,  and  Geneseo  was  connected  by  rail 
with  Chicago.  He  was  one  of  the  early  directors  of  that  road.  During  the  civil  war  he  acted  as 
provost  marshal  of  this  congressional  district,  and  held  at  one  time  the  office  of  county  judge. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  8l/ 

For  a  score  of  years  he  has  been  interested  in  the  Hennepin  canal,  spending  a  good  deal  of  time 
at  Springfield,  in  getting  the  enterprise  under  way,  and  the  plans  matured  for  its  completion. 
Most  of  the  winter  of  1881-82  he  spent  in  the  city  of  Washington,  working  day  and  night  to  fur- 
ther this  great  internal  improvement. 


JOHN   H.  POTTS. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

JOHN  HALL  POTTS,  one  of  the  leading  short-horn  cattle  breeders  in  the  state,  is  a  native  of 
Illinois,  being  born  in  Greene  county,  December  7,  1823,  his  parents  being  William  and  Mar- 
garet (Parker)  Potts.  John  was  educated  in  the  district  schools,  and  has  been  a  farmer  all  his 
life,  and  a  cattle  dealer  for  a  score  of  years  or  more.  Since  1869  he  has  given  a  good  deal  of 
attention  to  the  breeding  of  short-horn  cattle,  and  has,  at  the  present  time,  about  sixty  head  of 
thoroughbreds.  He  has  also  between  forty  and  fifty  Southdown  sheep  and  a  few  Berkshire  swine 
of  the  best  breed.  Commencing  with  the  autumn  of  1876,  Mr.  Potts  has  been  showing  at  the 
state  fairs  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  Kansas,  and  has  taken  nearly 
$30,000  in  premiums.  His  farm  consists  of  220  acres,  all  in  grass.  His  son,  William  T.  Potts, 
his  only  child  living,  is  in  partnership  with  his  father.  The  latter  is  living  with  his  second  wife, 
who  was  Mrs.  Louisa  M.  (Green)  Ransdell.  Mr.  Potts  is  a  stockholder  of  the  Jacksonville 
National  Bank,  and  a  man  in  very  comfortable  circumstances. 


HON.   NATHANIEL  J.   PILLSBURY. 

PONT/ AC. 

"VTATHANIEL  J.  PILLSBURY,  judge  of  the  circuit  and  the  appellate  courts,  is  a  native  of 
J.  i  York  county,  Maine,  a  son  of  Stephen  M.  and  Susan  (Averill)  Pillsbury,  and  dates  his  birth 
October  21,  1834.  His  great-grandfather  participated  in  the  war  for  independence.  Nathaniel 
received  an  academic  education  ;  was  with  a  manufacturing  company  at  Saco  from  1850  to  1855, 
at  which  latter  date  his  health  broke  down,  and  he  came  to  Bureau  county,  this  state.  In  1858 
he  settled  on  a  farm  in  Livingston  county,  there  remaining  until  1863,  when  he  commenced  the 
study  of  law  with  Samuel  L.  Fleming,  of  Pontiac.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  May,  1864,  and 
soon  established  a  fine  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  rising,  in  a  few  years,  to  the  head  of  the  bar  in 
Livingston  county.  He  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  in  1867. and  1870. 

In  1873  the  subject  of  these  notes  was  elected  judge  of  the  thirteenth  judicial  circuit;  was 
reelected  in  1879,  and  when  the  appellate  court  was  organized,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges 
for  the  second  district.  Judge  Pillsbury  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  law  ;  has  an  excellent 
judicial  mind,  and  wears  the  ermine  with  credit  alike  to  himself  and  the  commonwealth.  His 
politics  are  republican.  He  was  married  to  Eliza  J.  Cole,  of  Maine,  in  1855,  and  they  have  two 
sons  and  two  daughters. 

HON.  WASHINGTON   BUSHNELL. 

OTTAWA, 

WASHINGTON  BUSHNELL,  lawyer,  and  formerly  attorney  general  of  the  state,  had  a 
common-school  education,  read  law  at  home,  attended  two  courses  at  the  State  and  Na- 
tional Law  School,  at  Ballston  Spa,  New  York,  received  his  diploma  at  Albany  in  the  early  part 
of  1853;  settled  in  Ottawa  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  and  has  been  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  here  since  that  time.  Mr.  Bushnell  was  city  attorney  four  years,  state's  attorney  the 
same  period,  state  senator  eight  years,  1861-1869,  and  attorney  general  of  the  state  during  the 
first  four  years  of  President  Grant's  administration,  1869-1873.  He  attended  nearly  every  state 


8l8  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

convention  for  twenty  years;  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  conventions  in  1860,  1864,  and  1868, 
and  aided  in  securing  the  nominations  of  the  men  of  his  choice,  Abraham  Lincoln  and  U.  S. 
Grant,  both  Illinois  men.  Mr.  Bushnell  was  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  confidential  friend  of 
the  great  statesman,  and  the  military  chieftain,  and  gave  their  administrations  his  most  hearty 
and  enthusiastic  support.  He  was  one  of  the  first  delegates-at-large  that  ever  attended  a  general 
meeting  of  the  Union  League,  he  being  sent  on  such  a  mission  to  the  city  of  Washington  in  1861. 
Mr.  Bushnell  has  always  strongly  Identified  himself  with  local  interests,  and  as  a  citizen  has 
made  himself  very  useful.  He  was  president  of  the  Ottawa,  Oswego  and  Fox  River  railroad  from 
its  incipiency  until  it  was  completed  and  passed  into  other  hands,  and  for  three  years  was  president 
of  the  Business  Men's  Association  of  Ottawa,  an  efficient  organization,  still  doing  a  good  work. 
He  was  a  banker  for  more  than  twenty  years. 


M 


HON.  MILTON   M.  FORD. 

GALVA. 

ILTON  MORRIS  FORD,  a  leading  merchant  at  Galva,  is  a  son  of  Dyer  and  Lovica  (Mor- 
ris) Ford,  and  was  born  in  the  town  of  Milo,  Yates  county,  New  York,  January  23,  1823. 
Milton  received  an  ordinary  English  education  ;  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  went  to  Penn  Yan,  Yates 
county,  and  was  a  clerk  for  six  years  for  Charles  C.  Sheppard.  They  then  formed  a  partnership, 
and  the  firm  of  Sheppard  and  Ford  continued  until  1860,  when  our  subject  came  to  this  state  and 
settled  at  Galva.  Here  he  has  been,a  dry-goods  merchant  for  twenty-two  years.  He  has  also 
been  engaged  in  loaning  money  for  eastern  parties. 

Mr.  Ford  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  Illinois  legislature  in  the  autumn  of  1864,  and 
served  in  the  session  of  the  following  winter.  He  was  elected  to  the  senate  in  1878,  and  served 
the  term  of  four  years,  being  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  both  sessions.  In -early  life  Mr. 
Ford  was  strongly  anti-slavery,  and  voted  for  James  G.  Birney  for  president  in  1844.  He  has 
acted  with  the  republican  party  since  it  was  formed. 

He  married,  in  January,  1846,  at  Penn  Yan,  Miss  Laura  Spencer,  a  relative  of  Hon.  Joshua  C. 
Spencer,  thirty  years  ago  a  prominent  politician  in  New  York,  and  they  have  buried  four  chil- 
dren in  infancy  and  childhood,  and  have  three  living. 


WILLIAM  NOECKER,  M.D. 

MONTICEI.LO. 

ONE  of  the  ablest  physicians  in  central  Illinois  is  Doctor  William  Noecker.  He  was  born  in 
Northumberland  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1825.  His  father  was  a  native  of  the  same  county, 
in  which  he  resided  until  his  death.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was  of  German 
descent.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  went  to  Ohio  in  1840,  and  afterward  studied  medicine  at  Cir- 
cleville,  in  that  state,  with  Doctor  Hull.  He  then  entered  Starling  Medical  College,  at  Columbus, 
Ohio,  and  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1853.  He  then  removed  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Monticello,  where  he  still  resides.  Numerous  persons  had  before  that  time  emigrated  from 
Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  to  Piatt  county,  and  the  doctor  found  himself  at  once  among  his  friends. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Monticello,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Doctor  Ward,  who  was  the 
only  physician  in  that  place,  which  partnership  continued  one  year;  their  practice  extending 
throughout  Piatt  county  and  into  portions  of  Champaign,  Douglas  and  Macon  counties.  After 
the  dissolution  of  this  partnership,  Doctor  Noecker  continued  the  practice  of  medicine  alone,  and 
was  soon  favored  with  a  very  extensive  and  lucrative  business,  from  which  he  has  amassed  a 
handsome  fortune.  In  1865  he  went  into  the  drug  business,  which,  in  connection  with  his  prac- 
tice as  a  physician,  he  has  carried  on  up  to  the  present  time.  In  1868  he  built  the  corner  brick 
building,  a  portion  of  which  he  now  occupies. 


HCCnopsr  Jr  i  La. 


LiBSARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITV  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  82! 

In  December,  1861,  Doctor  Noecker  was  married  to  Miss  Ella  Britton.  They  had  one  child, 
Willie,  who  died  when  but  four  years  old.  In  1875,  Doctor  Noecker  built  one  of  the  finest  brick 
residences  in  Monticello,  which  he  has  fitted  up  for  the  enjoyment  of  himself  and  wife,  both  in  the 
prime  of  life.  He  has  been  a  Mason  many  years,  holding  the  office  of  high  priest  of  Markwell 
Chapter,  and  is  recognized  as  past  high  priest  of  that  chapter.  He  is  also  a  charter  member  of 
the  Urbana  commandery  of  Knights  Templar,  and  attended  the  Knights  Templar  encampment  at 
New  Orleans  in  1874,  and  again  at  Cleveland,  in  1877.  Doctor  Noecker  is  recognized  by  the 
members  of  his  profession  as  eminently  well  posted  in  every  thing  connected  with  the  practice  of 
medicine  and  surgery.  He  is  seldom  deceived  in  the  diagnosis  of  a  disease,  and  he  has  been  first 
and  foremost  to  examine  all  of  the  new  discoveries  in  medical  science,  and  pass  them  under  the 
lens  of  his  unerring  judgment.  He  was  never  known  to  experiment  upon  his  patients,  always 
using  remedies  known  to  be  useful,  after  due  investigation  and  trial  of  their  merits.  In  addition 
to  his  eminent  skill  as  a  physician  and  surgeon,  Doctor  Noecker  is  a  remarkably  efficient  business 
man.  He  not  only  knows  how  to  make  money,  but  he  is  expert  in  placing  it  where  it  will 
increase.  He  is  a  citizen  who  has  the  highest  respect  of  all  who  are  favored  with  his  acquain- 
tance; is  social,  affable  and  congenial  in  his  intercourse  with  mankind,  and  has  a  large  circle  of 
friends  who  admire  him  for  his  true  manhood  and  his  moral  and  intellectual  worth. 


HON.   BENJAMIN   F.  BERRIAN. 

QUINCY. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  BERRIAN,  judge  of  the  county  of  Adams,  is  a  native  of  New  York 
city,  a  son  of  George  W.  and  Hannah  (Brower)  Berrian;  and  dates  his  birth  October  2,  1830. 
Both  parents  were  also  born  in  that  city.  His  father  was  a  land  agent.  Benjamin  came  to 
Adams  county  in  1844;  was  a  farmer  here  for  about  fifteen  years,  then  went  back  to  New  York, 
and  became  a  druggist ;  returned  to  Adams  county ;  read  law  at  Quincy  ;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1873,  and  engaged  in  probate  business  mainly.  In  1877  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
county  judge  by  his  democratic  constituents,  and  after  serving  five  years,  was  reelected,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1882,  making  a  very  faithful  officer.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar,  and  is  the  father  of  three 
children. 

HON.  JOHN    H.  WILLIAMS. 

QUINCY. 

JOHN  HAMILTON  WILLIAMS,  judge  of  the  sixth  judicial  circuit,  is  a  son  of  Archibald  and 
Nancy  (Kemp)  Williams,  and  was  born  in  Quincy,  April  12,  1833.  His  great-grandfather, 
Hukey  Williams,  was  a  soldier  in  the  revolutionary  army.  Archibald  Williams  came  to  Illinois 
in  1829  from  Kentucky,  where  he  was  born  in  1801.  He  settled  in  Quincy.  He  was  an  eminent 
lawyer,  and  associate  at  the  bar  with  President  Lincoln,  Judge  Douglas,  and  that  class  of  legal 
lights  in  central  and  western  Illinois  thirty  and  forty  years  ago;  was  a  member  of  the  constitu- 
tional convention  in  1847;  a  member  of  the  legislature  two  or  three  terms;  United  States  district 
attorney  under  Presidents  Taylor  and  Fillmore;  was  appointed  United  States  district  judge  for 
Kansas,  March  14,  1861,  by  President  Lincoln,  and  died  September  21,  1863. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the  Missouri  State  University,  at  Columbia,  Boone 
county,  leaving  at  the  'close  of  his  junior  year;  read  law  at  Quincy  with  his  father  and  Hon. 
Charles  B.  Lawrence;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February,  1855,  and  practiced  his  profession  at 
Quincy  until  he  went  on  the  bench,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  the  autumn  of  1879.  At  the  bar 
Judge  Williams  was  known  as  a  sound  lawyer  and  a  wise  counselor,  rather  than  as  a  fluent  and 
brilliant  advocate.  He  has  a  good  judicial  mind;  as  a  jurist  is  conscientious,  clear-headed  and 
deliberate;  is  very  kind,  particularly  to  the  younger  members  of  the  bar,  and  is  constantly  gain- 
ing in  popularity. 


822  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

Judge  Williams  reached  his  majority  in  1854,  simultaneously  with  the  demise  of  the  whig 
party,  in  which  school  of  politics  he  had  been  reared  by  his  father,  who  was  a  prominent  member 
of  it  for  a  score  of  years  or  more.  His  proclivities,  like  those  of  his  father,  were  of  a  free-soil 
tendency,  and  he  promptly  linked  his  fortune  with  the  new-born  party  of  freedom,  which  came 
into  power  March  4,  1861,  under  the  leadership  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


HON.  SAMUEL   S.   GILBERT. 

CARLINVILLE. 

QAMUEL  SAYWARD  GILBERT  is  a  son  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  Sayward  Gilbert,  and  was 
w_J  born  at  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  January  27,  1827.  He  was  educated  in  part  in  the  free 
schools  of  that  state;  came  to  Illinois  in  1835;  finished  his  education  at  Shurtleff  College,  Upper 
Alton,  teaching  school  meantime  in  Scott  county  and  at  Upper  Alton.  He  came  to  Carlinville  in 
1848;  here  studied  law,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1850.  He  was  elected  county  judge  in  1852, 
to  fill  a  vacancy;  was  refilected  in  1853,  and  had  the  office  in  all  five  years.  He  has  held  at  differ- 
ent times  the  office  of  master  of  chancery,  and  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  one  term,  being 
elected  in  1875,  and  serving  as  chairman  of  the  committge  on  insurance.  He  was  a  democrat 
until  the  civil  war  began,  and  returned  to  that  party  in  1872.  He  married,  in  1851,  Frances  Mc- 
Clure,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  has  three  sons  living. 


THOMAS    J.  RUSSELL. 

VERSAILLES. 

JEFFERSON  RUSSELL,  judge  of  Brown  county,  is  a  son  of  James  and  Sarah 
J.  (Lincoln)  Russell,  and  was  born  in  Hamilton  county,  near  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  June  3,  1827. 
His  father  was  a  miller,  and  a  native  of  Vermont.  Thomas  had  only  a  very  ordinary  education  ; 
came  to  Fulton  county,  this  state,  in  1843  ;  farmed  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  then  worked  in 
a  grist  mill ;  came  to  Brown  county  in  1845,  and  was  here  engaged  in  grist  mills  and  saw  mills, 
near  Versailles,  until  about  1861.  He  then  built  with  others,  and  ran  for  several  years,  a  mill  of 
his  own. 

At  twenty-eight  years  of  age  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  for  Elkhorn  township,  the 
duties  of  which  office  absorbed  a  portion  of  his  time  for  many  years.  In  1870  he  was  elected 
police  magistrate  for  the  corporation  of  Versailles,  and  that  office  he  still  holds.  He  is  also  an 
undertaker  and  farmer,  in  company  with  his  brother,  William  N.  Russell.  In  1877  Mr.  Russell 
was  elected  county  judge,  and  after  serving  five  years  he  was  reglected  in  November,  1882.  He 
is  a  republican,  living  in  a  strong  democratic  county. 


HON.  AUGUST  W.   BERGGREN. 

GALESBVRGH. 

AJGUST  WERNER  BERGGREN,  merchant  and  state  senator,  is  a  native  of  Sweden,  a  son 
of  John  and  Catherine  (Larson)  Berggren,  and  was  born  August  17,  1842.  He  received  an 
ordinary  business  education  in  the  old  country;  partially  learned  the  tailor's  trade  there;  came 
to  this  country  in  1856,  worked  a  year  at  tailoring  in  Victoria,  Knox  county,  and  then  settled  in 
Galesburgh,  the  seat  of  justice  of  that  county.  Here  he  worked  a  few  years  at  his  trade  of  mer- 
chant tailoring;  was  then  elected  justice  of  the  peace;  served  in  that  capacity  till  1872,  when  he 
was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county.  He  was  reflected  in  1874,  1876  and  1878,  serving  eight  con- 
secutive years,  and  making  a  very  commendable  record  in  the  shrievalty.  In  1880  he  was  nomi- 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  823 

nated  by  his  republican  friends  in  Knox  and  Mercer  counties,  for  the  office  of  state  senator  for 
the  term  of  four  years,  and  was  elected.  He  is  chairman  of  the  committee  on  fees  and  salaries, 
and  a  member  of  five  or  six  other  committees,  being  a  good  practical  and  industrious  worker  in 
that  body.  Mr.  Berggren  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Masonic  order  and  past  grand  master  of 
the  Odd-Fellows  of  the  state.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Swedish  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


HON.  EDWARD  L.  CRONKRITE. 

FREEPOR  T. 

EDWARD  LAFONTAINE  CRONKRITE,  a  prominent  merchant  and  an  experienced  legis- 
lator, is  a  native  of  Rensselaer  county,  New  York,  a  son  of  Joseph  G.  and  Phebe  (Caldwell) 
Cronkrite,  and  dates  his  birth  June  27,  1832.  His  father  was  also  born  in  that  state,  and  his 
mother  was  a  native  of  Connecticut.  He  received  an  academic  education  at  West  Poultney,  Ver- 
mont; taught  school  awhile  in  New  York  state;  went  to  California  in  1855;  returned  eastward  in 
1859;  settled  in  Freeport,  his  present  home,  and  after  holding  a  clerkship  between  two  and  three 
years,  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  Mr.  Cronkrite  has  been  an  alderman  and  mayor  of  the 
city  for  four  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  1873  to  1879;  was  the  democratic 
candidate  for  state  treasurer,  1878;  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1880,  and  reflected 
in  1882,  and  is  serving  his  tenth  year  in  a  legislative  body,  his  district  being  the  twelfth.  He  is 
regarded  by  all  parties  as  a  wise  law  maker.  He  has  always  affiliated  with  the  democratic  party, 
and  is  often  seen  at  district  and  state  conventions. 


EDWARD   P.  BARTON. 

FREEPOR  T. 

1  ^DWARD  PECK  BARTON,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  Stephenson  county,  is  a  son  of 
lj  David  L.  and  Almira  (Peck)  Barton,  and  was  born  at  Marshall,  Oneida  county,  New  York, 
June  5,  1829.     His  grandfather,  David  Barton,  was  from  Massachusetts,  where  his  great-grand- 
father enlisted  in  the  army  and  fought  for  independence. 

David  L.  Barton  was  a  farmer  and  reared  his  children  in  habits  of  industry.  Edward  aided 
in  tilling  the  land,  attending  a  district  school  in  the  winter  term  until  sixteen  years  old,  when  he 
commenced  preparing  for  college.  He  entered  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  New  York,  in  1847; 
was  graduated  in  1851;  read  law  in  the  same  place  with  Professor  Theodore  Dwight,  LL.D.,  now 
at  the  head  of  the  law  department  of  Columbia  College,  New  York,  and  was  licensed  to  practice 
in  Oswego  in  1852.  Mr.  Barton  practiced  for  three  years  in  New  York  city  and  Brooklyn,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1856  settled  in  Freeport.  His  legal  acquirements  are  above  the  average,  and  he  is 
an  honest  and  thoroughly  trustworthy  man,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  judges  of  law  in 
Stephenson  county. 

JUDGE   JOSEPH    SIBLEY. 

QUINCY. 

JOSEPH  SIBLEY  was  born  in  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1818,  and  is  the  youngest 
J  son  of  Aaron  and  Tryphena  Sibley.  His  father  was  a  farmer  of  limited  means.  The  life  of 
a  farmer  was  unsuited  to  the  tastes  of  Joseph,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  learn  the  whip- 
making  trade.  He  worked  at  it  for  several  years  with  success,  and  then  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing till  1842,  when  he  lost  by  fire  all  that  he  had  accumulated.  He  was  now  appointed  deputy 
sheriff  of  Hampden  county,  and  after  serving  in  this  office  one  year,  removed  to  Schenectady, 
New  York,  and  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Page  and  Patten.  In  1846  he  was 


824  UNITED    STATES   RIOCRA  l>  II ICAL    DICTIONARY. 

admitted  to  the  bar,  and  removed  to  the  West.  Having  no  definite  location  in  view,  after  visiting 
several  places  he  finally  settled  in  Nauvoo,  Illinois.  In  1850  he  was  elected  to  the  general  assem- 
bly, and  reelected  in  1852.  At  the  opening  of  his  second  term  he  was  candidate  for  the  speaker- 
ship  of  the  house,  but  was  defeated  by  Ex-Governor  John  Reynolds.  During  this  term,  as  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  banks  and  corporations,  he  rendered  valuable  service. 

In  the  spring  of  1853  he  removed  to  Warsaw,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  J.  M.  True,  and 
continued  with  him  till  June,  1855,  when  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court.  During  a 
term  of  six  years  he  served  with  such  entire  satisfaction  to  the  bar  and  people  that  he  was 
reelected  in  1861,  without  opposition. 

He  removed  to  Quincy  in  June,  1865,  and  has  since  made  it  his  home.  1867  he  was  elected 
for  another  term  of  six  years.  Also  in  1873,  judges'  salaries  were  increased,  several  candidates 
were  brought  into  the  field,  and  the  democratic  party  thought  it  advisable  to  call  a  convention  to 
decide  upon  the  claims  of  the  several  aspirants.  Judge  Sibley  was  chosen  the  candidate  by  a 
decided  .majority,  and  after  a  warm  contest  was  elected  over  a  strong  opposition. 

On  returning  from  the  bench  he  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  stands  at  the  head  of 
the  Adams  county  bar.  

HON.  JOHN    M.  PEARSON 

GODFRE  Y. 

THIS  gentleman  is  a  member  of  the  legislature  from   Madison  county,  and  quite  active  and 
efficient.     He  was  born  about  the  time  the  Asiatic  cholera  came  to  this  country  (1832),  and 
is  the  son  of  a  ship  carpenter,  whose  home  was  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  fifty  and  sixty 
years  ago.     Mr.  Pearson  came  to  Alton  in   1849,  and  now  resides  in  Godfrey,  same  county.     He 
was  engaged  for  years  in  the  manufacture  of  agricultural  implements,  and  is  now  farming. 

Mr.  Pearson  was  a  member  of  the  warehouse  commission  from  1873  to  1877;  was  elected  to 
the  lower  house  of  the  legislature  in  1878,  and  has  been  twice  reelected.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
painstaking  and  diligent  members  of  the  house  on  the  republican  side;  is  a  Knight  Templar  in 
Freemasonry,  and  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church.  He  has  a  wife  and  three  children. 


PENNOYER   L.   SHERMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Pompey  (now  La  Fayette),  Onondaga  county,  New 
York,  and  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Roger  Sherman,  of  Connecticut,  one  of  the  signers  of 
the  declaration  of  independence.  After  finishing  his  primary  education,  he  prepared  for  college 
at  the  academies  of  Homer  and  Pompey  Hill,  in  his  native  county,  the  last  named  being,  in  those 
days,  a  famous  school,  and  one  in  which  many  men,  who  in  later  years  became  distinguished, 
received  their  early  training.  He  entered  the  freshman  class  of  Hamilton  College  in  1847,  being 
then  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  graduated  in  1851. 

As  a  boy,  he  was  fond  of  reading,  and  in  college  was  known  as  a  thorough  student  and  good 
scholar,  and  possessing  clear  perceptive  faculties,  good  reasoning  powers,  and  an  ability  to  express 
himself  in  clear  and  forcible  language,  he  was  naturally  attracted  to  the  legal  profession.  Hon. 
Daniel  Gott,  a  celebrated  lawyer,  had  his  office  at  Pompey,  and  under  his  careful  tuition  and 
training,  many  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  central  New  York  received  their  legal  edu- 
cation. In  fact,  it  came  to  be  regarded  in  those  days  that  a  course  of  instruction  under  his  able 
tuition  was  equivalent  to  a  graduation  from  the  best  law  school  in  the  country.  Here  young 
Sherman  pursued  a  thorough  course  of  legal  study,  bringing  to  his  work  a  mind  well  stored  with 
useful  knowledge,  and  carefully  disciplined  by  his  earlier  education,  and  so  capable  of  utilizing 
his  superior  advantages. 


H  C  Zacatr  J,  I  C.-. 


En.   by  t  C.Williimi  J   Bt.NY 


OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


UNITED    STATES  BIOC.RA  PIl  ICA  I.    DICTIONAKY.  g27 

In  1853  he  decided  to  make  his  home  in  the  West,  and  removing  to  Chicago,  entered  the  law 
office  of  Collins  and  Williams,  and  continued  his  legal  studies,  and  in  1855  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Illinois,  at  once  entering  into  the  active  practice  of  his  profession,  which  has  since  engaged 
his  undivided  attention.  As  a  lawyer  he  is,  in  the  truest  sense,  an  ornament  to  his  profession, 
and  as  a  civil  practitioner  has  few  superiors.  Careful  and  thorough  in  the  preparation  of  his 
cases  and  briefs,  and  clear  and  forcible  in  their  presentation,  he  seldom  fails  to  impress  court  or 
jury  with  the  earnestness  of  his  convictions,  or  the  justness  of  his  cause.  He  is  a  man  of  modest 
mien,  quiet  and  unostentatious,  and  succeeds  in  his  profession  through  earnest,  constant,  and 
well  directed  effort.  As  a  man,  he  is  known  and  esteemed  for  his  upright  and  manly  dealing, 
and  enjoys  the  fullest  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  has  to  do,  either  professionally,  socially,  or 
as  a  business  man. 


HON.   HENRY   B.   HOPKINS. 

PEORIA- 

HENRY  BRIDGEMAN  HOPKINS,  son  of  John  Turner  Hopkins,  and  Matilda  (Hall)  Hop- 
kins, was  born  in  Peacham,  Caledonia  county,  Vermont,  October  4,  1826.  He  received  a 
common-school  and  academic  education ;  taught  school  during  several  winters  ;  learned  his 
father's  trade,  that  of  a  harness  maker;  read  law  at  Chester,  Windsor  county  ;  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  that  county  in  1853  ;  practiced  at  Chester- until  the  spring  of  1854,  and  in  May  of  that 
year  settled  in  Peoria,  where  he  soon  worked  his  way  into  a  fair  practice.  He  was  master  in 
chancery  from  1856  to  1862. 

As  a  pleader  he  is  clear  in  analysis  and  statement,  happy  in  arrangement,  and  exhaustive  ; 
and  he  is  successful  before  a  jury,  rather  because  of  the  lucidness  and  force  of  his  arguments 
than  the  persuasiveness  of  his  oratory.  In  argument  before  the  court  he  is  hardly  surpassed  for 
exhaustive  examination,  and  concise,  and  logical  preservation  of  the  law.  His  success  maybe 
fairly  attributed  to  his  carefulness,  thoroughness,  fidelity  and  untiring  industry. 

In  March,  1873,  Mr.  Hopkins  was  appointed  judge  of  the  sixteenth  judicial  circuit,  to  fill  a 
vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Judge  T.  B.  Puterbaugh,  and  held  that  office  till  July  of  the 
same  year.  He  was  the  republican  candidate  for  reelection,  but  it  was  the  year  of  the  granger 
cyclone,  and  he,  with  many  other  worthy  men  of  his  party,  was  defeated. 

The  judge  is  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  man  of  sterling  moral  char- 
acter. He  was  married  in  October,  1857,  to  Miss  Emily  A.  Hough,  of  Lebanon,  New  Hampshire, 
and  they  have  seven  children. 


w 


HON.  WILLIAM   THOMAS. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

ILLIAM  THOMAS,  the  oldest  lawyer  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  was  born  in  Warren,  now 
Allen  county,  Kentucky,  November  22,  1802.  His  parents  were  Walter  Thomas  and  Nancy 
(Pulliam)  Thomas,  both  natives  of  Virginia.  Walter  Thomas  was  sheriff  of  Warren  county,  and 
when  Allen  county  was  set  off  he  became  sheriff  of  the  latter  county.  His  father,  William 
Thomas,  for  whom  our  subject  was  named,  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  Octo- 
ber, 1780,  and  carried  his  wound  until  his  death.  Nancy  Pulliam  was  a  daughter  of  Captain 
Benjamin  Pulliam,  who  served  through  the  whole  successful  contest  of  the  colonies  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  British  yoke.  He  raised  a  family  of  sixteen  children,  all  living  to  manhood  and 
womanhood. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  picked  up  what  little  education  he  had  in  youth  by  attending  winter 
schools  up  to  his  fifteenth  year.     His  teachers  were  not  very  learned,  all  of  them  being  innocent 
of  any  knowledge  of  English  grammar.     Mr.  Thomas  educated  himself  after  he  was  old  enough 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  mental  discipline. 
80 


828  UNITED    STATES   IUOGKA  1'lfICA  I.    DICTIONARY. 

When  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  Mr.  Thomas  became  deputy  sheriff  of  Allen  county,  under 
his  father,  filling  that  post  two  years;  subsequently,  was  deputy  clerk  in  two  different  offices,  a 
short  time  in  each;  was  a  student  at  law  at  the  same  time  at  Bowling  Green,  in  the  office  of  Hon. 
James  T.  Morehead,  afterward  governor  of  Kentucky;  was  licensed  to  practice  July  5,  1823,  lack- 
ing a  few  months  of  being  of  age,  and  for  one  year  he  attended  to  the  business  of  Mr.  Morehead 
at  Russellville,  Kentucky.  He  then  ^#ent  into  practice  with  Judge  Joseph  R.  Underwood,  of 
Bowling  Green,  until  the  autumn  of' 1826,  when  he  came  to  Jacksonville,  reaching  this  place 
October  12.  The  first  three  months  that  he  spent  here  he  was  the  village  schoolmaster. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  in  active  practice  here  for  fifty-five  years,  and  still  has  an  office,  though  he 
does  no  new  business.  He  is  the  oldest  lawyer  now  in  practice  in  the  state,  Hon.  John  T. 
Stuart,  of  Springfield,  being  probably  the  next  oldest.  For  thirty  or  forty  years  Mr.  Thomas 
stood  in  the  front  rank  among  the  lawyers  of  central  Illinois,  being  a  contemporary  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  John  J.  Hardin,  Stephen  G.  Logan,  Cyrus  Walker,  O.  H. 
Browning,  Archibald  Williams,  General  E.  D.  Baker,  etc. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  in  the  Winnebago  war  of  1827,  serving  as  quartermaster's  sergeant  under 
Colonel  Neal,  having  heavy  labors  and  small  pay. 

In  1828  a  circuit-court  district  was  established  north  of  the  Illinois  River,  called  the  fifth  circuit, 
and  our  subject  was  appointed  by  Governor  Edwards  state's -attorney  of  the  same,  which  he 
resigned  in  the  fall  of  1829.  He  was  one  of  three  commissioners  appointed  by  the  United  States 
to  fix  the  location  of  the  public  buildings  at  Quincy. 

Early  in  the  year  1831  he  was  appointed  a  commissioner,  with  Hon.  John  T.  Stuart,  to  visit 
Rock  Island  and  other  places,  on  personal  testimony  to  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  President 
Jackson  that  the  facts  required  war  with  Black  Hawk.  Their  testimony  was  satisfactory  to  the 
government. 

In  1831  he  was  quartermaster  of  the  army  under  General  Duncan,  who  drove  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  across  the  Mississippi  River,  beloVl  Rock  Island;  and  on  Black  Hawk's  return  to  Illinois  the 
next  spring,  our  subject  served  in  the  same  capacity  under  General  Whiteside. 

In  1834  Mr.  Thomas  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  senate;  was  reflected  in  1838,  and 
after  serving  for  six  years  in  that  body,  was  elected  judge  of  the  first  judicial  circuit.  In  the  first 
session  that  he  was  in  the  legislature,  he  introduced  the  bill  known  as  the  seven  years'  limitation 
case  (1835)  with  reference  to  land,  which  bill  passed  and  became  the  first  law  of  the  kind  in  the 
state.  Until  the  meeting  of  the  legislature  in  December,  1834,  no  incorporated  literary  institu- 
tion existed  in  the  state.  In  that  session  separate  bills  had  been  prepared  for  incorporating  the 
colleges  at  Jacksonville,  Upper  Alton,  and  Lebanon.  In  order  to  unite  the  friends  of  these  insti- 
tutions and  secure  joint  efforts  and  support,  Judge  Thomas  proposed  to  the  friends  to  unite  them 
all  in  one  bill,  which  being  agreed  to,  he  prepared  .the  bill,  which  was  passed,  and  opposition  to 
such  act  ceased  from  that  time.  He  also  introduced  a  bill  which  passed,  authorizing  religious 
societies  to  hold  property  for  purposes  of  education  and  divine  worship,  nothing  of  the  kind 
being  on  the  statutes  before. 

Judge  Thomas  was  the  author  of  the  first  bill,  which  became  a  law  about  1837,  authorizing 
the  organization  of  free  schools  in  this  state,  and  he  received  many  high  compliments  and  warm 
congratulations  for  his  work  and  success  in  that  direction.  It  was  through  his  influence  that  part 
of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  United  States  belonging  to  Illinois  was  set  aside  for  the  use  of  the 
public  schools.  The  amount  thus  set  aside,  as  appears  by  the  auditor's  report,  was  $335,592.50. 

During  the  last  four  years  that  he  was  in  the  senate  (1836-1840),  he  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  canals  and  canal  lands,  and  was  the  author  of  all  the  bills  passed  during  that  period  on 
that  subject.  While  in  the  senate,  he  made  a  report  on  canals,  recommending  the  deep  cut,  and 
his  report  was  adopted  and  carried  out.  Judge  Thomas  sat  on  the  bench  for  two  years,  and  then 
returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

In  1846  Judge  Thomas  was  again  elected  to  the  general  assembly,  and  introduced  a  bill  for 
the  establishment  of  a  hospital  for  the  insane,  in  which  movement  he  was  encouraged  by  Miss  D. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  829 

L.  Dix,  the  noted  philanthropist  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  who  had  visited  him  and  others  at 
Jacksonville  in  the  spring  of  1846.  During  the  next  winter  he  introduced  her  to  the  members  of 
the  legislature,  and  a  bill  was  finally  drawn  up,  passed,  and  become  a  law  in  February,  1847,  the 
result  being  the  hospital  now  and  for  thirty-five  years  in  successful  operation  at  Jacksonville. 
The  Jacksonville  "Weekly  Journal,"  April  27,  1881,  in  a  historical  sketch  of  the  asylums  or  hospi- 
tals at  Jacksonville,  speaking  of  this  matter,  and  giving  a  list  of  the  members  of  the  legislature 
who  voted  for  the  bill  for  a  hospital  for  the  insane,  states  that  Judge  Thomas  "was  very  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  passage  of  the  bill." 

He  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1847,  and  was  one  of  the  most  indefati- 
gable workers  in  that  body,  as  he  had  been  in  every  session  of  the  legislature  while  he  was  a 
member.  He  went  to  Vandalia,  and  later  to  Springfield,  to  work  for  the  interest  of  the  state  ; 
and  the  stamp  of  his  .strong  and  molding  mind  is  in  many  of  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth. 
He  was  known  in  those  days  as  the  "dray  horse"  of  the  whig  party.  His  last  act  as  a  member 
of  the  house  of  representatives  was  to  prepare  and  introduce  a  bill  providing  for  condemning 
land  for  railroad  and  other  road  purposes,  which  bill  passed,  June  22,  1852. 

About  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war,  our  subject  and  Mr.  Woodworth,  of 
Chicago,  and  Mr.  Lanphier,  of  Springfield,  were  appointed  an  army  auditing  committee,  to  audit 
accounts  against  the  state  for  supplies  for  the  use  of  the  army.  The  judge  acted  upon  accounts 
for  more  than  two  millions.  During  the  time  of  his  service,  he  was  appointed  agent  for  the  state 
with  authority  to  secure  from  the  United  States  money  to  be  used  by  the  state  authorities  in  the 
service  of  the  country.  He  went  to  Washington  and  procured  $450,000,  which  he  safely  delivered 
to  the  state  treasurer.  Subsequently  he  was  of  great  service  to  the  state  and  the  country  in  a 
similar  line  of  duty.  No  truer  patriot  or  more  honest  man  had  the  handling  of  funds  in  this 
state  during  the  rebellion. 

When  more  money  was  required  to  meet  the  pressing  demands  and  necessities,  Governor 
Yates,  with  Judge  Kellogg,  went  to  Washington  to  secure  this  demand.  They  obtained,  as  the 
governor  understood  it,  one  million  of  treasury  notes,  to  be  used  by  him  in  paying  war  expenses. 
He  returned  to  Illinois  by  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  upon  reaching  home  found  a  quarter- 
master of  the  United  States  army  with  orders  to  receive  and  disburse  this  money.  The  governor 
refused  to  surrender  it,  insisting  that  it  was  paid  to  him  for  disbursement.  The  question  was 
here  presented  as  to  how  this  money  must  be  disposed  of,  and  was  referred  back  .to  the  quarter- 
master-genegal  from  whose  department  it-  was  obtained,  and  who  insisted  that  his  last  order 
should  be  obeyed.  Judge  Thomas,  seeing  this  conflict,  proposed  to  the  governor  to  settle  the 
matter,  if  authorized  to  do  so.  The  governor  gave  him  the  requisite  order,  and  in  a  week  he  ob- 
tained the  money  by  selecting  of  the  claims  on  file  for  quartermaster's  stores,  the  million  dollars, 
and  passing  to  the  quartermaster  receipts  for  the  same.  Thus  the  question  was  settled,  with  many 
thanks  to  the  judge  for  his  timely  interference. 

In  1869  Governor  Palmer  appointed  Judge  Thomas  to  the  office  of  commissioner  of  the  State 
Board  of  Public  Charities,  and  not  long  afterward,  the  judge  sent  the  governor  the  following 
letter,  which  explainsiitself : 

JACKSONVILLE,  October  2,  1869. 
To  HIS  EXCELLENCY  JOHN  M.  PALMER: 

Dear  Sir, — I  accepted  the  office  of  commissioner  of  the  State  Board  of  Public  Charities,  with  considerable  hesita- 
tion, yet  with  the  bona  fide  intention  of  executing  the  duties  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  and  have  indulged  the  hope, 
until  recently,  that  I  should  be  able  to  carry  out  that  intention,  yet  the  continued  bad  health  of  my  wife,  added  to  my 
own  continued  affliction  of  rheumatism,  renders  it  impossible  for  me  to  do  so;  I  therefore  resign  the  office,  that  some 
one  may  be  appointed,  so  situated  as  to  be  able  to  perform  the  duties. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  THOMAS. 

Judge  Thomas  was  originally  a  whig,  and  still  cherishes  the  principles  of  that  great  party 
while  acting  with  the  republicans. 

He  was  first  married  in  1830  to  Miss  Catherine  Scott,  of  Jersey  Prairie,  Morgan  county,  this 


830  UNITI-.n    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

state.  She  died  in  July,  1875,  leaving  no  issue,  an  only  child  having  died  in  infancy.  His  present 
wife  was  Mrs.  Leanah  M.  (Eads)  Orear,  widow  of  Hon  William  Orear,  of  Jacksonville.  They 
were  married  in  May,  1878.  Mrs.  Thomas  is  a  cousin  of  J.  B.  Eads,  the  architect  and  builder  of 
the  Saint  Louis  bridge. 

Judge  Thomas  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church;  has  held  different  offices  in 
that  Christian  body,  and  has  always  maintained  a  high  character  for  integrity  and  loftiness  of 
aims  in  life.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  first  general  conference  after  laymen  were  admitted. 

Judge  Thomas  has  been  a  liberal  contributor  toward  the  building  up  and  sustaining  of  the 
religious,  educational  and  benevolent  institutions  of  Jacksonville.  To  the  original  buildings,  and 
to  the  rebuilding  of  the  female  college  after  it  was  burnt,  his  contributions  have  amounted  to 
over  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

HON.  WILLIAM   M.  SMITH. 

LEXINGTON. 

WILLIAM  MICHAEL  SMITH,  a  leading  merchant  and  business  man  at  Lexington,  was 
born  near  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  May  23,  1823.  His  father,  John  W.  Smith,  moved  with 
his  family  to  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  in  1840,  and  in  1846  to  Illinois,  settling  near  Lexington. 
William  picked  up  his  education,  as  best  he  could,  in  common  schools;  in  1849  entered  a  piece  of 
congress  land  of  forty  acres,  three  miles  from  Lexington,  broke  it,  and  improved  it  with  his  own 
hands  until  1857.  Mr.  Smith  added  to  this  land  from  time  to  time,  and  the  homestead  now  con- 
sists of  half  a  section. 

Many  years  ago  Mr.  Smith  served  as  a  coroner  of  McLean  county;  was  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature from  1867  to  1873,  and  speaker  of  the  house  in  1871  and  1872,  the  first  speaker,  as  already 
stated,  after  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  (1871). 

Since  Governor  Cullom  came  into  the  office  (1877),  Mr.  Smith  has  been  chairman  of  the  rail- 
road and  warehouse  commission,  and  makes  an  efficient  man  for  that  post.     He  is  a  strong  re 
publican,  and  believes  that  the  best  interests  of  the  country  depend  on  the  continuance  in  power 
of  that  party.     He  is  also  a  blue-lodge  Mason. 


HON.   GEORGE   E.-  WARREN. 

JERSEYVILLE. 

GEORGE  E.  WARREN,  a  lawyer  and  politician  of  some  local  note,  was  born  at  Worthington, 
Franklin  county,  Ohio,  August  16,  1817.  His  father,  Thomas  Warren,  by  profession  a  phy- 
sician, a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  removed  to  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  about  1810,  and  there 
married  Martha,  daughter  of  Charles  DeWolf  ;  she  died  in  1829.  In  1835,  the  family,  then  con- 
sisting of  a  daughter  and  two  sons,  of  whom  Judge  Warren  is  the  only  survivor,  moved  west, 
and  settled  at  Alton,  Illinois.  George  received  a  good  education  —  partly,  collegiate  —  having 
entered  Brown  University,  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  remaining 
till  the  middle  of  his  senior  year.  He  commenced  reading  law  in  the  office  of  Woodson  and 
Hodges,  of  Carrollton,  Illinois,  and  also  assisted  M.  O.  Bledsoe,  clerk  of  both  the  circuit  and 
county  commissioner's  courts.  His  health  having  become  seriously  impaired  by  close  application, 
in  the  spring  of  1837  he  made  a  visit  to  his  former  home  and  friends  in  Rhode  Island  for  the  pur- 
pose of  recuperating;  and  there,  the  following  August,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Hannah  S., 
daughter  of  S.  S.  Allen,  collector  for  the  port  of  Bristol.  He  soon  thereafter  returned  to  the 
West,  and  in  the  spring  of  1838  settled  in  Alton,  where  he  completed  his  law  studies,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  Illinois  courts  in  1839.  His  father  having  purchased  for  him  a  large 
farm  near  Jerseyville,  with  money  bequeathed  by  his  grandfather,  Charles  DeWolf,  he  removed 
thither  in  the  spring  of  1840  and  engaged  in  farming.  If  he  did  not  acquire  wealth  at  his  new 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY*  83! 

pursuit,  he  gained  a  vigorous  constitution  and  a  practical  knowledge  of  hard  work.  In  1841  he 
was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  and  he  continued  in  that  capacity  till  1849,  when  he  was  elected 
the  first  judge  of  Jersey  county,  under  the  state  constitution  of  1848.  He  performed  the  duties 
of  that  office  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  for  eight  years.  In  January,  1862,  he  renewed  the 
practice  of  law,  in  connection  with  his  son-in-law,  William  H.  Pogue,  in  Jerseyville.  In  March, 
1875,  he  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city  of  Jerseyville,  on  the  anti-license  ticket.  In  1878  he  was 
elected  to  the  general  assembly  to  represent  Macoupin  and  Jersey  counties. 

In  politics  he  was  a  whig  till  the  expiration  of  that  party,  after  which  he  joined  his  fortunes 
with  the  republicans,  and  is  still  ardently  attached  to  their  principles. 


HON.  JOHN   A.  ARENZ. 

BEARDSTOWN. 

THIS  gentleman  was  born  in  Cologne,  a  province  of  the  Rhine,  October  28,  1811,  and  before 
coming  to  this  country  was  engaged  in  a  government  engineer  corps,  in  mapping  out  Prus- 
sia. In  1835  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  settled  in  Cass,  then  a  part  of  Morgan  county. 
He  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1843  ;  edited  a  whig  campaign  paper,  in  1844,  at  Spring- 
field ;  returned  to  Beardstown  in  1846,  and  in  the  course  of  twenty-five  years  held  the  offices  of 
town  trustee,  town  treasurer,  school  director,  mayor  (the  first  in  Beardstown),  and  judge  of  the 
county  court,  which  last  office  he  held  for  eight  years.  Latterly  Judge  Arenz  has  had  a  private 
office  adjoining  his  house,  and  is  attending  mainly  to  his  own  matters.  Few  men  living  at 
Beardstown  are  more  highly  esteemed  than  Judge  Arenz. 


HON.    NATHANIEL   W.  BRANSON. 

PETERSBURG!!. 

XJATHANIEL  WILLIAM  BRANSON,  lawyer,  is  a  son  of  William  and  Jane  (Cooledge) 
1  >  Branson,  and  was  born  in  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  May  29,  1837.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Illinois 
College,  class  of  1857;  read  law  at  Jacksonville;  was  called  to  the  bar  in  January,  1860,  and  opened 
an  office  in  Petersburgh.  He  rose  steadily,  and  has  held  for  fifteen  years  a  highly  creditable  posi- 
tion at  the  county  bar.  He  was  appointed  register  in  bankruptcy  in  1867,  and  made  Springfield 
his  home  for  three  or  four  years. 

Mr.  Branson  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1872,  and  reelected  in  1874.  In  1876  he  was  a 
delegate  to  the  republican  national  convention,  which  met  at  Cincinnati,  and  nominated  Hayes 
and  Wheeler. 

Mr.  Branson  was  married,  in  1861,  to  Miss  Fannie  D.  Regnier,  daughter  of  Doctor  Francis 
Regnier,  of  Petersburgh,  and  they  have  two  children. 


HON.  PINKNEY  H.  WALKER. 

RUSHVILLE. 

T  UDGE  WALKER  has  been  on  the  bench  for  thirty  ye.ars,  and  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
J  for  twenty-five  years.  He  is  one  of  those  eminent  jurists  of  whom  Illinois  may  well  be  proud. 
He  is  a  native  of  Adair  county,  Kentucky,  his  birth  being  dated  June  18,  1815  —  a  day  memorable 
in  the  annals  of  Europe  for  the  defeat  of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo.  His  parents  were  Joseph  G. 
Walker  and  Martha  (Scott)  Walker,  his  father  being  a  lawyer  of  considerable  note.  Until  seven- 
teen years  of  age  he  spent  his  summers  on  his  father's  farm,  and  his  winters  at  school.  From  the 
spring  of  1832  to  the  spring  of  1834,  he  was  in  a  store,  leaving  Kentucky  in  April  of  the  latter 


832  •  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.. 

year,  and  settling  at  Rushville,  Schuyler  county,  his  present  home.  His  first  four  years  in  this 
state,  he  was  a  merchant's  clerk  ;  in  March,  1838,  went  to  Macomb;  gave  a  few  months  to  study 
there  in  an  academy,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  his  uncle, 
Cyrus  "Walker.  This  gentleman  was  an  able  lawyer,  and  an  excellent  tutor;  Pinkney  made  rapid 
progress  under  him,  and  late  in  the  year  1839,  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Our  subject  practiced  at  Macomb  until  i,S4,S.  when  he  returned  to  Rushville,  where  he  practiced 
until  1853,  when  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  fifth,  afterward  eleventh  judicial  circuit,  to  fill  a 
vacancy.  In  1855  he  was  elected  without  opposition,  and  continued  on  the  bench  of  the  circuit 
court  until  April,  1858,  when  Governor  Bissell  appointed  him  to  the  supreme  bench,  also  to  fill  a 
vacancy.  In  June,  1858,  he  was  elected  for  the  regular  term  of  nine  years;  was  reelected  in  1867 
and  1876,  and  April  19,  1883,  had  been  on  the  supreme  bench  for  twenty-five  years.  He  is  a 
democrat,  and  his  party- is  in  the  minority  in  his  district,  but  the  people,  recognizing  his  eminent 
fitness,  have  had  the  good  sense  to  keep  him  in  the  high  position  for  which  he  is  so  admirably 
qualified. 

Judge  Walker  served  as  chief-justice  from  January,  1864,  to  June  1867;  again  from  June,  1874, 
to  June,  1875,  and  again  from  June,  1879,  to  June  i,  1880,  making  three  terms.  Few  men  in  the 
state  have,  in  this  respect,  been  so  much  honored. 

The  judge  has  long  been  a  diligent  student,  and  has  a  mind  stored  with  legal  lore  as  well  as 
general  knowledge;  he  has  a  tenacious  memory,  quick  to  furnish  rich  and  abundant  material  at 
the  opportune  moment,  and  a  natural  love  for  literary  and  scientific  studies,  which  make  him  an  in- 
teresting converser  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects.  He  is  not  only  a  profound  lawyer  and  an  emi- 
nent jurist,  but  he  has  a  well  trained  judgment,  an  investigative  disposition,  led  on  by  a  strong 
desire  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  a  subject,  whether  pertaining  to  jurisprudence  or  any  other  branch 
of  knowledge.  His  published  opinions,  now  covering  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  indicate  a 
constant,  not  to  say  remarkable,  growth  of  intelfect.  At  the  same  time  he  is  modest,  unassum- 
ing, sympathetic,  kindly,  and  possessed  of  the  simplicity  almost  of  a  child. 

For  the  period  during  which  Judge  Walker  has  adorned  the  supreme  bench,  the  most  import- 
ant questions  in  the  history  of  the  state  have,  many  of  them  for  the  first  time,  come  up  for  judi- 
cial determination.  Notable  among  the  cases  of  this  character  are  those  asserting  the  power  of 
the  state  over  railway  and  other  corporations  and  individuals,  to  restrict  them  to  reasonable  rates 
and  charges  in  their  dealings  with  the  public.  Of  this  class  is  the  case  of  Munn  vs.  People,  69 
Illinois,  decided  in  1873,  and  afterward,  on  appeal,  affirmed  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States,  followed  by  Ruggles  vs.  People,  known  as  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  railroad 
passenger  case,  where  Judge  Walker  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  favor  of  the  power  of 
the  state  to  regulate  rates  of  toll,  which  was  lately  on  appeal,  affirmed  by  the  supreme  court  of 
the  United  States.  These  and  other  cases  already  decided  by  our  supreme  court  will  hereafter  be 
referred  to  as  among  the  very  first  to  place  a  limitation  on  the  broad  rule  of  corporate  omnipo- 
tence, supposed  by  many  to  have  been  established  by  the  famous  Dartmouth  College  case. 

While  the  courts  of  other  states  may  have  held  to  some  extent,  the  doctrine  of  state  control 
over  corporations,  still,  the  power  to  do  so  had,  in  such  states,  been  preserved  to  them,  either  by 
a  reservation  in  the  charters  granted,  or  by  general  laws,  or  by  constitutional  restrictions,  which, 
excepting  in  special  cases,  did  not  exist  in  Illinois  as  to  charters  granted  prior  to  1870.  In  dealing 
with  questions  of  a  public  character,  when  properly  arising,  Judge  Walker  has  displayed  the 
qualities  not  only  of  a  jurist,  but  also  of  a  statesman. 

To  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  this  state,  and  to  none  more  than  Judge  Walker,  be- 
longs the  distinguished  honor  of  preserving,  in  their  purity,  the  best  and  most  useful  elements  of 
the  common  law,  as  established  and  illuminated  by  its  great  jurists  and  commentators,  with 
whose  works  the  judge  has  a  wide  acquaintance,  and  from  which  he  has  acquired  a  profound 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  the  law  in  all  its  departments.  His  course  upon  the  bench  has  been 
characterized  by  a  desire  to  administer,  in  a  wise  and  liberal  spirit,  the  rules  and  principles  of  the 
common  law,  ever  seeking  a  remedy  for  wrong,  and  never  turning  a  suiter  away,  unless  obliged. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  833 

by  the  strict  rules  of  law,  to  do  so.  To  this  spirit  can  justly  be  ascribed  the  stability  which  our 
laws  for  the  protection  of  person  and  property  have  attained,  and  the  absence  from  our  statute 
book  of  very  many  of  those  pernicious,  careless  or  unskillful  changes  which,  but  too  often,  afford 
opportunity  for  the  triumph  of  injustice  over  right  and  equity. 

Judge  Walker  has  a  wife  and  several  children,  the  former  being  Susan  (McCrosky)  Walker,  a 
native  of  Adair  county,  Kentucky.  They  were  married  at  Rushville,  June  2,  1840.  His  wife  is 
in  full  sympathy  with  him  in  all  his  arpirations,  and  in  his  generous  and  benevolent  traits  of 
character.  , 

HON.  THOMAS   M  SHAW. 

LA  CON. 

THOMAS  MANKINS  SHAW,  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  state  senate,  was  born 
in  that  part  of  Putnam  county  now  included  in  Marshall  county,  this  state,  August  20,  1836. 
His  parents  were  George  H.  Shaw  and  Penelope  (Edwards)  Shaw,  both  natives  of  Kentucky. 
Thomas  finished  his  education  in  the  Rock  River  Seminary,  at  Mount  Morris,  and  farmed  more 
or  less  with  his  father  until  he  went  into  the  law  office  of  William  D.  Edwards,  of  Lacon,  his 
present  home.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857;  practiced  four  years  at  Hennepin,  and  then 
returned  to  Lacon. 

A  gentleman  who  knows  Mr.  Shaw  intimately,  and  has  often  heard  him  plead,  states  that  he 
has  an  excellent  understanding  as  a  lawyer;  is  a  wise  counselor;  a  candid  and  clear  reasoner, 
and  is  eminently  successful  in  his  profession.  He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  his 
judicial  circuit. 

Mr.  Shaw  has  been  mayor  of  Lacon  two  terms;  was  the  democratic  nominee  for  congress  in 
his  district  in  1878,  and  in  1880  was  elected  to  the  state  senate.  He  was  assigned  to  the  judiciary 
committee,  and  the~committees  on  corporations,  banks  and  banking,  canals  and  rivers,  agriculture 
and  drainage,  etc. 

In  1863  Mr.  Shaw  was  married  to  Miss  Nellie  F.  Hirsch,  of  Woodford  county,  and  they  have 
one  adopted  child. 

HON.  JOHN   W.   MOORE. 

MOUND  STATION. 

JOHN  WILLIAM  MOORE,  shipper,  breeder  of  short-horn  cat.tlc,  fanner  and  legislator,  hails 
from  the  state  of  Indiana,  he  being  born  near  Bloomington,  Monroe  county,  August  15,  1847. 
1  lis  parents  are  Samuel  A.  Moore,  farmer,  of  Irish  lineage,  born  in  Iredell  county,  North  Carolina, 
and  Sarah  M.  (Goodnight)  Moore,  who  is  of  German  descent.  The  family  came  to  Illinois  in 
1849,  settled  in  Adams  county,  and  our  subject  finished  his  education  at  Abingdon  College,  Knox 
county,  Illinois,  being  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class  in  the  scientific  department,  receiving 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science  in  1873.  He  taught  school  before  going  to  college;  taught  in 
the  college  nearly  a  year,  and  in  other  places  after  receiving  his  diploma.  He  was  a  teacher  and 
commercial  traveler  until  1876,  when  he  settled  at  Mound  Station,  Brown  county,  where  he  has 
since  been  engaged  as  a  general  shipper,  a  breeder  of  short  horns  and  a  farmer.  He  has  240 
acres  of  .excellent  land,  largely  devoted  to  grazing  purposes,  and  is  a  prosperous  business  man. 
Mr.  Moore  is  considerably  interested  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  has  done  some  good  work  as 
a  member  of  the  local  school  board.  In  1882  he  was  elected  to  represent  in  part  the  thirty-sixth 
district  in  the  thirty-third  general  assembly,  the  district  being  composed  Brown,  Pike  and  Cal- 
houn  counties.  He  was  placed  on  the  commitree  on  labor  and  manufactures,  science  and 
geology,  education  and  retrenchment.  He  is  a  new  member  and  on  the  minority  (democratic) 
side,  but  keen-sighted  and  independent,  going  for  high  licenses  and  thus  taking  issue  with  the 
majority  of  his  party  in  the  legislature.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  or  Disciple  church,  an 


834  UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

advocate  of  the  cause  of  temperance,  on  the  platform  as  well  as  in  private  conventions,  and  a 
conscientious  man  who  would  vote  right  though  the  heavens  on  his  party  should  fall.  In  the 
church  Mr.  Moore  holds  the  offices  of  clerk  and  treasurer,  and  he  is  a  man  in  whom  not  only  his 
Christian  associates,  but  the  people  generally  of  his  county  have  great  confidence.  His  moral 
and  social  instincts  are  all  in  the  right  direction.  Mr.  Moore  is  the  director  of  the  Brown  County 
Agricultural  Society  and  the  reporter  for  Brown  county  to  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture. 
He  also  writes  for  the  county  newspapers,  and  is  one  of  those  thoroughly  live  and  sensible  men 
who  can.  have  three  or  four  irons  in  the  fire  simultaneously  without  jeopardizing  the  temper  of 
any  of  them. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Moore  was  Miss  Margaret  Ada  Byram  of  Abingdon,  their  union  taking  place 
January  n,  1879.     They  have  three  children,  named  Carrie  Elva,  Samuel  Edward  and  Mary. 


DUNCAN    MACKAY. 

MORRISON. 

DUNCAN  MACKAY  is  of  Highland  Scotch  parentage,  and  was  born  in  Sutherlandshire, 
Scotland,  in  1812.  His  parents  were  James  Mackay  and  Anna  (McDonald)  Mackay,  and 
were  both  descended  from  families  famous  in  the  annals  of  Scotland.  His  father  was,  however, 
a  man  of  peace,  and  famous  only  for  his  fine  cattle,  horses  and  sheep,  of  which  he  was  a  very  suc- 
cessful breeder.  Duncan  was  reared  to  the  same  gentle  occupation,  and  assisted  his  parents  on 
the  Highland  farm  until  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  His  education  was  only  such  as  boys  in  his 
station  usually  got  in  Scotland  at  that  time,  except  a  term  or  two  at  high  school.  In  1833,  when 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  came  to  Nova  Scotia,  with  an  elder  brother  and  a  sister,  but  not 
meeting  with  the  proper  encouragement  in  that  country,  in  1835  they  moved  just  across  the  line, 
and  established  themselves  in  Milton,  Maine,  in  the  business  of  fine  carriage  making,  a  business 
they  had  successfully  followed  for  some  years  in  Scotland.  Here  they  met  with  better  success, 
until  the  panic  of  1837.  This  was  the  first  financial  revulsion  of  which  they  had  ever  heard,  and 
it  was  a  surprise  indeed;  the  greater  part  of  their  goods  had  been  sold  on  credit,  and  it  was  a 
new  experience  when  their  debtors  refused  to  pay  or  return  the  goods.  The  crisis  prostrated 
their  business  and  they  were  compelled  to  close  it  up. 

His  brother  William  came  west  at  once,  while  Duncan  remained  to  settle  up  the  affairs  of  the 
firm,  and  collect  what  he  could.  It  took  over  two  years  to  do  this,  but  he  had  the  satisfaction  in 
1840  of  bringing  with  him  west  the  greater  part  of  the  amount  due  them,  aggregating  about  $4,- 
ooo.  The  elder  brother  had  originally  started  for  the  Pacific  coast,  intending  to  embark  on  busi- 
ness once  more,  at  Vancouver's  Island,  or  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  Puget  Sound,  but  passing 
over  the  matchless  prairies  of  the  West,  he  received  a  new  revelation,  and  could  get  no  further 
than  Carroll  county,  Illinois.  Thither  Duncan  followed,  and  they  invested  every  dollar  they 
could  raise  in  the  fine  prairie  soil  of  what  is  now  Salem  township,  and  stock  of  various  kinds  to 
grow  upon  it.  The  visions  of  possible  wealth  to  be  realized  in  stock  raising  upon  Illinois  prairies 
where  the  soil  was  inexhaustible,  and  hay  and  pasturage  free,  must  have  been  dazzling  in  the 
extreme,  to  the  young  Scotch  herdsmen;  yet  as  the  events  proved,  fully  capable  of  realization. 
The  land  had  not  yet  been  surveyed  or  come  into  market,  and  the  brothers  bought  out  the  claims 
of  seven  squatters,  amounting  to  about  1,120  acres.  Of  this  amount  Mr.  Mackay  still  owns  about 
600  acres  in  a  body. 

Duncan  had  married  Jessie  Mackay,  his  cousin,  while  still  in  Nova  Scotia.  His  parents  and 
the  rest  of  his  father's  family  had  come  over,  and  to  the  new  home  in  the  Far  West  they  all  came. 
A  small  three-story  log-house  at  first  gave  shelter  for  a  time  to  the  entire  company,  numbering 
twenty-four  grown  persons,  besides  children,  until  houses  could  be  built,  and  homes  provided  for 
all.  In  this  original  home,  sanctified  by  religion,  guarded  by  integrity,  and  supported  by  indus- 
try, such  peace,  happiness  and  contentment  reigned,  as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  man.  For  several 


H,C  Cnnpar   Jr    &    CD. 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  837 

years  the  family  carried  on  the  business  of  farming  and  stock  raising,  and  grew  rich,  yet  no  mem- 
ber of  the  prosperous  and  happy  community  being  able  at  any  time  to  say  "  this  is  mine,  and 
that  is  thine." 

Mr.  Mackay's  first  attempt  at  turning  his  hand  to  any  other  field  of  enterprise  since  coming 
west,  was  in  connection  with  John  H.  Manny,  the  inventor  of  the  Manny  reaper,  and  this  was 
prompted  originally  rather  by  his  natural  willingness  to  help  a  worthy  enterprise  in  need,  than 
an  expectation  of  realizing  a  fortune  by  it.  However,  he  was  not  the  loser  in  the  end.  In  1843 
a  couple  of  Germans  had  built  a  flouring  mill  at  Mount  Carroll.  Their  names  were  Halderman 
and  Rhinwalt,  and  Mackay,  a  couple  of  years  later,  entered  into  copartnership  with  them,  and 
organized  the  Hydraulic  Company.  The  design  was  to  utilize  the  water  power  of  Plum  River  in 
the  establishment  of  a  grand  series  of  factories  of  all  sorts.  The  company  was  established,  a 
charter  obtained,  and  business  began.  However,  the  venture  was  an  unfortunate  one  from  the 
start.  The  original  projectors  were  in  the  majority,  and  carried  everything  according  to  their 
own  will.  Mr.  Mackay  did  not  approve  of  their  plans  or  methods  of  business,  but  could  only 
enter  his  protest  from  time  to  time,  and  place  it  upon  record.  As  he  foresaw,  the  enterprise 
failed,  an  assignment  was  made,  their  affairs  got  into  the  courts,  and  after  several  years  of  costly 
litigation,  in  which  the  most  talented  lawyers  in  the  West  were  engaged,  the  whole  business  was 
wound  up  at  a  loss  to  all  concerned. 

Mr.  Mackay  had  been  from  youth  an  anti-slavery  man,  and  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  growing 
contest  between  the  two  gigantic  forces  of  freedom  and  slavery.'  He  was  opposed  to  the  doctrine 
of  squatter  sovereignty  advocated  by  Douglas,  while  a  great  admirer  of  the  abilities  of  that  great 
man.  When  the  war  cloud  burst  upon  the  country  he  was  an  enthusiastic  and  very  efficient  sup- 
porter of  the  government.  He  was  fit  all  times  ready  with  his  counsel  and  his  cash  to  aid  the 
good  cause,  and  when  the  National  Bank  act  was  passed,  was  among  the  first  to  aid  the  govern- 
ment by  applying  fora  charter.  Uniting  with  Mr.  Mills,  Mr.  Mark,  Mr.  Green,  his  brother-in-law, 
and  others,  the  First  National  Bank  of  Mount  Carroll  was  established,  with  a  capital  of  $50,000. 
Confederate  bonds  and  currency  at  that  time  were  bearing  a  higher  price  than  those  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  outlook  for  the  National  cause  was  very  grave,  yet  from  purely  patriotic  motives 
these  gentlemen  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  government  in  her  darkest  hour,  as  fortunately  did 
thousands  of  others,  and  with  a  rescued  nation  they  have  their  reward.  James  Mark  was  the  first 
president  of  this  bank.  He  was  succeeded  the  year  following  by  Mr.  Mackay,  who  has  remained 
the  chief  officer  till  the  present  time.  It  has  since  doubled  its  capital,  and  continues  one  of  the 
soundest  and  most  successful  banks  in  that  part  of  the  state. 

Doctor  Leander  Smith,  of  Morrison,  Illinois,  solicited  Mr.  Mackay  to  join  him  in  a  private 
bank,  at  the  latter  place.  He  consented  to  do  so,  and  the  bank  was  formed,  with  a  cash  capital 
of  $60,000.  June  26,  1882,  he  joined  Henry  Ashway,  George  Hay,  his  brother  John  Mackay,  and 
others,  in  the  bank  establishe'd  at  Savannah.  He  has  thus  an  interest  in  three  banks,  in  the 
establishment  of  every  one  of  which,  higher  motives  than  usually  prevail  in  such  matters  were  the 
ruling  element.  But  with  all  his  banking  business  on  his  hands,  he  has  never  relinquished  his 
interests  in  farming.  He  at  one  time  owned  twelve  farms,  all  of  which  he  either  worked  or  rented, 
but  for  various  reasons  has  sold  off  six  of  them,  and  will  still  further  reduce  their  number  to 
relieve  himself  of  the  burden  of  their  care. 

Without  solicitation  on  his  part  he  received  from  Governor  Beveridge  appointment  as  one  of 
the  United  States  commissioners  to  the  Vienna  Exposition.  Without  any  expense  to  the  govern- 
ment he  attended  to  his  duties  there,  and  afterward  made  the  tour  of  Europe.  Subsequently,  he 
made  two  successive  trips  to  Colorado  for  his  health,  which  with  his  excessive  labors  and  advanc- 
ing years,  is  at  times  somewhat  precarious.  Mr.  Mackay,  as  might  be  supposed,  is  a  stanch 
temperance  man.  The  death  of  one  of  his  workmen  while  in  Maine,  from  exposure  while  under 
the  influence  of  liquor,  opened  his  eyes  while  yet  a  young  man,  to  the  awful  character  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  and  he  solemnly  took  a  pledge,  and  put  it  into  writing,  thereafter  neither  to  use  it 
himself  nor  furnish  it  to  his  men,  To  that  pledge  he  has  sacredly  adhered  through  a  long  life, 
81 


S;S  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY. 

and  to  it  ascribes  much  of  his  prosperity.  The  danger  of  freely  signing  his  name  to  other  men's 
paper,  early  caused  him  to  make  it  a  rule  never  to  do  so  except  in  cases  of  necessity  or  charity, 
and  although  ready  at  all  times  with  a  helping  hand  for  the  needy  or  deserving,  he  has  found 
other  means  to  aid  them  without  violating  a  very  wise  and  useful  pledge. 

In  religion,  Mr.  Mackay  is  a  Presbyterian,  in  politics  a  republican,  and  everywhere  a  gentle- 
man. He  has  never  sought  office,  but  always  discouraged  any  effort  to  force  it  upon  him,  yet 
when  elected  has  faithfully  discharged  its  duties. 

March  23,  1882,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  by  fire  his  elegant  stone  mansion,  with  the 
greater  part  of  its  contents,  at  Oakville,  where  he  had  resided  since  first  coming  to  Illinois.  He 
has  since  rebuilt  of  the  same  material,  but  is  now  making  his  home  at  Morrison,  whither  he  re- 
moved when  his  house  was  destroyed. 


HON.  JOSEPH  GILLESPIE. 

ED  WARDSVILLE. 

JOSEPH  GILLESPIE,  one  of  the  legal  and  judicial  landmarks  of  southwestern  Illinois,  is  a 
son  of  David  and  Sarah  Gillespie,  and  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  August  22,  1809. 
His  parents  were  born  and  married  in  Ireland,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1807.  In  1819 
the  family  came  to  Madison  county,  when  Illinois  was  little  more  than  a  wilderness,  and  here 
Joseph  grew  to  manhood,  and  has  spent  more  than  three-score  years  of  his  life.  He  went  to 
school  in  all,  perhaps  one  year,  farmed  in  his  youth;  read  law  with  Cyrus  Edwards  in  Madison 
county;  practiced  law  awhile,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1837.  He  was  soon  afterward 
elected  judge  of  probate,  and  held  the  office  four  years.  In  1840  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
on  the  whig  ticket,  serving  one  term,  and  was  subsequently  (1847)  sent  to  the  state  senate, 
serving  two  terms.  In  1845  he  was  married  at  Greenville,  Illinois,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Smith,  who 
has  had  eight  children,  only  five  of  them  now  living.  Long  prior  to  this  period,  in  1832,  he  was 
in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  whose  political 
track  our  subject  followed.  He  early  imbibed  anti-slavery  views  and  did  all  he  could  to  prevent 
Illinois  from  becoming  a  slave  state.  Mr.  Gillespie  was  elected  circuit  judge  in  1861,  and  held 
that  office  for  twelve  consecutive  years.  On  leaving  the  bench  in  1873,  Judge  Gillespie  resumed 
the  practice  of  law  to  a  limited  extent,  doing  a  little  business  for  his  old  clients.  He  is  clear- 
headed and  active  for  a  man  seventy-four  years  old.  He  was  born  six  months  after  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  they  were  life-long  personal  as  well  as  political  friends.  Some  years  ago  the  judge 
wrote  an  interesting  sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  was  printed  in  a  pamphlet  with  an  address 
written  by  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Arnold  of  Chicago. 


HON.  JOHN    H.   ADDAMS. 

CEDARVILLE. 

JOHN  HUY  ADDAMS,  president  of  the  Second  National  Bank  of  Freeport,  for  many  years 
prior  to  his  death,  August  17,  1881,  was  born  in  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania,  July  12,  1822. 
He  received  an  academic  education  at  Trappe,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  then  apprenticed  to  the 
milling  business  at  Upper  Dublin,  Pennsylvania.  In  1844  he  came  to  this  state,  settled  where 
Cedarville  now  stands;  there  built  a  flouring  mill  and  was  engaged  in  manufacturing  flour  and 
dealing  in  grain  until  his  death,  he  being  one  of  the  leading  business  men  in  Stephenson  county. 
He  also  purchased  a  farm  at  an  early  day,  and  eventually  became  a  large  owner  of  land,  now- 
divided  into  four  farms.  He  early  saw  the  need  of  a  railroad  to  connect  this  part  of  the  state  with 
Chicago,  thus  furnishing  an  outlet  for  the  produce  of  northwestern  Illinois,  and  was  one  of  the 
foremost  men  in  initiating  steps  for  completing  what  was  at  first  known  as  the  Galena  and  Chi- 
cago Union  railroad. 


I'XITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY.  839 

In  1854  Mr.  Addams  was  elected  to  the  state  senate,  and  held  that  seat  for  sixteen  consecutive 
years,  his  politics  being  republican.  He  was  a  political  leader  of  great  force  of  character,  and  of 
more  influence  than  any  other  man  in  the  county.  He  was  often  urged  to  become  a  candidate 
for  congress,  but  steadfastly  declined  to  let  his  name  go  before  a  convention.  Mr.  Addams  was 
a  true  patriot  and  an  enthusiastic  worker  for  the  Union  during  the  four  years  of  the  civil  war, 
cheerfully  giving  time,  energies  and  money  to  help  on  that  cause.  He  was  a  man  of  good  social 
qualities,  and  enjoyed  in  all  respects  the  highest  confidence  and  the  warm  esteem  of  his  neigh- 
bors and  of  the  people  generally.  His  death  was  a  sad  loss  to  the  county,  and  is  still  felt. 


HON.   EDWIN   S.   LELAND. 

OTTAWA. 

EDWIN  SHERMAN  LELAND  was  born  in  Dennysville,  Maine,  August  28,  1812.  His 
father,  Sherman  Leland,  was  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  at  one  time  president  of  the  senate  of 
Massachusetts.  For  the  last  twenty-three  years  of  his  life  he  was  probate  judge  of  Norfolk  county, 
that  state.  When  Edwin  was  two  years  of  age  the  family  removed  to  Roxbury,  where  he  enjoyed 
what  advantages  the  common  schools  afforded,  and  when  twenty  years  of  age,  began  reading  law 
in  his  father's  office.  He  made  rapid  progress,  and,  September  15,  1834,  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  Dedham,  Massachusetts.  In  1835  he  came  to  Ottawa,  where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Illinois  January  16,  1836.  In  1839  he  went  to  Oregon, 
Ogle  county,  where  he  practiced  for  four  years  with  marked  success.  He  was  married  April  20. 
1840,  to  Margaret  B.  Miles,  of  Boston.  He  returned  to  Ottawa  in  1843,  and  entered  into  profes- 
sional duties,  winning  a  high  reputation  as  an  advocate,  and  being  prominent  in  the  trial  of  all 
the  more  important  cases  which  claimed  the  attention  of  the  bench  until  1852,  when  he  was 
chosen  judge  of  the  ninth  judicial  circuit  of  Illinois,  comprising  six  counties,  to  fill  the  unexpired 
term  of  Judge  Dickey,  resigned.  He  filled  this  station  until  the  expiration  of  the  term,  and  then 
resumed  his  practice. 

In  1866  he  was  appointed  by  the  governor  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Judge  Hollister,  as 
judge  of  the  ninth  judicial  circuit,  and  when  the  period  for  which  he  was  appointed  expired  he 
was,  in  June,  1867,  elected  by  the  people  to  the  same  bench  for  the  full  term  of  six  years.  He 
was  chosen  by  popular  vote  in  1873  as  judge  of  the  sixth  judicial  circuit,  which  position  he  held 
till  he  was  transferred  to  the  appellate  court,  in  which  he  held  a  seat  for  three  years.  In  1856  he 
was  elected  mayor  of  Ottawa,  being  the  first  republican  in  that  position,  and  was  treasurer,  for 
one  term,  of  Ogle  county.  He  has  been  president  of  the  board  of  education  of  Ottawa,  and  has 
been  very  prominently  identified  with  the  development  of  educational  interests  in  that  city  for 
years.  He  was  chosen  president  of  the  judicial  convention  held  in  Chicago  when  Judge  Charles 
B.  Lawrence  received  his  nomination. 

Judge  Leland's  name  is  very  closely  linked  with  the  origin  and  formation  of  the  republican 
party,  if  indeed  he  was  not  the  actual  projector  of  that  organization.  In  June,  1854,  he  drafted  a 
call  for  a  mass  meeting  to  be  held  in  Ottawa  August  i,  following.  At  this  assemblage  he  pre- 
sided, and  a  platform  of  principles  which  had  been  drawn  up  by  him  was  adopted.  A  new  party 
was  organized,  taking  its  name,  republican,  from  one  of  the  resolutions  adopted  at  this  meeting. 
He  has  graced  the  bench  for  many  years,  and  his  decisions,  which  cover  the  entire  range  of  the 
law,  are  models  of  both  logic  and  rhetoric.  He  is  a  profoundly  read  jurist,  and  is  ready  and 
accurate,  when  estimated  from  a  purely  legal  standpoint,  in  all  his  rulings.  His  record  is  one  of 
ceaseless  civil  and  professional  activity,  and  his  name  is  held  in  the  greatest  respect  for  his  con- 
scientious and  able  exercise  of  his  judicial  functions,  and  for  his  public  spirit  and  usefulness  as  a 
citi/en. 

Mr.  Leland  has  been  instructed  from  early  youth  in  the  Unitarian  faith,  and  still  adheres  to  that 
belief.  He  has  been  favored  with  three  children:  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  elder  son, 


840  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

George  Miles,  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Ottawa.  The  second  son,  Sherman,  is  also 
located  in  Ottawa,  engaged  in  real-estate  and  loan  brokerage.  Their  daughter,  Georgianna  Julia, 
is  the  wife  of  Hiram  T.  Gilbert,  who  is  practicing  law  in  company  with  his  father-in-law. 

Judge  Leland's  family  have  contributed  their  share  of  patriotism  during  the  late  war,  his  two 
sons  havii.g  been  actively  engaged  during  the  entire  struggle — George  in  the  cavalry  and  Sher- 
man in  infantry  —  accompanying  General  Sherman  in  his  march  to  the  sea. 


HON.  ARTHUR  A.  SMITH. 

GALESBURGH. 

ARTHUR  ARNOLD  SMITH,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  tenth  judicial  district,  is  a  son  of 
lr\.  Erasmus  and  Martha  (Herlick)  Smith,  and  was  born  in  Batavia,  Clermont  county,  Ohio, 
May  9,  1829.  In  the  autumn  of  1840  he  came  into  Knox  county,  this  state,  with  his  parents,  and 
at  the  proper  age  entered  Knox  College,  Galesburgh,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in 
1853.  He  finished  his  legal  studies  with  Hon.  Julius  Manning,  of  Peoria;  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  in  Galesburgh  in  1855,  and  in  a  very  few  years  became  distinguished  as  a 
lawyer. 

In  1860  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  attended  two  sessions  in  the  following  year.  In 
August,  1862,  he  entered  the  service  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  83d  Illinois  infantry,  and  was 
subsequently  commissioned  colonel  and  brevet-brigadier-general.  His  regiment  served  most  of 
the  time  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  It  was  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson,  and  did  a  good 
deal  of  post  duty  in  Tennessee,  our  subject  acting  a  short  time  as  military  governor. 

General  Smith  was  mustered  out  at  Chicago  in  1865:  returned  to  Galesburgh  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  the  law,  soon  building  up  a  large  business. 

In  1866  Governor  Oglesby  appointed  him  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  eighth  judicial  circuit,  com- 
posed of  Knox,  Warren,  Mercer  and  Henderson  counties;  the  next  year  he  was  the  republican 
nominee  for  the  same  office,  and  was  elected,  and  was  reelected  in  1873  and  1879.  He  is  now  in 
the  tenth  circuit,  which  is  composed  of  Knox,  Rock  Island,  Warren,  Mercer,  Henderson  and 
Henry  counties.  He  is  a  clear-headed,  sound  lawyer,  and  a  cool,  dispassionate  and  impartial 
judge,  doing  honor  to  the  ermine. 


H 


JUDGE   HENRY  S.   BAKER. 

ALTON. 

ENRY  SOUTHARD  BAKER,  a  native  of  the  old  French  village  of  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  was 
born  November  10,  1824,  and  is  the  oldest  son  of  the  late  Hon.  David  Baker  and  Sarah  T. 
(Fairchild)  Baker.  His  father,  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College,  was  an  accomplished  scholar  and 
profound  lawyer.  Henry  received  his  preparatory  education  at  Shurtleff  College,  and  in  1843 
entered  Brown  University,  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  After  his  graduation  in  1847  he  began 
the  study  of  law  in  his  father's  office  at  Alton,  whither  his  family  had  removed  in  1844.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1849,  and  at  once  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1854  he 
was  elected  as  an  anti-Nebraska  democrat,  from  Madison  county,  to  the  legislature,  and  was  one 
of  five  members  whose  influence  in  that  body  defeated  for  the  office  of  United  States  senator  both 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  candidate  of  the  opposition,  and  Joel  A.  Matteson,  the  democratic  candi- 
date, and  elected  to  that  position  the  Hon.  Lyman  Trumbull.  In  1856  he  was  secretary  of  the 
celebrated  "Bloomington  convention,"  over  which  General  Palmer  presided;  the  first  state  repub- 
lican convention  ever  held  in  Illinois,  and  which  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  the  late  Colonel 
William  H.  Bissell  for  governor,  and  the  defeat  of  the  democratic  party  in  the  state.  In  1864  he 
was  the  republican  presidential  elector  for  his  congressional  district.  From  this  time  he  in  a 
measure  withdrew  from  all  political  organizations,  and  devoted  himself  to  his  profession  and  his 
family. 


UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  84! 

He  was  elected  judge  of  the  city  court  of  Alton  in  1865,  and  held  that  office  till  1881.  He  was 
president  of  the  republican  state  convention  in  1876,  and  delegate  that  year  to  the  national  conven- 
tion which  nominated  Mr.  Hayes.  He  was  also  candidate  that  year  for  congress. 

Judge  Baker  is  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  talents.  As  a  judge  he  has  an  accurate  mind, 
and  readily  grasps  the  point  of  the  case  argued  before  him,  and  his  decisions,  based  upon  a  sound 
interpretation  of  law  and  equity,  are  generally  accepted  as  final. 


GEORGE  A.  FOLLANSBEE. 

CHICAGO. 

EORGE  A.  FOLLANSBEE,  of  the  firm  of  Schuyler  and  Follansbee,  was  born  in  Cook 
county,  Illinois,  near  Chicago,  February  26,  1843.  His  father,  Horatio  N.  Follansbee,  a 
farmer,  was  a  native  of  Uxbridge,  Massachusetts,  and  came  to  Cook  county  in  1835.  His  mother 
was  Emeline  Sherman,  who  came  from  Whitesboro,  Oneida  county.  New  York,  to  Cook  county, 
this  state,  in  1833,  the  year  after  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  when  Chicago  had  less  than  one 
thousand  inhabitants. 

Mr.  Follansbee  finished  his  literary  education  at  Lawrence  University,  Appleton,  Wisconsin, 
being  of  the  class  of  1865;  took  his  course  of  legal  studies  at  Harvard  Law  School,  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  whence  he  was  graduated  in  February,  1867,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in 
Chicago  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  following  month.  He  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Schuyler  and  Follansbee  on  the  withdrawal  of  Hon.  George  Gardner  from  the  firm  of  Gardner  and 
Schuyler,  Mr.  Gardner  having  been  elected  judge  of  the  superior  court  of  Cook  county.  The 
firm  of  Schuyler  and  Follansbee  practices  law  in  all  its  branches,  and  probably  there  is  no  firm 
of  two  members  in  Chicago  doing  a  larger  business  than  it. 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Follansbee  is  on  Indiana  avenue,  just  beyond  the  city  limits,  in  the  town- 
ship of  Hyde  Park,  and  he  has  held  several  important  offices  in  that  village.  He  is  also  at  pres- 
ent a  trustee  of  the  Illinois  Industrial  University,  at  Champaign.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican; 
in  religious  belief  a  Unitarian,  and  attends  the  Church  of  the  Messiah. 

April  14,  1869,  Mr.  Follansbee  married  Susie  D.,  daughter  of  Doctor  M.  M.  Davis,  of  Baraboo, 
Wisconsin,  and  they  have  six  children. 


GENERAL  ALLEN  C.  FULLER. 

REL  VIDERE. 

AMONG  the  most  distinguished  men  who  have  ever  lived  in  Boone  county,  Illinois,  is  he  whose 
t\.  name  heads  this  sketch.  He  is  a  son  of  Lucius  Fuller,  and  was  born  in  Farmington.  Hart- 
ford county,  Connecticut,  September  24,  1822.  He  received  an  academic  education;  studied  law 
at  Warsaw,  New  York,  with  Hon.  James  R.  Doolittle,  since  United  States  senator  from  Wiscon- 
sin, and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  supreme  court  of  New  York,  in  1845.  Says  a  writer  in 
the  "  Boone  County  Directory  "  (part  of  the  history  of  the  county),  speaking  of  Mr.  Fuller:  "  He 
came  to  Belvidere  in  1846,  a  young  lawyer,  with  nothing  but  industry,  integrity  and  capacity  to 
recommend  him  to  the  people,  how  well  these  qualities  have  served  him,  his  present  enviable  rep- 
utation shows.  He  has  been  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  that 
high  office  with  marked  ability.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  he  was  still  on  the  bench. 
He  was  tendered  the  position  of  adjutant-general,  but  the  members  of  the  bar  opposed  his  resig- 
nation, and  urged  him  to  accept  the  appointment  temporarily.  He  entered  upon  its  duties  No- 
vember n,  1861,  and  in  July  following,  resigned  his  seat  on  the  bench." 

General  Fuller  served  until  near  the  end  of  the  war,  how  efficiently  and  with  what  satisfaction 
to  the  legislature  and   to  Governor  Yates.  the   records   will  show.      The  legislative  committee 


842  IWn'RD  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

appointed  to  inspect  the  adjutant-general's  office,  declared,  in  their  report,  that  in  their  judgment 
"  the  thanks  of  every  patriotic  citizen  of  the  state  are  due  to  General  Fuller  for  the  able  and 
efficient  manner  in  which  he  has  discharged  the  "duties  of  the  office,  and  for  his  indefatigable 
efforts  in  collecting  and  preserving  the  glorious  record  of  a  glorious  state."  The  testimony  of 
Governor  Yates  to  his  invaluable  services  was  no  less  strong. 

In  1864  General  Fuller  was  elected  to  represent  Boone  county  in  the  general  assembly,  and  in 
January  following  resigned  the  office  of  adjutant-general,  and  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house. 
He  has  since  (1876  and  1880)  filled  the  office  of  state  senator  with  credit  to  his  constituency  and 
with  honor  to  himself. 


HON.   THOMAS   F.  TIPTON. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

THOMAS  FOSTER  TIPTON.  lawyer  and  late  judge  of  the  circuit  court  for  the  eighth  cir- 
cuit, was  born  near  the  town  of  Harrisburgh,  Franklin  county,  Ohio,  August  29,  1833.  His 
parents  were  Hiram  and  Deborah  (Ogden)  Tipton.  His  grandfather,  Sylvester  Tipton,  was  a 
native  of  Maryland,  and  settled  in  Ohio  about  the  time  the  state  was  admitted  into  the  Union. 
In  1844  Hiram  Tipton  came  with  his  family  to  McLean  county,  Illinois,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Money  Creek  township,  where  Towanda  now  stands,  and  died  in  1845,  leaving  three  children. 
His  widow  died  in  March,  1875. 

Our  subject  was  the  youngest  of  the  three  children.  He  received  most  of  his  literary  educa- 
tion at  Lexington,  in  this  county,  under  that  excellent  scholar  and  worthy  man,  Colonel  William 
N.  Coler,  and  after  the  first  year,  while  thus  pursuing  his  studies,  devoted  his  mornings  and  even- 
ings to  the  reading  of  law,  in  which  he  took  great  delight.  Subsequently  he  studied  in  the  office 
of  H.  N.  Keightly,  of  Knoxville,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Bloomington,  in  1854,  commenced 
practice  at  Lexington,  and  while  a  resident  of  that  place  married,  in  1856,  Mary  J.,  daughter  of 
Nicholas  and  Esther  Strayer,  of  Bloomington,  and  they  have  five  children. 

In  1862  our  subject  settled  in  Bloomington,  and  had  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice.  In 
1870  Mr.  Tipton  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation 
of  Judge  Scott,  who  was  elected  to  the  supreme  bench.  Judge  Tipton  was  reelected  in  June, 
1873,  and  served  until  March,  1877,  when  he  resigned  to  take  a  seat  in  congress,  in  which  he 
served  one  term. 

Judge  Tipton  has  fine  qualities  for  a  jurist,  coolness,  impartiality,  and  self  possession,  broad 
legal  attainments,  an  analytical  mind,  and  clear  judgment,  and  these  qualities  were  shown  to  the 
best  advantage  during  the  nine  years  that  he  was  on  the  bench.  The  judge  is  now  quietly  prac- 
ticing his  profession  in  company  with  Norman  H.  Ryan,  and  their  business  extends  into  all  the 
state  and  United  States  courts. 


o 


HON.   NEWTON    BATEMAN,  LL.D. 

GALESBURGH. 

NE  of  the  best  educators  in  the  state  of  Illinois  is  Newton  Bateman,  president  of  Knox  Col- 
lege. His  birth  is  dated  July  27,  1822,  in  Cumberland  county,  New  Jersey,  but  he  became  a 
resident  of  this  state  in  1833.  His  early  opportunities  for  disciplining  his  mind  were  very  much 
limited,  but  at  thirteen  years  of  age  he  resolved  that  he  would  deliver  an  oration  some  day  in  a 
graduating  college  class,  which  he  did  at  twenty-one  years  of  age  (June,  1843).  He  had  a  hard 
struggle,  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  to  fit  himself  for  matriculation  and  still  harder  to  get  through  col- 
lege, succeeding  by  the  strictest  economy,  and  being  willing  to  do  anything  to  which  he  could 
put  his  hands.  His  board  during  the  years  he  was  in  college  did  not  average  fifty  cents  a  week. 
What  he  lived  on  tradition  states  not. 

Mr.  Bateman  studied  a  short  time  in  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  Cincinnati;  then  traveled 


UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  843 

awhile  and  sold  a  historical  chart,  and  in  1845  commenced  teaching  a  private  school  in  Saint 
Louis,  Missouri.  Two  years  later  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  mathematics  in  Saint  Charles 
College,  that  state,  holding  that  post  until  1851,  when  he  returned  to  Illinois  and  became  princi- 
pal of  the  public  schools  of  Jacksonville.  Soon  afterward  he  held  the  office  of  county  superin- 
tendent of  schools  for  two  terms.  He  assisted  in  organizing  the  State  Teachers'  Association 
(1854)  and  in  establishing  the  "  Illinois  Teacher."  Of  that  paper  he  became  editor-in-chief  in 
1858,  and  at  the  same  time  principal  of  the  Jacksonville  Female  Academy. 

Five  times  after  1858  Mr.  Bateman  was  elected  state  superintendent  of  schools  by  the  repub- 
lican party,  and  his  biennial  reports  while  in  that  office  showed  him  to  be  the  right  man  for 
that  important  place.  During  that  period  he  gave  some  time  to  the  preparation  of  different 
works  on  education  and  cognate  subjects,  and  a  little  later  he  gave  almost  his  entire  time  to 
authorship.  The  number  of  volumes  with  his  imprint  as  author  presses  hard  on  a  score,  and 
they  show  the  master  workman  in  his  peculiar  vein.  In  1874  he  was  elected  president  of  Knox 
College,  where  his  solid  attainments  and  his  splendid  talents  as  a  disciplinarian  shine  to  the  best 
advantage. 

HON.   ALFRED  M.  CRAIG. 

GALESBURGH. 

THIS  gentleman  is  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  and  quite  eminent  in 
his  profession.  He  was  born  in  Edgar  county,  this  state,  January  15,  1831,  being  the  son 
of  David  and  Minta  (Ramey)  Craig.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Knox  College,  Galesburgh;  read  law 
with  Weed  and  Goudy,  Chicago;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February,  1854,  and  practiced  his 
profession  at  Knoxville,  Knox  county,  until  1873,  achieving  a  high  reputation  for  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  law,  and  his  great  ability  as  an  advocate.  He  was  retained  in  a  great  many 
cases  of  much  importance,  and  was  highly  successful.  While  in  practice  at  the  bar  he  held  the 
offices  of  state's  attorney,  county  judge  and  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  (1869-70). 
In  June,  1873,  he  was  elected  to  the  supreme  bench  of  the  state,  and  that  exalted  position  he  still 
holds,  doing  decided  honor  to  the  ermine. 

The  residence  of  Judge  Craig  is  at  Galesburgh.  Of  late  years  he  has  given  considerable 
attention  to  agriculture,  and  for  some  time  resided  on  his  farm. 

His  wife  was  Elizabeth  P.  Harvey,  of  Knox  county,  they  being  married  in  1857. 


E 


EDMUND  BURKE. 

CHICAGO. 

DMUND  BURKE,  lawyer,  is  a  grandson  of  James  Burke,  a  wealthy  manufacturer  in  the 
North  of  Ireland,  who  came  to  this  country  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  and  son  of  Pat- 
rick Burke,  a  farmer,  who  at  the  time  of  Edmund's  birth,  September  22,  1847,  lived. at  Byron,  Ogle 
county,  Illinois.  Patrick  Burke  was  married  June  25,  1846,  to  Nancy  Whitney,  of  Wilkesbarre, 
Wyoming  county,  Pennsylvania.  She  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  of  whom  Edmund  is  the 
eldest  child.  His  parents  are  still  living.  Edmund  prepared  for  college  at  Rock  River  Seminary, 
Mount  Morris,  Illinois,  and  was  graduated  at  the  Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  Illinois, 
class  of  1868,  and  in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  class  of  1869. 

He  taught  two  years  in  the  institution  at  Mount  Morris,  being  principal  the  latter  year,  and  in 
1871,  immediately  after  the  great  fire,  settled  in  Chicago.  For  three  or  four  years  he  held  a  situ- 
ation in  the  postoffice,  performing  its  duties  at  night,  and  practicing  his  profession  during  the 
day.  Since  1874  he  has  given  his  time  exclusively  to  the  law,  and  is  doing  a  general  and  large 
business,  criminal  as  well  as  civil. 

For  the  first  four  or  five  years  Thomas  B.  Brown,  now  justice  of  the  peace,  was  his  partner. 


844  UNITED    STATES   R/OGK.l  rf/fC.t !.    DICTIONARY. 

Since  that  time  he  lias  practiced  alone.  He  has  a  remarkably  clear  mind,  an  excellent  judgment 
and  fine  logical  faculties,  and  discusses  a  question  very  candidly,  without  prejudice  or  bias.  He 
is  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  thoroughly  honest,  and  no  lawyer,  young  or  old,  in  the  city  of 
Chicago  is  more  trustworthy. 

Mr.  Burke  is  also  a  good  classical  scholar,  keeps  well  read  up  in  the  sciences,  and  is  an  elegant 
writer  on  literary  and  philosophical  subjects.  In  short,  has  a  well  fed  and  growing  mind,  and  is  a 
rising  man.  Mr.  Burke  affiliates  with  the  republican  party,  and  takes  some  interest  in  local  poli- 
tics, not  enough,  however,  to  lead  him  to  neglect  his  professional  pursuits. 

Mr.  Burke  was  married  December  5,  1878,  to  Miss  Myra  Webster,  daughter  of  William  V.  Web- 
ster, of  Rockford,  Illinois,  and  they  have  one  child. 


WILLARD    SCOTT. 

NAPER  VILLE. 

AJGUST  26,  1826,  the  schooner  Sheldon,  Captain  Sherwood,  was  riding  at  anchor  upon  the 
quiet,  waters  of  Lake  Michigan,  ten  miles  north  of  Chicago,  off  Gross'  Point,  as  the  place 
was  then  called,  and  with  the  small  boat  called  a  yawl  the  family  of  Stephen  J.  Scott  were  then 
and  there  landed.  The  crew  of  the  vessel  went  ashore  and  assisted  in  the  erection  of  a  rude 
habitation  with  posts,  poles  and  blankets,  after  which  they  sailed  away,  leaving  the  Scotts  resi- 
dents of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  occupying  the  first  house  built  at  what  is  now  Evanston. 

This  incident  is  mentioned  thus  prominently  that  the  future  historian,  in  his  search  for  facts 
and  dates,  may  pause  as  he  turns  these  leaves,  and  exclaim,  "  Here  we  have  a  pioneer  indeed!  " 
The  father,  mother,  two  sons  (of  whom  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  eldest)  and  four  daugh- 
ters constituted  the  family.  The  father,  Stephen  J.  Scott,  was  in  early  life  a  seafaring  man,  having 
been  the  owner  and  master  of  a  schooner  bearing  his  own  name,  engaged  in  the  coast  trade  along 
the  eastern  shore  of  our  country.  The  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Hadassah  Trask,  was  a 
relative  of  General  Israel  Putnam,  of  revolutionary  fame.  They  were  married  in  Connecticut, 
and  moved  from  Hartford,  in  that  state,  to  Unadilla,  Otsego  county,  New  York,  where  Willard 
was  born,  April  20,  1808;  and  when  he  was  eight  years  old  the  family  removed  to  Maryland,  where 
they  remained  ten  years,  during  which  time  he  attended  school.  His  opportunities  for  education 
were  limited,  being  confined  to  the  district  school,  except  for  a  short  time  when  under  private 
tuition  in  mathematics,  by  the  liberality  of  Alanson  Webb,  a  wealthy  Baltimore  merchant,  who 
was  attracted  toward  the  promising  youth,  and  solicited  the  privilege  of  adopting  and  educating 
him  for  any  business  he  might  desire  to  follow. 

Willard  was  anxious  to  become  a  sailor,  and  command  a  vessel,  as  his  father  had  done  before 
him,  and  his  studies  under  the  private  tutor  were  in  this  direction;  but  to  his  credit  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  entreaties  of  his  mother,  to  whom  a  sailor's  life  seemed  full  of  peril,  induced  him 
to  abandon  this  idea.  In  the  year  1825  his  father  determined  to  seek  a  new  home  in  the  West, 
and  in  pursuance  of  this  determination  he  left  Maryland  with  his  family,  stopping  awhile  in  New 
York,  and  then  starting  for  Saint  Joseph,  Michigan. 

Arriving  at  Buffalo,  the  father  shipped  the  household  goods,  going  with  them  by  sail  vessel  to 
Detroit,  while  the  family,  under  charge  of  Willard,  started  overland  through  Canada  for  the  same 
place.  The  old  gentleman,  arriving  before  the  family,  sent  his  goods  forward  by  a  schooner,  and 
awaited  the  arrival  of  his  wife  and  children,  who  joined  him  there  in  a  few  days.  Boats  not 
being  numerous,  or  reliable  as  to  time,  it  was  necessary  that  some  one  should  cross  the  country 
to  meet  the  goods  at  Saint  Joseph. 

This  perilous  journey  was  undertaken  by  Willard,  then  eighteen  years  of  age,  in  company  with 
a  man  from  Ohio.  There  was  not  an  inhabited  house  upon  the  route,  they  had  no  guide,  and 
with  the  exception  of  blazed  trees  and  Indian  trails  leading  in  various  directions,  they  had  no 
pathway  through  the  dense  Michigan  forests.  With  a  horse  upon  which  to  pack  their  camp 


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UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  847 

equipage,  they  made  the  march  (foraging  largely  on  mother  Nature),  in  two  weeks,  arriving  ten 
days  ahead  of  the  boat,  during  which  time  they  lived  entirely  on  corn  and  potatoes  obtained 
from  a  Frenchman  upon  an  island  in  the  river. 

About  ten  days  after  Willard  left  Detroit,  the  remainder  of  the  family  made  the  trip  around 
the  lake  in  the  Sheldon,  going  first  to  Chicago  and  then  crossing  to  Saint  Joseph.  While  passing 
Gross"  Point,  before  reaching  Chicago,  old  Mr.  Scott  was  much  attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the 
place,  and  was  quite  enthusiastic  in  his  praise;  and  afterward  being  less  pleased  with  the  east 
side,  the  captain  of  the  vessel  offered  to,  and  did,  recross  the  lake  and  land  the  family  as  stated 
at  the  commencement  of  this  sketch. 

At  that  time  the  inhabitants  were  principally  Indians.  There  was  an  Indian  agent,  Doctor  Alex- 
ander Walcott,  at  Chicago.  John  Kenzie,  agent  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  David  McKee,  a 
government  blacksmith,  and  a  few  others,  mostly  French  or  half  breeds  in  the  employ  of  the 
American  Fur  Company,  were  also  there.  The  prevailing  languages  were  French  and  Indian, 
and  with  these  Willard  became  very  familiar  under  a  tutelage  that  might  well  be  denominated  a 
free  school  in  the  largest  sense.  His  life  for  the  next  ten  or  twelve  years  was  made  up  of  those 
incidents  which  pertain  to  the  freedom,  fun  and  frolic,  as  well  as  the  perils  and  privations,  of  the 
wildest  kind  of  frontier  life. 

He  was  a  renowned  hunter,  being  counted  the  second-best  shot  in  all  the  Pottawattomie  tribe 
of  Indians,  by  whom  he  was  greatly  respected.  Indeed,  he  had  a  way  of  compelling  their  respect 
by  the  utter  fearlessness  which  he  manifested  in  his  intercourse  with  them,  eluding  their  wily 
tricks,  beating  them  at  their  own  games,  and  proving  himself  more  than  a  match  for  them  in  all 
the  cunning  of  their  peculiar  life.  They  gave  him  the  appellation  of  Kish-Wash,  by  which  name 
he  became  well  known  throughout  the  entire  region.  The  title  signifies  a  species  of  eagle,  and 
was,  by  those  conferring  it,  considered  a  highly  honorable  one. 

During  the  hunting  excursions  of  these  days  (and  here  is  an  unwritten  volume  of  romantic 
frontier  life)  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Caroline  Hawley,  at  Holderman's  Grove,  to  whom  he 
was  married  July  21,  1829,  at  her  father's  house.  Her  father,  Pierce  Hawley,  moved  from  Ver- 
mont, in  1818,  to  Vincennes,  Indiana,  when  she  was  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  and  when  she  was 
ten  years  old  he  removed  to  Illinois,  where  he  lived  at  various  places,  settling  at  Holderman's 
Grove  in  1825,  where  Willard  was  married. 

In  the  fall  of  1830,  Willard,  with  his  father,  father-in-law  and  their  families,  settled  at  the 
junction  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Du  Page  River,  three  miles  south  of  Naperville,  where  they 
remained,  engaged  in  agriculture,  eight  years  or  thereabouts.  These  families  are  entitled  to  the 
distinction  of  being  the  pioneers  of  the  settlement  which  soon  extended  several  miles  along  the 
river  into  what  has  since  become  Will  and  Du  Page  counties.  At  that  time  Cook  county  included 
the  present  counties  of  Lake,  McHenry,  Du  Page  and  Will,  and  Chicago  was  the  voting  place  for 
the  whole  county.  At  the  election  of  1830  there  were  thirty-two  votes  polled  in  the  county,  and 
old  Mr.  Scott's  name  heads  the  poll  list  of  that  year. 

In  1832  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out,  and  the  whole  settlement  was  compelled  to  remove  to 
Fort  Dearborn,  Chicago,  for  safety,  where  they  remained  until  after  July,  when  General  Scott 
moved  on  to  Dixon,  putting  the  government  troops  between  the  settlers  and  their  foes.  Wil- 
lard's  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  wiles  of  the  Indians,  and  frontier  craft  generally,  made  him 
an  exceedingly  useful  man  to  the  settlers  during  those  perilous  months,  full  of  incidents  of  thrill- 
ing interest,  which  cannot  well  be  given  here. 

In  the  spring  of  1838  Willard  removed  to  the  village  of  Naperville,  where  his  father  had  pre- 
ceded him  the  previous  year.  He  built  the  Naperville  Hotel,  keeping  the  same  eight  years,  in  those 
days  when  to  keep  a  hotel  was  to  have  a  constituency  covering  more  territory  than  several  congres- 
sional districts  do  now.  He  then  commenced  merchandising,  and  for  nearly  twenty  years,  most 
of  the  time  with  his  eldest  son,  Thaddeus  (since  deceased,  leaving  one  son,  Willie  H.),  continued 
the  business  by  which  the  firm  name  of  Willard  Scott  and  Company  has  been  made  historical. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  late  war  he  retired  from  active  business  life  as  a  merchant, 
82 


S|S  UNITED    STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONARY. 

in  which,  however,  he  has  been  succeeded  by  his  son,  Willard  Scott,  Jr.,  who  continues  the  busi- 
ness under  the  same  firm  name,  to  this  day. 

During  the  time  of  his  residence  in  Naperville  he  has  been  president,  first  of  the  Du  Page 
County  Bank,  and  afterward  of  the  Bank  of  Naperville;  and  since  he  retired  from  mercantile  life 
has  been  doing  business  as  a  private  banker;  and  the  banking  house  of  Willard  Scott  and  Com- 
pany is  considered  one  of  the  absolutely  safe  institutions  of  its  class  in  northern  Illinois. 

Mr.  Scott  is  a  regular  attendant  upon,  though  not  a  member  of  the  Congregationalist  Church 
at  Naperville,  which  is  the  oldest  church  organization  in  the  region,  dating  back  to  1833.  In  his 
religious  views  he  may  be  classed  as  orthodox,  except  for  a  strong  leaning  toward  the  belief  in 
the  final  future  salvation  of  all  men  through  the  infinite  atonement  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 

In  politics  he  is  a  democrat.  He  voted  for  General  Jackson,  and  would  like  to  continue  to  do 
so  as  long  as  he  lives,  and  all  the  more  because  he  believes  that  the  remains  of  the  old  hero  could 
hardly  refrain  from  exclaiming,  "  By  the  Eternal!  "  when  the  rebel  soldiery  was  tramping  over 
his  tomb.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  his  model  politician,  and  with  him  he  believes  in  "  obeying 
the  laws  and  supporting  the  constitution." 

He  had  the  heart  of  a  loving  father,  as  well  as  of  an  American  patriot,  in  the  late  war  of  the 
rebellion,  for  his  son  who  bears  his  name  marched  with  Sherman  to  the  sea,  and  through 
Georgia,  most  of  the  time  in  command  of  the  company  of  the  105 th  Illinois  regiment,  of  which 
he  was  lieutenant;  and  his  comrades  all  say  he  was  bravery  exemplified,  and  as  nobly  good  and 
truly  kind  as  he  was  brave. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott  have  both  been  residents  of  Illinois  for  half  a  century,  and  all  that  time 
have  lived  near  Chicago.  They  have  seen  and  helped  to  produce  the  remarkable  progress  of  this 
section,  that  challenges  parallel  in  all  history;  and  now  at  his  fine  residence  in  Naperville,  built 
upon  the  very  spot  where  his  father  lived  fifty  years  ago,  Mr.  Scott,  with  his  whitened  locks, 
passes  his  declining  years,  and  moves  around  amid  his  children,  grandchildren  and  neighbors, 
enjoying  the  confidence,  esteem  and  respect  of  everybody. 

Mr.  Scott's  life  has  been  a  continuous  exhibition  of  sterling  integrity  and  manliness.  He  has 
acquired  a  fortune.  He  has  been  in  the  best  sense  successful.  He  has  helped  to  build  up  his 
town.  He  has  made  his  mark  upon  the  region  in  which  he  has  lived,  given  to  those  who  may 
succeed  him  an  example  of  good  habits  and  stern,  manly  honesty,  and  with  the  calm  dignity  and 
restful  confidence  of  the  evening  of  such  a  life  he  awaits  the  message,  "Come  up  higher." 


DANIEL   J.  SCHUYLER. 

-CHICAGO. 

DANIEL  J.  SCHUYLER  was  born  in  the  town  of  Florida,  Montgomery  county,  New  York, 
February  16,  1839.  His  father,  Jacob  D.  Schuyler,  was  a  farmer,  and  was  a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  oldest  and  best-known  Knickerbocker  families,  so  prominent  in  the  history  of  the  state 
of  New  York.  General  Philip  Schuyler,  of  revolutionary  fame,  was  of  the  same  family.  The 
subject  of  this  mention  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  section  where  he  was  born,  and  finally 
in  Union  College.  Soon  after  leaving  college,  and  in  1861,  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Hon 
Francis  Kernan,  Utica,  New  York,  the  late  United  States  senator  from  that  state.  After  com- 
pleting his  course  of  study,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  January,  1864,  and  came  to  Chicago 
the  same  month,  and  has  been  engaged  in  practice  here  since.  He  was  alone  in  practice  until 
January,  1873,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  George  Gardner,  which  continued  until 
the  latter  was  elected  to  the  bench  of  the  superior  court  in  1880,  when  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  George  A.  Follansbee,  which  firm,  Schuyler  and  Follansbee,  is  now  doing  a  successful  law 
business,  and  is  one  of  the  most  reliable  in  this  city.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  thorough  and  painstak- 
ing. He  is  especially  accurate  in  the  preparation  of  his  case,  and  never  goes  into  court  without 
knowing  all  about  it,  and  makes  so  clear  a  presentation  that  judge  and  jury  understand  it  as  well 


UNITED   STA  TES  BIOGRAPHICAL   DICTIONAR  Y.  849 

as  himself.  His  success  in  his  practice  is  the  result  of  fine  mental  endowments,  literary  acquire- 
ments, industry,  application  and  the  most  scrupulous  honor  and  integrity.  He  has  niceness  of 
perception,  breadth  of  comprehension  ;  is  energetic,  persevering,  practical,  and  has  none  of  the 
meteoric  in  his  composition  ;  he  is  progressive,  but  conservative  and  well  balanced. 

As  an  advocate  before  a  jury  he  is  one  of  the  most  effective  speakers  at  this  bar.  In  manner 
lie  is  pleasing,  in  matter  logical  and  convincing.  He  is  candid,  sincere  and  fair,  and  his  integrity 
and  honor  being  known,  he  carries  conviction  to  the  minds  of  an  honest  jury.  He  is  quiet,  dig- 
nified, decided,  and  has  great  firmness  of  character.  He  has  the  mien,  bearing  and  make-up  of 
the  educated  and  well  bred  gentleman  that  he  is.  He  is  in  the  front  rank  in  the  profession,  and 
has  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  brother  lawyers.  Mr.  Schuyler  was  united  in  marriage,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1865,  with  Mary,  daughter  of  William  H.  Byford,  a  well  known  physician  of  this  city. 
They  have  had  four  children,  two  of  whom  survive. 


WILLIAM   HEATH   BYFORD,   M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM  HEATH  BYFORD  was  born  March  20,  1817,  in  the  village  of  Eaton,  Ohio,  and 
is  the  son  of  Henry  T.  and  Hannah  Byford.  During  his  infancy  his  parents  removed 
to  the  falls  of  the  Ohio  River,  now  New  Albany,  whence  in  1821  the  family  changed  its  place  of 
residence  to  Hindostan,  Martin  county,  Indiana.  Here,  while  William  was  in  his  ninth  year,  his 
father  died,  and,  through  stress  of  circumstances,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  the  course  of  ele- 
mentary studies  which  he  had  been  pursuing  in  the  neighboring  country  school.  Five  years 
later  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor  in  Palestine,  Illinois,  with  whom  he  remained  two  years,  and 
then  entered  the  employ  of  another  tailor  at  Vincennes,  Indiana,  where,  during  the  ensuing  four 
years,  he  not  only  worked  diligently  at  his  trade,  but,  with  the  aid  of  books,  bought  and  bor- 
rowed, mastered  the  structure  of  his  native  tongue,  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Latin,  Greek 
and  French  languages,  and  studied  with  especial  care  physiology,  chemistry  and  natural  history. 
About  eighteen  months  prior  to  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  apprenticeship,  he  decided  to  devote 
his  life  and  energies  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and  subsequently  placed  himself  under  the  profes- 
sional guidance  and  guardianship  of  Doctor  Joseph  Maddox,  of  Vincennes,  Indiana.  After  a  suf- 
ficent  length  of  time  consumed  in  arduous  and  incessant  study,  he  passed  the  required  examina- 
tion, and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Owensville,  Gibson  county,  Indiana,  August  8, 
1838.  In  1840  he  removed  to  Mount  Vernon,  Indiana,  and  in  1845,  after  having  attended  lectures, 
applied  for  and  received  a  regular  graduation  and  accredited  diploma  from  the  Ohio  Medical 
College.  In  1847,  after  resuming  his  practice,  which  had  been  temporarily  interrupted  by  his 
studies,  he  performed  and  published  an  account  of  that  surgical  operation  denominated  the 
"  Csesarean  section."  This  was  followed  by  contributions  to  medical  journals  which  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  medical  community,  and  gave  their  author  a  respectable  reputation  for  literary 
acquirements,  intellectual  penetration  and  scientific  knowledge.  In  October,  1850,  he  was  elected 
to  the  chair  of  Anatomy  in  the  Evansville,  Indiana,  Medical  College,  which  he  filled  with  ability 
for  two  years,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  chair  of  Theory  and  Practice  in  the  same  institu- 
tion, in  which  responsible  capacity  he  acted  until  the  extinction  of  the  institution  in  1854.  Dur- 
ing his  professorship  at  Evansville  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  a  medical  journal  of  acknowledged 
merit,  and,  until  its  publication  was  discontinued,  contributed  valuable  articles  to  its  columns. 

In  May,  1857,  he  was  elected  vice-president  of  the  American  Medical  Asssociation,  then  assem- 
bled at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  in  the  following  autumn  was  called  to  the  chair  of  Obstetrics 
and  Diseases  of  Worrien  and  Children,  in  the  Rush  Medical  College  at  Chicago,  vacated  by  Doc- 
tor John  Evans,  the  talented  physician,  who  has  since  been  United  States  senator  from  Colorado. 
This  position  he  occupied  for  two  years,  when,  in  conjunction  with  several  medical  associates,  he 
assisted  in  establishing  and  organizing  the  Chicago  Medical  College,  in  which  he  occupied  the 


850  UNITED    STATES  PIOGRAPIIICAL   DICTIONARY. 

same  position  which  he  had  previously  held  in  the  Rush  Medical  College  —  chair  of  Obstetrics 
and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children.  During  a  term  of  years  he  was  associated  with  Professor 
N.  S.  Davis  in  the  editorial  management  of  the  "Chicago  Medical  Journal."  In  1864  he  published 
the  first  medical  work  attributable  to  a  Chicago  author;  its  title  is  "Chronic  Inflammation  and 
Displacements  of  the  Unimpregnated  Uterus."  In  1866  appeared  his  "  Practice  of  Medicine  and 
Surgery,  Applied  to  the  Diseases  and  Accidents  Incident  to  Women,"  which  is  extensively  used  as 
a  text-book  and  frequently  quoted  as  a  valuable  authority.  In  1866  was  published  the  second 
edition  of  his  "  Practice,"  and  in  1871  the  second  edition,  also,  of  his  work  on  the  "Unimpregnated 
Uterus."  In  1872  his  "Obstetrics"  was  issued,  and  in  the  following  year  a  second  edition  of  the 
same  volume  appeared.  He  has  twice  performed  the  "Csesarean  section,"  and  as  a  lecturer  on 
medical  and  scientific  subjects,  and  a  writer  on  kindred  topics,  has  secured  a  widely  extended  and 
honorable  reputation  throughout  the  Northwest  and  elsewhere. 


HON.   HUGH    PARISH    BEACH. 

PIPER   CITY. 

JUDGE    BEACH    traces    his    paternal    ancestry  back  to  Hon.   Daniel   D.   Thompkins,  one  of 
the  early  governors  of  New  York  state,  and  subsequently  vice  president  of  the  United  States 
for  two  terms  consecutively,  under  James  Monroe  as  president,  and  on  his  mother's  side  to  high 
official  position,  in  Connecticut. 

The  eyes  of  our  subject  first  opened  to  the  light  of  this  world  about  forty  years  ago,  in  a 
humble  log  cabin  in  the  then  pioneer  wilderness  of  Northern  Ohio,  near  what  is  now  the  beautiful 
city  of  Cleveland.  He  received  such  education  as  the  scant  facilities  of  that  early  day  offered  to 
farmer  boys,  until  about  the  age  of  fourteen,  when,  upon  the  death  of  his  mother,  he  started  out 
to  breast  the  fortunes  of  life  and  carve  out  a  career  for  himself,  unaided  and  alone.  His  first 
venture  was  in  a  printing  office,  and  his  first  promotion  to  that  position  which  bears  the  euphoni- 
ous title  of  "printer's  devil,"  and  in  that  capacity,  and  from  that  position,  through  all  the  inter- 
mediate grades  up  to  the  writer  of  locals  for  a  country  journal,  he  served  for  several  succeeding 
years,  during  which  period  he  received  his  first  substantial  scholarship  in  the  history  of  the 
political  affairs  of  his  country  and  the  world.  Time  and  an  increase  of  knowledge  awakened 
.within  him  a  desire  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  and  a  favorable  opportunity  presenting  itself,  he 
changed  his  occupation,  and  spent  the  next  succeeding  years  in  the  offices  of  two  prominent  law- 
yers, successively,  during  which  time  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  legal  education.  Here  he  was 
found  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  late  rebellion.  At  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  he  at  once  volun- 
teered as  a  private  for  three  years,  or  during  the  war.  The  first  company  he  joined  (such  was  the 
patriotic  rush  to  the  defense  of  the  country)  failed  to  be  accepted  by  the  official  authorities.  He 
did  not  have  to  wait  long,  however,  for  Father  Abraham's  call  for  three  hundred  thousand  more 
gave  him  opportunity  for  entering  the  service,  which  he  did  as  a  private,  and  remained  for  over 
four  years  and  a  half,  in  constant  service,  and  though  but  comparatively  a  boy,  he  served  through 
all  the  various  grades  up  to  the  command  of  a  company,  and  in  both  infantry  and  artillery,  and 
holding  commissions  about  half  the  entire  term  of  service.  This  took  him  through  campaigns 
and  engagements  from  the  Ohio  River  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  Red  River  expedition,  and  the 
movement  against  Mobile  and  the  attendant  conflicts  which  resulted  in  its  capture;  in  which  lat- 
ter operations  in  the  field  he  was  in  command  of  his  own  company.  He  also  afterward  rendered 
service  in  the  gulf  coast  defenses,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  During  his  term  of  service 
he  was  from  time  to  time  under  the  command  of  Generals  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Banks, 
Canby,  Smith,  and  other  distinguished  commanders.  Fortunately  two  slight  wounds  only  attest 
the  many  perils  of  this  long  and  arduous  service.  After  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln 
he  raised  a  contribution  in  his  company  of  over  $700  for  the  national  Lincoln  monument  at 
Springfield,  and  received  an  autograph  letter  of  thanks  from  Governor  Oglesby,  president  of  the 
monument  association. 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  85! 

Near  the  close  of  his  term  of  service  he  married  the  daughter  of  the  late  Captain  Henry  Lyon 
Smith,  of  the  engineer  corps  of  the  old  regular  arm}',  who  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and 
subsequently  a  professor  at  that  post.  Captain  Smith  was  of  New  England  birth,  and  after  he 
graduated  at  West  Point  he  was  sent  by  the  United  States  government  to  Louisiana,  where  he 
married  the  sister  of  a  classmate,  and  thus  became  connected  with  one  of  the  first  families  of 
Louisiana,  among  whom  were  a  governor  of  the  state  and  several  generals,  and  distinguished 
political  leaders.  One  member  (aunt  to  the  wife  of  our  subject)  has,  since  the  close  of  the  war, 
filled  the  position  of  librarian,  first  at  the  patent-office,  and  next  at  the  agricultural  department  at 
Washington. 

On  returning  from  the  army  Judge  Beach  brought  his  young  wife  with  him,  and  moved 
directly  to  Ford  county,  Illinois,  where  he  has  since  resided.  Here  he  at  once  resumed  the  study 
of  law,  in  connection  with  other  branches  of  professional  business,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
about  1870,  and  during  the  three  succeeding  years  he  was  engaged  in  private  practice. 

In  the  spring  of  1873  his  fellow  townsmen  elected  him  to  the  county  board  of  supervisors, 
where,  by  his  vigilance  and  advocacy  of  economy,  retrenchment,  and  reform  in  the  management 
of  the  affairs  of  the  county,  he  immediately  attracted  general  attention,  and  very  unexpectedly 
to  himself  was  taken  up  by  the  people  and  overwhelmingly  elected  the  same  fall  to  the  office  of 
county  judge  of  Ford  county,  to  which  position  he  has  been  reflected  for  three  successive  terms, 
and  which  he  now  fills.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  of  Saint  Paul's  Com- 
mandery  No.  34,  of  Knights  Templar,  Fairbury,  Illinois.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Odd-Fel- 
lows, both  subordinate  and  encampment,  and  has  been  representative  to  the  grand  lodge  of  the 
state.  He  has  also  been  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  in  the  village  where  he  resides,  and 
has  held  numerous  other  subordinate  offices. 

In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  but  is  not  hide-bound.  In  religion,  he  believes  God  reigns 
supreme. 

Judge  Beach  is  counted  one  of  the  best  orators  of  eastern  Illinois,  and  is  pronounced  by  those 
who  know  him  most  intimately,  to  be  a  faithful,  upright  and  just  judge. 


HON.  ISAAC  G.  WILSON. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  present  presiding  justice  of  the  appellate  court,  was  born  in 
the  town  of  Middlebury,  New  York,  April  26,  1817.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  sent  to 
the  Academy  at  Wyoming,  and  remained  in  school  and  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  until  1834,  when  he 
entered  Brown  University,  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  Upon  graduating,  in  1838,  Mr.  Wilson 
came  to  Illinois,  where  his  father's  family  had  preceded  him,  three  years  before,  and  became  a  stu- 
dent in  the  office  of  Butterfield  and  Collins,  then  the  leading  law  firm  of  Chicago.  In  the  spring 
of  1840  he  again  went  east,  and  entered  the  Cambridge  Law  School,  and  graduated  the  follow- 
ing year  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Massachusetts  bar  at  Con- 
cord, July,  1841. 

On  returning  the  following  month  to  Chicago,  where  he  had  intended  to  locate,  he  found  that 
instead  of  there  being  room  for  more  lawyers,  many  of  those  already  there  were  leaving  for  other 
places,  in  consequence  of  the  extreme  depression  in  business,  which  followed  the  financial  crisis 
of  1837  and  1838.  He  thereupon  determined  to  go  into  the  country,  and  in  August,  1841,  opened 
a  law  office  in  Elgin.  There  he  continued  in  the  practice,  doing  a  good  business,  riding  the  cir- 
cuit with  his  books  in  his  saddle  bags,  as  was  then  the  custom,  for  ten  years,  when,  in  1851,  he 
was  elected  circuit  judge. 

Upon  leaving  the  bench  in  1867,  Judge  Wilson  opened  an  office  in  Chicago  with  Colonel  H.  F. 
Vallette  and  General  Benjamin  J.  Sweet,  of  Camp  Douglas  fame,  and  upon  the  dissolution  of 
hat  firm,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Emery  A.  Storrs,  and  subsequently  with  Sanford 


852  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL   D/CT/O.V.4RY. 

B.  Perry,  with  whom  he  continued,  his  practice  being  confined  mostly  to  the  federal  courts,  until 
1879,  when  he  was  again  elected  circuit  judge,  and  immediately  thereafter  was  designated  as  a 
member  of  the  appellate  court  at  Chicago,  of  which  two  years  later  he  was  made  chief-justice. 

Judge  Wilson  has  grown  rapidly  in  the  estimation  of  the. bar  since  his  elevation  to  the  appel- 
late bench.  His  education  is  varied,  broad  and  liberal,  and  his  published  opinions  are  models  of 
judicial  writings,  being  logical,  clear  and  polished.  His  associates  on  the  appellate  bench  are 
Hon.  W.  K.  McAllister  and  Hon.  Joseph  N.  Bailey. 


REUBEN    LUDLAM,  M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Camden,  New  Jersey,  October  7,  1831.  He  was  the 
eldest  son  of  the  late  Doctor  Jacob  W.  Ludlam,  who  for  more  than  thirty  years  was  a  most 
worthy  and  useful  member  of  the  medical  profession.  Doctor  Ludlam  received  by  far  the  best 
part  of  his  early  education  at  home.  His  school  duties,  however,  were  not  neglected.  After 
taking  the  honors  of  the  old  academy  at  Bridgeport,  New  Jersey,  he  began  the  study  of  medicine, 
with  his  father  for  preceptor,  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen. 

Possessing  naturally  a  vigorous  constitution,  he  laid  the  foundation  for  his  future  good  health, 
by  active  exercise  and  work  in  the  open  air,  while  pursuing  his  studies;  for  his  father  owned  a 
beautiful  farm,  of  which  the  son  took  a  nominal  charge,  and  upon  which  he  did  considerable 
manual  labor.  The  consequence  was  a  well-balanced  development  of  body  and  ,mind.  In  due 
time  his  father's  maxim  —  "if  you  wish  your  boy  to  be  a  man,  treat  him  like  a  man  —  was  applied 
to  the  experiences  of  the  sick  room.  He  left  the  farm  for  the  bedside.  The  latter  years  of  his 
pupilage  were  characterized  by  an  almost  perpetual  conference  between  the  old  and  the  young 
doctor  as  to  the  nature,  tendency  and  treatment  of  cases  which  were  under  their  united  observa- 
tion and  care.  This  early  drill  and  discipline  gave  a  practical  bias  to  Dr.  Ludlam's  professional 
mind,  and  not  only  explains  his  well-known  aversion  to  theoretical  and  trivial  questions  in  medi- 
cine, but  also  affords  the  key  to  his  remarkable  success  as  a  clinical  teacher  and  practitioner. 
After  hearing  three  full  courses  of  lectures  of  six  months  each  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  of  clinics  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  Doctor  Ludlam  graduated  with  honor  in  the  former 
institution,  in  April,  1852.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he  came  to  Illinois,  and,  after  spending 
some  months  in  visiting  and  prospecting,  finally  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  still  resides. 

When  he  came  to  Chicago,  Doctor  Ludlam  was  what  is  called  an  old  school  physician;  but 
careful  study  and  bedside  observation  convinced  him  of  the  superior  efficacy  of  the  homoeopathic 
system  of  treatment,  when  it  is  aided  by  good  judgment  and  liberality.  He  has  since  become  a 
leading  and  influential  member  of  the  new  school  of  medical  practice.  For  six  years  he  was  an 
associate  editor  of  the  "  North  American  Journal  of  Homreopathy,"  a  quarterly,  published  in 
New  York;  and  for  nine  years  obstetrical  editor  of  the  "United  States  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,"  another  quarterly,  published  in  Chicago. 

He  was  the  author  of  the  first  strictly  medical  work  ever  issued  in  the  Northwest.  It  was  en- 
titled "A  Course  of  Clinical  Lectures  on  Diphtheria,"  and  bore  the  imprint  of  C.  S.  Halsey> 
Chicago,  March,  1863. 

In  1862  he  presented  the  profession  with  a  large  octavo  volume  of  six  hundred  and  twelve 
pages,  entitled  "  Clinical  and  Didactic  Lectures  on  the  Diseases  of  Women."  This  work  embodies 
the  labor  and  experience  of  many  years,  and  is  very  popular  with  the  profession,  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  It  is  the  recognized  text  book  in  all  the  homoeopathic  medical  colleges,  and  is  con- 
spicuous among  works  of  its  kind  for  the  clearness  of  its  diction,  the  faithfulness  of  its  descrip- 
tions of  disease,  and  for  the  almost  unlimited  fund  of  resource  which  it  places  at  the  command 
of  those  who  consult  it.  It  is  the  intention  to  extend  this  work  to  several  volumes. 

In  1868  he  was  tendered  a  position  in  the  Home  Infirmary  for  the  Diseases  of  Women,  in  the 


UNITED    STATES   BIOGRAPHICAL    DICTIONARY.  853 

city  of  New  York;  and  in  1870  was  unanimously  elected  professor  of  obstetrics  and  the  diseases  of 
women  and  children  in  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  of  the  same  city.  Both  these  honors 
were,  however,  most  respectfully  declined. 

In  1869  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  and  presided 
over  its  deliberations  in  Boston,  on  which  occasion  he  delivered  the  annual  oration  entitled  "The 
Relations  of  Woman  to  Homoeopathy." 

Beside  these  positions  of  trust,  he  has  also  been  tiie  president  of  the  Chicago  Academy  of 
Medicine,  of  the  Western  Institute  of  Homoeopathy,  and  of  the  Illinois  Homoeopathic  Medical 
Society,  and  is  an  honorary  member  of  several  learned  societies,  both  home  and  foreign. 

After  the  great  fire  in  Chicago,  in  October,  1871,  he  served  with  fidelity  as  a  member  of  the 
medical  board  of  the  Relief  and  Aid  Society,  which  was  in  charge  of  the  health  of  fifteen  thousand 
families,  or  about  sixty  thousand  persons,  who  were  roofless  and  wretched  in  consequence  of  that 
terrible  calamity.  In  this  capacity,  being  the  only  physician  of  his  school  on  the  board,  he  did 
very  much  to  create  a  proper  state  of  feeling  among  the  doctors  themselves. 

For  many  years  Doctor  Ludlam's  attention  has  been  especially  and  almost  exclusively  devoted 
'  to  the  study  of  the  diseases  of  women,  in  which  department  of  practice  his  experience  has  been 
very  large.  In  rare  and  difficult  cases  he  is  consulted  by  physicians  all  over  the  Northwest.  In 
performing  the  very  delicate  operations  pertaining  to  this  branch,  his  skill  and  success  are  remark- 
able. 

He  has  frequently  operated  for  the  removal  of  ovarian  tumors,  and  credits  the  flattering  re- 
sults obtained,  largely  to  the  proper  use  of  homoeopathic  remedies,  both  before  and  after  the 
operation.  His  contributions  to  medical  literature,  which  are  frequent  and  acceptable,  are  always 
written  upon  his  favorite  theme.  After  having  lectured  for  twelve  years  on  obstetrics  and  the 
diseases  of  women  and  children,  in  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of  Chicago,  the  title  of  his 
chair  was  so  changed  in  1874  as  to  allow  him  to  teach  his  branch  in  a  more  practical  way. 

Doctor  Ludlam  has  been  twice  married;  first  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Porter,  of  Greenwich,  New 
Jersey  —  a  lovely  Christian  woman,  who  died  of  consumption  three  years  after;  and  secondly  to 
his  present  wife,  Miss  Harriet  G.  Parvin,  of  New  York  City.  By  the  latter  he  has  one  child  —  a 
promising  boy,  who  bears  his  father's  name. 


HON.  JOSEPH    M.   BAILEY. 

FREE  PORT. 

JOSEPH  MEAD  BAILEY  was  born  in  the  town  of  Middlebury,  Wyoming  county,  New  York, 
June  22,  1833.  Judge  Bailey  spent  his  boyhood  on  his  father's  farm,  at  the  place  of  his  birth, 
and  attended  the  district  school  near  his  father's  residence  until  he  was  about  thirteen  or  fourteen 
years  old.  He  then  entered  Middlebury  Academy,  in  the  village  of  Wyoming,  Wyoming  county, 
New  York,  and  there  fitted  for  college.  He  stood  well  in  his  studies,  doing  his  work,  as  has  been 
his  practice  ever  since,  faithfully,  conscientiously  and  accurately.  During  his  preparation  for 
college  he  was  out  of  school  for  one  year  by  reason  of  severe  sickness,  but  in  September,  1851,  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  years,  he  entered  the  sophomore  class  of  the  University  of  Rochester.  For 
the  means  of  pursuing  his  studies  he  was  obliged  to  rely  entirely  upon  his  own  exertions,  with 
the  exception  of  a  small  sum  of  money  borrowed  from  a  friend,  which  was  repaid  after  gradua- 
tion. In  1854  he  graduated,  among  the  highest  in  his  class,  and  entered  the  law  office  of  Ethan 
A.  Hopkins,  of  Rochester,  New  York,  a  preceptor  of  whom  he  often  speaks  in  the  highest  terms. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  November,  1855,  and  remained  in  Rochester  until  the  following 
August,  when  he  came  to  Freeport,  Stephenson  county,  Illinois,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He 
took  a  prominent  position  among  the  lawyers  who  constituted  the  early  bar  of  Stephenson  county, 
and  established  a  profitable  practice. 

In   1866  Judge  Bailey  was  elected  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the  general 


854  UNITED    STATES  BIOGK.  1  rillC.  1 1.    DICTION AR\. 

assembly  of  the  state  of  Illinois.  He  was  chairman  of  the  joint  select  committee  which  investi- 
gated the  affairs  of  the  penitentiary,  after  it  was  thrown  by  the  lessees  upon  the  hands  of  the 
state,  and  drew  the  bill  which  afterward  became  a  law,  and  which  is  substantially  the  one  upon 
which  the  institution  has  run  ever  since.  During  this  term  he  also  took  a  prominent  part  in  ad- 
vocating restrictive  legislation  upon  railroads.  He  was  reelected  in  1868,  continued  his  war  upon 
railroad  abuses,  and  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  on  railroads.  In  1876  he  was  one  of 
the  presidential  electors  for  the  state  of  Illinois.  In  1877  he  was  elected  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
thirteenth  judicial  circuit  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  which  circuit  included  the  county  of  Stephenson. 
In  January  following,  upon  the  death  of  Judge  Heaton,  he  was  assigned  by  the  supreme  court  to 
duty  as  a  member  of  the  appellate  court  of  the  first  district,  sitting  in  Chicago.  In  1879  he  was 
reelected  circuit  judge,  without  opposition,  and  in  that  year,  and  again  in  1881,  was  reassigned  to 
duty  upon  the  appellate  court,  in  Chicago.  He  was  presiding  justice  of  that  court  for  the  year 
beginning  June  i,  1879,  and  again  for  the  year  beginning  June  i,  1882.  In  the  summer  of  1879 
he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  from  the  universities  of  both  Rochester  and  Chicago. 


As 


WILLIAM  WATKINS. 

JOLIET. 
S  a  prominent,  influential  and   thorough-going  business  man,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is 


worthy  of  honorable  mention.  He  is  a  native  of  Montgomery  county,  Ohio,  and  was  born 
October  16,  1826.  His  father  died  when  William  was  scarcely  able  to  remember.  He  was  a 
farmer,  energetic,  enterprising,  and  of  good  repute.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Mary 
Elizabeth  Kelsey.  William  attended  school  at  the  place  of  his  birth  in  Montgomery  county,  and 
subsequently  at  Crawfordsville,  Indiana,  until  about  nineteen  years  of  age.  In  1847  he  enlisted 
in  the  Mexican  war,  where  he  continued  until  its  close,  1848,  fighting  hard  and  doing  good  service 
for.  the  country. 

On  returning  from  the  war  Mr  Watkins  did  what  all  wise  men  should  do  at  an  early  age, 
and  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Van  Scoyoc,  of  Crawfordsville,  Indiana,  and  immediately  afterward 
removed  to  Momence,  Will  county,  Illinois,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising 
until  October  3,  1861,  when  he  entered  the  civil  war,  serving  in  the  8th  United  States  cavalry, 
and  stood  the  storm  of  many  hard  battles.  September  10,  1862,  he  was  honorably  discharged  for 
disability,  resulting  from  exposure  and  a  severe  cold  which  he  contracted.  He  again  returned  to 
his  agricultural  pursuits,  which  he  continued  to  follow  more  or  less  until  the  spring  of  1870, 
when  he  engaged  in  the  barbed-wire  enterprise.  His  efforts  at  first  were  ridiculed  on  all  sides, 
both  by  farmers  and  other  practical-minded  men.  He  first  began  working  on  the  patent  of  a  Mr. 
Rose,  of  De  Kalb  county,  a  rude  construction  consisting  of  a  wooden  rod,  rectangular,  with  iron 
points  driven  through  it. 

Mr.  Watkins  commenced  to  manufacture  in  1874,  under  Mr.  Rose's  license,  in  which  he  put 
all  his  time,  energy  and  money,  which  he  judiciously  used,  traveling  throughout  Illinois,  Indiana, 
.and  Iowa,  pushing  his  work  under  much  opposition,  at  the  same  time  contriving  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  principle  which  was  as  yet  in  its  infancy  of  development,  and  in  December,  of  the 
same  year,  he  invented  and  procured  a  patent  for  a  barbed  iron  strip,  which  he  commenced  to 
manufacture  in  Joliet,  in  March,  1875,  taking  into  partnership  with  him,  H.  B.  Scott.  They 
entered  enthusiastically  into  the  business,  exerting  themselves  to  their  utmost,  as  to  means  and 
ability,  which  excited  many  others,  and  gave  rise  to  many  new  patents,  which  have  since  been 
brought  prominently  before  the  public. 

The  partnership  business  was  carried  on  very  successfully  in  Joliet,  for  two  years,  after  which 
Mr.  Watkins  continued  alone,  making  great  improvements  in  the  barbed  wire,  and  applied  for  a 
patent,  which  was  granted  in  November,  1876.  He  has  continued  to  manufacture  until  June  i, 
1882,  and  others  are  still  manufacturing  the  wire  successfully  under  his  license,  and  we  may  here 


UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY.  855 

say  this  is  the  only  patent  we  are  able  to  find  in  the  state,  under  which  barbed  wire  is  now  being 
manufactured  without  paying  the  Washburn  license. 

Mr.  Watkins  has  also  invented  and  improved  and   patented  a  complete  set  of  machinery  for 
manufacturing  barbed  wire,  which  others  are  also  using  under  his  license. 


HON.  OWEN  T.  REEVES,  LL.D. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

OWEN  THORNTON  REEVES,  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  hails  from  Ross  county,  Ohio, 
where  he  was  born  December  18,  1829.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1850,  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity, Delaware,  Ohio,  and  on  receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  was  appointed  a  tutor  in 
the  same  institution.  A  little  later  he  was  principal  of  the  Chillicothe  high  school,  filling  that 
position  for  four  years.  During  that  period,  as  we  learn  from  a  Bloomington  newspaper,  "he  en- 
grafted upon  the  schools  of  that  city  many  important  changes  in  study  and  system,  which  remain 
to  this  day." 

Mr.  Reeves  read  law  in  Chillicothe,  while  engaged  in  teaching;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1854,  and,  leaving  Ohio,  came  directly  to  Bloomington,  and  soon  rose  to  an  honorable  position  at 
the  McLean  county  bar.  His  fame  as  an  educator  had  preceded  him  to  this  state,  and  he  was 
soon  called  upon  to  serve  as  a  member  of  the  Bloomington  board  of  education,  filling  that  post 
for  five  consecutive  years.  It  was  he  who  in  1857  drew  up  the  charter  of  the  union  school  sys- 
tem, of  Bloomington,  and  he  has  never  ceased  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education 
in  this  city. 

From  the  Bloomington  "Leader,"  from  which  we  have  already  quoted,  we  learn  that  in  1861 
Mr.  Reeves  was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  supervisors  for  Bloomington  township,  and  in 
1862  was  appointed  city  attorney.  In  1862,  when  the  country  was  struggling  in  the  throes  of 
civil  war,  Mr.  Reeves  responded  to  the  call  for  troops,  and  organized  the  yoth  Illinois  infantry, 
a  three  months'  regiment,  which  he  commanded,  serving  six  months,  the  regiment  being  detailed 
for  guard  duty. 

In  1867  he  procured  the  charter  for  the  Lafayette,  Bloomington  and  Mississippi  railroad,  and 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  organization  of  the  company,  and  the  construction  of  the  road. 
This  varied  and  important  business  occupied  all  his  time.  When  the  road  was  leased  to  the 
Wabash,  Mr.  Reeves  became  general  solicitor  of  the  leased  line,  and  continued  such  so  long  as 
the  road  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Wabash. 

In  1874,  Colonel  Reeves  joined  Judge  Benjamin  in  the  organization  of  the  Bloomington 'Law 
School,  and  he  occupies  the  chair  of  contracts.  During  all  this  time  he  has  enjoyed  a  large  and 
important  law  practice.  In  the  month  of  March,  1877,  he  was  elected  to  the  bench,  as  already 
mentioned,  and  there  he  finds,  in  the  estimation  of  the  people,  a  most  fitting  place.  They  like  the 
systematic  and  rapid  manner  in  which  he  discharges  his  duties. 


HON.  JOHN   G.  ROGERS. 

CHICAGO. 

ArtONG  our  Chicago  men  who  have  achieved  eminence  solely  by  excellence  of  character,  with- 
out any  of  the    modern  appliances  by  which  unworthy  persons  seek   an  undeserved  and 
transient  popularity,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  occupies  a  conspicuous  place.     Modest  and  unas- 
suming in  disposition,  courteous  and  suave  in  manners,  self-poised  and  dignified  in  demeanor, 
thoughtful  of  the  feelings  and  respectful  toward  the  opinions  of  others,  honorable  in  the  highest 
and  best  sense,  possessing  those  delicate    instincts  which  characterize    the  true  gentleman,  he 
affords  a  fine  example  of  a  successful  career,  as  deserved  as  it  is  conspicuous. 
83 


856  UNITED   STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 

Judge  Rogers  was  born  at  Glasgow.  Kentucky.  December  28,  1818.  He  is  descended  from  an 
old  Virginia  family,  whose  ancestry  left  England  about  two  hundred  years  ago.  His  father,  Doc- 
tor George  Rogers,  was  a  physician  of  eminence,  and  was  widely  and  very  favorably  known. 
Judge  Rogers  acquired  his  education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  country,  and  graduated  as 
bachelor  of  laws  from  Transylvania  University,  Kentucky,  in  1841.  Commencing  immediately 
his  professional  career  in  his  native  town,  he  soon  acquired  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  and 
won  an  honorable  place  in  his  profession. 

Desiring  a  wider  field  of  influence,  he  removed,  in  1857,  to  Chicago,  where  he  continued  the 
practice  of  law,  and  was  at  once  accorded  a  prominent  position  among  the  ablest  lawyers  of  this 
city.  In  July,  1870,  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  circuit  court  of  Cook  county,  and  in  the  general 
election  of  1873  was  reelected  for  six  years,  and  in  1879  was  again  reelected. 

While  not  a  violent  partisan,  Mr.  Rogers  has  decided  political  views.  In  early  life  he  affiliated 
with  the  whigs  of  the  old  time,  but  since  1860  he  has  identified  himself  with  the  democratic  party. 

Nature  designed  him  for  a  judge.  His  mind  is  of  the  judicial  order,  and  he  would  in  any 
place  have  been  certain  to  have  been  sought  out  and  placed  upon  the  bench.  The  high  esteem 
which  he  unquestionably  possesses  as  a  jurist  among  the  entire  profession  is  the  result  of  a  rare 
combination  of  fine  legal  ability  and  culture  and  incorruptible  integrity,  with  that  dignified  pres- 
ence and  graceful  urbanity  which  characterizes  all  his  official  acts.  • 

Like  the  poet,  the  judge  is  born,  not  made.  To  wear  the  ermine  worthily,  it  is  not  enough 
that  one  possesses  legal  acumen,  is  learned  in  the  principles  of  jurisprudence,  familiar  with  prece- 
dents and  thoroughly  honest.  Most  men  are  unable  wholly  to  divest  themselves  of  prejudice, 
even  when  acting  uprightly,  and  are  unconsciously  warped  in  their  judgments  by  their  own 
mental  characteristics  or  the  peculiarities  of  their  education.  This  unconscious  influence  is  a  dis- 
turbing force,  a  variable  factor,  which  more  or  less  enters  into  the  final  judgments  of  all  men.  In 
the  ideal  jurist  this  factor  becoming  so  small  as  not  to  be  discriminable  in  the  result,  the  disturb- 
ing force  practically  ceases.  There  has  never  been  on  the  bench  in  Chicago  a  man  better  adapted 
in  this  respect  to  adorn  and  dignify  this  high  and  responsible  place  than  Judge  John  G.  Rogers. 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Daniel Canton 581 

Adair,  Capt.  J.  M Springfield   246 

"Adams,  Augustus Sandwich 353 

Adams,  Hon.  G.  E Chicago 800 

Adams,  W.  H.  H.,  D.D Bloomington   368 

Addams,  Hon.  J.  H Cedarville 838 

Aldrich,  D.  C Chicago 615 

Aldrich,  Hon.  Wm Chicago  58 

Allen,  E.  C Ottawa 48 

Allen,  Hon.  E.  R Aurora 774 

Allen,  Hon.  J.  C Olney 775 

Allen,  Hon.  J.  M Geneseo 816 

Anderson,  Hon.  W.  B Mount  Vernon  . . .    539 

Anthony,  J.  P.,  M.D Sterling 62 

Antle,  F.  P. ,  M.D Petersburgh 443 

Arenz,  Hon.  J.  A Beardstown 831 

Armstrong,   A.  W.,  M.D Kirkwood 265 

Armstrong,  Hon.  G.  W Seneca 57 

Arnold,  Hon.  I.  N Chicago 221 

Asay,  E.  G Chicago 3 

Atkins,  Major-Gen.  S.  D Freeport 473 

A  very ,  D.  J Chicago 807 

Ayer,  E.  G Harvard 311 

Bailey,  Hon.  J.  M ...."'' Freeport 853 

Bailey,  Hon.  J.  S Macomb 235 

Baker,  Hon.  J.  H Macomb 125 

Baker,  Hon.  H.  S Alton 840 

Ballou,  N.  E.,  M.D Sandwich 108 

Bangs,  Hon.  Mark Chicago 138 

Bannister,  T.  O.,  M.D Odell 697 

Barrere,  Hon.  Granville     Canton 807 

Barrett,  J.  P    Chicago 420 

Barrett,  O.  W Chicago 228 

Barton,  E.  P  ...   ...  Freeport 823 

Bateman,  Hon.  Newton Galesburgh 842 

Bates,  Thomas Chicago   781 

Bayne,  W.  F.,  M.D Macomb 289 

Beach,  Hon.  H.  P  Piper  City 850 

Beadles,  W.  T.,  M.D Bushnell. .? 341 

Beaumont,  J.  H.,  M.D Freeport 116 

Bell,  Hon.  A.  J Peoria  702 

Benjamin,  Hon.  R.  M Bloomington 66 

Bennett,  H.  L Geneva-rT 117 

Bennett,  J.  I Chicago 616 

Berggren,  Hon.  A.  W Galesburgh 822 

Berrian,  Hon.  B.  F Quincy 821 

Berry,  O.  F Carthage 256 

Bisbee,  Hon.  L.  H Chicago 648 

Bishopp,  Barton Sheldon 553 

Bivens,  Capt.  Samuel Havana 585 

Black  Family Virginia 550 

Black,   Ho".  T.  G.,  M.D Clayton 412 

Black,  W.  V    Chicago 782 

Blackman,  F.  H.,  M.D Geneva 135 

Blackstock,  Robert    Paxton 574 

Blaisdell,  Hon.  E.  W Rockford 92 

Blane,  S.  H Petersburgh 512 

Blish,  C.  C Kewanee 97 

Blodgett,  Hon.  H.  W Chicago  716 

Blount,  Asher Macomb 310 

Bond,  Hon.  L.  L   Chicago 748 

Bond,  Maj.  W.  G Monmouth 147 

Bonney,  C.  C Chicago 743 

Boyd,  T.  B Chicago 591 


Bradley,  R.  D.,  M.D .  Pekin 630 

Bradshaw,  C.  G   Bloomington 77 

Bragg,  Maj.  F.  A Chicago 142 

Branson,  Hon.  N.  W Petersburgh 831 

Brewer,  Hon.  Thomas . .  .Toledo 594 

Brookins,  Arba Chicago   183 

Brown,  Ira Chicago 344 

Brown ,  J .  B Galena 63 

Brown,  Hon.  Wm Rockford 75 

Browne,  E.  S Mendota 445 

Bruce,  Alexander Marseilles 116 

Bruen,  J.  N Monmouth 93 

Bruster,  W.  L» Toledo 655 

Bryant,  Hon.  F.  E Bement 722 

Bryant,  Hon.  J.  H Princeton 789 

Bulkley,  A.  W Chicago 174 

Bull,  E.  F Ottawa 234 

Bullock,  J.  R.,  M.D Waukegan  .    97 

Burge,   Samuel   Toulon    . .    560 

Burke,  Edmund  ....    Chicago 843 

Burns,  Hon.  John Lacon 708 

Burr,  Hon.  A.  G Carrollton 95 

Burroughs,  B.  R    Edwardsville 205 

Burroughs,  L.  M . ,  M.D Batavia 94 

Bushnell,  Hon.  Washington Ottawa..... 817 

Byford,  W.  H.,  M.D Chicago  ..' 849 

Cabeen,  Hon.  T.  B .  .Keithsburg 45 

Caldwell,  W.  S.,  M.D Freeport 233 

Gallon,  Hon.  W.  P Jacksonville 555 

Campbell,  J.  D   . . .            Polo  155 

Campbell,  J.  L Chicago  127 

Campbell,    Hon.  J.  M Macomb 136 

Campbell,  J.  Y.,  M.D Paxton 426 

Carlin,  Hon.  W.  E Jerseyville 685 

Caruthers,  Hon.  J.  P Chicago  653 

Casal,  F.  M.,  M.D Pittsfield 445 

Case,  Gen.  Henry Winchester 457 

Case,  H .  C Galesburgh  ......  703 

Casey,  Hon.  T.  S Mount  Vernon  ...  788 

Castle,  Alfred,  M.D Wyoming 569 

Castle,  Philo Mendota 490 

Caton,  Hon.  J.  D Chicago 566 

Chadsey,  Benjamin   Rushville 545 

Chandler,  Col.   Chas Macomb 329 

Chandler,  J.  E Bushnell 338 

Chappell,  W.  H.,  M.D Oregon 690 

Chard,  T.  S Chicago 321 

Chase,  M.  J.,  M.D .Galesburgh 46 

Cherry,  W.  S Streator 128 

Chicago  Steel  Works Chicago 238 

Childs,  A.  B Keithsburg 64 

Church,  Malachi  Woodstock 167 

Clark,  Hon.  Dennis Abingdon 126 

Clark,  Hon.  H .  S Mattoon 774 

Clark,  Rev.  Ichabod Rockford 592 

Clark,  Hon.  John Somonauk 121 

Clark,  Rev.  W.  D    '.  .Carrollton 430 

Clarke,  Hon.  F.  E Waukegan 172 

Clarke,  Rev.  John Rushville 785 

Claypool,  L.  W Morris   72 

Claypool,  P.  A Morris 633 

Clement,  Jesse   Chicago 681 

Cloonan,  Hon.  Thomas Chicago 467 

Cody,  Hon.   H.  H Naperville 284 


858 


INDEX. 


Cole,  A.  H Mount  Carroll   ...     68 

Cole,  Frederick,  M.D El  Paso   497 

Cole,  W.  H.,  M.D Kewanee 102 

Collins,  Joshua  and  Jeremiah   . . .  .Saratoga 698 

Collins,  Hon.  L.  C.  Jr Chicago 634 

Comstock.  H.  S Colona 182 

Condee,  Hon.  L.  D Chicago 674 

Connolly,  Hon.  J.  A Springfield 65 

Cook,  J.  W    Normal ".  610 

Cook,  W.  E Lacon 475 

Cooper,  Thomas Pekin 583 

Covell,  Rev.  Chester Buda 56 

Craig,   Hon.  A.  M~. Galesburgh   843 

Craig,  J.  W Mattoon 503 

Crawford,  S.  P. . . ; Rockford 81 

Crews,  J.  L   Wheeler 657 

Crews,  Hon.  S.  F Mount  Vernon  .  . .   625 

Cronkrite,   Hon.  E.  L Freeport 823 

Crummer,  B.  F.,  M.D    Warren 144 

Crummer,  W.  F Galena 614 

Cullom,  Hon.  S.  M Springfield 25 

Culver,  W.  I Chicago 2 

Cummings,  J.  B Bushnell 322 

Cummings,  J.  S Huntley  •. 183 

Cummings,  L.  F Chicago  664 

Cunning,  Hugh Chicago   730 

Curtiss,  R.  J.,  M.D Joliet 710 

Danforth,  A.  H Washington 512 

Dafst,  John Eureka 513 

Davidson,  M.  R Monticello 708 

Davis,  Hon.  David Bloomington    ....      16 

Davis,  L.  H.,  M.D Woodstock 282 

Davis,  O.  L Danville 255 

Davter-W.  H.,  M.D Springfield 692 

Davison,  J.  B.,  M.D Moline 264 

Deaderich,  D.  F Quincy 339 

Dean,  C.  B Belvidere 290 

Decker,  Henry Chicago 719 

Decker,  M.  A Chicago   809 

Deere,  John Moline   268 

Delany,  Michael Olney 590 

Dement,  Hon.  H.  D Springfield 21 

Dement,  Col.  John Dixon 780 

Deriam,  D.  D Quincy 281 

DeSteiger  Glass  Co La  Salle 622 

DeWolf ,  Calvin Chicago   164 

Dickey,  Hon.  T.  L Chicago 768 

Dieffenbacher,  P.  L.,  M.D Havana   609 

Disosway,  E.  T Henry 1553 

Dodge,  Hon.  W.  B   Waukegan 273 

Donaldson,  H.  C.,  M.D Morrison    261 

Doolittle.  J.  R.,  Jr    Chicago 436 

Douglas,  Hon.  S.  A Chicago 4 

Douglas,  S.  A Chicago  669 

Driggs,   George    Chicago 752 

Drummond,  Hon.  Thomas   Chicago 22 

Drury,  William   New  Boston 454 

Dudley,  E.  C.,  M.D Chicago. ...   720 

Duncan,  J.  W Ottawa 339 

Dunham,  Charles Geneseo 331 

Dunlap,  Irwin Jacksonville    ....   544 

Dunlap,  Merton Paxton 563 

Dupee,  C.  A Chicago 679 

Durley,  Williamson Hennepin 469 

Dustin,  Gen.   Daniel ....  .Sycamore 272 

Dutcher,  E.  F Oregon 236 

Earle,  L.  C Chicago 266 

Eddy,  R.  M    Chicago 470 

Edgarton,   R.  E.,  M.D   Altona 185 

Edrington,  D.  E Creston 581 

Edwards,  Hon.  B.  S   Springfield 786 

Elliott,  Gen.  I.  H Springfield 41-5 

Ellwood,  I.  L De   Kalb 39 

Ellwood,  Hon.  Reuben Sycamore 48 

Emerson,  Hon.  Jesse Buda 692 


English,  J.  G Danville 480 

English,  J.  W Carrollton 565 

Ennis,  James    Chicago 752 

Epler,  Hon.  Cyrus Jacksonville 800 

Erwin,  Hon.  L.  D Rushville   541 

Erwin,  Hon.  Milo   Marion 492 

Etheridge,  J.  H.,  M.D Chicago   358 

Eustace,  Hon.  J.  V Dixon 787 

Evans,  Edwin,  M.D Streator   148 

Everhart,  W.  S    Toledo 560 

Farwell,  Hon.  C.  B Chicago 779 

Farwell,  J.  V Chicago ; .   789 

Firebaugh,   I.  L.,  M.D Robinson 655- 

Firman,  L.   B Chicago 488 

Fleming,  T.  H.,  M.D Canton 350 

Fleming,  Wilson,  M.D Port    Byron 343 

Flower,  H.  D.,  M.D Fulton   City 349 

Flower,  J.  M Chicago 703 

Follansbee,  G.  A Chicago 841 

Foote,  D.  E.,  M.D Belvidere 333 

Foote,  Hon.  J.  J Belvidere 675 

Ford,  Hon.  M.  M Galva  818 

Forrest,  W.  S Chicago 747 

Fort,  Hon.  G.  L Lacon 791 

Foster,  H.  T . . . .          Beardstown 574 

Franke,  J.  G.,  M.D Newton   400 

Fraser,  W.  H.,  M.D  La   Salle 332 

Freeman,  N.  S Springfield 363 

Frew,  Hon.  C.  H Paxton   432 

Fulkerson,  Col.  H.  W Jerseyville 267 

Fuller,  Hon.  C.   E Belvidere 173 

Fuller,  William Clinton ....   709 

Fuller,  Gen.  A.  C Belvidere 841 

Gallagher,  A.  J . .        Decatur 476 

Gardner,  B.  F.,  M.D .Atlanta 227 

Garland,  J.  M Springfield 257 

Garvin,  I.  W.,  M.D Sycamore 254 

Gayle,  Wm Keithsburg 197 

Gilbert,  Hon.  S.  S Carlinville 822 

Gill,  S.  L Peoria 508 

Gillespie,  Hon .  Joseph Edwardsville 838 

Glass,  E.  B Edwardsville 397 

Glenn,  Hon.  J.  J Monmouth    175 

Glidden,  J.  E De   Kalb 438 

Glover,  J.  O Chicago 670 

Goodrich,  A.  A Jerseyville 202 

Goodrich,  Grant .Chicago 297 

'  Goodrich,  H.  C Chicago 448 

Gould,  N.  B Cambridge 253 

Cradle,  Hetiry,  M.D Chicago 204 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S Galena    10 

Greathouse,  Hon.  F.  M Hardin 523 

Green,  Hon.  L.  L Odell 410 

Greene,  H.  S Springfield 271 

Griffith,  A.  A.,  A.M Chicago 198 

Griffith,    O.  K..M.D .Huntley 235 

Griggs,  C.  W Chicago 265 

Griggs,  E.  Y Ottawa 213 

Grinnell,  J.  S Chicago 645 

Griswold,  C.  A.,  M.D Fulton    City 216 

Hadley,  W.  F.  L Edwardsville 603 

Haish,  Jacob De   Kalb 118 

Halderman,  Nathaniel Mount  Carroll ....    152 

Halsted,  M.  A.,  M.D Jacksonville^ 796 

Hamer,  Col.  Thomas   ...    Vermont 562 

Hamilton,  J.  L.,  M.D Peoria 634 

Hamilton,  J.  L   Watseka -.184 

Hamilton,  Hon.  J.  M Bloomington -415 

Hammer,  D.  H Chicago 596 

Hammond,  Hon.  A.  G Wyoming 296 

Hance,  F.  W. ,  M.D Freeport 143 

Hanchett,  S.  F Chicago   384 

Hanna,  E.  B   Chicago 369 

\  Hanna,  R.  J    Kankakee   481 

AHanna,  Hon.  R.  P Fairfield 652 


INDEX. 


859 


Hanna,  VVm Monmouth 178 

Hansen,  Doctor  F.  E Winchester 237 

Hardy,  I.  E.,  M.D Alton 232 

Harper,  Rev.  Aimer Port    Byron Sn 

Harper,  Hon.  W.  H Chicago 491 

Harpham,  E.  B. ,  M.D Havana 582 

Harris,  D.  L Mendota  .    501 

Harris,  Capt.  D.  L Galena 156 

Harris,  J.  H Mendota 466 

Harris,  J.  O.,  M.D    Ottawa 91 

Harris,  J.  V.,  M.D Canton  ...   343 

Harris,  Hon.  J.  W Tiskilwa         605 

Hasselquist,  T.  N.,  D.D Rock  Island 145 

Hathaway,  M.  D Rochelle 145 

Hawes,  David Rock  Island 176 

Hawk,  Hon.  R.  M.  A Mount  Carroll 504 

Havvorth,  G.  D Decatur 726 

Hay,  Charles,  M.D. Warsaw 263 

Helm,  Clinton,  M.D Rockford 237 

Hemenvvay,  L.  E  Moline  146 

Henderson,  Hon.  J.  G Winchester 603 

Henderson,  Hon.  T.  J Princeton 521 

Henry,  Hon.  M.  S Sterling .  ioj 

Herbert,  George Chicago 725 

Hervey,  Robert  Chicago 635 

Hewett,  E.  C.,  LL.D Normal ^ 

Hicks,  Col.  D.  D.  T Pittsfield 425 

Higbee,  Hon.  C.  L    Pittsfield 816 

Higgins,  Hon.  V.  H Chicago. 586 

Hinds,  Hon.  Andrew Lena 154 

Hinman,   H.  S.,  M.D ...Newton 623 

Hobbs,  F.  M Yorkville 231 

Hoge  Family Morris 524 

Holbrook,  E.  S Chicago 686 

Holderman,  Abram Seneca 275 

Holderman,  Samuel Morris   420 

Holgate,  Hon.  James Wyoming 362 

Hopkins,  Hon.  H.  B Peoria 827 

Hoyne,  Hon.  Thomas Chicago 312 

Hudson,  Hon.  H.  S Yorkville 124 

Hull,  Alexander,  M.D Lewiston 572 

Hull,  W.  H Ottawa 175 

Hummel,  J.  M Sandwich 306 

Hunt,  Hon.  George Paris 812 

Hunter,  Hon.  J.  M Mount  Carroll. . . .  233 

Huntley,  T.  S Huntley 177 

Hurd,  Hon.  H.  B Chicago 636 

Ingals,  E.  F.,  A.M.,  M.D Chicago 153 

Ives,  F.  B. ,  M.D Chicago 247 

Ives,  W.  E Amboy 218 

Jenkins,  R.  E Chicago 181 

Johnston,  Hon.  E.  H Port  Byron 402 

Johnston,   J.  E   Warsaw     601 

Jones,  Hon.  A.  M Warren    . .   283 

Jones,  H.  K.  and  C.  G.,  M.D Jacksonville 676 

Jones,  J.  A Springfield 274 

Jones,  Hon.  J.  H    Henry 801 

Jones,  Hon.  J.  R Chicago 354 

Jordan,  W.   A Morris 403 

Kalb,  J.  C.,  M.D Henry 517 

Kales,  F.  H Chicago 318 

Karr,  A.  G Bloomington 254 

Kellum,  Hon.   Charles Sycamore 668 

Kendig,  J.  A.  J Chicago 243 

Kerns,   Wm    ... Moline 245 

Kettelle,  G.  H Chicago 654 

King,  J.   L Chicago 688 

Kinnear,  J.  R Paxton 534 

Kirk,  Hon.  George Waukegan 296 

Kirkland,  Joseph Chicago   .... 256 

Knapp,  Col.  N.  M Winchester 810 

Knickerbocker,  Hon.  J.  C   Chicago 278 

Kretzinger,  G.  W Chicago 802 

Lacey,  Hon.  Lyman Havana 754 

Lake,  L.  L.,  M.D Belvidere 605 


Landon ,  Nelson Waukegan 104 

Langley,  Hon.  J.   W Champaign 641 

Launtz,  Hon.  W.  P East  St.  Louis 226 

Law  Jr. ,  Wm Chicago 334 

Lawrence,  Hon.  C.  B Chicago 776 

Lawrence,  M.  A Chicago 732 

Lee,  F.  W.,  M.D Tiskilwa 242 

Leeds,  L.  L.,  M.D . .    Lincoln 87 

Leland,  Hon.  E.  S Ottawa 839 

Leland,  H.  S Springfield 123 

Lewis,  Aaron.,  M.D Waukegan 76 

Lincoln,  Hon.  Abraham i 

Lincoln,   Hon.  R.  T Chicago 779 

Lindblom,  Robert Chicago 290 

Little,  George Rushville 552 

Locey,  Hon.  G.  H La  Salle 44 

Lodge,  W.  E Monticello 723 

Logan,  John,  M.D Carlinville 460 

Logan,  Hon.  J.  A Chicago 797 

Logan,  R.  E   Morrison 295 

Long,  J.  T.,  LL.D Quincy 158 

Longhurst,   Wm Chicago 197 

Lott,  L.  P Morris 214 

Lovejoy ,  Owen Princeton 806 

Ludlam,  Reuben,  M.D .Chicago 852 

Luppen,  Luppe Pekin 364 

Lyman,  D.  B Chicago 770 

Lyman,  N.  E  Rockford 115 

Lyman,  Prof.  W.  C Chicago 724 

M'acArthur,  R.  M.,  M.D Ottawa 368 

MacKay,  Duncan Morrison 834 

McAllister  Hon.  W.  K Waukegan 20 

McCartney,  James Springfield 14 

McCartney,  Hon.  R.  W Metropolis 663 

McClaughry,  R.  W    Joliet 459 

McClellan,  Hon.  R.  H Galena  378 

McCoy,  Alexander Chicago 492 

McCoy,  Hon.  James Fulton  City 258 

McCulloch,  Hon.  David   Peoria 442 

McFadden,  Col.  R.  H  Mattoon 507 

McFerren,  J.  S  Hoopeston 359 

McGeoch,  Peter Chicago 704 

McGlumphy,  A.  J.,  D.D Lincoln; 212 

McGrath,  Capt.  Patrick Chicago 424 

McKindley,  William Chicago 171 

McKinley,  J.  B Champaign 496 

McMahan,  L.  W Griggsville 593 

McMichael,  J.  B.,  D.D Monmouth 407 

MoNeely,  Hon.  T.  W Petersburgh 44 

McPherran,  J.  E Sterling 354 

Manier,  W.  H Carthage   388 

Marlett,  Isaac   Aurora 383 

Marshall,  E.  L.,  M.D Keithsburgh 401 

Martin,  G.  W Winchester 207 

Mason,   Carlile Chicago 414 

Mason,  R.  B Chicago 248 

Mason,  Hon.  W.  E Chicago 486 

Mastin,  Jethro,  M.D Shannon 338 

Maxwell,  J.  H,,  M.D.  .• Newton ..   543 

May,  Ezra. Belvidere 3/3 

Mayborne,  Hon.  J.  H Geneva 379 

Meacham,  U.  D Freeport    411 

Means,  Archibald Peru 381 

Meech,  G.  A Chicago 626 

Meriam,  D.  D Quincy 281 

Mershon,  Joab Vermont 544 

Miles,  O.  P Mt.  Carroll .-7-723 

Miller,  Rev.  R.D   Petersburgh 487 

Mills,  Col.  C.  F Springfield 446 

Mills,  L.  L Chicago 812 

Miner,  E.  G Winchester 203 

Mix,  H.  A.,  M.D Oregon    38° 

Monroe,  H.  S Chicago 8 

Montgomery,  James,  M.D Marseilles 378 

Moore,  C.  H Clinton 714 


86o 


INDEX. 


Moore,  Hon.  J.   W Mound  Station  . . .   833  ^ 

Moore,   Hon.  Nathaniel Wenona 520 

Moore,  Hon.  S.  M Chicago 467 

Morrison,  Hon.  I.  S Jacksonville 811 

Munroe,  Thomas,  M.D Rushville 542 

Murphy,  Hon.  T.   D Woodstock 631 

Nance,  Hiram,  M.D Kewanee 767 

Nance,  W.  H.,  M.D Vermonl 629 

Neece,  Hon.  W.  H Macomb 137 

Nelson,  Hon.  W.  E Decalur 738 

Nesbill,  G.  W.,  M.D Sycamore 546 

Newberry,  Gen.  W.  C Chicago 447 

Newell,  Dorris,  M.D Pecalonica 430 

Nish,  Capl.  James Gary  Station 444 

Noble,  Rev.  J.  H Lincoln 458 

Noecker,  William,  M.D Monticello 818 

North,  Hon.  Levi Kewanee 42 

O'Conor,  A.  J La  Salle 147 

Ogle,  Wm Toulon 327 

Olney,  John Chicago 759 

Osman,  William Ottawa 801 

Otman,  Hon.  S.  F Wyoming 309 

Palmer,  J.  M     Springfield 8 

Palmer,  Gen.  J.  M Springfield 7 

Park,  Roswell,  M.D Chicago 361 

Parlin  and  Orendoff Canton 801 

Partridge,  Gen.  F.  W Sycamore 370 

Patterson,  W.  A Carthage 340 

Patton,  Hon.  D.  H Paxton 773 

Palrick,  Elias Marengo 662 

Pearce,  W.  S Waukegan 305 

Pearson,  Hon.  J.  M    Godfrey 824 

Pearsons,  D.  K Chicago 300 

Peltzer,  Olio Chicago 620 

Pepper,  J.  C Aledo     799 

Petefish,  S.  H    Virginia 328 

Peters,  Hon.  M.  H Walseka 374 

Phillips,  E.  L.,  M.D Galesburgh   367 

Pierce,  J.  H Kewanee 352 

Pierce,  T.  P Kewanee 352 

Pillsbury,  Hon.  N.  J Pontiac 817 

Planl,  H.  B La  Salle 122 

Pleasants,  Hon.  G.  W Rock  Island 206 

Plumb,  Hon.  Fawcett  Slreator 619 

Plumb,  Col.  Ralph Streator 168 

Plummer,  S.  C.,  M.D Rock  Island 382 

Pollock,  S.  D.,  M.D Galesburgh 389 

Porter,  Hon.  John Monmouth 371 

Poiier,  E.  S.,  M.D Oregon 409 

Polls,  J.  H Jacksonville 817 

Powell,  John  F Waukegan 372 

Frail,  L.  G    Chicago 576 

Prentiss,  Wm Macomb 294 

Pressly,  W.  P   Monmouth 348 

Prellyman,  B.  S Pekin 595 

Raab,  Hon.  Henry Springfield 413 

Randall,  G.  P Chicago 394 

Randall,  Hon.  I.  V De  Kalb 86 

Raymond,  S.  W Ottawa 46 

•Read,  Rev.  F.  A , Polo 418 

Rearick,  Hon.  J.  W Beardstown 570 

Real,  J.  L.,   M.D Tuscola 535 

Reed,  Henry,   M.D Rochelle 87 

Reed,  Rev.  N.  A Sandwich 41 

Reed,  S.  R Monticello 715 

Reeves,  Hon.  O.  T Bloominglon 855 

Reise,  Augustus  Allanla 204 

Rice,  Hon.  Isaac,  M.D Mount  Morris  ....     82 

Richards,  A.  V Freeport 658 

Richardson,  R.  K Chicago 564 

Richings,  C.  H.,  M.D Rockford  404 

Riggs,  Hon.  J.  M Winchesler 206 

Robinson,  Hon.  G.  S Sycamore 63 

Robinson,  Hon.  J.  C Springfield 217 

Rogers,  Hon.  J.  G Chicago 855 


Rogers,  Timothy Quincy 323 

Ross,  Hon.  L.  W Lewiston   561 

Rowley,  Gen.  W.  R Galena 788 

Royer,  M.  M.,  M.D Sterling 96 

Russell,  T.  J Versailles 822 

Rutz,  Hon.  Edward Springfield 792 

Ryon,  Hon.  George,  M.D Amboy . .     83 

Sage,  Rev.  N.  S   ...    Aurora 71 

Sample,  Alfred Paxton  554 

Sawin,  George Chicago   646 

Scales,   Hon.  W.  B     Chicago 690 

Schenck,  W.  E.,  M.D Pekin 610 

Scholfield,  Hon.  John   Marshall 767' 

Schuyler,  D.  J   Chicago 848 

Scott,  Charles,  M.D Belvidere 411 

Scott,  G.  W Wyoming 342 

Scott,  Hon.  J.  M    Bloomington 40 

Scott,  Willard Naperville 844 

Scranton,  N.  L Toledo 688 

Sedgwick,  W.  W Sandwich 88 

Seipp,  W.  C     Chicago   429 

Sharp,  Hon.  T.  C Carthage 262 

Shaw,  Hon.  Aaron Olney  786 

Shaw,  Hon.  James Mount  Carroll 799 

Shaw,  Hon.  T.  M Lacon 833 

Sheets,  Col.  B.  F Oregon 54 

Sheldon,  Hon.  B.  R Rockford 806 

Sheldon,  D.  H Chicago 51 

Shephard,  J.  A  Jerseyville 217 

Sherman,  Hon.  E.  B Chicago 760 

Sherman,  P.  L Chicago   824 

Sherwin,  Hon.  J.  C Aurora  104 

Shimer,  Henry,   M.D Mount  Carroll 208 

Shope,  Hon.  L.  P Lewiston 807 

Shorey ,  D.  L Chicago 696 

Shreve,  L.  M Chicago 764 

Shutt,  Hon.  W.  E Springfield 74 

Sibley,  Hon.  Joseph    Quincy 823 

Smith,  Hon.  A.  A Galesburgh   840 

Smith,  B.  N Woodstock 103 

Smith,  Hon.  D.  C Pekin 580 

Smith,  Frederick Pekin   556 

Smith,  J.  I.,  M.D Shannon 47 

Smith,  P.  B Chicago   613 

Smith,  P.  H Chicago 350 

Smith,  P.  H.,  Jr Chicago 398 

Smith,  U.  P     Chicago  441 

Smith,  Hon.  W.  H Chicago     67 

Smith,  Hon.  W.  M. . . .    Lexington   830 

Snyder,  Hon.  W.  C Fulton 393 

Spears,  Charles  and  Son  .........  Morrison 215 

Springer,  Hon.  W.  M Springfield 790 

Stephens,  Geo Moline 85 

Stevens,  Edmund,  D.D.S Bloomington 74 

Stevens,  Justus Princeton 536 

Stevens,  Doctor  W.  A Chicago 540 

Steward,  Lewis Piano 84 

Stewart,  C.  W.,  M.D Kirkwood 125 

Stewart,  Hon.  J.  M  Monmouth 55 

Slimming,  Hon.  Theodore Chicago 508 

Stipp,  Hon.  G.  W Princelon 559 

Sloner,  E.  R.,  M.D Griggsville 419 

Slorrs,  E.  A Chicago 792 

Sloul,  Joseph,  M.D Oltawa 53 

Stuart,  Hon.  J.  T Springfield 805 

Sullivan,  Hon.  M.  A East  Saint  Louis. .   648 

Sutherland,  R.  V Peru 101 

Swan,  R.  K Moline   78 

Swanbrough,  J.  W Waukegan 56 

Swenie,  D.  J Chicago 735 

Swell,  Hon.  Leonard Chicago 710 

Swigert,  C.  P Springfield 98 

Talliaferro,  Hon.  B.  C Aledo  360 

Taylor,  Hon.  J.  A ' Chicago   503 

Taylor,  J.  J.,  M.D  ..'. Slrealor  624 


INDEX. 


86l 


Terrell,  A.  A Sterling 

Thatcher,  W.  H    Morrison  . . . 

Thomas,  G.  D Thomasville. 

Thomas,  Rev.  H.  W Chicago 

Thomas,  Isaac Wyoming  . 


.  600 

.  123 

•  738 
.  128 

•  337 

Thomas,  Hon.  J.  W.  E Chicago   673 

Thomas,  Hon.  William Jacksonville 827 

Thompson,  A.  C Paxton   579. 

Thompson,  J.  S Chicago  ....  ._t_^<r  769 

Thurston,  E.  H.,  M.D Chicago 437 

Tickland,  Hon.  O.  B Charleston 787 

Tipton,  Hon.  f.  F Bloomington 842 

'     .,  i.  a Sullivan  . 


Todd,  Rev.  R.  K   Woodstock 

Townsend,  Hon.  H.  S Warren 

Treat,  Hon.  S.  H Springfield 

Trogdon,  Hon.  A.  Y : Paris 

Trumbull,  Hon.  Lyman       Chicago   

Tryon,  Hon.  C.  H Richmond 

Turner,  Benjamin Toulon 

Tuthill,  R.  S 


Upham,  B.  R Jacksonville  . 

Van  Arman,  John Chicago?. 

Van  Buren,  Augustus  Chicago  . 

Van  Buren,  Hon.  Evert Chicago. 


Van  Valkenburg,  Geo : . .  Huntley 

Volk,  J.  H   Chicago 

Volk,  L.  W Chicago 

Volk,  S.  A.  D New  York 


Wait,  H.  L Chicago. 

Walker,  B.  F Chicago. 

Walker,  E.  S Chicago . 

Walker,  Hon.  P.  H   Rushville 


Wallace,  J.  H.,  M.D Monmouth 151 

Wallace,  Gen.  M.  R.  M Chicago. 

Waller,  Hon.  Henry   Chicago. 

Waller,  J.  B Chicago. 


Warm,  Daniel Galena 601 

Warner,  Col.  John Peoria 611 

Warner,  Major  Vespasian Clinton 731 

Warren,  Hon.  G.  E .Jersey  ville 830 

Waterman,  A.   N Chicago  758 

Watkins,  William Joliet 854 

Webber,  Hon.  J.  D Minonk 802 


555 
186 
161 
775 
573 
759 
632 

33i 
.Chicago 682 


796 

324 
408 
766 

Van  Schaack,  Peter Chicago   in 

630 
583 
509 
642 


Vosburgh,  D.  M.,  M.D Earlville 522 


674 
452 
143 

831 


390 

188 

28 


•Wells,  Major  H.  W Peoria. 

Wells,  W.  H Chicago.... 

Whaples,  W.  D Neponset  . . 

Wheelock,  L.  W Moline  .... 

Whitaker,  Oliver Toulon  .... 

White.  Miles Lena 

Whiteside,  T.  C Chicago 

Whiting,  Hon.  L.  D Tiskilwa  . . . 

Whitney,  Charles Waukegan  . 

Wier,  W.  S Monmouth  . 

Wilcox,  E.  A.,  M.D Minonk.... 

Wilcox,  Hon.  L.  S.,  M.D Champaign 


463 
518 
173 
399 
571 
389 
5M 
166 
811 
187 
502 
549 


Willard,  George Chicago   

Willcoxen,  J.  C Lewiston 

Willett,  Hon.  C.  H Chicago 

Willett,  Wm Keithsburg 

Williams,  Abram Chicago 

Williams,  C.  K Polo 

Williams,  Hon.  J.  H Quincy 

Willits,  Thomas,  M.D New  Boston 

Wilson,  Hon.  I.  G T...  .Chicago 

Windmayer,  C.  H Jacksonville 

Winslovv,  R.  F Chicago 

Winston,  Thomas,  M.D Forreston 

Woodruff,  O.  F Morrison 

Wright,  Hon.  J.  G Naperville 

Wright,  Hon.  W.  W Toulon 

Wylie,  S.  M.,  M.D Paxton 


Wynn,  W.  W.,  M.D Dixon 157 

Yancey,  Hon.  A.  N Bunker  Hill 633 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

920  07UN3  C001 

THE  UNITED  STATES  BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONAR 


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